"How Do I Rent a Negro?": Racialized Subjectivity and Digital Performance Art

This essay is an examination of conceptual artist damali ayo's Web-art performance, www.rent-a-negro.com, and the function of race within the interactive features of the site. By employing and subverting the normative racial tropes of cyberculture, ayo's project also exposes the ethical and performative dimensions of race in material practice. Ultimately, the spaces of confessional and dark play that are created online with digital performance art enable an advancement of racial discourse in our society.