10 August 2007

Social Fabrics: Second Life

Social Fabrics: Second Life

Fashion and digital technology have been interdependent at least since
the development of Jacquard's loom. in the 1800's. Currently, social
media are merging fashion and adornment with digital communication
through "embodied" forms of communication, such as the Multi User
virtual Environment, (or MUVE), Second Life. Within these environments,
much emphasis is placed on the customization, adornment and clothing of
virtual bodies, or "avatars". Entire sectors of virtual economies are
being devoted to virtual fashion, and physical fashion is beginning to
be taught in the virtual. What are the social functions of online
fashion, and how can creative practitioners work with aspects of virtual
fashion to create new forms of communication?

As part of the Social Fabrics exhibition, a Second Life event will be
held during or concurrently with the event in Dallas that will explore
the communicative and performative aspects of virtual fashion.
Furthermore, for this event, curators Patrick Lichty and Susan Ryan
challenge artists and designers using Second Life to create new forms of
adornments that actualize aspects of social interaction in online
spaces. These could include reactive garments, works that collect
memory or records of interaction, and more. In addition, fashion
artifacts that illustrate specific aspects of social interaction in
Second Life are also encouraged.

Call:
Artists and designers using Second Life are invited to submit proposals
to Social Fabrics SL. Please include a 500 word description of the
project's concept, a 250 word technical description, special
requirements (if any), images or sketches, and contact information.

Participation:
Depending on the final venue, participants must be available to take
part in the final event, which will be a pre-CAA in-world exhibition
where in-world Second Life video documentation will be compiled for
display at the Dallas event and on the socialfabrics.org website.

Image documentation (300 dpi JPG or TIFF images) will be required by
January 15th for inclusion in the exhibition catalogue.

Deadline:
Proposals must be emailed by no later than October 15th to Patrick
Lichty (aka Man Michinaga) as PDF or Microsoft Word file, at
plichty@colum.edu. Selected proposals will be notified by Nov. 1.

Location:
Social Fabrics SL will take place on I AM Columbia Island in an event
site sponsored by Columbia College Chicago.

What is Second Life?.
Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual world
launched in 2003, which came to international attention via mainstream
news media in late 2006 and early 2007 developed by Linden Research, Inc
(commonly referred to as Linden Lab). A downloadable client program
enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other
through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social
network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents
can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual
and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and
services from one another.

To learn more about Second Life, go to the Linden Labs website at:
http://www.secondlife.com
com>

For more information on the Social Fabrics exhibition, visit:
Socialfabrics.org

No comments: