黑 鳥 Musings on contemporary art issues. Graffiti, street culture, urban painting, new media art, Second Life, blogging, internet resources, music, film, video & anything else that comes up. London Edition.
Note that Second Life has changed considerably since this 2007 lecture.
Eric Gordon moderates a panel discussion about art practice in Second Life, an 3-D online world where real business is conducted using virtual dollars that can then be traded in the real world.
Called "the biggest digital art installation in the world" by Warren Ellis, Second Life is a highly imaginative, online, 3-D rendered environment populated with avatars (graphic representations of people). In Second Life you can teleport, fly, do not age, live in a house, go to clubs, take classes, make and view art, or just "hang out." Spanning more than 42,000 acres in real-world scale, Second Life is second home to over 2 million "residents," many of whom collaboratively create its content.
This lecture is a part of the 2007 Boston Cyberarts Festival and produced in partnership with Emerson College and Turbulence.org's "OurFloatingPoints 4: Participatory Media" series.1 hour 53mins
"It's desolate, dirty, and sex is outcast to a separate island. Barry Collins returns to Second Life to find out what went wrong, and why it’s raking in more cash than ever before"
This blog is a journal and document regarding the online and treadmill powered reenactment of Mahatma Gandhi’s “Salt March to Dandi” in Second Life from March 12th through April 6th, 2008. I will be using this blog on a daily basis to document my progress and experience as the project evolves over the 26 days of “walking” throughout Second Life. Feel free to visit me in Second Life or on location at Eyebeam in New York City where I will be set up with my customized treadmill for the 26 days of the 240 mile march. -Joseph DeLappe http://saltmarchsecondlife.wordpress.com/
"Hi all, I am finishing up a six month residency at Eyebeam in NYC - part of this involves a final exhibition of the results of my residency. Here is information on the exhibition - of particular note - I've created a 17' tall cardboard Gandhi replica of my Gandhi avatar from the Second Life reenactment of the Salt March conducted earlier this Spring. I created the monumental statue using adapted Pepakura papercraft techniques - the sculpture has been designed to be the same height as Michelangelo's David." http://www.eyebeam.org.
The Netherlands Media Art Institute presents in collaboration with 5 days off MEDIA the exhibition and performance series Crosswire. Crosswire comprises sound installations and audiovisual environments enabling immersive and spatial sonic experiences through bodily and multi-sensory perception. Whilst the various works offer different points of access to experience sound, they all unfold their architectural or sculptural quality in the gallery. As a result, compositions become perceptible as holistic phenomena. Crosswire is curated by Maurizio Martinucci (aka TeZ)on the basis of the Optofonica platform which is devoted to the presentation of the current state of art in synesthetic media and sound spatialization. www.optofonica.com
Performances and screening Crosswire The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM) performance on the opening night feature virtual instruments designed specifically for each composition created for the Orchestra within the Second Life platform and are played by artists from all around the world making live music together. AOM's concert includes the beautiful and powerful THE HEART OF TONES (mixed reality version) by iconic composer Pauline Oliveros (aka Free Noyes), and the mesmerizing composition FRAGULA by sound artist Björn Eriksson (aka Miulew Takahe).
The performances from Sagi Groner, Aernoudt Jacobs, Telcosystems and Francisco Lopez take place within the installations so access is limited. Please make a reservation: info@nimk.nl Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst / Netherlands Media Art Institute Keizersgracht 264 NL-1016 EV Amsterdam http://www.nimk.nl
Utrecht University and IBM organize a symposium, hosted by Eduverse, on ‘The Play Element of Learning Leadership’ in De Balie in Amsterdam, June 24th.
Students from the MA programs New Media & Digital Culture and Game & Media Technology (Utrecht University) present their findings on leadership in online games such as EVE Online and World of Warcraft. The startingpoint for their research are studies done by Seriosity and IBM, which can be found here. Guest speakers, live and virtual, will add their views to the discussion. Besides in person, the event can be attended inworld, as it will be broadcast live in Second Life.
Dr. Tony O'Driscoll (aka Wada Tripp) describes the evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 to Web3D.
======================== Whilst there were a number of informative presentations, I thought the symposium failed in two key areas.
