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2008-2010 Nr.1
josina burgess nazz lane velazquez bonetto metaverse art 2008-2010 Nr.1 This e-book dedicated to Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) metaverse art A publication of the Artspace Diabolus Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) 2010 copyrights: Artspace Diabolus Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) 2010 Josina Burgess aka. Jose den Burger (Amsterdam Holland) Nazz Lane (USA) Velazquez Bonetto aka. László Ördögh Diabolus (Stuttgart Germany) forward: DanCoyote Antonelli aka DC Spensley (USA) Metaverse snapshots: Helfe Ihnen Igor Ballyhoo Josina Burgess MillaMilla Noel Tyrhel Byk Alizarin Goldflake Chrom Underwood Velazquez Bonetto All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in a form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the copyright owners. This publication includes some words which have or are asserted to have proprietary status as trademarks or otherwise. Their inclusion does not imply that they have acquired for a legal purposes a non-proprietary or general significance nor any other judgement concerning their legal status. 5 6 metaverse art Haico Hax second artifical life - arena 2008 metaverse art josina burgess nazz lane velazquez bonetto 7 metaverse art 8 metaverse art Josina Burgess Hyperformal metaverse art ARTISTS: Adam Ramona Abstract Baroque Ak Yip Al Hoffman Alan Sondheim Alizarin Goldflake AM Radio Amarynth Emmons Anita Fontaine Anu Papp Arcana Jasnma Ariella Languish Artistide Despres Avatara Alchemi Bingo Onomatopoeia Bennet Dunkley Bryn Oh Caravaggio Bonetto Calimera Lane Carly Frequency Chantal Harvey Chen Pitney Chi5 Shenzou Cinega Soon CodeWarrior Carling Comet Morigi Cristian Rexie Christo Kayo Chrom Underwood Cypress Rosewood Dale Innis DanCoyote Antonelli Darcy Mokeev DB Bailey Debbie Trilling Dekka Raymaker Del May Diavolina Kirax DeNovo Broome Deruub Pastorelli Eden Toll Eeyore Ogg Eifachfilm Vacirca Elfod Nemeth Em Larsson Eros Boa Evaluna Sperber Evo Szuyuan Fau Ferdinand Feathers Boa Four Yip FreeWee Ling Frieda Korda Flower Exonar Gazira Babelli George Janick Gleman Jun Gumnosophistai Nurmi Humming Pera Haico Hax Helfe Ihnen Ida Abbey Igor Ballyhoo Jack Shoreland Jenaia Morane Joff Fassnacht Josina Burgess Juanita Deharo junivers Stockholm Juria Yoshikawa Karl Merlyn Kolor Fall Kourosh Eusebio Lamosca Velde Lion Igaly Lollito Larkham Loup Erin Lucian Iwish Luce Laval Man Michinaga Magdeleine Rossini Man Michinaga Marion Rickenbacker Marly Milena Marco Manray Maxxo Klaar Medora Chevalier Mencius Watts Merlino Mayo Morris Vig Myth Guyot MillaMilla Noel Miso Susanowa Misprint Thursday Miulew Takahe MosHax Max Myth Guyot Nazz Lane Nicci Lane Nicolas Sack nnoiz Papp Nonnatus Korhonen Patrick Millard Patric MOYA Penelope Parx Pixels Sideway Rose Borchovski Sabrinaa Nightfire Sanam Sewell Sandree Aurbierre Sarima Giha Sasun Steinbeck SaveMe Oh Sca Shilova Selavy Oh Sennaspirit Coronet shellina Winkler Solkide Auer Sisi Biedermann Sicily Zapatero Sowa Mai Stephen Wenkmann Sunn Thunders Therese Carfagno Thess Writer Tim Deschanel Tyrehl Byk Velazquez Bonetto Werner Kurosawa Wirxli Flimflam ART GROUPS: Avatar Orchestra Caelreon Cetus Diabolus/CARP Museo del Metaverso Odysseyart Pirats Second Front PROMOTERS: Angeline Blachere Desideria Stockton Cher Harrington Cyanide Seelowe Jilly Kidd Joy Ash Inarra Saarinen ItsNaughtKnotty Cannned Katie Reve Lauren Canetti Nebulosus Severine Preciousse Moody Slim Warrior Thinkerer Melville Tommy Parrott Tricia Aferdita Upo Choche Xander Ruttan Yavanna Llanfair AUDIENCE: Artfox Daviau Calimera Lane Chestnut Rau Clovis Luik Dublin Rodenberger Frutti Freschi Kitterannae Hifeng noname Oona Pinion Penelope Parx Prissy Price Rowan Derryth Siss Criss Tayzia Abattoir Theo Finney Thirza Ember Uva Oxide Vicky Dixon Vive Voom Wendy Swenson 9 10 metaverse art Picture : Frieda Korda metaverse art that does not infer any content, while the word “place” infers some kind of shared social location. This social location is also referred to as the “Metaverse” used for a shared art experience is the focus of this book, hence the name “Metaverse Art”. forward DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley According to Wikipedia, “TELEPRESENCE is a set of technologies that allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance that they were present, or have an effect, at a location other than their true location”. This is as true for the telephone as it is for the virtual world of Second Life. Virtual worlds are simulated space that becomes a place when we experience it together in mutual, simultaneous telepresence. This is just like the shared space that can happen when you talk to a loved one on the telephone on the other side of the world, or the other side of town. The distance between people is defeated by technology used to create a third space, a place that is not here, not there, but shared a shared conceptual location. This new location is “live”. The distinction being made here is that the word “space” is intended as a more neutral term What makes Metaverse Art interesting and important? One way to look at this is to compare historically dominant media by saying “Radio is to TV as TV is to Virtual Worlds. This means that TV has superseded radio just as virtual worlds are presently superseding TV. The distinction between radio and TV is quite apparent, in that TV added cinema to the radio experience bringing the moving picture into common consumption. The distinctions between TV and virtual worlds are less obvious to a culture still deeply enamored of the medium of television and while both television and virtual worlds are both experienced on a flat visual display, conceptually they are very different. Television and cinema are single point perspective, communal, asymmetrical mediums. This means that the viewer of television gets only one view of a scene and that this scene is shared by everyone who watches a program. What is perhaps even more important is that TV is an asymmetrical medium, meaning that the makers of the programming are empowered to express their voice, while the viewer is expected only to participate as a passive recipient of the ideas presented by the program’s creators. Virtual worlds break from the asymmetrical model and present the possibility of symmetrical (social) communication between people. Virtual worlds present the participant with the potential to experience ANY perspective to a scene and individually configure the means of presentation of this perspective. What this means is that while TV was “one size fits all” for all viewers and communal, VWs are individual and con- 11 12 metaverse art metaverse art figurable, while TV is single point perspective, VWs present the participant with the means to pick their own viewpoint and literally intervene in a scene. This ability of the viewer to intervene/interact is a critically important aspect of virtual worlds and means that they are inherently social and performative. This social quality combined with network transportability provides a foundation for unique and international expressions of community. Social media has freed community from geography and the virtual worlds provide a metaphorical common space for new concentrations of communities such as the arts, performance and music communities that thrive presently in Second Life. In any space communities form from affinity, proximity and shared language. In material space, physical proximity is a factor that limits the size and therefore the critical mass of some communities. The virtual community can aggregate from nearly any physical location over the network and provides new opportunities for concentrations of affinity groups that otherwise might not be possible. This book is about one of these groups, an international cadre of artists practicing in a shared social space that supersedes geographic limitations and sets the stage for an unprecedented flowering of the arts. In the past, centers like Paris, Vienna, New York etc. have been host to the major art historical milestones, to movements that changed the very fabric of culture. The shared virtual space for art is no less than revolutionary in that it creates a conceptual location for the next wave of art movements, a place that supersedes linguistic and national borders and points to a new Alter-Modern culture. This is the culture of confluence, hybridity and syncretism. Picture 2: DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley Picture 1: DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley Picture 3: DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley 13 14 metaverse art Picture 4: cinetic installation by DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley in CARP metaverse art exhibition metaverse art 15 16 metaverse art Picture 5: cinetic installation by DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley in CARP metaverse art exhibition metaverse art 17 18 metaverse art Picture 6-7: opening video show by DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley in CARP metaverse art exhibition metaverse art 19 20 metaverse art Picture 8: opening show by DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley in CARP metaverse art exhibition metaverse art 21 22 metaverse art Picture 9: cinetic installation by DanCoyote Antonelli aka. DC Spensley in CARP metaverse art exhibition metaverse art important question of “why they were doing it”. An Introduction to Metaverse Art by Nazz Lane The idea for this book had germinated from a three part article titled “The Arts in Second Life”, which I’d published just over two years ago. The scope of that effort had been limited, due primarily with my limited knowledge of the art scene and that age old question of “what is art”, and especially “what is art in the metaverse”. With regards to answering either of those questions, I left it up to the readers to discern and decided to include as many of the artists from the visual, performance and literary arts fields that I could identify. Then with a scope established, I performed a search of groups and initiated contact with as many as I could in order to take a snapshot in time. I’d limited it also in drawing up a set of survey questions, which were intended to capture the elements of who was doing what and when. I’d neglected asking the much more Since publishing that series, I’ve drawn much pleasure in meeting many talented people in the arts communities; viewing their creations, watching their performances, the reading of prose and poetry and in writing about them for several different metaverse publications. And it was shortly after that initial publication when I met my collaborators for this book, Velazquez Bonetto and Josina Burgess, co-founders of the Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP). Vela and Josi are both well known as artists in their own right and as leaders of the group “Art Space Diabolus”, they are promoters of the arts in all forms and in multiple contexts. It was with the end of 2009 approaching and my somewhat more comfortable knowledge of who was doing what in the arts, that I first approached Vela and Josi with an idea of revisiting the survey to incorporate a much broader field of participants. It was in our initial discussions and analysis of that first endeavor where we decided to move away from a survey which focused on, “the trends and events whether past, present or future” and instead ask a set of questions that focused on, “the creation and cognitive process”. With that idea firmly planted and nurtured through discussion and analysis of the “Cognitive Aesthetic”, which is explored in more detail by Vela in the following section, we established categories to describe the forms of Metaverse Art and a methodology for conducting the survey. The taxonomy follows: 23 24 metaverse art metaverse art Metaverse Creation Process as Expression Form Taxonomy: Literature Poetry Inland sound objects Collaborative inland sound productions Soundtrack creation 2D Metaverse snapshot and picture manipulation Machinima, video kaleidoscope Online broadcasting 3D Static virtual space objects, installations Costume and avatar design Virtual architecture Virtual landscape Picture 2: Alien glow by MillaMilla Noel 4D Avatar animation Kinetic virtual time-space artworks Virtual art large scale complex Cybernetic virtual time-space artworks www.collaborative virtual time-space artworks Virtual performance Virtual theatre Immersive 4d Cinema Combinations of the different expression forms on the borderline of the art and science (Manax synesthesia theatre, Emoticon Graph theory orchestra With questions drawn, survey respondents indenti- Picture 1: Therese Carfango Picture 3: VJAZZ by Josina Burgess & Velazquez Bonetto 25 26 metaverse art It is our hope that you enjoy this book. fied and the distribution and collection process began. The list of those who replied is varied and long, with slightly over seventy respondents, we believe the results establishes a framework for those who may chose to follow, in assessing this nascent foray of humanity into the metaverse as they explore their place in it through the visual, performance and literary arts. I would like to extend a special thank you to all the respondents for taking the time from their daily pursuits to reflect and explain themselves to us and to posterity. Josina Burgess Nazz Lane Velazquez Bonetto I’d also like to thank DC Spensley for writing the forward to this book. In his characterization of the metaverse, he makes note of a theme, one of community. It is a significant aspect of the metaverse experience, this sense of community. I’d be remiss in not noting the contributions of groups like Caerleon, Odyssey, Pirats, Avalon, Artropolis and the many others who create and use the metaverse to express themselves. In my closing to that first series, I’d quoted something from Kurt Vonnegut’s “A Man Without a Country”. “Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do something. We are on earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.” In fairness to Mr. Vonnegut, that had been written well before the birth of Second Life and of virtual worlds. In my commentary to his quote, I wrote the following: “I believe that those surveyed for this and previous editions of ‘The Arts in Second Life’ would disagree as each has built a community in this electronic metaverse of second life. All are remarkable and every day they get up and go out to do something for us and themselves. And it is something.” Picture 4: Pirats art trush tower metaverse art 27 28 metaverse art Picture 5: Frieda Korda & Maxxo Klaar diabolus-CARP camera obscura 13 metaverse art representations (e.g. music, painting), demonstrating no direct benefit to sustain life. Cognitive Aesthetic Velazquez Bonetto aka. László Ördögh Diabolus 1. A Short Historical Overview Art is by origin a religious phenomenon, which developed simultaneously or in connection with prehistoric cults or religions, with both painting and sculpture, as well as music and dance having already made an appearance in the Paleolithic Age. One of the earliest examples of art includes the nearly 40,000-year-old ivory figures from the Lone Valley, Chauvet, and the cave paintings of the Lascau. Historically, humans developed the arts as part of their contribution to the physical organization of cults and rituals. In the early days of human development the emergence of art is one of several indicators for the formation of consciousness and thinking. Art means in this context, operations or From the early to the late ancient cultures of Egypt’s Old Kingdom through the late Classical Greece to Rome, we have received a wealth of art: architecture, sculptures, frescoes and miniature. That they are referred to as such is an anachronism, because at the time of their creation, painting and sculpture were not as art but as a craft, its products, as products of crafts, but not artists. The theater was already well developed and respected, but essentially part of cultic acts. “Artes Mechanicae” or the practical arts; were known in the ancient, medieval and renaissance times as skills that served the immediate livelihood. In the monasteries the appreciation of manual labor was first propagated in the 12th Century with the “official” confirmation of the liberal arts analogy, seven mechanical arts were compared. In the writings of Hugh of St. Victor, head of a convent school in Paris, the individual crafts were; smithing weapons, trade, stonemason and architecture, marine, hunting, medicine, and the art of acting. The artes mechanicae were considered to be against the “Septem Artes Liberales” (seven free arts) as inferior. While it was necessary for the exercise or the study of artes liberales, a “free man to be” could not exercise these practical arts. As for slaves, it was therefore impossible to study the artes liberales, only because these were for the free. These artes mechanicae were held to be lower in social standing than the artes liberals and as activities of the unfree were held in an even less prestige than that of the outdoors (such as the artisans) in the artes mechanicae. 29 30 metaverse art metaverse art 31 Even in ancient Greece, there are statements that look disdainfully at these practical activities. In his Politics, Aristotle makes his disdain for the craft free path; “the craftsmen often neglected their work and required debauchery ‘virtue’ as it needs the slave, only insofar as they share in the slave labor, namely, the position the craftsman is that of a limited slavery (Pol. I, 13), and therefore he was not a citizen (Pol. III, 5, VII, 9). (In the year 317 BC Attica was one of a slave population of 400,000 compared with 21,000 free citizens.) The seven artes liberales (liberalia studia) are ancient in the canon of seven academic subjects. From the artes liberales which has traditionally been the basis of education befitting a free man, the seven were first attested to in late antiquity. In the medieval teaching organization, they were seen as preparation for the study subjects theology, law and medicine. To Trivium included: 1. Grammar: Latin grammar and its application to the works of the classical school writers 2. Rhetoric: parts of speech and style of teaching, also with examples from the school writers 3. Dialectic or logic, reasoning and evidence on the basis of the Organon To Quadrivium included: Picture 1: The Seven artes liberales “Hortus Deliciarum” by Herrad von Landsberg (1180) Picture 2: Seven liberal arts. Tübingen house-register (Tübinger Hausbuch). The library of University Tübingen. From left to right: Geometry, Logic, Arithmetic, Grammar (in center), Music, Physics (instead of Astronomy), Rhetoric. (wikipedia) 32 metaverse art 1. Arithmetic: number theory (concept of number, number of species, number relationships) and also a practical calculation 2. Geometry: Euclidean geometry, geography 3. Music: music theory and scales, among other things as the basis of church 4. Astronomy: The study of the spheres, the celestial bodies and their movements, including astrology (the impact on the sub-lunar sphere, and the people) Picture 3: Allegory of the Seven Liberal Arts Marten de Vos 1590 Oil on oak panel, 147 x 200 cm Picture 4: Immanuel Kant The importance of visual art and the artist’s work changed in the modern era with the transition to a civil society where works had often been created on behalf of the church and nobility. It grew with an educated art collector, a new “Rezipiententyp” and since the Enlightenment has become what we mean as art, especially as the expressions of Fine Arts. In the second half of the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th Century, the educated classes began; painting, creating sculpture, architecture, literature and music as art in the modern sense of the word, and to discuss it based on aesthetics to qualify it as a category of art. There were the Visual Arts with the classical genres of painting and graphic art, sculpture, architecture, and several small forms, and since 19th century. The Arts or Applied Arts said to be border area of crafts; Performing Arts with the main divisions of theater, dance and film art, then music, with the main vocal lines and instrumental music, and literature with the major genres epic, drama and poetry. The Enlightenment prepared the concept of the Modern Art that had been liberated at the end of the Middle Ages, the artist and the autonomous subject, became emancipated at the end of feudalism, the Baroque work of art itself and became metaverse art autonomous. In the age of machinery, the division of labor and automation was changing the status of artisanal activity in the arts. Art does not exist anymore in functional categories, but only out of itself, becomes L’art pour l’art. Expressions and techniques of art have expanded considerably since the beginning of modernity, as with photography in the fine arts. In the performing arts, music and literature can be today, added also expressions of new media such as radio, television and the internet. The traditional classification will lose at least since the last decades of the 20th Century with the search for the generalized and globalised art in importance. Art forms such as the installation or range of media to know the basic, classical division anymore. The concept of artistic avant-garde is outdated for the emerging since the beginning of postmodern art, as there may be in open societies and cultures no universally direction for a pioneer. Therefore, the term “contemporary art” used to describe artistic works, or for acts that make in the presence of something so noticeable that they contribute cultural significance to the future. In this sense, freedom and contemporary art seems to ignore all the conditions, rules and academic classification, all art styles, art disciplines and cultural boundaries, while simultaneously taking the liberty they ever reflect for artistic needs, creation and use. Such art represents a system of art that has emerged is similar to the system science in the course of industrialization. Contemporary Art as a global and cross-cultural functioning system combines the origins in different cultures, art history on the theoretical foundations of art, which for the Western art tradition of ancient philosophy as a historical basis is especially important. Also contemporary art may be traditional lines, show through, Picture 5: internet POP-art Picture 6: internet POP-art 33 34 metaverse art such as painting, sculpture, dance, music, theater, etc., however, it is distinguished precisely by its theming in question types, overcome, expansion, inter-disciplinary integration and irony. Today, photography and performance are in addition to painting and theater, while the media arts situate itself in any case as it is both a media and relevant. Picture 7: Avatar, virtual reality scenario 2002 Diabolus The word: “Cyberspace“ is known now as an art word, it is born from the word “Cyber“ (a short form from the English word “Cybernetic“ that again comes from the Greek word “Kybernetike“; “The art of navigate“ and the word “Space“. (Wikipedia) On the world famous Macy-Conferences in the years 1946 till 1953 Cybernetic was something of high interest. Well known and famous scientists as Alan Turing, John von Neumann and Heinz von Foerster started here from scratch the modern computer techniques and the program-architecture, which today the basics for Cyberspace. The real Cyberspace was opened by Second Life. So you speak of web 3-D or so called Metaverse. The Metaverse’s are Internet-based virtual time space-infrastructures. The miracle that we are experiencing today: the Cyberspace, the dematerialized virtual time-space, the worldwide webbed society. Where we “surf around” with lights peed. An artist that is NOT using this virtual universe as a challenge and a goal doesn’t deserve the name “Avant Garde“. 2. Aesthetics The traditional normative aesthetics assume that there are universal and timeless criteria for the taste full evaluation of artworks. In ancient Greece, in close conjunction with the aesthetics of a great blooming of art, it developed to a climax with special effects until recent times. This essentially Greek mythology shared with its humanized images of the deities and the development of science, especially Picture 8: Aristhoteles metaverse art mathematics. Their discoveries were partly processed directly in the art (such as the theory of proportion) under construction; they also share a high degree of theoretical penetration of the applicable scientific aesthetic considerations. The concept of aesthetics (in Greece) was used for the first time as a sensoric perception in the 18th Century by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten in the context of a philosophical treatment. Baumgarten is therefore often regarded as the founder of the “Philosophical Aesthetics”, although even in the ancient, philosophers like Plato and Aristotle dealt with the issue. The metaphysical aesthetics of German idealism (romanticism) has been criticized as a prescribed aesthetics that time does no longer justify. From this critical attitude two streams were developed: psychological aesthetics and art history (Fiedler). Gustav Theodor Fechner in the 19th Century differentiated between the aesthetics and the aesthetics from below from above. The aesthetics of the top are the “belles” aesthetics of traditional philosophy and literature, aesthetics seen almost exclusively in connection with art. The beauty of landscapes, artifacts or scientific theories have been excluded or at best dismissed as a marginal aspect. The aesthetics from below, in contrast, seeks an empirical basis. They did not reduce the aesthetics of art, but are regarded as an everyday “Schönheitserleben” (experience of beauty) psychological phenomenon that is found in experiments (so-called experimental aesthetics investigations). The term refers to a formalism of art-historical method of interpreting a work of art. The value of the work lies in the autonomy of form. The formalistic approach of art emphasized qualities such as Picture 9: Cypress Rosewood 35 36 metaverse art composition, color, line and texture. Substantive aspects and relationships such as subject, history of the work, historical context and biography of the artist, are secondary and are not treated. The formalists, as the main representative Henry Woelfflin and Alois Riegl, thought a comparative analysis of style, “exempt from personal evaluation and solve the hermeneutical problem of art history by virtue”. The formalist ideas of the 19th Century of Modern Painting served as an impulse to unfold more freely, and the aesthetics of form and structure to concentrate. Wölfflin (1864-1945), aimed with the need to give a firm basis of art history, a comparative analysis of form and style of history. This should be free of personal value judgments. The question of what makes it possible to recognize a style that was for Wölfflin in the visual appearance of art (form), and human perception. According to the psychology of perception, which was founded in Wölfflin’s time, humans determined their own sensory performance of the institutions, the optical perception. Wölfflin transferred the history of seeing the form and style, thus development and the perception of a newborn to adult unfolds in stages, it would be governed by Wölfflin develop the form. Wölfflin initially differed in different styles to distinguish his employment field: * Individual style (subjective vision and temperament of an artist’s individual style of painting-related) * Group-style (common design language of a school, a country, cultural group) * Time (Style parent, ‘pure’ form language) Picture 10: Vienna Albertina metaverse art Clement Greenberg (1909-1994), one of the most influential American art critics of the 20th Century, always sought an assessment of art, which should only be based on direct perception. He thus shares the formalist assumption. He focused primarily on materials and techniques that were used in the creation of an artwork. From his interest in the form of his special appreciation grows of modernist painting, which he founded in the same essay from 1960. In the process of self-criticism, the characteristic of modernist painting, the painting represents the problems that arise from their own medium, and thus maintained their autonomy and self-determination among the arts. The specificity of the medium of painting lies in the inevitable flatness. Above all, abstract paintings were down for Greenberg no illusion of space and show only the “reality”, the distribution of colors on the image surface (“Art for Art”). Disappointed with the artistic impacts of his program, the radical discarding all unnecessary, he turned away from the self-criticism and called for the assessment of art according to their quality. This quality in turn could be assessed only on the basis of the visual, so the formal properties of art. Picture 11: Rothko Gray-Black Since the 20th Century, there are various attempts to explore beauty and aesthetics with scientific methods. This includes, for example, the aesthetics of information from the second half of the 20th Century, which eventually produced the cognitive aesthetics. Science suggests that direct and hold the information processing in our brain for the decisive factor that is the determination as to the beauty of an object. Beautiful objects are, therefore, with some - but not too big - complexity that stimulate the brain and stimulate them to pattern formation, but not overwhelming. The evolutionary aesthetics, in turn, tried to explain Picture 12: Magneto-Resonance-Tomography 37 38 metaverse art evolution-psychological preferences for certain colors, shapes, landscapes or faces. What was good for our ancestors, so the assumption has to be programmed into our genetic predilection. Neuroscientific studies are attempting to find out what happens in the brain when we find something beautiful. Previous studies clearly indicate that there is not an isolated “beauty center” in the brain are, but that different brain areas are involved in ascertaining the beauty of an object. These include in particular those regions that belong to the socalled “reward system”, as the nucleus accumbens and the orbitofrontal cortex, evolutionarily younger, generally in the decision-making and judgmentmaking and play an important role. Scientists from various disciplines attempt to merge these neuroscientific findings with artistic experiences (neuroaesthetics). Picture 13: Akademy of Fine Art Vienna Atelier The XX. Century had had an important task: to explain the assumptions classifications rules and agreements void. In this context, we are 2 very important messages to permanently influence the development of art. Marcel Duchamp: everything is art, everything depends on the context. (Relativity, museum and gallery context, white box) Joseph Beuss: all people are artists (democratization of creativity) 3. Cognitive Aesthetics 3.1. The Attention Picture 14: Akademy of Fine Art Vienna Atelier Attention is the allocation of (limited) resources on conscious awareness of content, for example, on perceptions of the environment or one’s own be- metaverse art havior and actions, and thoughts and feelings. As a measure of the intensity and duration of attention is the concentration (Bleuler 1916/1983). The apparent opposite, the lack of attention usually refers to the finding of an interlocutor, or teacher, that the attention of his partner is no longer on the required job. Attention is directed to the occurrence of certain events, called vigilance. The brain has a limited processing capacity, it can handle not many stimuli. Therefore, it needs to select which information to the organism are important and must be considered carefully and which information will be less relevant and therefore can be hidden. Some stimuli automatically attract attention (like a pop), on the other, attention would be intentionally controlled. If information is not given within five seconds of attention, they will be lost (see for ultra-short-term sensory memory). The process of attention allocation is characterized by this grant (orientation) and selection (selectivity) of the objects and the related lack of attention to other objects. The affection is characterized by increased alertness and activation, whereas the selectivity has the function of a filter to separate important and unimportant information from each other. Be classified by the brain as relevant and foremost danger signals, also unknown. Thus the one hand, novel stimuli with careful attention (orientation reaction) curiosity. Picture 15: we do all for the attention On the other hand, the attention to emotionally documented information, which is an indirect marker for the importance for the organism. More emotive the perception is, the easier it is for us to turn our attention to it. Needs, interests, attitudes and behavior will therefore play in the formation and distribution of attention a major role. 3.2 Economy of the attention: Georg Franck Out of Picture 16: Christiansen promi Talk-Show 39 40 metaverse art money and information to the attention economy 3.2.1 Attraction economics “It is no longer sufficient to be merely rich”. Who wants to be somebody must already be a bit prominent. That is, he must refer to another, intangible income. Money alone has become something ordinary. The inflation of material wealth, while deepening the divide between rich and poor missed the naked money an almost ordinary train. Where more and more people can afford the trappings of material wealth, and one must look about the desire for distinction for attributes that are more selective than high cash income. According to the law of nationalization of former luxuries these attributes under the privileges of the respective elites are still recognizable to search. The common denominator is the prominence of today’s elite. Picture 17: to be attractive The pursuit of material wealth is to remain true as the primary motive of economic action. But even those who imagine themselves behind nothing but the money come to be, have, in fact any other income in mind. They have by no means intended to spend the money only for culinary feast and physical comfort. They need the money to make an impression on their fellow human beings. The money gives them the possibility of ostentatious consumption. The ostentatious consumption is the development and maintenance of the role played by their own person in a different consciousness. The size of the role that plays in another person’s own consciousness is another term for the amount of income in respect fellowmen. The prominence is the class of these income earners. They are the basic needs of the body, once satisfied, then focuses on the role that plays in another person’s own consciousness into the center of life content. The reason is then that the self-esteem is more important than the physical well-being. Only in the metaverse art mirror of the other consciousness, we get to know our self. Only in the esteem in which we learn from others, we learn what we may think of ourselves. The reception of appreciation is always associated with that of attention. Because our self-esteem so eminently depends on the appreciation that we receive from others is to ensure there was already an order of self-esteem, respect for this rich intangible income. Also for this intangible income, economic theory has no idea. The quest for fellowmen attention and the growing importance they play in the tendons and aspirations of the people is now crucial for the process that we experience as an economic rationalization of more and more areas of life. More and more people namely, take off the habit, just waiting for that attention is the part of those to which they respect themselves. More and more people take the initiative; even directly do business in order to maximize their income to attention. A science that takes this trend seriously, risks, perhaps the most important train stop by the dematerialization of the economic process. So different because of physical and mental work, not only by being psychological rather than physical energy and costs of intellectual rather than physical capital handled. It also differs in the fact that in addition to pay in cash that counts in attention. Because it means in compliance with the masses, is the presence in the mass media that is so attractive, because it offers unprecedented opportunities for the enrichment of attention, pushing everything that is moved by a higher ambition, into television and because the income has to respect a charm that makes the income of the money behind him, exploding as well as the information on the internet. Because the business is now operated the attraction with professionalism and a technical effort, inferior to those of money-making no longer, we will be inundated with torrential information. Not only the scope of intellectual production and the attrac- Picture 18: Attention for ever 41 42 metaverse art tion to specifically released, targeted information is published and marketed aggressively grown on a gigantic scale. The growth rates of both are the material production in the shade. The increase in publicized, information competing for attention, but there is a limited organic revenue and nearly constant over attentive to energy. This energy is in the form in which we ourselves have it, barely. She is in the form of the donation that we receive from others, desires. Your economizing in these two forms is a scarce resource and as a sought-income, with a spurt of economic rationalization of areas of life connected, which is only comparable with that industrialization brought with it once. In it, the main impetus of the progressive commoditization of the social process, and together make one part of the dematerialization of the economic process on the other. 3.2.2 The new currency “Is there a concept that summarizes the scarce energy in information processing and the coveted income deprivation? Is there a measure that both the attention that we exchange interpersonally, as well as measuring the economic value of the news?” There’s this term and there is this degree. The key word is already fallen. It means attention. Attention is the scarcest resource of information processing. Picture 3: Luigi Collani exhibition Airport Stuttgart 2007 Attention is to make the donation as we exchange with each other. Attention is the currency of the intangible income. The attention that it finds is the measure of the usefulness of the information. We need attention to everything that we want to consciously experience. Attention, we can also use for literally everything possible. It is superior in this global and universal availability requirement of the money not only equal, but. As money is a chronic shortage attention as soon as the offer goes to uses of the possibilities of its realization. In contrast metaverse art to money supply, total energy is attentive but not multiplied. The revenue increases with the number of beings who are aware of “da”. (The revenue per capita respectively) per beings as consciousness is almost constant. With the growth of its uses the proceeds to grow into the role of attention in the rationing agent. The attention then rationed, rationed the possibilities of experiencing how the money, the material possibilities of life. An adventure in itself interesting and exciting growth BE MADE, the charming and obtrusive use of the available options can be a bottleneck attention with inevitability. In the case of the purchasing power of money can grow with the offer. In the case of attention, it comes eventually to the point at which begins the organic act restricting the supply, more selective than the available money. For a large and rapidly growing number of people, the available attention the realizable sensation possibilities cut sharply from the realm of physically possible as the available money. It may even be a bad criterion for fixing the age threshold between the industrial and the information age that has many of the significant majority of these. Competition could get through that this criterion is indeed different, that the income of attention was more important than the money.” Picture 2: the cognitive mastering The money has only quantitative aspects. The attention as new currency has primary qualitative aspects. 3.3. Cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of how information is represented and transformed in the brain. It consists of multiple research disciplines, including psychology, artificial intelligence, Picture 3: the sencoric and motoric cortex 43 44 metaverse art philosophy, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and education. [1] It spans many levels of analysis, from low-level learning and decision mechanisms to high-level logic and planning; from neural circuitry to modular brain organization. The term cognitive science was coined by Christopher Longuet-Higgins in his 1973 commentary on the Lighthill report, which concerned the then-current state of Artificial Intelligence research. (Wikipedia) Picture 2: Hyperformal Josina Burgess Picture 3: prefrontal cortext activity Cognition (Latin cognoscere, “to know, learn, get to know”) is the behavior-of a subsystem (for more advanced organisms, the brain) exported information transformation. Cognition is a term used inconsistently, with reference to the information processing of people and will respect other systems. It is often meant by “cognitive” thinking in a broad sense. Although many cognitive processes are conscious of the people, “cognition” and “awareness” is not the same meaning. Thus, certain processes in humans can be unconsciously and yet cognitively, an example of this is the unconscious learning. metaverse art Among the cognitive abilities of humans include, for example, attention, memory, learning, creativity, planning, student guidance, imagination, reasoning, introspection, and the will, belief and some more. Cognitive skills are of various sciences, studied how psychiatry, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience and artificial intelligence. The scientific study of cognition is subsumed under the concept of cognitive science. In psychology, cognition refers to mental processes and structures of an individual such as thoughts, opinions, attitudes, desires, and intentions. Cognitions can be understood as information processing, learning new things and where knowledge is processed, see the thinking and problem-solving. Cognitions include what individuals think about themselves, their (social) environment, and its past, present and future. Cognitions can influence emotions (feelings) and / or be affected by it. Picture 2: brain activity detection MR 3.4 Borders of the human cognitive performance “the basic Design of the human Brain” shows some weaknesses in cognitive performance : • perception (sensory) - Not all the information available to be used, but heavily filtered, integrated and changed in many other ways before they come into the consciousness. • Thinking - Working memory, in which there is the mental manipulation of information, has a very small capacity. • Learning - Information stored in long-term memory information is often well in advance (for example) with expectations that change as well as ex post (e.g. through information below). • Remember - the long-term memory “really” are not commonly available existing information, the Picture 3: cognition-creation modell 45 46 metaverse art metaverse art so-called retrieval problem. • Motivation and concentration - fatigue, apathy, distractibility, etc., can affect cognitive performance. 3.5. The communication aspect: Art is communication Watzlawick, P., Beavin-Bavelas, J., Jackson, D. 1967. Some Tentative Axioms of Communication. In Pragmatics of Human Communication - A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. W. W. Norton, New York. Axiom 1 (you cannot not communicate) “One cannot not communicate.” Because every behavior is a kind of communication, people who are aware of each other are constantly communicating. Any perceivable behavior, including the absence of action, has the potential to be interpreted by other people as having some meaning. Axiom 2 (content & relationship) “Every communication has a content and relationship aspect such that the latter classifies the former and is therefore a meta-communication.” Each person responds to the content of communication in the context of the relationship between the communicators. [2] The word meta-communication is used in various ways (and therefore not at all, by me) but Watzlawick uses it to mean the exchange of information about how to interpret other information. Just as the interpretation of the words “What an idiot you are” could be influenced by the following words “Just kidding”, it could also be influenced by the relationship between the communicators. In the example given, the word “idiot” might be accepted quite happily from a close friend, but convey an entirely different meaning in other circumstances. Axiom 3 (punctuation) “The nature of a relationship is dependent on the punctuation of the partners’ communication procedures.” In many cases, communication involves a veritable maelstrom of messages flying in all directions. This applies especially to the non-verbal messages. The “punctuation” referred to is the process of organizing groups of messages into meanings. This is analogous to the punctuation of written language. In either case, the punctuation can sometimes alter the meaning considerably. For example, consider the occurrence of an angry response after an interruption, the latter having followed a suggested course of action. This might be interpreted as anger at the suggested course of action, if the interruption was “punctuated out” of the sequence, so that the suggestion and the anger were effectively grouped together as a tight sequence. However, if the receiver punctuated the information so that the interruption and the anger formed a tight sequence, it might be interpreted as anger at the interruption. Axiom 4 (digital & analogic) “Human communication involves both digital and analogic modalities.” This one needs a bit of translating! The term “digital”, which today usually refers either to numbers, computers or fingers, is used in this axiom to refer to discrete, defined elements of communication. These are usually words, but very specific gestures with generally agreed meanings would also qualify. 