[iDC] The SL Unleashing.

[Patrick Lichty]

Hello everyone.

I've been reading in on this thread with great interest, and Stephanie was
saying back-channel, "When is Patrick going to say something?", because she
knows I will.

 

There is too much going on to write about - warning - lots of links.

 

First of all, I'd like to say that although SL has been a primary medium for
the past 3-4 years, I still love it as an artform and hold it deeply
circumspect.  There is wonderful energy out there, fantastic synergies, abut
also egregious misunderstandings between previously unfamiliar
constituencies.  There are also groups, called "Immersives" by blogger
Bettina Tizzy that insist the primacy/importance of SL over the quotidian
world, and I have talked extensively with Cao Fei's creative team to
understand that most of the community in-world has no idea what a Trienniale
is. 

 

But this is also puzzling, as there are immense numbers of people who are
trying to become famous there.  (That's why I have an avatar called "Andy
Rembrandt" that runs the Second Factory. More on that in a few months).

 

I think that the article talking about the demise of SL is a product of two
things: First, the failure of SL to take over the entire net (as it seemed
like Linden promised it would, which was impossible), and the disjuncture of
social connections/communities.  Obviously, someone just coming in and
rooting around for a bit is not going to be swarmed by the  community and
swept off to all the digerati parties, and they don't happen 24/7.  You have
to know who's throwing the party, and when to be there.  Therefore, I think
that the writer just expects the parties to be endless, but I seem to be
taking an opposite polemic.

 

What has been happening?  This could be a few pages in itself, really.

A few notes, though.

First for Lynn - Odyssey's administrator is burnt out and wants help or to
retire, and no one is willing to take it on.  It may fold if this is not
filled.

Second - yes - Gazira.  She's been on extended vacation, as SL burns you
out, as time compresses in virtual worlds, due to the degree of interaction
required to maintain mindshare, and the amount of involvement that occurs.

 

This Fall, Gazira (and I) had a show in Ljubiana, Slovenia where she did
some great interventions where she asked people to converse with Gazira, and
also showed a video frame version of our piece, 7UP.

http://www.gazirababeli.com/actingasaliens.php

http://www.gazirababeli.com/TEXTS.php?t=canweunderstandavatars

http://www.gazirababeli.com/COLLABORATIONS.php

 

 

 

This Fall, Scott Kildall and I, Aland Sondheim and Foofwa L'immobilite, and
Lily and Honglei did a wonderful mixed reality show at Eyebeam, where Second
Front unlocked a crypt of Data Mummies, Alan and Foofwa did an amazing dance
performance (and Sandy Baldwin as well, sorry), and Lily and Honglei took
people on a tour of their amazing Sunken City, a critique of the Three
Rivers Project in China.  Beautiful work.

http://thesecondfront.blogspot.com/2009/10/second-front-release-avvie-road-d
vd-at.html

 

For what I have been doing, I'd like to send you
http://patricklichty.wordpress.com/

This includes a nod by Art21, my retrospective, and new texts in the
Performa 07 catalogue (I wrote the Second Front one anonymously), and the
new piece in Public Art Review.

 

Stephanie and Jeff just had their virtual sweatshop at laboral, Lynn has
been ongoing, Cao Fei has been doing great things with RMB, which has its
first anniversary coming, 

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg - I'll talk more, but I'm going to go
play bingo with joncates at the  moment.

 

What do these people want?

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/attachments/20100107/244dd03e/attachment.htm