Firstly, the subject matter was MMORPG's, that is (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) such as World of Warcraft, Eve and Second Life. Whilst the subject of the changing nature of the web was covered comprehensively, the history of gaming was completely omitted. MMORPGs evolved from the MUDs and MOOs of the nineties. In 1995/6 I spent a lot of time in Lambda MOO and considerable researching the media and its social implications. What I found at the symposium was that participants were discussing phenomena of MMORPGs without acknowledging the early research into multiplayer internet communities. This is an issue that I have raised before.
When I revisited RPGs after a ten year break, I discovered that SL, for example, is simply Lambda MOO with pictures and an economy. All the issues regarding communication and representation existed and were discussed in Lambda, the creative factor existed in the programming of objects and in spaces. You couldn't fly in Lambda, but you could create a room and an online character and invite people into your space to interact.
Initially Lambda was quite geeky, you had to have geek skills to participate so the participants tended to be mature and educated. Then, when internet browsers became available and the media made it popular with teenagers, the interesting people left.
I felt that a large part of the material presented as "new discoveries in game theory" were already covered in the overlooked MUD/MOO literature.
The second area where I felt the symposium failed was in that of gender. At the very end of the program a student presented a paper on gender bias in World of Warcraft. She had spent time playing as both male and female characters. Again, no reference was made to the existing research from roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons, or from the early internet RPGs. This was also evident in the post presentation discussion.
I've experimented in both areas. As Dungeon Master I have presented my players with enchanted armour that reversed their gender and then observed the results. Very amusing. In Lambda I played many characters of various genders and types, I had one called "YourMum" who entered the room and checked to see if you were wearing clean underwear. Also very amusing.
The paper on World of Warcraft gender bias was very interesting and well presented and generated the most discussion. Where the conference failed with regard to gender was in its marginalisation. The only speaker who addressed gender as a leadership issue was this one. And this is supposed to be a post-feminist society.
Blakkbyrd ==================== footnote
Here is the program and videos from the February 2008 Symposium on World Wide Web. Contact info and details of participants is available here: Symposia01 Flash Page Click on “Events”
With a population rivalling that of London, Second Life is an extraordinary online world that is imagined and created by its users, or more aptly, residents.
Take a tour of this much-discussed cultural phenomenon with Australia's first artists in residence in Second Life - new media artist, composer, programmer, performer and writer Adam Nash and graphic designer, web developer and new media artist Chris Dodds.
You are officially invited to the Delve Deep Exhibition held in Second Life.
CDU lecturer in multimedia and graphic design, Ms Judith Trezise presents Delve Deep, an online exhibition showcasing digital art from 14-21 November. This is the first ever exhibition to be held solely online and in the virtual world of Second Life. {sic}
Included on the opening night is LIVE music being streamed in Second Life by local artists such as:
• Adrian Walter, Dean of Law, Business & Arts - Adrian is a classical guitarist with an international reputation, you are guaranteed to enjoy.
• NEO – High energy performance based band that pumps out an amazing potent mixture of funk, rock and pop.
• Pott Street - Unique Hip Hop to dance the night away. • DJ Jaxon - A local DJ will entertain you with a new MIX!
So you now have the opportunity to be part and experience a Real LIVE concert in a 3D World.
The exhibition entices people to ‘delve deep’ into their current existence and open their mind to the world of digital art and 3D spaces. The exhibition includes work created by Judith over the past 12 weeks as well as other artists from round the world. The grand opening is next Wednesday the 14th November at 6.30pm.
It is advised that you join Second Life a few days before. For further instructions on Second Life and Delve Deep please go to: www.zise.com.au/delvedeep/ Hope to see you there!
Anti-social bot invades Second Lifers' personal space.
A software bot that masquerades as an ill-mannered human user within the popular virtual world Second Life is being used by UK researchers to investigate the psychology of its inhabitants. The bot starts a conversation with human users and deliberately invades their personal space to see how they will react.
The software, dubbed "SL-bot", was created by Doron Friedman, Anthony Steed and Mel Slater at University College London, UK, who are interested in comparing the way people act inside a virtual world with real-life human behaviour.
But Second Life is not designed to accommodate non-human control of avatars and the world's scripting language can only be used to control objects. So, to get around this, the researchers added a script to a ring that their avatar wore on its finger.
The ring connects the avatar to software that not only controls its actions, but can record everything going on around it. This is an extreme example of the way objects can control characters in Second Life ? more often they are used to give someone a new style of walking, or to make them dance.
The control software sends the avatar off in a random direction until it finds another avatar or object to watch or interact with. It can also perform any one of a range of animated actions to respond to stimuli, for if someone says a particular word, for example, or picking up an object it bumps into.