47 48 metaverse art The term “analogic” also needs some translation. It is a variant of analogical, the adjective derived from analogy. It therefore refers to a correspondence, in certain respects, between things which are otherwise different. In this case, it describes a type of communication in which the representation to some extent evokes the thing to which it refers. For example, shaking a fist in front of a person’s face would evoke the idea of violence. What else needs translating? Oh yes, “modalities”. As mentioned in Appendix 1, the word “modality” is used in very many different ways. In this case, I think Watzlawick is using modalities in the sense of types or sorts of information transfer. Axiom 5 (symmetric or complementary) “Inter-human communication procedures are either symmetric or complementary, depending on whether the relationship of the partners is based on differences or parity. “A symmetric” relationship here means one in which the parties involved behave as equals from a power perspective. The chance of airing all the relevant issues should be greater, but it certainly does not guarantee that the communication will be optimal. The parties could simply be equally submissive, or equally domineering. However, communication between equals often does work well. Picture 3: Comedia del Arte Naomi Devil 2002 A “complementary” relationship here means one of unequal power, such as parent-child, boss-employee or leader-follower. This is much more efficient in some situations. For example, the unequal (complementary) relationship between soldiers and their officers means that soldiers are very likely to obey a surprising order, such as “Get out of the truck and jump in the river!” without delay – rather than debating it, perhaps metaverse art with great interest, but quite possibly at fatal length. 3.6. The aesthetics paradigm change The traditional normative aesthetics assume that there are universal and timeless criteria for the taste full evaluation of artworks. The cognitive aesthetic has basically other questions: - Why do certain people prefer certain objects? - What objects are perceived as beautiful or pleasant? - And what social and cultural conditions is aesthetic experience based upon? In recent years, there is again a boom in aesthetic research in psychology, which is due to several reasons: The neuropsychology developed new methods, practical questions of aesthetics are of economic importance for Design, further leads the interest in better understanding the complexity and specificity of aesthetic experience. The cognitive aesthetic research with empiric methods the neuronal coding-decoding processes from the perception to the knowledge representation, and trace the creation process from the concept to the material or immaterial realization and broadcast. 3.6.1 The Creation Attitude (components of the creator behaviour) Attiude described in the psychology of the summary overall assessment of a person, a social group, an object, a situation or an idea, with content held responsible for the assessment of long term memory. Examples of settings are prejudices, sympathy or antipathy, or the self-esteem. Attitudes have affective, cognitive and behavioral aspects. Separately reared monozygotic twins have more similar Picture 3: you, soviet propaganda poster 49 50 metaverse art attitudes than fraternal twins, indicating a genetic component. The attitude may predispose a person in a certain kind of situation for certain courses of action. An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual’s degree of like or dislike for an item. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event-- this is often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question. Picture 2: Conscious content manipulation Attitudes are judgments. They develop on the ABC model (Affect, Behavior, and Cognition). The affective response is an emotional response that expresses an individual’s degree of preference for an entity. The behavioral intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an individual. The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual’s beliefs about the object. Most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment. 3.6.2. Intervention preferences (social attitude) from singular enjoy to social vision Intervention preference is a concept, it assumes a real or imagined “choice” between alternatives and the possibility of rank ordering of these alternatives, based on happiness, satisfaction, gratification, enjoyment, utility they provide. Here, different levels are possible Picture 3: Conscious content manipulation - Global Intervention preferences concepts/alternatives - Intervention preferences for a Society metaverse art - Intervention preferences for a partial interest group - Intervention preferences for a family - Intervention preferences for a person (individualism, egoism) Which qualitative cognitive effort expects the sender from the recipient? - Broad and objective based knowledge spectrum (weitsicht, breitsicht, übersicht, focus) - On recipient group customized content spectrum (for the sender is well known which recipient group is the target of the message) - No conscious content only a pattern communicates(only perceptual joy null info) - Conscious content manipulation (illusionism, propaganda, advertising) 3.6.3. Message context preferences (expression attitude) from fooling to knowledge representation Picture 2: the universum in middle age How the creator would act on the cognitive system of the recipient Rational message context preferences (how many cognitive effort expects the sender from the recipient) Belief / certainty (Pistis) Internal security in respect of a matter, emotional confidence, self-evidence, no interest in holding true subjective justification, revelation (religion) Clue Not know the facts clearly defined high uncertainty unconscious, intuitive feeling without a clear intellectual distinction Presumption (Eikasia) Picture 3: the universum today 51 52 metaverse art Hypothesis about a situation likely is not necessarily quantifiable, argumentative, depending on the methodology of knowledge Information Content of a message however a message can be true or false, may likely judge the quality of the source Opinion / belief (Doxa) Is not fully aware of the fact or also in the field of values (ethics / policy) on the extent of the knowledge-dependent uncertainty (error suspected) or at levels not possible argument, but not methodically completed Insight (Nous), Spontaneous capture of a situation generally low uncertainty by evidence and rational argument, but often not methodically completed Experience (Empeiria) Direct experience of action and object relations, in science, experimental results of high security, relying on accurate perception or measurement in the observation by experienced examples of methodological theory and practice resulting in Science Know (Episteme) a) intersubjectively verifiable knowledge of facts, very high level of security depending on the concept of truth methodologically and conceptually rational b) knowledge of action, the success or indirectly to the success of an action, training and habit Knowledge(Gnosis) act and result of inspection by and / or experience gained knowledge, not necessarily intersubjective metaverse art verification, very high security in inter-dependence on the concept of truth methodologically and conceptually rational, even pre-scientific Know-How An orderly system of protected knowledge. Normally is a cooperative group of scientifically developing, secure content, methodically and conceptually rational 3.6.4 Emotional message context preferences Events lead to the perception of their cognitive appraisal of emotion. This in turn triggers the custom one event, but from emotion-specific action. This pattern gives us an evolutionary advantage. 3.6.4.1 The “theory” of emotion research consists of the following evolutionary chain of reasoning: - An organism acquires a situation) is true (cognition, it is an indicator) (interpretation and evaluated) (Evaluation. The assessment has a rational (ie rational) and affective (ie emotional) component. - Indicates the direction of the emotion (pleasant or unpleasant), whether the situation as it was interpreted by the living creatures, is for the animal or its relative advantage or disadvantage. The strength of the emotion reflects the importance of the situation for the survival and reproduction of the animal or its relatives. - The creature responds to the outcome of the evaluation with a particular behavior. Emotions thus have a behavior-function: - Pleasant emotions encourage the animal to remain in the current situation and act to preserve the status quo. 53 54 metaverse art - Unpleasant emotions encourage the animal to turn away from the current situation or act to end the current situation. The emotions out a solution, for example Aversions or escape behavior to avoid the unpleasant situation or an appetitive behavior to search for a pleasant situation. - In retrospect, it turns out if and how far it was from the emotion-induced behavior of an appropriate (adequate, suitable, appropriate) response to the situation or not. The behavior was the more appropriate the more it contributed to the survival or reproductive success [5] of the animal or its relatives. In relation to the situation of inappropriate behavior by a “false”, defaulting to the weak or strong emotion to the animal or its relatives in the worst case can cost the lives or prevent their reproduction. - The trend most likely to its genes, which allow the perception of a certain emotion, bequeath to the next generation to be an animal when it - A pleasant emotion (eg, comfort, pleasure, euphoria felt) intense, the situation is more favorable for the survival and reproduction of the animal or its relatives, and - An unpleasant emotion (eg fear, hunger, boredom, feeling) all the more intense, the more adverse the situation for the survival and reproduction of the animal or its relatives, and - Responding to the emotion with behavior that is appropriate to the situation. - With the inheritance of the genes to the next generation that will be offered the chance to build on the survival and reproductive success of the parent generation, provided by the cognition, interpreta- metaverse art tion and evaluation of induced behavior continues as situationsadäquat turns. The eight basic emotions are * Fear / panic * Anger / rage * Joy / ecstasy * Sadness / grief * Acceptance / trust * Disgust / horror * Surprise / astonishment * Curiosity / expectations 3.6.4.1 Cognitive emotion theory Cognitive evaluation theory is used to explain emotions as a result of interpretation and explanation of the incident. Emotions are not the result of physiological arousal. Representatives of the cognitive assessment theories are Magda Arnold (1960); Richard Lazarus (1966), Andrew Ortony, Clore and Collins (1988). Emotions arising between two cognitions: the factual cognition (belief that a circumstance exists or will exist) and the evaluative cognition (evaluation of a situation into positive / negative). The belief that a situation has occurred or is imminent, led the individual the facts evaluated against the requirements. Thus, situations are evaluated positively, if they want them or are beneficial, whereas facts are judged negatively if they are contrary to the wishes. The emotion itself is in the experience of an object proximate to the emotional or avoidant action impulse, which is caused by the assessment. Arnold found that emotion-varying estimates on at least 3 factors: - Rating: positive / negative? 55 56 metaverse art - Presence / absence is: a state of affairs at present, and certainly exist, or is in the future is uncertain? - Manageability: easy / difficult to cope with not / too? - establish future events: Estimated abilities a positive situation, or avoid a negative facts - maintain at current events: Estimated abilities a positive situation, or stop a negative situation or adapt Examples Picture 2: the experimentalist sinus milieu - Situation is present, / he maintained a positive / easy mastering -> Joy - Facts are present, / negative / not overcome -> Sadness - Future facts / positive to bring about / with effort -> Hope - Future facts / negative / not sure preventable -> Fear - Current affairs / negative / only with effort to solve -> Anger 3.6.5 Creation modernity (Domain specific attitude) sinus milieus from conservativism to hyperexperimentalism The basic value orientations of the message senders and recipients: Social milieu referred to in the strict sense, the social conditions, such as standards, laws, economic and political factors, which is exposed to an individual or a group. The Sinus-Milieu describes the segmentation variables in addition to geographic, socio-demographic and behavioral in recent years has become increasingly important psychographic variables. The science behind the idea of the social milieu sinus milieu is of the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Picture 3: yin-yang metaverse art The Sinus-Milieu group who are similar in their outlook on life and living. The basic value orientation is just as much into the analysis as everyday settings, to work, to family, leisure, money and consumption. Between the different environments, there are points of contact and transitions. The sinus milieus are shown in a chart that is divided along the vertical axis into five different layers of upper and lower class. On the horizontal axis is the basic attitude and outlook on life is presented to the population. Which are subdivided into groups: conservatives basic orientation, basic orientation material, hedonism, materialism and post post-modernism. With this arrangement, the distribution of the population into different strata and groups will be identified on the basis of the assets and lifestyle. The Sinus-Milieu groups are: 1. Hyper Experimentalists 2. Established 3. Post material 4. Modern performers 5. Experimentalists 6. Civic midle calss 7. Traditions rooted 8. Hedonists 9. Consumption-materialists 10. Conservatives 11. Nostalgics 3.6.6 Creation Process 3.6.6.1 Thought (internal representations) For all cognitive psychological models, it is assumed that the inclusion of information for the development an internal image of the information is used, making use also of pre-stored images. These Picture 3: ancient internal representation 57 58 metaverse art internal representations are called as representation of an experience. The integration is already stored Images and the development of internal representations requires a design process whereby turn, the dynamics of internal representations is described. Picture 2: The VJAZZ event by Josina Burgess & Caravaggio Bonetto Under a internal representations today means primarily on knowledge, experience and personal feelings based population assessments, ideas and perspectives that the interpretation of the world, affecting the role of individuals within it and the view on society. These beliefs are reflected and systematized and combine to create a cohesive whole, then one can speak of a closed world view. Such systems can also by a group of a company and are shared even by many cultures. It is not possible or difficult one whole internal interpretation to communicate. If we want content from our internal representation to communicate with other recipients, we have made -from affective reasons- a subset of our internal representation together. 3.6.6.2 Content (communication based selected subset from an internal representations) It is not possible or difficult one whole internal interpretation to communicate. If we want content from our internal representation to communicate with other recipients, we have made -from affective reasons- a subset of our internal representation together. 3.6.6.3 Expression Forms Traditional media form taxonomy(real, material) Picture 3: avatar design by Caravaggio Bonetto Visual Arts with the classical genres of painting and graphic art, photography, sculpture, architecture, installation, mixed media arts, and several small metaverse art forms, and since 19 Century, the Arts or Applied Arts said border area of crafts, Architecture | Comics | Crafts | Design | Drawing | Illustration | Film | Glass | Graphic design | Industrial design | Landscape architecture | Multimedia | Painting | Photography | Pottery | Printmaking | Sculpture | Typography | Mosaic Performing Arts with the main divisions; theater, dance and film art, radio, television, internet, performance Music, with the main vocal lines and instrumental music, Literature with the major genres epic, drama and poetry. Metaverse expression form taxonomy (virtual, networked, collaborative, dematerialized) Picture 2: real/virtual Literature, Epic, drama, poetry Inland sound objects Collaborative inland sound productions (metaverse orchestra) Soundtrack creation 2d Metaverse snapshot and picture manipulation Machinima, video caleidoscope Online broadcasting 3d Static virtual space objects, installations (geometry, sculpty, static textures) Costume and avatar design Virtual architecture Virtual landscape Picture 3: avatar design by Caravaggio Bonetto 59 60 metaverse art 4d Avatar animation Kinetic virtual time-space artworks (using of action scripts, phisical objects, particles etc.) Virtual art large scale conceptual complex (consume, imagine) Cybernetic virtual time-space artworks (using of different event handlings and interactions) www.collaborative virtual time-space artworks (collaborative audiovisual improvisation “VJAZZ”) Virtual performance (emoticon) Virtual theatre (the wall) Immersive 4d cinema (the rings,metropolois) Mixed environments Picture 2: Algorithmic Art by Diabolus 2001 Combinations of the different expression forms On the borderline of the art and science (manax synesthesia theatre Emoticon (emotion psychology) Graph theory orchestra the dwarf choir) 3.6.6.4 Style A way of expressive interpreting reality and deciding which parts of it are worth observing and/or emphasizing, as well as to what extent the artists’ emotions are expressed. 3.6.6.5 Techniques’ Picture 3: Algorithmic Art by Diabolus 2001 Among technology (from Greek [techne] “ability, artistry, craftsmanship”) refers to procedures and skills for the practical application of science and the production of industrial, artisanal or artistic products. (Wikipedia) The original Greek word does not distinguish between the current categories of art and technology. Technique is basically the application of specific methods, principles, singly or in combination to achieve certain effects. Technique can be understood as the ability of the people, laws of nature, forces, and deploy resources to secure metaverse art 61 its existence or the satisfaction of his need for self or convert useful. In addition to the physical needs (food, clothing, and housing) are also cultural needs, backed by the technology. Technical skills in the metaverse environment and in the metaverse art are very important. Here we have to do something with a high-tech medium. The technical skills of an artist affect the qualities of an artwork, but not the only decisive factor. The most important quality is, as always, how much an artwork is in a position to influence the behavior of the recipients. 3.6.6.6 The physical or Virtual Art Object An art object is a physical or virtual object that is considered to fulfill or have fulfilled an independent and primarily aesthetic function. Physical objects that document immaterial art works, but do not conform to artistic conventions have transubstantiated into art objects. The term is common within the “museum industry”. Picture 2: the planet of the appes Human Rights Festival SL Some writers have long made a distinction between the physical qualities of an art object and its status as artwork. For example, a Rembrandt seventeenth-century painting has a physical existence as a painting that is separate from its identity as a masterpiece. Many works of art, such as Duchamp’s famous Fountain, have been initially denied “museum quality”, and later cloned as “museum quality replicas”. There is debate as to why “art objects” made by artists are valued higher than craft objects made by craftsmen. Among practitioners of contemporary art, various new media objects such as the DVD, the webpage, and other interactive media have been treated as art objects; such treatment frequently involves a formalist (or “medium-specific”) analysis. Picture 3: metaverse performance The WALL V3 performer: Efrantirise Morane 62 metaverse art The formal analysis of computerized media has yielded such art movements as internet art and algorithmic art. The purpose of “new media objects” is not to replace traditional media, but to challenge old media. Gegenstände, Konzepte, Geschichtlichkeit. Berlin. unter den Onlineveröffentlichungen der Freien Universität Berlin: www.sfb626.de/veroeffentlichungen/online/aesth_erfahrung/aufsaetze/belke_leder.pdf 3.6.7 The Cognition Attitude (the components of the recipient behavior) The cognition process Why do certain people prefer certain objects? What objects are perceived as beautiful or pleasant? And what social and cultural conditions is aesthetic experience based upon? Belke, B & Leder, H. (2006). Annahmen eines Modells der ästhetischen Erfahrung aus kognitionspsychologischer Perspektive, in: Sonderforschungsbereich 626 (Hrsg.): Ästhetische Erfahrung: It presents five stages of experiencing art, each of which is connected to sequential processing stage with a certain type of cognitive analysis is. Accompanied in varying degrees of conscious or uncon- metaverse art scious affective evaluation process is running, which is due to cultural and individual life-learned evaluation patterns. In the above stages of - Perceptual Analysis, - Implicit Memory Integration, - Explicit Classification, - Cognitive Mastering and - Evaluation does not represent a stringent and gradual progressive processing, but a process of perception in the course of processing may again fall back to earlier stages, so feedback effects are possible. These are indicated in the model as a feedback loop. Furthermore, the emotional baseline is where the individual at the beginning of the perceptual process is important. 3.6.7.1 The first stage of processing of perceptual analysis is the sensory perception. This is about the recognition of feature detection and pattern formation processes in which the key variables such as complexity, contrast, color, symmetry, order factors and are perceived grouping effects. 3.6.7.2 In the second stage of processing, the implicit memory integration is about the integration of unconscious Memories. It depends on aspects of familiarity or unfamiliarity, but also for the perception of prototypicality, i.e. the extent to which corresponds an object of perception to the ideas of a “type.” 3.6.7.3 At the third stage of processing, the Explicit Classification, is about capturing the contents and meanings of Assignment of styles. Respectively on the available memory content evaluation criteria come into play. This stage is also characterized by the transition from automatic to conscious perception processing. In fact it goes very quickly the qualities of artworks to recognize. After only a fraction of a second 63 can be to tell whether two works have the same style, but it goes even faster the substance rather crudely (Augustin et al., 2008). We have also shown that it is a peculiarity of the art that they might not must fully understand: even a degree of ambiguity can be very well received. 