"When it walks around it looks a little spooky" says Friedman, currently working at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel. "It looks a bit drunk actually, but it is a great way to get data."
In one experiment, SL-bot was sent on a mission to find other avatars that were alone. As soon as it did, it greeted them by first name, waited two seconds then moved to the virtual equivalent of within 1.2 metres away. It then recorded the other avatar's reaction for 10 seconds afterwards, and sent the data to the researchers.
Australia's First Second Life Artists Residency Recipients Announced
The Australia Council for the Arts announced the recipients of its $20,000 artist residency in Second Life on 5 September 2007.
Artists Christopher Dodds, Adam Nash and Justin Clemens will collaborate to develop an inter-disciplinary artwork in Second Life, which explores the possibilities of literary, music/sound art and real-time 3-D arts practices within this synthetic world.
The artwork will be a simultaneous installation in Second Life and in a real world gallery, where gallery visitors can be directly involved in its creation via a computer interface.
The Inter-Arts Office would like to correct an earlier news alert linking the 2008 Banff Centre for the Arts residency to the 2007 Walking and Art Banff thematic.
The Banff thematic for 2008 is yet to be finalised. The Inter-Arts Office, however, will support one artist to participate in the Visual Arts and Media Residency Program at the Banff Centre, with applicants addressing the selection criteria and articulating the benefit of the residency to their arts practice and professional development.
Applicants are also required to submit a short project proposal, taking into account the facilities and resources available at Banff. Please note, short listed applicants will be required to submit a secondary project proposal, addressing the forthcoming 2008 Banff thematic.
The Inter-Arts Office invites you to nominate for our Peer Register (if you haven't already). This register is used by staff when we are selecting participating advisers for Inter-Arts Assessment Panel meetings. We also use it when selecting participants for other meetings to discuss policy issues or other matters affecting the field. For further information please see the Peer Register page on our website.
If you are not on the Peer Register we encourage you to consider nominating. You can now register your interest at Online Peers Nomination .
Inter-Arts is keen to have as wide a pool of peers as possible to draw from when we are putting together assessment panels. Joining the peer register yourself or encouraging other artists or individuals to join will help us ensure we have broad representation of arts expertise on our panels.
Join us at -empyre- http://www.subtle.net/empyre in August 2007 for:
*The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Being in Second Life *
when hostess Melinda Rackham is joined by special guests: Annabeth Robinson, Patrick Lichty, Stephan Doesinger, Dr Ricardo Peach Christy Dena, Kathy Cleland, Adam Nash and Dr Fabio Zambetta
Neal Stephenson's Metaverse reigns supreme. One of it's current incarnations- the multi-user virtual universe Second Life claims a population of 8 million avatars. SL is embraced by many as an innovative and safe fantasy scape - enabling play, creativity, education, companionship, love and lust. It is reviled by some as a cesspit of antisocial isolationist addictive behavior; and SL is dismissed by others as simply an over-inflated hype driven commercial venture expounding the values of property acquisition and commodity exchange. Whatever your perspective, SL is serious business with an exchange rate which fluctuates against the $US and an estimated Second Life avatar electricity consumption equivalent to the average citizen of Brazil. In this seemingly infinitely expandable universe aesthetic endeavors, creative constructions and artistic performances are enacted daily.