3.6.7.4 In the fourth stage of processing, cognitive mastering, there is a specific interpretation of art. Here the viewer tries to understand what it can mean the work of art, what are the possible interpretations. In psychology, cognition refers to mental processes and structures of an individual such as thoughts, opinions, attitudes, desires, and intentions. Cognitions can be understood as information processing, learning new things and where knowledge is processed, see the thinking and problem-solving. Cognitions include what individuals think about themselves, their (social) environment, its past, present and future. Cognitions can influence emotions (feelings) and / or be affected by it. One can therefore hold that cognitions are all the internal representations that are) an individual of the world (subjective reality and are able to construct themselves) 3.6.7.5 The final process of evaluation to include the evaluation of the whole. Have I understood something, it speaks to me? Important at this stage is how to deal with ambiguity, ie, the ambiguity of the art object. The whole process is accompanied by ever-increasing emotional states, which in turn are evaluated and lead to an aesthetic emotion. The emotional response can at best be successful through interpretations and solutions perceived as pleasure. If passed, the steps, being built next to an aesthetic emotion (probably a good feeling) is also an aesthetic case, now we can say whether a work of art like. 64 metaverse art Picture 4: Metropolis 4D cinema Revolution scenario Diabolus-CARP metaverse art There I did spend a week or so to really learn how to move and wear clothing and put 1 prim on the ground. I was a total newbe, had no idea how things worked, was not used to this new way of “being”, exept I played ‘Runescape” for some time. I found out this was NOT a “game” at all, this was a total new world that opened slowly and my interest grew by the day. My SecondLife After the Help Island I thought I was ready to search for the “real’ SL and stepped over to the big wide metaverse. Josina Burgess aka. Josina den Burger Here I started soon to learn more by visitting NCI learning spots set up by Linden Lab (the providers of SL) and then I found my way to the galleries and musea. When you tell a person who never heard of Secondlife about this Metaverse, they look at you as if you are some “game” addict and dont take you all to seriously. It is a fact that explaining SL is not all to easy, you really have to go there and find out yourself, and then not go for a glimpse but really look around and search the right communities that have your interest. For me my first steps on Secondlife came from curiousity, I saw a programm on television that mentioned SL and so I searched for the site, made me an avatar and landed in SL on a space called ‘Help Island”. I write 2006 here, Sl was still very young, also the Art community was still small, RL paintings were shown in buildings similar to what we have in real life. I visited several “openings” of exhibitions at a “sim” (a piece of so called land/space you can buy or rent on SL) and started talking with several gallery owners, introducing myself as a artist and yes, soon I got my first exhibition where I hanged my photographed paintings on walls. Before I could hang them up, I had to go through several stages. How do you put a photograph on a prim? How do you modify? What is editting? What is linking? All that I had to learn and those very first steps were not easy, nobody helped me in that time, all was to find out by myself, but I was eager and tried again and again, learned from mistakes and became more familiar with the tools there were. 65 66 metaverse art metaverse art Time passed,and I met many people interested in art or artists themselves, I rented a little space for myself and got a idea….SL has also sims full with all kind of stores, avatars like to “look good” and they buy or get “freebees” to dress themselves up or get them a animal, dragon, elf or whatever shape. So I started with some freebee skirts I found and by editting them I discovered how I could modify them. Then I added the textures of a real painting of myself on the skirt and that was very interesting. I made more different skirts and attachements to wear and called it ‘Wearable Art”. All of the sudden I had a small “store” besides my paintings and form zero money on SL I started to earn a little by selling them. Being the first with Wearable Art, later many others started to sell Wearable Art but they used paintings from van Gogh or Monet, I used my own. Picture 2: Artspace Diabolus 2006 In Cetus, a place where many smaller and bigger galleries were gathered I visitted a new exhibition of a avatar called Caraveggio Bonetto, she did bring her RL father into SL that day and some of his paintings as well. The paintings had my interest I was surprised of the great technique Caravaggio had and more surprised about the work of her father. He was standing aside and Caraveggio told me they were Hungarian and her father could speak german. Her fathers avatar name was Velazquez Bonetto and he became later a very important person for me as well in SL as in RL, but I did not know that at that time. I started to speak with Velazquez in german and he told me a little about his work and the techniques he used. It was a interesting conversation and since he was brandnew on SL I did my best to Picture 1: Gallery Diabolus in CETUS gallery district Picture 3: Artspace Diabolus 2006 67 68 metaverse art let him feel more comfortable there, not knowing that he was a very experienced person that knows all and everything about building and scripting and programming! Now and then I saw Velazquez at Cetus when there was another exhibition and one of those times he told me he had gotten himself a space at the benvolio sim and called it “Diabolus” Of course I went over to see the place and was stunned by the way he was building there. Nothing remembered of RL buildings, forms were different, shapes were different , all looked light but sturdy in the same time, it was all floating on a platform in the air and light and surrounding was totally facinating. Picture 4: The MANAX theatre Of course I went there more often and every time we spoke about art, avatars and exhibitions he wanted to have there. Also he was experimenting with all kinds of building, scripting and my interest grew. I stood long times next to him, watching how he did build , asking questions and with unendless patience he teached me what scripts are, what they do and how to use them. Also he was doing a study on several avatars on SL, some of them were very strange shaped , unique in the way they looked and Velazquez told me about a certain caracter on SL called MANAX. He showed me some pictures he made of this caracter and we agreed we should do “something” with this image and caracter, the idea to do a project on him raise and so we started working as a team. MANAX Picture 5: The MANAX theatre When Velazques and me started with the MANAX Project we were discussing in what form we should do this. First it was important to tell the story and metaverse art 69 second , it had to be interesting for the viewers. The figure MANAX itself was already very interesting, the way his avatar looked was very special, an almost abstract figure and when he moved and posed for the pictures Velazques made the abstractness was even more. Like a Picasso painting. The way he acted however was not very friendly all the time. He had a satanic sense of humor. Liked to play with weapons and evil scripts that did harm to other avatars or lands. His place in SL was build in rough, iron materials, with many traps verywhere, the people that surrounded him got used to fell in pits or being orbited away just as a joke. He made it rain, but the rain was like blood and covered the land you were standing on. He let bombs explode everywhere and enjoyed to surprise you with all kinds of strange buildings and they were never the same. His intelligent way of building and using scripts for his creations were stunning, even the fact that Linden Lab banned him from SL didn’t keep him away from coming back every time with a different figure and every time this avatar was more complicated. Picture 6: the MANAX theatre (immersion, interaction, colaboration Velazques used a part of the collection of pictures he made from MANAX for an installation telling the story in black and white pictures, you could walk through and see how the avatar changed when he posed in different positions. Like drawings, like pieces of Art, no more like an avatar in SL. Later on I used many of these pictures as textures on dresses and named it the MANAX Collection. The MANAX project was started with a poem I wrote, telling the story of Manax, I found an actor from England 5imon Baker who did read the poem and send it to us on MP3, also I asked Cy- Picture 7: Cypress Rosewood 70 metaverse art Picture 8: Diabolus/CARP press Rosewood , a musician living in the USA to compose music for the project. He writes beautiful etheric music with a filosophical background. Sometimes very soft , then again with power and undertones of darkness. He also agreed to play live on stream when the Project would be ready. Velazques started to invent a total new Light Organ. It spitted out images of the Manax caracter in many colours together with particles of light in many shapes and forms. It worked on commando as well on automat and the particle emitter was build in such a way that the particles were coming from all around, even underneath you. The whole Project was also based on the knowledge of Synasthesia. Together with the music, the Poem and the particle show the whole project was like an experience the viewer went through and all together the whole project was a great success. We also learned a lot again from this project, what was very helpful later on with new projects. The MANAX story MANAX mc Millan was his name He knew his powers were perfect Would SL ever been the same Without his Evil intellect? There in his world of lonelyness His kingdom ruled by hate and fear Disciples following his mess He made an island dissapear.. Yet banned He was by Second Life And Linden Lab thought that He was gone No one that knew His evil drive He wasn’t ready, wasn’t done.. Picture 9: Diabolus/CARP And XANAM yes he incarnated With even more of angriness And Secondlife now really hated metaverse art By Him and only Him I guess The Heavens strted raining blood And Avatarts just innocent Exploded..oh He burned them good And Xanam, no He never bend.. His brain so bright, full innovations Did let him seek for new events And with all of his great creations He started like it never ends Again He was eliminated Again He came and was reborn Now DEADLY was the one that hated And MANAX / XANAM not forlorn In animation told his story His hate, his sadness and his grief No ego, not a seek for glory An intellect beyond believe.. Picture 10: Diabolus/CARP He at the end had to decide That Real Life was Seconds close.. To execute his suicide Eternal Real now I suppose.. I witnessed MANAX ‘s final end.. And learned that nothing can compare To what You are or what You ment To be, to want, to hope or dare Its who You are. Your Innerbe The only one You ever know The Second Mirror let you see That only You can make You glow.. Synesthesia is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. Picture 11: Diabolus/CARP 71 72 metaverse art Picture 12: MANAX Many people with synesthesia use their experiences to aid in their creative process, and many non-synesthetes have attempted to create works of art that may capture what it is like to experience synesthesia. Psychologists and neuroscientists study synesthesia not only for its inherent interest, but also for the insights it may give into cognitive and perceptual processes that occur in everyone, synesthete and non-synesthete alike. After the Manax project Velazquez and me started working together on several small and bigger projects, he did build a “store” on Diabolus land and I learned how to make “alpha’s” of the photographed clothes I made and put them on a prim, this way the displays were looking much nicer and way more interesting then all the flat pictures hanging on walls in other stores. We started with several exhibitions that brought people to Diabolus and we got in contact with great artists also pioneering and experimenting on SL The Diabolus space became to small and we decided to look for more space. Also we decided to split 50/50 of all the incomes from the dresses so it helped a little by paying the “tier” for the land/ space. Caravaggio, Velazquez rl daughter also participated, she was in RL very busy still with her last year of studies at the Academy of Vienna, and she used SL for several projects that helped her with her RL study. The 7Up Exhibition Picture 13: /up Josina Burgess Diabolus/CARP All over Second Life you find all kind of clubs and places where you can “dance”. Its something people like to do in real life so also in this world.. “Dance balls ”to stand on makes your avatar moves like you were the best dancer in the world, so we de- metaverse art cided to grab a few of those “balls” and place them around for an exhibition we held. The exhibition was showing a few of the first sculptures I made in SL. To make it more entertaining for visitors we made a stage with instruments and streamed in music from some records I made in RL. One of the very first sculptures I made was a transparent sphere with 2 transparent ovals inside, I learned how to use scripts with objects and got my first rotation script to let them move slowly. I copied the first sphere to become 4 of them and gave them soft pastel colours. Placed inside a black box the colours and movements were very beautiful and walking through them, you walked inside art and got different views from different angles. I was exited about the effect and used it later often for other sculptures and installations. Most of the sculptures were reacting indirect or direct on avatars coming close. Velazques showed me how to make a scarecrow and left me to find out on my own to make new ones. He wrote scripts to let them hop and jump and dance at orbit or at random. I made several and they looked pretty funny. Going in collision or reacting on avatars passing by and giving off funny sounds. We did put them in give away boxes as presents to visitors. Picture 14: /up Josina Burgess Diabolus/CARP We hanged images of my real paintings in the air but turned them into peaces and put them on flexi prims so new SL art was made. The paintings went “dancing” as well in space and were floating and circling around. From sculpted prims I created colourful “rocks” and added thunder sounds so when you walked in you heard thunder rolling. Picture 15: /up Josina Burgess Diabolus/CARP 73 74 metaverse art From a real painting I used the texture on a sculpted prim and it came out very interesting looking, so I made a sculpture from that and called is “Birds”. From that sculpture I made pictures and used those again as textures on a new dress that I animated with a rotating script so it moved all around the avatar. I did build a big sphere with a change texture script inside and different textures. Inside the sphere a pose ball to sit on and getting a meditation pose. Inside the sphere the textures changed colours and with some sweet sounds the experience was complete. Later I made another one for 2 people to sit in and meditate together. The Ghost Cave Picture 16: /up Josina Burgess Diabolus/CARP Picture 17: Ghost by josina Burgess I had the idea to build a cave with ghosts inside. Velazques and me used sculpted prims we made in the Wings program to make the cave look “slnatural” . For the textures I used blue light and inside every prim I put a blue light script to give it a more sinister look. From 5 prims I made a “ghost”, in photo shop I designed the faces and made them very transparent and the robes flexi. Velazques created a script that let the ghost react on every avatar, following it and wrapping around you. I also added some particle scripts inside the ghost that made them look like floating in transparent, misty clouds. A terrible “humming” sound that gives you the shivers completed it. In the cave I placed some particles I learned to made giving transparent mists of green, black and white light. Some ghost lights were also floating around in the cave. The whole experience was really nice and inside the “ghosts” nice transparent colours and images shown and made every ghost a piece of art again.. Asll the total cave looked great and very “SL” metaverse art `Black Widows` From 4 sculpted prims I first designed in the Wings program I did build abstract statues. That rotated slowly changing forms that way. I added some particles like tears and also fire particles. On the floor white mist coming up and burst out particles to make the scene more dramatic. `Birds 2` Just 1 sculpted prim, made it transparent and used the texture from the sculpture I made earlier for the 7UP exhibition. I added some particles as well to make it more spectacular. All was moving, changing and rotating. “Twinkling Stars” In Wings I made a sculpted tweaked prim with many small branches coming out. In SL I used a texture on it that made it look like some sort of star. With a texture change script it started to twinkle. Some ghost lights added to it made it an abstract Christmas tree. Picture 18: Windows by Jjosina Burgess Diabolus/ CARP “Sculpted space” Again made in Wings and used with a change colour script a sculpture that changed shape and colours in an interesting way. “Changing Flower” Made from 1 sculpted prim, I added texture change and a small fire particle in the middle. Also a rotating script to let it rotate slowly. “Turning Sculpted Rose” A sculpted prim made as a kind of “rose”, just a Picture 19: Changing Flower by Josina Burgess Diabolus/CARP 75 76 metaverse art rotating script on it and the right texture was enough to give it the right look. “Breathing Sculpt” One sculpted prim with a nice texture and a “breathing script.. A rotating script.let it move slowly and the script let it go bigger and smaller, like breathing. NEW HORIZON, and more.. Picture 20: immersive/interactive particle space CARP 2 Josina Burgess I did build a huge sphere and inside I used a RL painting that slowly rotated…made a dubble floor, one half transparant and a bit higher. On that I used a rl painting texture too….the outcome was amazing…all of the sudden I found myself INSIDE my own painting that slowly moved around me ..it was emotional and I was very exited about it. After that I did build some more big spheres with different emotions and atmospheres. Musicians played in it and gaved concerts. For Kourosh (a musician) I created a total surrounding that fit to the music he plays, I did also for Al Hofmann. Later Velazquez and me created more of these surroundings with textures we specially made for the music and emotions. It was no longer V-Jazz but more… JOSINA’S WEARABLE ART AND MORE.. The Idea of using my RL paintings as textures on the dresses I design was a good idea. After me many designers in SL called their designs also wearable art but use textures of known painters like van Gogh or Matisse. Still I was the first and I like that ? My dresses, suits, capes etc did not only show textures of my RL paintings, I also created many new Picture 21: Wearable Art metaverse art 77 textures in Photoshop and used them as well, all unique and one of a kind. The more I got familiar with using scripts, of course I looked how to use them in dresses and capes and fringes, texture change was great, also particles inside the dress or worn on the body created a great new look. Velazquez did build us a fantastic mega “store”where I displayed the dresses in a different way as usual on SL, I made apha channels from the pictures I took of the dresses and placed them on 4.50 meter hight prims, it was much better and showed the dress in a optimal way. I did not advertise but the “mouth to mouth” way of selling was good and this way I kept all exclusive. For the projects as THE WALL V-2, THE RINGS, and METROPOLIS I designed the costumes and textures. For METROPOLIS also all the avatars. Making avatars was a new challenge, the shapes but most of all the faces and expressions on them was fun to do. For METROPOLIS I made over 30 different avatars, all with their own specific looks. Picture 22: Wearable Art Also for METROPOLIS Velazquez wanted to make so called “Muybridge” figures. They had to be animated and placed on transparent prims to give a illusion of a crowd. I posed in many different poses and Velazquez photographed them and used them with the programm he wrote for the project. It was spectacular and really made the image of many people on stage come true. ALL THAT SCRIPTING…. Without Velazquez I never ever would had imagined what I could create more on SL. every time I had an idea he wrote the scripts for me, sometimes I had so called “happy accidents” like the time that I used different scripts together in a sculpture and found that all of the sudden the particles started to Picture 23: CARP meeting, Josina Burgess, Caravaggio Bonetto, Velazquez Bonetto 78 metaverse art stream.. Velazquez saw the possibilities and wrote a new script combining all together. That streaming also gave me the possibility to create a exhibition called FACE of the SKY where Velazquez build a fantastic surrounding on 7 platforms with all the different moving sculptures, particles, streaming, rotating, flowing and changing… We got a new tool that gaved us entrance of making new particles and movements and we both started to work with that, again we went on a journey of exploring and creating particles in different ways, great fun and great outcome! Picture 24: cable biothops interactive sculptures by Josina Burgess Diabolus CARP2 Without scripts its no fun to create something in SL anymore, art least for me and for the work I create there. I learned a lot, still dont really write them totally myself, but I know how they work and I can make changes in scripts so they do what I want them to do. Thanks to Velazquez! CARP By showing art in exhibitions from several artists we met many creaters and became good friends with them, we discussed with them music, art, building, scripting and learned from each other. Collaboration was here the magic word and Velazquez and me liked it very much to speak with others about ideas they or we had and the idea raised to work more together in teams. From this all CARP was born. CARP stands for “Cybernetic Art Research Projects” and this name was in fact the idea of Velazquez . Picture 25: weather, immersive, interactive environment by Josina Burgess Diabolus CARP2 The word: “Cyberspace” is known now as an artword, its born from the word “Cyber” (a shortform from the english word “Cybernetic” that again comes from the greek word „Kybernetike“; „The art of navigate“ and the word „Space“. On the worldfamous Macy-Conferences in the years 1946 till metaverse art 1953 Cybernetik was something of high interest. Wellknown and famous scientists as Alan Turing, John von Neumann and Heinz von Foerster started here from scratch the modern computertechnics and the programm-architecture, today an example for Cyberspace. The real Cyberspace was opened by Secondlife. So you speak of web 3-D or so called Metaverses. The Metaverses are Internet-based virtual time-space-infrastructures. The miracle that we are experiencing today: the Cyberspace, the dematerialized virtual time-space, the worldwide webbed society. where we „surf around „with lightspeed. An artist that is NOT using this virtual universe as a challenge and a goal doesnt deserve the name „ Avantgarde“ This e-book dedicated to the pioneer of Cybernetic Art Nicolas Schöffer. He was one of the most important artists of the second half of twentieth century. Father of Cybernetic Art, thus of so-called „interactivity“, he wanted to bring a prospective and non-backward-looking vision of Art, which could help mankind to develop itself with a good hold on true creative and liberating possibilities of our times. Picture 26: cable biothops interactive sculptures by Josina Burgess Diabolus CARP2 How we Work: 1. Open communication, co-laboration and cooperation 2. Open idea and know-how exchange 3. Open audiovisual component and script exchange Rules: 1. There are no rules. Inovation is not bind to any rules. 2. Out of the first rule there are no further rules. THE CARP MATRIX Most of the Audiovisual Effects in SL exist from Picture 27: interactive sculpture by Josina Burgess Diabolus CARP2 79 80 metaverse art random-generated and/or un-synchronised sequenzes, or based on prim/environment- events or avatar-signals through sensors or collision. In LSL there is one useful function. It is possible to run more LSL scripts in combination in one task (prim content). The outcome is an integrated totaleffect for one prim. This method is easy to run and gives a fast building possibility. A collection of well selected on each other-scripts. All different but well defined and giving each a great effect are also usable in combination and is of value for the working method. The script combinations sometimes produce totally unexpected but fantastic effects. The CARP Matrix is a collection of “put into the content and forget” script modules who are easy to use in combination. And then all really started.... Virtual JAZZ (VJAZZ) Picture 28: VJAZZ (immersion, interation, worldwide collaboration) Diabolus/CARP3 J. Burgess, V. Bonetto Picture 29: VJAZZ (immersion, interation, worldwide collaboration) Diabolus/CARP3 J. Burgess, V. Bonetto I did build a sculpture and added a lot of different scripts together in the prims, the outcome was pretty spectaculair and I called Velazquez over. He looked at it for a while and said : What did you doooooo, but I have a idea! Like this many “ideas” came to velazquez, he rewrote scripts, wrote new ones so they really did what we wanted them to do and all at once. He also made a menu that we could use to steer live and by hand, life on the spot and improvise with forms, textures and colors. We asked musicians to come and play live and in the same time we played the V-Jazz. Musicians and us were improvising both live and inspiring each other. Evere time we do this its new and different. The audience loves it and dances inside the colors and enjoys the music. In the virtual world visual effects will be freed from the matter Consequense : it is possible to work with visual effects in the same way as with abstract knowledge. metaverse art 81 Virtual Jazz is a collaborative-creative-technique what is most easy to realize on SL. From a characteristic view it has similarities with brainstorming or with the Semantic Intuition. Brainstorming is an idea of Alex Osborn and developed as a method by Charles Hutchinson Clark to build ideas that produce new, eccentric ideas, formed in a group of people. He called it after the idea of this method: “Using the brain to storm a problem”. The Semantic Intuition is a creativity technique, where from the combination of words and wordimages new ideas will be generated. Very well to use in generating new product-ideas. The difference: Due a brainstorm session or with Semantic intuition there will be a concept-improvisation with the goal to get new semantic combinations out of concept improvisations. To solve problems. During a Virtual Jazz session (VJS) collaborative components will be combined and varied to create new audiovisual effects. The essence of this Arttechnique is: to call the unexpected and let it help in the creative process. Picture 30: VJAZZ (immersion, interation, worldwide collaboration) Diabolus/CARP3 J. Burgess, V. Bonetto Improvisation: ( f. ital. Improvviso: unexpected. Proviso : expected) means: to build, act or create something without planning but ad hoc, spontaneous in the momentum. Improvisation means in normal language the spontaneous, practical use of creativity to solve problems at the spot. Improvisation as a creative method was used until now in music, dance, theater, television moderation etc. Our Virtual JAZZ Band exist from one or more musicians and two or more visual artists. Picture 31: VJAZZ (immersion, interation, worldwide collaboration) Diabolus/CARP3 J. Burgess, V. Bonetto 82 metaverse art An abstract concept could be the lead, a theme and basis for the participants, to bring together their musical and visual components. Such as: black and white, love, nature and so on. Absolute spontaneous versions are also possible. In a Virtual jazz session its important that the participants have no idea what the other participants have in mind as audiovisual components. The goal is: use the collaborative creation process as a work of art. Picture 32: The WALL V1 virtual theatre, Diabolus/CARP4 Improvisation is the practice of acting and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s immediate environment. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act. This invention cycle occurs most effectively when the practitioner has a thorough intuitive and/or technical understanding of the necessary skills and concerns within the improvised domain. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different abilities or forms of communication and expression across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines. For example, music, cooking, presenting a speech, sales, personal or romantic relationships, sports, flower arranging, martial arts, psychotherapy, the arts, and much more. ..Wikipedia.. THE WALL Picture 33: The WALL V2 virtual theatre, Diabolus/CARP5 Then….Debbie Trilling came with the idea to make a “show” using the music of Pink Floyd’s THE WALL, but with our own “message”and interpretation of the music and the words. So we gathered a team of great people from all over the world, UK, USA, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy and used each others skills to start this all:) metaverse art It was a big challenge, Debbie had the artistique direction, Velazquez developed new programms and scripts together with Debbie and Elfod created a WALL that could fall down on a certain moment. Duggy created big dolls with the images of the judge and schoolmaster. All was controlled and in such a way that it could run automaticly on command. The team had to learn to listen to “cues” and react immidiately on that, als we needed to replace avatars, skins, shape and costume in a short moment, we had to find animations or make new ones for special parts. Together with Junivers Stockholm I wrote a song, I wrote the lyricks, Junivers the music, Junivers is in Sweden I am in Holland , so we had to send files through e-mail to each other.This way we composed and worked together in a not easy way but the resutl was fantastic and later when we did THE RINGS we worked more together and sang together. All in all it was a huge challenge and the first big show we did set up as CARP. From the moment we started with performing the show the sim was full and the audience screamed for more, also we got invitations from sim owners to bring the show on their sim, so we played the WALL on a 4-sim where more then 100 people could come in the same time, later we played it on anothr sim, specially emptied to make it lagg-less for us. And every time we changed sims, Debbie , Velazquez and the team renewed the performance and added new technology and developments. From making the Wall we learned a lot and used all that knowledge and new skills in every new Show we did later on. 83 Picture 34: The WALL V3 virtual theatre, Diabolus/CARP10 We started like: Cybernetic Art Research Project proudly presents... “THE WALL” by Pink Floyd at the Berlin sim Picture 35: The WALL V3 virtual theatre, Diabolus/CARP10 84 metaverse art On July 21 1990, nine months after the dismantlement of the Berlin Wall, Roger Waters and an allstar cast performed “The Wall” at Potzdamer Platz in Berlin. The performance was watched by a live audience of 250,000 and half-billion people on TV. And now, the Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) bring “The Wall” to SL... CONCEPT: A specially commisioned mix of 6 to 8 songs from “The Wall” album. Approx. 20 mins duration. Picture 36: The WALL V2 graphics by Elfod Nemeth Picture 37: The WALL V2 graphics by Elfod Nemeth 40m x 20m wall made up of 160 bricks that will be indivdually placed in position as the performance proceeds. First the bottom few rows, then building up at the sides to leave a “V” shaped opening. Thro’ the opening will be seen all sorts of effects. This “V” gap will itself be filled in, and as the last brick is placed in position the arena will plunge into blackness. A few seconds wait. Bright spotlights out towards audience from the top of the wall...and....”Is Anybody Out There?”...you get the idea..... Immediately in front of the wall will be placed three alpha phantom objects of 10m x 10m x 0.05m. This will be raised 5m off the ground so that their centrepoint is exactly level with the centre of the wall. These will be used as a ‘screen projector’. By changing textures will can give the illusion of graffiti/slideshows etc and other such effects as being on the bricks themselves. The area in front of the wall, and up to its full height will be wholely given over to spontateous aerobatic dancers. With accompanying effects, ofc.... During certain songs, in front of the left and right flanks of the wall will be animated prim puppets of 5 to 8 m height. (probably the schoolteacher and judge). With accompanying effects, ofc.... At the climax of the performance we’ll apply a lil force to each brick in the wall and let the whole thing collapse. With accompanying effects, ofc.... metaverse art Ambitous? You bet!! But we have a collection of the most talented people in their respective fields here...so if it can be done, let us be the first to do it! “Mother, should I trust the government?” WALLS. By Josina Burgess / Jose den Burger They build Walls between countries They declare each other Bad They say: There is the enemy But the Walls are in their head… There are Generals and there are Presidents And they all speak out to the crowd To convince just everybody That there´s a war that is allowed… Look in your heart...to see if there is a wall to break and let your mind be free just be real not another fake Picture 38: The WALL V2 graphics by Elfod Nemeth All these men, great and mighty Tell us “others” they are bad But what real is and what is certain Are the Walls right in their heads… It is time to awaken It is time that it is said give us back what you’ve taken Break those Walls in your head… Break those Walls.... Break those Walls.... additional lyrics junivers stockholm THE RINGS Picture 39: The RINGS 4d cinema Diabolus/CARP6 85 86 metaverse art The RINGS was an idea of Velazquez and Josina and soon Junivers and Medora Chevalier joined in and we brainstormed a while about what form it had to be. We wanted to bring a message, a strong one and still easy to understand. From making the WALL we learned a lot and again we gathered a team from all over the world and worked together. It was great fun, again a bigger challenge and a great spectacle, Every time again the sim was full and CARP’s name was growing. We also made a book about it that we gaved away as a gift, and from the RINGS also a new group arised the RINGS discussion group that now has a big amount of members that stand strong for all injustice in the world and try to find ways to reach pwople from all over the world to create awareness. Picture 40: The RINGS the first 4d cinema Diabolus/CARP6 Global Wood The Rings or Homo Sapiens V2: 4d cinema or Virtual reality rock opera grown from new forms of international artistic collaboration 400 years ago artists came together in Italy to create the first performance of new work that brought together music, drama, dance and the visual arts – a form that became known as opera. In the 21st century virtual reality is home to new forms of artistic collaboration in which national and art form boundaries disappear. New forms, as yet unnamed, emerge. And new forms of social connection reach across the globe, addressing the pressing challenges of human survival and the way we become divided from each other. Picture 41: The RINGS the first 4d cinema Diabolus/ CARP6 KoTW The Rings is a work created in Second Life by a multinational team within the Cybernetic Art Research Project (C.A.R.P). It has been developed through months of collaboration. The creative team is drawn from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, metaverse art 87 Austria and the UK. The performers are based also in Italy and France. It takes the form of a rock opera with composed lyrics and music, building and scripting, costumes, shape changing, flight, dance and drama underpinned by new use of in world cinematic techniques. The Rings celebrates the miracle of the Metaverse, the dematerialized virtual time-space. It asks - is this where humanity can at last unite: to overcome the forces that push us towards global destruction and blames victims for the pain they feel. It reminds us that we can be guided towards optimistic action by great humanists and philosophers. It ends on a note of optimism. We are invited to unite and change the world. After alternate performances there will be Rings discussion circles, involving campaign organisations active in Second Life. Picture 42: The RINGS the first 4d cinema Diabolus/CARP6 Break those walls Velazquez Bonnetto, CARP co-founder and virtual reality artist said: “It is our responsibility as artists to call the public attention to questions where further thinking and searching for solutions is needed. The message of this artwork comes on several channels and addresses both the emotional and the rational side of the viewer. The Rings may have many different interpretations. There is nothing more boring than explanations at how it should be understood and nothing more exciting and thrilling than a simple and clear artistic language that can talk in a second of visual delight about human questions of huge magnitude.” Junivers Stockholm, composer and director, said: “For a long time I have believed in the potential of the Metaverse to connect people in new and powerful ways: to take humanity to a future of coopera- Picture 43: The RINGS the first 4d cinema Diabolus/CARP6 The Forest 88 metaverse art tion instead of competition. Music has the power to draw people in to work on the answers to the major questions of our time.” Josina Burgess, CARP co-founder, lyricist and vocalist said: “We should never underestimate the power of song to wake people up and to mobilise people to change the world. From the beginning of time it has brought people together in unity and strength.” Medora Chevalier, lyricist and choreographer, is a campaigner against homelessness. She added: “Many of the evils of our world can be tackled if we open up our sense of connection to other people and to nature in its beauty. Then we can stop the exploitation of people and living things that so threatens our world and future generations” Picture 44: The RINGS the first 4d cinema Diabolus/ CARP6 The Forest The Rings will be premiered at the Artspace Diabolus, Benvolio Second Life on Saturday 6 September 2008 at 1pm SLT (10pm CETs, 9pm GMT) with a 2nd showing at 2.30pm (11.30pm CETs, 10.30 GMT). http://slurl.com/secondlife/Benvolio/143/109/663/ Audiences are advised to arrive early as the open rehearsals that have been held have attracted full sims. Thereafter it will be performed on Sundays and Thursdays at 2pm SLT. Picture 45: The RINGS the first 4d cinema Diabolus/ CARP6 7 2 12 Audience reaction to the open rehearsals: “I have never been so amazed in SL as I was when I saw your project today. For the first time I realised the great challenges of SL for the real world, thanks to people like you. If you need some day a helping hand for a project just IM me. Bye and go on like this!” “GREAT awwwwwwwwwsoooome show!!” “Why can’t every Monday evening be like this?” “If I could create 1/10 of yr scripts .. I’d very happy metaverse art 89 !!!!” “Its very very awesome !!!! “I’m very impressed” “I crashed twice but ran back” “I’m really touched” The RINGS (Homo sapiens Version 2.0) protest rock opera: Credits Lyrics: Josina Burgess(NL), Medora Chevalier (UK), Junivers Stockholm(S) Music: Junivers Stockholm (S), Josina Burgess(NL) Creative director/producer/builder/scripting: Velazquez Bonetto(D) Costumes: Josina Burgess(NL) Special effects: Debbie Trilling (UK), Elfod Nemeth (UK), Junivers Stockholm (S) Scenario design and graphics: Velazquez Bonetto(D), Caravaggio Bonetto(A) Camera direction : Junivers Stockholm (S) Concept KoTW: Medora Chevalier (UK) & Junivers Stockholm (S) Script writer and director KoTW: Junivers Stockholm (S) Narrator: Medora Chevalier (UK) Panorama Photography: Jan van der Woning(NL) Choreography: Medora Chevalier Actors and dancers: Blanche Argus(S), Josina Burgess(NL), Medora Chevalier(UK), Klute Coppola(F), Efrantirise Morane (I), MillaMilla Noel(I), Junivers Stockholm (S), Sca Shilova(NL) The following animations are by Sca Shilova: *the granny pushing the trolly *the animation where everyone warms their hands at the fire *blanche jumping away from the knife and up against the bus shelter *blanche hugging her shoulders after being attacked as she walks to the fire *the animation of medora inviting juni to come to Picture 46: The RINGS the first 4d cinema, after show party Picture 47: Metropolis, Rotwangs Avatar designed by Josina Burgess 90 metaverse art fire *the animation of sca inviting josi to come to the fire The technical innovations of the RINGS 4d cinema production 1. The collaborative worldwide song composition/ recording/mixing technics. 2. A new automatic audiovisual timeline - recording and controlling system. 3. The flying seat system 4. The 4d live-cut camera system 5. A new space animation record/play system METROPOLIS Picture 48: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Moloch Machine diabolus CARP 8-9 Picture 49: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Heart Machine diabolus CARP 8-9 After an idea of Debbie Trilling to do a re-make of “METROPOLIS” the fist science fiction movie made in 1927 by Fritz Lang. Velazquez Bonetto and Josina Burgess started with working out this Idea to bring it to Second Life. Here the challenge was even bigger, then now we wanted to create a 4d cinema/Play that was totally new and technicaly a high stand. Of course the team was eager to work on this new show as well and we found new amazing people with great skills to work with us. Velazquez wanted to use a controlling system better then what we tried in the RINGS. The audience had to fly in their seats from scene to scene, also camera’s were build in every seat so the audience had nothing more to do then lean back in their seats at home and watch. The camera’s showed every close-up, overlooks and great views. The team learned to work with the “personal messenger”vleazquez developed so every actor became through IM the cue to react on and to teleport right away to the scene where he or her had to act. All the music for METROPOLIS was specially written by Nnoiz Papp and we tried to let the whole show stay close to the Icon metropolis is and not force it into a total different message. All metaverse art was kept in black/white and grey, only the actors were full colour. Also for the first time the so called “Muybridge” figures were introduced. There where a crowd had to be in a scene we placed many prims with animated images of avatars, like “workers” or “disco guys” or “people in garden” or “children”. Josina made the avatars and gatered the animations, Velazques Photographed all the positions and activated them on the prims. It was a ideal solution and the impact was overwhelming. We played Metropolis from march till december 2009 with a full sim every time, where people came on the sim 21 hour early to be sure to have a seat. Debbie did filmed every show and they are all to see on YouTube. Velazquez Bonetto: rebuild the Whole Metropolis, wrote programms and scripts, situated every scenery at its place and brought new technology into SL . Josina Burgess: created all the caracters, avatars, costumes and together they used Muybridge simulations for mass groups where needed. Nnoiz Papp: wrote and composed the music specially for Metropolis. Windyy Lane: build the upperclass scenery and made all the animations Sca shilova: build the robot and the animations for it. Picture 50: Metropolis 4d cinema the worker city diabolus CARP 8-9 the actors are: Debbie Trilling MillaMilla Noel Efrantirse Morane Josina Burgess Velazquez Bonetto A Camera system is build in the seats where the audience will sit , also the seats, with audience in it, will fly around in Metropolis form scene to scene to be a “part” of the whole. Picture 51: Metropolis 4d cinema, Rotwangs labor diabolus CARP 8-9 91 92 metaverse art Its so far the biggest project ever done on SL, it took months of working, building,creating, rehearsing and animating. The actors/avatars playing the key figures teleport from stage to stage and perform in between camera close-ups. The whole Metropolis is a 1 hour breathtaking experience on SL, but not only on SL even in RL people will be able to watch this via You Tube as a new way of making a artistique event going beyond borders. To give you an idea of the work that was put in to make this project work: some ïnside information.. http://secondarts.