---> Annabeth Robinson (UK) is a Second Life Artist focusing on interactive and sound driven projects, Metaverse consultant and Sim builder, Lecturer - Design for Digital Media at Leeds College of Art and Design. aka AngryBeth Shortbread http://www.annamorphic.co.uk/
---> Patrick Lichty (US) is a technologically-based conceptual artist, writer,independent curator, co-founder of the Second Life based performance art group, Second Front, animator for the The Yes Men, and Executive Editor of Intelligent Agent Magazine. http://www.voyd.com/voyd/
---> Stephan Doesinger (Austria) is a conceptual artist and architect. His second book "Learning from Sim City," will be published in September. He initiated Bastard Spaces the 1st Annual Architecture and Design Competition in SL to be announced at Ars Elctronica. aka Doesi Beck http://www.doesinger.com/http://www.sl-award.com
---> Dr Ricardo Peach (AU) is the Program Manager for the Inter-Arts Office at the Australia Council for the Arts, which is funding a SL residency. Born in Volksrust, Mpumalanga in 1968, he and his family migrated to Perth, Australia in 1980. aka Ricardo Paravane http://www.ozco.gov.au/grants/grants_new_media_arts/second_life_artist_resid ency/
---> Christy Dena (AU) is researching changes to art and entertainment in the age of cross-media production for her PhD at the University of Sydney. Dena works as an industry strategist, mentor, educator and journalist. aka Lythe Witte http://www.christydena.com/http://www.lythewitte.net/
---> Dr Fabio Zambetta (AU) lectures at School of Computer Science and Information Technology at RMIT University Melbourne and researcher in the area of 3D embodied conversational agents, 3D virtual environments, and interactive storytelling. aka Fabio Forcella http://goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au/~fabio/projects/
---> Kathy Cleland (AU) is a writer, curator and lecturer in the Digital Cultures Program at The University of Sydney and is currently completing her PhD investigating avatars, digital portraiture and representations of the self in virtual environments. aka Bella Bouchard http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/digitalcultures/?page=staff&id=katclela
---> Adam Nash (AU) is a media artist, composer, programmer, performer and writer who works in networked real-time 3D spaces, exploring them as live audiovisual performance spaces. His work has been presented at SIGGRAPH, ISEA, and the Venice Biennale. aka Adam Ramona http://yamanakanash.net/
---> Dr Melinda Rackham (AU) is the Executive Director of ANAT - Australia's peak body for artists working with emerging technologies. Her Ph.D. explored the nature and construction of avatars and multi-user Virtual Reality Spaces. aka Marina Regina http://www.subtle.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join us at -empyre- http://www.subtle.net/empyre ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
**Pioneering Second Life artist to inspire Australian artists**
On 12 July, the Australia Council for the Arts, in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), will host its first ever artist forum in Second Life.
The in-world event, to be moderated by ABCs Sunday Arts reporter/producer Fenella Kernebone, is for the Australia Councils inaugural Second Life artist residency.
In an open forum at 7pm (EST) on ABC Island, Paris-based artist and architect Brad Kligerman - one of the first artists in Second Life to complete an in-world residency - will present his work, discuss ideas and answer participants questions.
Brad, an architect and teacher, completed his 11-week residency with US-based Ars Virtua <http://arsvirtua.com> a new media centre and gallery in Second Life, where he questioned the idea of materiality in the rendered environment and the nature of image.
Australia Council chief executive officer Kathy Keele said the partnership with the ABC was a great fit with the Australia Councils Second Life initiative. The ABC was the first Australian media organisation to establish a presence in Second Life and we are excited about working with them on this project.
We hope that Australian artists gain valuable insight from Brad Kligermans successful art interventions in Second Life and that they will be inspired to create innovative works in-world that will place them at the forefront of this groundbreaking practice, Kathy Keele said.
The Australia Council has also set up an artists' forum in Second Life for artists looking for other artists with whom to collaborate. The moderated artists forum can be found at ABC Island <http://slurl.com/secondlife/ABC%20Island/128/128/0/> and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) Island, Esperance <http://slurl.com/secondlife/Esperance/91/107/23/> (please note these Second Life URLs or SLURLs link to locations in Second Life).
Opened in February 2007, ABC Island explores new and different ways to present content to its audiences. As well as creating social spaces for Second Life visitors, the island showcases Australian talent and creativity in an innovative way.
Places for the 12 July Second Life event are limited. To register email slrsvp@ozco.gov.au with your Second Life Avatar name. The event will be streamed live at http:slcn.tv. A vodcast of the event will also be available on the ABC Sunday Arts website <http://abc.net.au/sundayarts> . Sunday Arts screens Sundays at 5.00pm.
The Australia Councils Second Life residency will enable a team of up to three artists, including a writer, musician/sound artist and digital visual media practitioner to collaborate on the development of inter-disciplinary artwork in Second Life. The project, which will take place online, will require the artists to explore the possibilities of literary, music/sound art and real time 3-D arts practices within the virtual realm.
The residency is open to Australian citizens and permanent residents. Applications close on 27 July 2007. For more information visit http://www.ozco.gov.au/rez
Documentaire De Toekomst door Jorien van Nes In 2020 zullen we een groot deel van onze tijd in de virtuele werelden van de online roleplaying games doorbrengen. In deze spellen worden vriendschappen gesloten en harten gebroken. In Droomwereld gaan Second Life spelers op zoek naar de werkelijkheid achter hun virtuele wereld. Kijk voor meer documentaires op http://www.hollanddoc.nl
SLOz is a site devoted to bringing an Aussie slant to the Second Life experience. Launched in November 2006, SLOz believes that Second Life at the very least may bring a new approach to internet-based interaction, and we want to cover the fun ride to be had along the way. http://www.sloz.com.au/
We’d like to hear from any SL members who have Australian-specific events to promote in-world, or even just a heads-up on something new and interesting happening. We cover business, health, education and anything in-between. Check our FAQ for specifics
The last hour of this saturdays edition of De Hoeksteen Live! will be dedicated to the famous multi player virtual world SECOND LIFE. If you would like your avatar or building, sim, or events to be live on two Amsterdam Public Access television channels A1 + A2, please contact SL resident Hoeksteen Leven or our cymeraman Ze Moo And please join the SL group: ´Amsterdam TV´ We can come to film at your SL-place with our virtual live-tv-crew!
You can show the internet-tv also on your SL-moviescreens! Livestream SL-land-URL:
rtsp://82.94.217.140:80/balieh264-320x240.mov.sdp (about 1000 kbps H.264/ Mpeg4) Like at Planetart´s land on Enschede (SLURL) slurl.com/secondlife/Enschede/27/227/23/
Or watch on the web by copy/pasting this url in your Quicktime player:
Check these SL snapshots on DeBalie.nl from april´s spontanious experiments with SL on TV + TV in SL. Has this already been done anywhere else in the world? Please let us know!
You only live TWICE The Rietveld Academy in Second Life
SUNDAY, June 10 at 21.00 hrs
Graphic Design students go second life with Conversations falling from the sky - Confessions of a submissive avatar - 'Der Lauf der Prims' - The evolution of a fashionable newbie - and much more ...
And, Edo Paulus aka Edo Autopoiesis premieres his new virtual sound installation 'Resonating-With-secondlifeWind'.
Rietveldstudents Unstable Media / Interaction Design are presenting and testing the alternative interfaces, they designed.
Location: Mediamatic, Post CS Building, ground floor, Amsterdam
You only live TWICE De Rietveld Academie in Second Life
ZONDAG 10 juni om 21.00 uur
Een gevarieerde avond waarop studenten grafisch ontwerpen in Second Life gaan met Conversations falling from the sky - Confessions of a submissive avatar - 'Der Lauf der Prims' - The evolution of a fashionable newbie - en meer ...
En de premiere van de nieuwe virtuele geluidsinstallatie 'Resonating-With-secondlifeWind' van Edo Paulus aka Autopoiesis.
http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-16945-nl.html
WOENSDAG 6 juni van 18.00 - 20.00 uur
Studenten Unstable Media / Interaction Design van de Rietveldacademie tonen en testen de alternatieve interfaces, die ze hebben ontworpen.
http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-17101-en.html
Locatie: Mediamatic, Post CS Gebouw, begane grond, Amsterdam
Edo Paulus alias Edo Autopoiesis vertelt over zijn ervaringen in Second Life en hij introduceert zijn nieuwe virtuele geluidsinstallatie "Resonating-With-secondlifeWind".
Studenten Interactie Ontwerp van de Rietveld Academie geven een voorproefje van de alternatieve interfaces die ze op 6 juni bij Mediamatic zullen gaan onderzoeken.
Annouk Post presenteert Yoi. Yoi staat voor hiphonest lifestyle, waarin 'trendsetter' en 'een betere wereld' samenkomen.
The Philosopher and Invisible Iva doen 'Pink Goat Initiator', een sound-word performance voor 2 dames.
http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-16978-nl.html
Locatie: Mediamatic, Post CS-gebouw, begane grond (zij-ingang), Oosterdokskade 5, Amsterdam
Salon Vert THURSDAY, may 31, 20.30 hrs
Edo Paulus aka Edo Autopoiesis will tell about his experience in Second Life and introduce his new virtual sound installation "Resonating-With-secondlifeWind".
Students Interaction Design at the Rietveld Academy will give a preview of the alternative interfaces they will explore further on June 6 at Mediamatic.
Annouk Post will present Yoi. Yoi stands for hiphonest lifestyle, a combination of 'trendsetters' and 'a better world'.
The Philosopher and Invisible Iva will show 'Pink Goat Initiator', a sound-word performance for 2 ladies.