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/carppresents-metropolis-in-second-life/ Picture 52: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Chatedral Morris Vig CARP presents “Metropolis” in Second Life Posted on April 19, 2009 by Morris Vig SECOND ARTS I’ve been hearing that the CARP/Diabolous team responsible for the inworld tour de force of Pink Floyd’s The Wall was at it again, this time making an inworld version of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 science fiction silent motion picture, Metropolis. Today, I finally got around to attending a performance. Picture 53: Metropolis 4d cinema, the the soundtrack creator nnoiz Papp [Side thought: It’s like Josina Burgess, Debbie Trilling and their partners in the SL theatric arts at CARP know exactly what trips my artistic trigger. I love Pink Floyd and Roger Waters’ work, hence my enjoyment of The Wall. In the Viggy collection of classic movie DVD’s, Metropolis (even my crappy version of it) sits right alongside Citizen Kane and metaverse art Casablanca. The history of the Metropolis movie is really something interesting, too...click here for more info on that. But I digress...] My verdict (like mine is important…a debatable point)? CARP’s Metropolis is at least the peer of their version of The Wall, if not its superior. The subject matter for both stories is equally grand, and CARP uses Metropolis as an allegory for the state of the world much like they did with The Wall: So we see Lang’s vision of the future…the everlasting difference of the rich and poor, the elite and the worker, the greedy people on the top and the suffering masses…very much alive today as now we see what greediness of the elite did to the world- economics and us, the people. Today we are living a crisis that is maybe worse then the one just after the War. The main message of Metropolis was that it gave a solution to Post-War Germany to attempt a Social Market. Picture 54: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Robot by Sca Shilova This in fact is what Metropolis as a movie created at that time. And this was exactly 60 years ago! Are we powerless and resigned ? Or do we change this future? Do we change our own Metropolis? With that as foreshadowing….there’s MUCH more after the fold, including a 100-plus piece slideshow to document this visual treat… Technically, you have to start with the theatrical set. This is a dense build that minimizes the use of prims (perhaps CARP needs to be in a double-prim sim like those in Bay City and Nautilus!) and maximizes the use of textures to achieve the dramatic effect. As you will see below, the textures are both Picture 55: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Robot by Sca Shilova 93 94 metaverse art rich and grand. They also use textures as a means to demonstrate masses of characters – the chorus, if you will – and accomplishes this with impressive effect. How to ensure that the many, many textures load in a reasonable amount of time in a full sim? Easy – they took the first six minutes of the show to display credits and literally pre-load the entire pack of textures used in the show. Genius. This compact build also allows for attendees to sit in custom-scripted seating and be “physically” (this is a virtual world, so it can’t be physical,but hopefully you get my meaning) moved from scene to scene. The seating also is a marvel – three sets of seats, flying around the set like a choreographed guided tour of the property. Viewers also place themselves at the mercy of the flying seats – no need to use flycams or mouseview…just sit back and enjoy the ride. Picture 56: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Moloch Machine Lastly, the one thing you can’t see in the slideshow below: Music. The score for this show is really strong. It’s electronic in nature and complements the show quite well…just like the textures, the animations, the costumes… So here’s the slideshow. It’s quite a show, all 60 minutes of it. And, like The Wall, the Metropolis company invites the attendees down to the floor to celebrate the show once it’s done. Can’t beat that! http://www.flickr.com/photos/22475787@N04/ sets/72157615929909533/ Helfe Ihnen (leader of the odyssey art) posted in flickr 28 mar. 2009 Picture 57: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Muybridge animation Metropolis is a ‘must see’ in SL! What the team has made is absolutely stunning and at the top level of what is possible in SL. On the other hand you see sometimes what is missing metaverse art in SL in technical and esthetical possibilities. Acting seems to stay very difficuilt. Information by the team: After an idea of Debbie Trillling to do a re-make of METROPOLIS the fist science fiction movie made in 1927 by Fritz Lang, Velazquez Bonetto and Josina Burgess started with working out this Idea to bring it to Second Life. Velazquez Bonetto rebuild the Whole Metropolis, wrote programms and scripts, situated every scenery at its place and brought new technology into SL . Josina Burgess created all the caracters, avatars, costumes and together they used Muybridge simulations for mass groups where needed. Nnoiz Papp wrote and composed the music specially for Metropolis. Windyy Lane build the upperclass scenery and made all the animations Sca shilova build the robot and the animations for it. era close-ups. The whole Metropolis is a 1 hour breathtaking experience on SL, but not only on SL even in RL people will be able to watch this via You Tube as a new way of making a artistique event going beyond borders. And….still we are looking for new challenges, never ready, never tired to create, work together with many great and talented, professional people. The all live far away from each other, in fact in RL it would be totally impossible to work together like this, all are comitted, all give a lot of free time volontairely to create new ways of Art, new ways of entertainment and work together, sharing ideas and same time have a lot of fun as well. Its something to be gratefull for. The metaverse makes all this possible! Josina Burgess/Josina den Burger the actors are: Debbie Trilling MillaMilla Noel Efrantirse Morane Josina Burgess Velazquez Bonetto A Camera system is build in the seats where the audience will sit , also the seats, with audience in it, will fly around in Metropolis form scene to scene to be a “part” of the whole. Its so far the biggest project ever done on SL, it took months of working, building,creating, rehearsing and animating. The actors/avatars playing the key figures teleport from stage to stage and perform in between cam- 95 Picture 58: Metropolis 4d cinema, performing in camera closeups 96 metaverse art Picture 4: Diabolus/CARP Picture 59: Metropolis 4d cinema, the Muybridge animation metaverse art gested that maybe it would make a good topic for the next Lane’s List. “Yes! Oh Nazz, that would be so awesome, you could call your article “The Arts in Second Life”!” she exclaimed. The Arts in Second Life Part One Nazz Lane Thursday, January 17, 2008 It was shortly before the New Year holiday, one morning, while chatting in game with a friend that had sparked the idea for this edition. We’d been comparing notes on a singer we’d each heard perform. She had been enthralled by his voice and I had commented that while he did have a good range his work with the guitar needed practice. She laughed at my comment and then asked: “What do you think will happen in the musical scene and, really, in the overall SL art scene in 2008?” After laughingly suggesting that the question is one that probably could be best answered in December of 2008, I asked her what she meant by the arts. “Well, I’ve been to a lot of galleries, seen so many live concerts and have gone to two ballets. I’m just curious about what the New Year will bring us,” she replied. Smiling as I responded, I sug- After our conversation, the question she posed began to intrigue me more so I decided to do some preliminary research. Opening a search window I typed “arts” in the group search tab which brought a load of hits and, as I sorted through them, it was apparent that an SL art community was substantial and active in SL. “This is going to take some time,” I said aloud while looking at and sorting through the information. Sighing, I leaned back in my office chair and tried to put some boundaries around this effort. I begin thinking about her reply to my question, what did she mean by the arts, and her answer in a roundabout way suggested a border line between the visual and performance arts. There, seemingly, was an initial scope, arbitrary to be sure, but one that could be fleshed out to create an image of the state and direction of such a broad topic as “The Arts in Second Life”. “So where do I go from here?” I asked aloud and my cat gave me a look that suggested I keep silent and let her sleep. Taking her advice, I returned to the search results and began to break out the results into the two categories, making notes of group names, charters and owner names. It was still a lot of information, but a good start I thought: “Now I need to figure out what to ask them.” Again aloud, which apparently was more than the cat could bear as she stood and gave me one of those cat looks suggesting a low level of tolerance for people. She stretched and then scurried out of my office to find a place where she could nap undisturbed. Undeterred by her antics, I continued my work. With a desire to acquire a cross section of people to 97 98 metaverse art metaverse art 99 speak with, I chose from my search the larger membership groups and the ones that implied in their charter a clear scope of the activities. The individuals I spoke with and questioned for this edition are noted. “So, now I have a list of who to talk with, but what should I ask?” As I thought about it, I reflected on my RL experiences. It had always been helpful to me in knowing what direction I should take when I had a clear idea of where I’ve been, and what were the trends that may affect the course I’d chosen. Thinking on that while getting a fresh cup of coffee, the list of what to ask began to formulate in my mind. Returning to my office, I sat down and my fingers hit the keyboard to generate a short list of questions. After assembling the list of people and the questions, I then disseminated, collected, reviewed and consolidated note cards. Here is Part One of a survey on “The Arts in Second Life”. Part Two will follow soon and its focus will be in the area of the performance arts. Picture 1: doppelgänger, Temporary self portrait by Nonnatus Korhonen. Portrait Island, The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Picture 2: sculpture/architecture by Shellina Winkler Picture 3: worldwide audiovisual improvisation (VJAZZ) by Velazquez Bonetto & Josina Burgess. Art Space Diabolus benvolio 100 metaverse art Picture 4: Exhibition doppelgänger,Autoscopia 2009 by Adam Ramona, Christo Kayo. Jack Shoreland Portrait Island, The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra metaverse art Picture 5 doppelgänger, Code portraits by Man Michinaga. Portrait Island, The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Picture 6: Exhibition doppelgänger, iGods by Gazira Babelli. Portrait Island, The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra 101 102 metaverse art Picture 7: Pixel Sideways metaverse art 103 Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Myth Guyot Artist When we started our work in SL last year, we were absolute beginners. At this time, we could not say how our work will develop. Six weeks later, we finished our artwork “I’ll be your substitute whenever you want me”. We did not have any concrete expectations and didn’t think about things like that during our work, but when we saw it after finishing, we could say things developed great. As we see it, our concept is to ask about “what is real” works. Also, what works is creating emotions during the trip through the cave and the maze. So things have evolved very good from our view. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? We think that the interactive sculptures on the island of Odyssey Gallery are one of the most significant art works using the technical possibilities of SL. Then next, the project “Second Art” in which we were participants, too, because of the different concepts to work within SL using the special technology of this platform. When we built our labyrinth, we heard from other residents that we had created something really new in SL. The way we were playing with typography, they had not seen this before anywhere in SL. Then, lastly, the work from Natalie Bernewitz and Marek Goldowski, with the sounds of the water towers of New York. Art in the common spaces of SL will develop more. There are lots of art locations. But many of them show only this art called “single prim art” and use SL as a platform to show things and works from the “real world” they live in. We think that more artists will use SL as a field of experimenting with new forms of 3-D and interactive art. The interesting thing is not to disturb this “nice created” second world anyway, to work subtly. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? No, we have not explored other virtual 3D worlds. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) 104 metaverse art Picture 3: Georg Janick arena 2008 metaverse art Our work will continue, but at this moment we cannot say anything about a new project. We think, it is good, to keep the eyes open about new interesting art-projects. Then it will be interesting, if these political motivated demonstrations will continue and if they will become a political force. We will keep you informed about our new works. Picture 2: freedom by shellina Winktler & Solkide Auer Picture 3: freedom shellina Winktler, Solkide Auer 105 106 metaverse art Picture 4: DanCoyote Antonelli arena 2009 metaverse art 107 thing we have envisioned come to light and more. The growth and the great people we have attracted here have been really positive. I look forward to continuing this positive trend and working with all the wonderful personalities we’ve connected with. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Tricia Aferdita Artist, Promoter and Gallery Owner What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? I think recognition by outside entities such as the Corsa Guide was really significant. I think the future of making art in SL a viable business is to expand the RL/ SL connection and make SL a place to go to view art in a 3D environment that is more ‘explorable’ than a website. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? I am really happy with the way things have evolved for us in Cetus this last year. We have literally seen every- I think that the increase in the sense of community in the art world has been significant. Having started out from scratch here myself, I can honestly say that having someone who’s willing to go out of their way to help you get started is a real gift. I think the SL art world is leaning away from the lone, self-promoting artists and leaning more towards artist collectives and communities where they can all work together towards the goal of making people aware of their art. There have been more outreach projects, idea sharing and communities forming in recent months that make me hopeful this is a continuing trend. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have explored a couple of other virtual worlds. I found them to be too linear and restrictive. There was, pretty much, a plan you had to follow to get anywhere. Creativity was limited and I was quickly bored or frustrated. It actually motivated me to do more creating and building here in SL, something I hadn’t been doing. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Cetus Gallery District continues to grow and expand. 108 metaverse art Picture 1: Four Yip asena 2009 metaverse art Some of my plans in Cetus include working outside of the artistic box a little, adding some new things to the District. We are developing a great events team in order to expand Cetus as an events venue. In addition, we are adding more charitable events, starting with this month’s campaign to raise awareness and funds for the artists still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We will be fundraising and holding events all month to benefit this, including live music and a Masquerade Ball and Art Auction. Picture 2: Bryn Oh Picture 3: Bryn Oh 109 110 metaverse art Picture 4: Chen Pitney arena 2008 metaverse art Cyanide Seelowe Virtual Artist Alliance What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? 2007 was the first year of Krystal Epic’s ‘Best of SL Art’ project. This event was broadcast to Second Life as an opportunity to recognize creators, leaders and volunteers for their achievements in the Second Life art community. Members of the community could nominate themselves or their favorite figure in the art community for any of four categories: Best Artist in the Creation Arts, Best Artist in the Performing Arts, Most Influential Venue and Owner, and Most Influential Patron, Collector, Curator and/or Supporter. Nominations for the Best of SL Art 2007 occurred in September, all members of the community were invited to review the nominations and vote in October, interviews of 111 the top-ranking artists/patrons were given in November, and the gala and release of the list of winners was on the 1st of December. This year’s event was a big enough success that it will become an annual event and we anticipate it becoming a much larger event in the coming years. For more information on the ‘Best of SL Art’ project, please visit http://art.krystalepic.com/ index.php?q=node&page=13 and, to view the list of winners, please visit http://virtualartpedia.a.wiki-site. com/index.php/Best_of_SL_Art_2007. In early December of 2007, I launched ‘VirtualArtpedia’ (http://virtualartpedia.wiki-site.com), a wiki-site with a focus on the Second Life art community. I started the wiki with the intention of providing the public with a central, objective source of knowledge about the art community that the community itself would be responsible for; this is also part of an initiative to spread the word about Second Life’s art community, as it is considered by many to be the backbone of Second Life. The wiki is still in its early stages, but the site boasts over 1500 pages of content and 50 articles about the art community in its first month of operation. The Abyss Museum of Ocean Science, built by Rezago Kokorin and Sunn Thunders, was opened in 2007. It is an aquatic environment that combines art and education in what can easily be summed up as a breathtaking collaborative installation. For a list of press releases and articles, as well as project logs by the creators, please visit http://abyss-secondlife.blogspot.com/. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Setting up expectations for how things will evolve in Second Life sounds like an easy way to set oneself up 112 metaverse art metaverse art for disappointment. There are so many brilliant and creative minds at work already, and each day brings us a handful of new residents who exhibit amazing potential; Second Life, as far as I see it, is a collective consciousness, and all of the different elements that compose this consciousness make it the most unpredictable beast in existence. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? I think that the ‘Best of SL Art’ project will have a significant impact on the community, now that it’s out of its first year. Since the community is aware of this event, they have a specific goal to shoot for now; I think it will motivate people to put that extra “oomph” into their efforts if they consider that people might be voting for them to be the Best Artist in the Creation Arts or Most Influential Venue Owner of 2008. ground, looking through Group Notices in groups such as ‘Art & Artist Network!’ and ‘Creatives, Artists and Musicians’ and talking to as many people as you can at as many events as you can attend. You will, of course, hear about popular happenings such as Oyster Bay’s events or Sasun Steinbeck’s ongoing contributions to the art community; these things are important, but the information is easy to come by since its common knowledge. If one actually puts some effort into reading group notices and talking to Average Joe, it’ll become increasingly clear that some of the most amazing accomplishments in Second Life are hidden gems that are waiting to be discovered. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I haven’t had the opportunity to explore other virtual worlds (outside of the occasional close-ended video game) and so, everything I do in Second Life is pretty much a product of Second Life influences. Inversely, Second Life has inspired me to explore the idea of digital cultures and the histories thereof. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) The best way to gauge that is to keep one’s ear to the Picture 1: sculpture by Chi5 MdM arena 2008 113 Picture 2: installation by Ak Yip MdM arena 2008 114 metaverse art Picture 3: installation by Bryn Oh MdM arena 2008 metaverse art 115 events in SL, just like the year before. On 1/1/07, we were at about 150 galleries and, one year later, at 400. This in itself is an amazing achievement for art in SL. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Sasun Steinbeck Art Gallery Owners What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? The biggest is, most definitely, the introduction of sculptie prims. This has enabled a whole new era in 3D art in SL. The types of sculptures you can produce has been expanded and changed immensely. Sculpting with “regular” prims will always be an art form in itself, as will traditional 2D texture art, but sculpties have and will change the nature of SL sculpture forever. Its potential remains to be tapped and we have yet to see very many masters of this new art form emerge. In the last year I can’t really point to any other monumental milestones, but rather a steady and consistent growth in the number of art galleries and art-related I think the steady, straight-line growth of the number of galleries in SL has been a bit of a surprise to me. I never had any idea I’d reach 400 galleries on the list, this number is just staggering. On 5/1/2006, when I first started recording these numbers, there were only 50 galleries on the list. The other trend that I would have predicted is to see more art that takes advantage of SL’s unique ability to script objects in interesting ways to create fascinating audio/visual experiences for the observer. Douglas Story is a great example of an artist that collaborates with scripters to realize very unique and stunning audio/visual experiences that interact with and really engage the viewer. vIn my opinion, SL is just ripe for more of this kind of art. This is SL’s unique palette and we need more artists to understand it, explore it, and try bold new things that simply can’t be done anywhere else. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Sculptie-based art will become a major presence as more artists learn the skills necessary. There will be more experiments with scripted, immersive, multisensory, engaging art experiences that will make big news. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you 116 metaverse art metaverse art have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? No, SL keeps me busy enough :) What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) We will see more galleries that will demand a higher percentage of the sales of their artists’ artwork. This is both good and bad. The costs of running, promoting and keeping traffic consistently high at a big art gallery are very high and time consuming. Though the artists get less out of each sale and more of each sale is going toward the costs of running the gallery, the benefits are that more people are attending events and visiting these more visible galleries and therefore buying more art. There will always be galleries that host other artists’ work for free because they want to help promote art in SL and their costs are not high, but as SL continues to grow and the art-purchasing market expand, you will see more large galleries that charge commissions for art to help keep the gallery running and successful. Picture 2: Sasun Steinbeck MdM arena 2008 You will see the influence of some of the premier sculptie experts like Light Waves spreading to other artists. Seeing what is possible can capture the imagination of new artists that get inspired to learn the necessary tools to create amazing sculptie-based sculptures and this type of art will begin to spread. Picture 1: Sasun Steinbeck MdM arena 2008 Picture 3: Sasun Steinbeck MdM arena 2008 117 118 metaverse art Picture 4: Sasun Steinbeck MdM arena 2008 metaverse art 119 120 metaverse art metaverse art Picture 5-6: Sasun Steinbeck MdM arena 2008 121 122 metaverse art Picture 7: Sasun Steinbeck metaverse art 123 Yes, Second Life’s growth was explosive in 2007, as were the introduction of many small art galleries. Knowing the potential of SL, I knew it would only be a matter of time until thousands of galleries would pop up, which is the case now. Tommy Parrott Art Collectors of Second Life What were the trends that begin last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Interactive art. Wall hangings are great, but people want interactivity. Artisans are beginning to fill this need the public wants, changeable art that either suits mood or makes a statement. Static art in SL is, unfortunately, not what SL art is all about. It IS about the freedom to create WHATEVER you can imagine. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? Second Life becoming an artisan Mecca, RL artisans flocked to Second Life in 2007 in droves. The ability to exhibit in a digital medium such as Second Life is enticing to many. Once the learning curve is behind, YOU are your only limitation to what can be created. The significance of this is simple, it will be a universal gathering place for artisans of all types to create many wonderful works (static, interactive auditory & visual presentations). Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Yes, I have signed up with Hipihi.com. But, no, SL was my first virtual world and, therefore, my favorite, so others will be influenced BY SL. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) That I cannot say as Second Life is an ever-evolving presence with new talent coming in on a daily basis; I would have to say that 2008 will be an explosive year for SL, as its growth of real-world presence will proliferate around the globe, as the art scene in Second Life has in 2007. ArtWorld Market – Managing Editor and Publisher, SLART™ 124 metaverse art metaverse art 125 What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? The NMC multi-sim art show ‘NMConnect’, which brought together a huge number of visual and performing artists. DanCoyotAntonelli’s sim-wide “full immersion hyperformalism” installation at NMC, which was supposed to be up only for a week during the Creativity Symposium and is still up. The publication of SLART™ in RL, which brought the SL art world to the RL art world, and provided archival documentation of the early uses of SL as an art medium. Not significantly. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) We are preparing to open the SLART™ Academy with classes, workshops, and publications directed toward the creation and distribution of art in virtual worlds. In February, we are planning to present the SLART™ Festival. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Yes. People are recognizing that SL provides a unique creative medium for artists, including live streaming performance. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Realization by artists that the business of art has many parallels in SL and RL, but that the copy ability and reproducibility of works requires more attention to the artist-dealer contract, alertness to IP infringement, and proper settings of permissions when creating works. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? Picture 1: virtual environment by Comet Morigi MdM arena 2008 Picture 2: Milla Milla Noel Alien Glow 126 metaverse art Picture 3: Luce Laval MdM arena 2008 metaverse art Nebulosus Severine Art & Artist Network What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? In no particular order for chronology or importance, here are several milestones I can think of that had an impact on SL art in 2007: * The formation of Bettina Tizzy’s NPIRL group, which has united some of the most influential and creative artists who use Second Life as a medium; * The Rezzable SIMs, such as Dark Swan and the Greenies installation, which devote entire SIMs to a particular theme or work; * The return of Starax Statosky, now known as Light Waves, who is arguably SL’s most well-known and best loved artist; 127 * Brian Eno’s ‘77 million Paintings’ installation, probably the most significant example of an SL-RL crossover art event; * The Second Life 4th Birthday celebration, which gathered together a wide range of artists, builders, and content creators, and was attended by thousands of residents, despite the massive technical problems plaguing the event. * Burning Life 2007, which was handled completely differently than any other year, causing a huge amount of controversy and drama for many residents involved, including the censoring of a sculpture by Cheen Pitney and resulting outcry as a result. * Project Open Letter, written to Linden Labs and signed by many residents frustrated with the repeated techinical difficulties with Second Life. Many SL artists, some of the most passionate content creators, were among the thousands of residents to add their signature to the letter. http://www.projectopenletter.com/ * The controversial “Keeping Second Life Safe, Together” post in the official Linden blog raised concerns of Free Speech and Free Expression for many SL artists. http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/31/ keeping-second-life-safe-together/ * Massive inventory losses affected many residents, among them important and highly respected content creators, such as Arcadia Asylum, whose frustration led her to leave Second Life for good. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? I personally did not anticipate the population of Second Life to grow so drastically. As a result, the art world has exploded here. I expected the art world to grow, but not as much as it actually did! What were the trends that began last year that will 128 metaverse art metaverse art 129 have the greatest impact in 2008? Artists selling “limited editions” of their work. This practice arose a fair amount of controversy, documented in part in ArtWorld Market’s SLArt blog: http:// slartblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/no-more-phonylimited-editions.html Immersive sound installations, such as those created by Juria Yoshikawa, Daruma Picnic, and Adam Ramona. Art SIMs, in which an entire SIM is devoted to a gallery or installation, such as the Rezzabor the collaborative ‘Dynafleur’ project on the Princeton South SIM. Artist collectives, in which several significant artists with similar styles occupy a shared major gallery space, such as Oyster Bay (mostly sculpture) and The Cannery (featuring Snapshot photography). Art blogging. Many individual artists and art collectives have blogs now. It’s a great way to document events, gatherings and achievments as blogging is often the easiest (and usually free) way of creating a personal webpage. Many artists also have accompanying Flickr accounts to document their work and supplement their blogs. “Mixed reality” events, SL art galleries or events that have a real life/first life equivalent occurring at the same time. Live music events. These have been going on for a couple of years, but 2007 was the year that probably saw the greatest influx of new musical acts. I believe Picture 1: Humming Pera ^ Gumnosophistai Nurmi that this trend will continue to grow in 2008. Windlight. While not a “trend,” is something that will have a huge impact once it is fully integrated into SL. The atmospheric possibilities are almost endless for artists who are able to control SIM settings, and I imagine many will take the opportunity to incorporate Windlight aspects into their installations. There is also a new option for prims, “Glow,” which will give sculptors even more to play with while building. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? Second Life is my first 3D online environment, so I have no outside influences from any other online worlds or MMORPGs. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) I’m usually too wrapped up in my own projects to know about new events until they are happening! I am definitely looking forward to what Windlight will bring; I hope Linden Labs will be able to release a stable version of it this year. I’ve also got several personal and collaborative projects in mind for this year but, so far, those are all top secret! 130 metaverse art Picture 2: Caravaggio Bonetto Emoticon diabolusCARP metaverse art Xander Ruttan Promoter and Gallery Owner What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL art world and why were they significant? One event struck me as a milestone, and that was the in-world exhibition of Gottfried Helnwein’s work. Until then, SL’s art world seemed to be more about either do-it-yourselfers (self-promoting artists without significant RL art world repute), or presentation of major art world historical figures, shows which raise a lot of questions about copyright infringement and deceased artists’ estate issues. Helnwein is a highprofile, living artist and, while the art world establishment lacks consensus about the merit of his work, he has as least some RL art world credibility. His SL presence came at a time when few, if any, other major contemporary artists or high-profile RL galleries had 131 yet to venture into SL (and really have not come into SL even now, so long as average SL residents are not significant collectors of RL contemporary art. The RL galleries must, by necessity, go where the monied art audience is found.) Cetus is well-positioned to attract RL galleries as its design reflects the RL environments where they typically set up shop - places like New York’s Chelsea gallery district, or the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon, where I lived. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Cetus Gallery District has unfolded very much according to the original vision I had for it. In many ways, Cetus has exceeded my expectation by attracting great people, including a lot of RL art world people. We have a thriving community here of more than 30 gallery owners and residents who have joined in to collaborate and do charitable works (for example, raising money for needy artists still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina). Many Cetus residents have been there from the start, so it’s also one of the more stable art communities in SL. We’re celebrating our one-year anniversary throughout January ‘08. And we have a lot to celebrate, having been chosen Best Cultural Site in SL in the Corsa Guide popular vote this first year, and also among the Top 6 Most Influential Art Venues in SL in the ‘Best of SL Art’ event a couple of months ago. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? The trend I have been seeing that will mean the greatest success for the SL art world is the mirroring of RL art world practices. The trend is toward providing more substantial or scholarly information and authentication, toward a bit more restraint in creating 132 metaverse art metaverse art environments in which art looks good, is allowed to be seen as important, and a trend away from gimmicky, self-indulgent spaces which compete or fail to flatter the artworks shown. Just because one CAN build a multi-colored, patterned, flashing, spinning fluorescent-looking SL gallery space doesn’t necessarily mean that’s a good way to design an art exhibition. It also doesn’t mean it’s art, when SL artists use every trick afforded them by SL tools. Just because it flashes and spins or has a tricky script doesn’t make it art or, at least, good or important art. I think the trend is toward SL artists deepening the concepts behind their art to reflect the unique virtual culture we live in here, toward a more truly indigenous art, and for RL artists to present their RL art in surroundings that dignify things just a bit more. Whimsy is good but it’s just one of many vibes to explore. For some galleries, a little more realism and attention to detail wouldn’t hurt, and I see a growing interest toward that among the Cetus art dealers, especially. The realism is part of what attracts them here in the first place. 133 Picture 2: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? So far, no other virtual world intrigues me. I’ve read about There.com, about MTV’s forays into virtual lifestyle stuff with Virtual Lower East Side, but SL is the only environment whose founders had the courage to give us powerful tools and the freedom to create what we want. Of course, that cuts both ways - a lot of people glimpse SL at a distance on first visit and pronounce it horrible-looking. But that’s the price for user-created content. There is a lot that is worth considering in SL but, just like RL, you have to sift through Picture 1: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey Picture 3: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey 134 metaverse art a lot of bad stuff to find it. I’m willing to do that. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) In addition to our One-Year Anniversary Celebration mentioned above, Cetus will be relocating to its own SIMs and expanding. This will greatly improve our residents’ visitors’ experiences and performance. Our growth has been explosive, even as overall SL population has declined, so we are now nearly full occupancy with a waiting list for certain kinds of spaces here. In other new Cetus-related developments, I’m organizing solo exhibitions of a few very high profile RL artists for Ruttan Gallery, which is my own space among the various other art galleries I lease to others here in the District. But the biggest project under construction here is the Cetus Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, for which a board of directors is forming, an effort made up of RL art world people, with curatorial input from RL art museums that will give it some of the bestdeveloped exhibition and art education programming in SL. It has RL nonprofit status so it will be governed very much like a RL arts institution, and be able to attract tax-deductible contributions and grants. Our goal is to create a dynamic conduit for the RL art world so that RL and SL art and artists may flow more freely between worlds in a more permeable way. The Cetus Museum promises to advance Cetus’ mission and vi- Picture 4: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey metaverse art 135 136 metaverse art Picture 5: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey Picture 6-9: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey metaverse art 137 138 metaverse art Picture 10: Cetus Gallery District architecture by DB Bailey metaverse art 139 nating, collecting, reviewing and consolidating note cards, here is Part Two of a survey on “The Arts in Second Life”. Part Three, the last of this series will follow soon and its focus will be on Literature in Second Life. The Arts in Second Life Part Two Nazz Lane Sunday, January 27, 2008 Live musical performances have been woven into the fabric of Second Life so tightly now that even the Lindens have posted a message letting us know how to find out what is happening as we log into SL, suggesting we seek out a concert or performance to attend. Whether it’s the sweet voice of a jazz vocalist’s rendering of a standard, or that of a ballad, or the delicate pirouette of an SL ballerina, or actors on a stage, there is something for all residents of this metaverse. This edition is Part Two of “The Arts in Second Life”. Part one focused on the visual art community with contributions from artists, gallery owners and promoters. Part Two will follow in a similar vein with the perspective of performance artists, group owners and venue owners. After assembling the list of people and then dissemi- Picture 1: cypress Rosewood in Fotoproject by Josina Burgess. Scripting: Velazquez Bonetto. Art Space Diabolus benvolio 2009. 12. 05. 140 metaverse art Picture 2: Second Artifical Life by Haico Hax MdM arena 2009 metaverse art 141 142 metaverse art Picture 3: cypress Rosewood concert in Fotoproject by Josina Burgess, diabolus.CARP 2009 metaverse art 143 I didn’t think of how I should come or go into the Music business. I took it how it came but I had my line where I wanted to go and everything was just awesome. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Joy Ash Mediaculture Group I see that more and more classical musicians are coming into SL and that’s really great. I know of so many great opera singers, classical musicians, and they are really great. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I’m not in any other virtual worlds because I have so much work in RL and SL with Mediaculture, so there is no free time for other virtual worlds. What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? I think that the milestone was that more and more really remarkable musicians came into SL, if you look at the biography of some: Siham Palmer, Napthali Hawks, Cyberpiper, MoShang and a lot more. It’s just I can’t count everyone, the list would be too long *smiles* and I don’t want to hurt any other musician I didn’t count. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) A lot of new musicians, really great musicians and bands will enter SL. Mediaculture has two projects going on in RL and that will be really a big thing with Second Life. Also next will be the copyrights about music in SL. 144 metaverse art Picture 1: Second Front performance MdM arena 2008 metaverse art Picture 2 Second Front performance MdM arena 2008 145 146 metaverse art Picture 3: Susa by Rose Borchovsky metaverse art 147 places in SL. Despite widespread interest in classical music, I am still surprised at how few places there are streaming good classical music. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Yavanna Llanfair Classical Pianists Hopefully, more top quality performances from the likes of Origin Rang, the Schumanns and other excellent classical performers. I started the group “Classical Pianists”, which now has 76 members, with the intention of getting classical pianists together, and so that event organizers have a forum where they can advertise for performers, and advertise performances. There are some top class pianists in the group, some of whom are willing and keen to perform live in SL, and I hope that event organizers will use this increasingly as a source for contacting willing performers. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra playing live in Second Life in October - the first orchestra to give a live performance here. Also, Origin Rang’s live piano performances - a true virtuoso, and a truly amazing experience. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? I opened a classical ballroom back in September, because I felt there was a lack of true classical music Not recently, no. I was a Cybertown resident, but SL is just so far beyond that technology that it is not really comparable on the same scale. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Hopefully, an expanding of classical music events and places, I’d love to see my own ballroom in Basilisk being more used, where anyone can select from a range of classical streams. 148 metaverse art Picture 1: pirats art trush tower metaverse art Picture 2 Velazquez Bonetto Imagine, run for your life 149 150 metaverse art Picture 3: Sicily Zapatero Imagine diabolus-CARP 2009 metaverse art 151 not foresee this kind and amount of success! Six hundred members, a large company, a 6 month run of our first ballet “Olmannen”, demands for Euro and more performances. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Inarra Saarinen Second Life Ballet Founder and Artistic Director Well, again I have to point to dance performing art that is truly art and does not rely on pose balls or HUD’s. We are moving beyond sex, gambling, and club dances in SL and towards the arts. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have worked with the Internet and performance a great deal in the past. I worked simultaneously with performers at geographic distances. I also worked with the ability to dance with images. What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? Well, the founding and first performances of Second Life Ballet *smiles* As far as we know, this is the first and only performing ballet group in virtual space. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Yes and no. Yes, in that I did have the goal to have choreography in progress, an active performing company, and to start being seen in First Life publications by the end of this year. This has happened. No, in that I did What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Again, speaking for Second Life Ballet, we are looking forward to some First Life/Second Life collaborations and explorations. 152 metaverse art Picture 1: Caravaggio Bonetto, Velazquez Bonetto Imagine, New York International Knowledge Exchange outside metaverse art 153 154 metaverse art Picture 1: Josina Burgess Imagine, New York International Knowledge Exchange inside metaverse art 155 sored by iCommons, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and Linden Lab. Success indicators were: o Mixing the Two Worlds (Real and Virtual) o Reaching More People via Second Life o More Awareness and Use of Broad Sharing Vision, Principles and Methodologies o Successful SL Conference Experience for iCommons and USC Cher Harrington Audio Consultant What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? Key milestones for me on a personal level in the performance arts world were: · Fox 11 News Los Angeles Interview: http://www.dublinsl.com/media.html · Newsweek Interview · Entertainment Director for iCommons Summit 2007 in Second Life: http://www.icommons.org/isummit07/ , 15-17 June, Dubrovnik, Croatia, REAL WORLD, 15-17 June, Ilha de Intercambio, Second Life, VIRTUAL REALITY. PURPOSE: To create a parallel iCommons Summit 2007 conference in virtual reality in Second Life, spon- Audio Consultant, DJ, MC for PHILANTHROPY IN VIRTUAL WORLDS EVENT, USC ANNENBERG PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ISLAND: Philip Rosedale and Jonathan Fanton conversation about philanthropy in virtual worlds. Combining USC staff, MacArthur Foundation staff and Philip Rosedale into one stream via Skype and Winamp to 4 joined SIM’s while MC’ing the event and DJ’ing SL Live Artists songs - each approved by Jonathan Fanton, MacArthur Foundation President. Hostess, MC, Coordinator: Streaming seminars with MMAC - STREAMING AUDIO IN SECOND LIFE SEMINAR: How to stream audio to SL community. “Again by popular demand, given the number of queries by people seeking how-to info, Dash Renoir, Director of the Multi Media Arts Center (the MMAC), has set up another tutorial seminar, STREAMING AUDIO IN SECOND LIFE. He has asked SL audio consultant Cher Harrington to arrange and moderate the next panel.” Production coordinator of “Catch A Rising Star” for Dublin with artists such as Johnny99 Gumshoe, UFS Hyde and Matthew Perreault performing for the first time in SL. Catch a Rising Star was a showcase for upcoming Live Artists, new or not so well known in SL, from the first time portraits, installing audio programs to a successful two hour show in the Dublin SIM. Manager: SL Live Radio: First dedicated all SL Live Artist Station: http://www.slliveradio.com. Courtesy of SL 156 metaverse art Picture 1 Josina Burgess Hyperformal metaverse art Live Musicians, Radio Cher, and PickSL Dublin Services: (http://66.34.54.162:8014 ). Pick SL Dublin Services and Radio Cher have been providing SL Live Artist recordings online since September 2006 and July 2007, respectively, and have combined forces in November 2007 into one SL Live Radio service to make more music available to artists and listeners. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Things are growing at a fast pace in SL - I hear complaints about only 25 group and TP issues - when I remember one TP point per SIM and 10 groups per avatar. I see this with the influx of live artists into SL - the number has more than doubled in the past year. Everyone has such wonderful ideas and there is a place for all in Second Life, it truly is a community. I believe that this community spirit will carry over and expand - designers, artists, scripters, venues, educators and more - all working together more efficiently to produce outstanding products, services, entertainment and talent that will become known beyond SL to the real world. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? One trend I see that I believe will have an impact on 2008 is Simulcast streaming - where the artist streams from a real life show into a Second Life venue. Simulcasting began in the Dublin SL SIM over a year ago by simulcasting live shows weekly from The Bedford in Greenwich, UK into the Blarney Stone: http:// www.thebedford.co.uk/ . The Bedford (also known as The Bedford Arms) is an English public house situated in Balham, London. It is a well known venue for weekly live music nights, featuring acoustic sets from up-andcoming new artists and established acts. This year, 157 Dublin will be simulcasting biweekly with two additional venues streaming into the Blarney Stone. Simulcasting is about finding new talent in local regions and getting them heard worldwide, getting them into SL when they weren’t already big famous stars, either, but regular talented musicians. Additionally, musicians such as MidKnight Auer, Tone Uriza and Forsythe Whitfield are seeing simulcasting as a way to combine SL and RL effectively - sales and promotion to two worlds at once. MidKnight Auer streams from Stingaree in RL San Diego, into SL’s Diegoland Club Wicked weekly, using a soundman and two microphones, as does Tone Uriza with his band, Tony and the Torpedoes, from the Boondock’s Lounge in Arizona once a month. Also, Forsythe Whitfield is planning to take his RL show from Montreal, Canada, and simulcast - announcing the brand-new CD while performing to both SL and RL audiences at the same time - on February 29. He is selling the CD to in-world audiences through an mp3 kiosk and then to the RL audience in person. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I was a beta tester for The Sims Online, and promotions director and DJ for a radio station there. To ask someone to listen to your station, they needed to have an outside audioplayer and paste the URL in the player. Each listener was a chore to get - many did not have Winamp, MediaPlayer, etc! Tip jars and pay were unheard of, we did it for the love of music. When I came to SL and saw you could step into a parcel and automatically hear music, this amazed me. But most of all, what changed my life was hearing RL musicians play live and streaming into a virtual world. I DJed for a while in both worlds, but I found 158 metaverse art that SL with its “advanced” streaming technology and live artists, was the place I wanted to be. as Dublin, Diegoland and Zurich, each month, for an exchange of cultures, ideas and activities. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) I see more SL-RL interaction in the form of simulcasting, cd sales, artist promotion and a closer interaction between real world talent and SL Live Artist talent, as well as in-world collaboration. · Biweekly simulcasts into SL Dublin from the RL United Kingdom, with new talent showcases · Forsythe Whitfield will be releasing a new CD in Montreal, Canada and at the same time performing in SL, to both SL and RL audiences on February 29 · The expansion of SL Live Radio from inworld into the real world, as well as more real world radio stations streaming into SL, such as liveireland.com into Dublin · More mega events such as the Philanthropy in Virtual Worlds event and the iCommons, combining 4 SIMs and speakers reaching out to audiences inworld and worldwide · More educational groups in SL, offering classes inworld such as the San Diego Community College’s graphic arts class being held in Diegoland SL on January 19 http:// www.theseventhsun.com/0108_SDclass.htm · More musicians creatively collaborating using programs such as Ninjam, like Komuso Tokugawa and MoShang Zhao. They recently joined together to bring SL the MoKo LoCo Ambient Blues Trance project, called “SynaesthAsia” · In 2008, the Cruise ship “Galaxy”, owned by Bill Stirling, will be on its “Grand Voyage 08 - A Celebration Around the World”. The ship will “dock” at various locations, such Picture 4: Fotoproject by Josina Burgess metaverse art 159 we could by streaming the actors’ lines in and choreographing the movement of the actors to the lines. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Upo Choche Act Up Theatre Company Short answer, yes, and no, *laughing*. But, in all honesty, I did not know what to expect or how live theater performances would be received in SL. With the feedback that I have received, I can safely say that there is definitely a place in SL for live performances and the general public loves it. One of the things we set out to do was to see if theater in SL would be possible and to see how receptive performers and patrons alike would respond. The response has been overwhelming and the support has surpassed any expectations or visions I may have had. What were the trends that begin last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? I would venture to say that the grand-daddy of all milestones in Second Life is the introduction of voice to SL. Having founded Act Up just before it was introduced, we had the unique opportunity of seeing the difference between streaming a play and actually performing it ‘live’ with voice. One of our patrons commented on the difference it made in the production of our shows. While we were quite pleased with the results, it was nice to have a viewpoint of someone who attended both of last year’s performances to get feedback. Voice in Second Life makes live theater possible in SL. Before that we could only mimic it as best The utilization of voice in SL will, undoubtedly, have the biggest impact. Some other things that will have an impact are the cracking down of casinos and removal of gambling devices. General chit chat that I have with friends and colleagues is that clubbing is becoming stale. I think that we will see a decline on the clubbing/sex scene and there will be a shift to other forms of entertainment for the residents. One of the outcries that cropped up with the internet when it first started out was all this pornography that was all over the place and the easy access to it all. Second Life seems to be in direct parallel to the internet when it first came into being. As the internet matured and people matured with this new medium, the waters settled down a bit and the internet has become a positive force in the lives of many. In 2008, I believe we will start to see the signs of Second Life maturing, as 160 metaverse art metaverse art well as the residents maturing a bit (myself included, I’m not exempt LOL), and realizing how it, too, will be a more positive force. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have dabbled a bit in other virtual worlds and read up on different ones. I have never taken the time to fully explore them outside of your typical MMO such as WoW, FFXI, Guild Wars, etc.... 161 I can’t think of any key milestones this year. I had hoped that the live music portion of SLCC07 might be a milestone, but I don’t believe it was. There’s been steady growth of the live music community, but no major watersheds that I know of, which is fine. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? I had no preconception of how SL live music would evolve in 2007 or any previous year. I just sit back and see what happens. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? I think 2008 will offer residents new forms of entertainment that were not possible before. Since the founding of Act Up, I have seen standup comedy and variety shows surface. To help with this driving force, Act Up will be holding workshops at the beginning of this year to help educate and get people involved in performing live over the internet. One of the shows we have planned is “Midsummer Night’s Dream” to open in, well, midsummer. Again, I know of no significant new trends in 2008. Astrin Few – Live Music Enthusiasts and Jazz Enthusiasts What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? Singing Arc, at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas on March 1st: this will be the largest, dedicated live music event to date and, essentially, the second of its nature since the much smaller event in Philly in March, 2006. It is a significant venue (400+), has sponsorship, and 11 outstanding SL musicians and is, therefore, a big step in the area of RL/ SL music events. Picture 1: 4D cinema production Metropolis, the Moloch Machine 3d anaglyph foto, diabolus-CARP Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? No, I have not. 162 metaverse art Picture 2: CARP 4D cinema production Metropolis, burn the witch metaverse art Slim Warrior Independent Musicians Group 163 there is the pulling out of corporate sponsors for live music, namely Pontiac and Ratepoint. At the moment, running a live music venue does not generate income, certainly not of any significance to the venue owner, hence the pull out of a few corporate sponsors. Although events such as Secondfest (award winning festival in SL by The Guardian and Intel) did create opportunities for SL musicians and media attention. Also, the opening of the Orange Island which aims to support the music community, too, was important. I set up a Forum for SLMC (Second Life Music Community) which has brought many people together, DJ’s, venue owners, musicians, etc, so we can discuss all matter for music in SL that’s done really well. We have also seen a great increase in the number of SL radio stations, i.e., SL Live which now has over 2000 listeners and they only play music from SL musicians. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? When you say milestones, what do you mean because there is a lot happening? I’ll assume you mean significant activities in the music community. Well, for example, there are now 200-plus live musicians in SL, I remember in 2005 there were only 8. So, from last year to now, there has been a steep growth in the music community and 45 of the 200 plus are women. There are also a number of bands now in SL, several of which I use. I won’t talk about the celebrity band appearances in general. They have no bearing on the SL music community. They are PR splashes, basically, and one doesn’t ever see that celeb in SL again. Then Yes, it has been wildly exciting, not to mention the diversity and talent that I hear every day in SL. It’s a fabulous place to be *smiles* and to be part of it is inspiring. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Trends that we will be seeing will be, finally, the education of the audience on how they need to support live music in SL by donation of Lindens to artists, rather than leaving the brunt of all costs to venue owners, as has been the case for the last two years. It is not sustainable as it runs now. We will also need more user based systems whereby we can eliminate the need for a middle person booking an artist and charging astronomical fees to book gigs. Lastly, the realization from 164 metaverse art metaverse art many musicians that they cannot continue to charge RL prices for playing a gig in SL. It will be about teamwork between venues and musicians. There are some people who feel they can hop on the bandwagon and charge both venue and musician. And many musicians who come into SL under the impression they are going to get rich which, of course, is not the case. The introduction of voice in SL has meant another avenue for musicians to use as a method of performing, too. We also see NInjams and multi-jams occurring, not on a regular basis, but slowly growing. That’s been a wonderful thing. The first instrumental duet was with Astrin Few and Flaming Moe and I did the first singing duet live with Melvin Took, Melvin lives in Texas and I am in London. 165 but I’m sure we will see more of that this year. As any online community grows, it goes through phases and what most people don’t realize that, as a music community, we are very small in the big picture but it is gaining more impact in RL than ever before. We are all pretty loud when we want to be *smiles* and better as a group voice than only one. I do think 2008 is going to be a very exciting year. In June, I am planning a seminar in London on music on virtual platforms which, of course, will concentrate on SL as a showcase. The response has been tremendous. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? No, I don’t really explore other virtual worlds. I have looked at many but I do think, at the moment, SL is certainly leading the rest in terms of immersive and interactive experience for live music and visually, as well. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) There has been a great deal of interest, RL media-wise, in online virtual performances, especially in the UK, and we are beginning to see RL labels and PR companies scouting in here. I had a 4-page article out in Performing Musician and, since then, I haven’t stopped answering mails. RL/SL crossover is occurring already Picture 1: nnoiz Papp, Velazquez Bonetto dwarf choir, inland sound project Picture 2: worldwide audiovisual improvisation (VJAZZ) by Velazquez Bonetto & Josina Burgess. Art Space Diabolus benvolio 166 metaverse art Picture 3: Juria Yoshikawa metaverse art 167 What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? I don’t know if this is a ‘trend’ but, towards the end of the year, I noticed more all day events. I really like that back-to-back kind of event, great lineups of talented people, one after the other, is great. Preciousse Moody Second Life Music What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? Although I have no basis for comparison, for me, SL music was the best in 2007. The best quality of musicianship SL has to offer... I found the talent from the UK and Canada to be particularly awesome! Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Not really, because I didn’t really expect anything from the start. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) The music scene is ultimately what keeps me here in Second Life. I think, in 2008, Second Life will start to show its true potential when the music industry gets more involved than they already have. Not just as a place to come and listen to people but, also, as a place for people to collaborate, network and make important real world contacts. SL live music rocks! May influence travel scenarios and crossover concerts and events into real life. A good example of this is the recent news of the SL music performance in Vegas... look it up. 168 metaverse art Picture 1: inland sound installation by Bingo Onomatopoeia MdM arena 2008 metaverse art Picture 2: cynetic installation by Selavy Oh 169 170 metaverse art Picture 1: an angel saw the light by Igor Ballyhoo metaverse art 171 munity centres, even outdoor venues. This is true of theatre in the UK. Katie Reve Pilot Theatre Company What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? The Performance Arts World, which encompasses live theatre, is a wide and varied stage. Large commercial production playing in London’s West End, plays at the National Theatre, regional repertory creating new works every 3 months, concert halls and opera houses receiving one night gigs or weekly programs hosting productions, bring theatre to towns and cities across England. Arts centres with smaller capacities. Then there are the companies that tour and have no permanent venue fueling the physical venues, commissioning new writing, touring to schools, to prisons, to village halls and com- Pilot Theatre is a mid-scale national touring company, partly funded by the English Arts Council. They are in residence at the Theatre Royal in York, which has its own repertory company. Pilot Theatre opens its production there before going on tour or transferring to London. Pilot Theatre does have a national profile and has won awards and much critical acclaim for their work. Marcus Romer, the Artistic Director takes the company in innovative directions engaging, particularly, in new technologies, not for gimmick but in ways that evolve expectations and drives narrative within the company’s work redefining what live performances can achieve. The use of projection is not new, but the projection of active MySpace content adds a new feature. Pilot Theatre’s latest work is for audiences 13 – 18, but is enjoyed by teens and adults alike, had its script developed in MySpace in collaboration with MySpace users. In answer to your question about ‘significance to the performance art world’, it is difficult, as being at the eye of your own storm often prevents us, as active practitioners, evaluating our work in context with our contemporaries and the bigger picture. There is work emerging which combines live performance with the notion of how the digital world is influencing our lives. I saw Facebook, the musical, last year at the Edinburgh Festival. There is theatre exploring arts and science, bringing together future concepts and using IT and performance to engage its audience. Unlimited Theatre has looked at the subject of quantum physics and teleportation, informing and entertaining audiences. Again I saw them at the Edinburgh Festival and continue to fol- 172 metaverse art metaverse art low their work. The power of theatre to politicise and inform was part of the 20th Century’s dialectic. I think our evolving digital world, and the creative input it desires and necessitates to be vibrant and engaging, is part of the 21st Century dialogue, arts and science, voyages of discovery, a new renaissance. Pilot’s presence in Second Life is part of that awakening. A new realm, a new interaction and new ideas exchange, a new format. But all connected to live performance. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? I, at PCM, and my avatar, Katie, discovered Second Life in Dec 2006. I think the collaboration of new media with live performance and its implications on how society will see itself and respond to the world around us in the future is profoundly linked. The tradition of theatre to educate, inform and reflect society’s challenges is key to understanding cyberspace and bring people on board to engage with technology and consider what it means, whether it’s necessary, and whether it’s good or bad, is part of social drama. The questions and debates I don’t think happen enough. I was looking for people sharing this IT and theatrical vision. Pilot Theatre is part of that journey. Established in July 2007, Pilot Theatre’s home hub was intended to hold a simulcast in Second Life of our opening night of ‘Looking for JJ’ at the end of September, giving us the opportunity to invite an audience not usually able to see Pilot’s work. Being an arts company, the financial weight of such a project was enormous. My first job Picture 1: Caravaggio Bonetto: Emoticon performance photo: MillaMilla Noel 173 was to research and bring in quotes for the project. Expenses aside, the overriding problem, even if we had the money, was the real world infrastructure of uploading a live media stream on to the internet from locations without dedicated upload access. Domestic wi-fi or networked business infrastructure, not specifically IT focused, would prove inadequate and the solution was going to be hard and impossible to install in the time we had. So we decided to establish what we could with the resources and finances we had. Having a presence in Second Life was seen as an important step for the company. What we have today has come from this original concept. The emphasis, however, is always on the live event. We, now, at the beginning of 2008, have a Second Life presence and its future is very fluid and integral to Pilot Theatre’s future work as a promotional tool or a delivery platform. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? We are still looking at simulcasting a live show. We have a live collaborative project in July, looking at new media and the arts called ‘Shift Happens’ taking place in UK and Second Life and a storytelling project with a 3D realisation yet to be fully conceptualised, but I am very excited about working with the writer, Richard Hurford, and Marcus Romer to make this happen. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I am excited about myrl.com’s notion of being able to take AV’s to other worlds. I want the constant of being able to take Katie with me to explore other virtual 174 metaverse art metaverse art worlds. Identity and SL are of interest to me also. I haven’t had my curiosity spiked enough to check any others out. I know they exist. Pilot is interested in establishing a presence in the Second Life Teen Grid in the future. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) 2008, we have the ‘Shift Happens’ event on July 3, much planning still to be done. A potential simulcast from New York to Old York! and SL with the next production of Catcher in the Rye, and the storytelling inworld collaboration details of which are in the brain-storming stage. Circe Broom – Circe’s Circle of Sound What were some of last year’s key milestones in the performance arts world and why were they significant? The proliferation of venues gave musicians a far wider choice, and the opportunity to reach a wider audience. More people learned about live music in SL. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Well, I think that when the floodgates opened to the free accounts, the entire world here changed. A lot of that is for the worst. Anonymous griefers haunt the venues now, and are replaced with another as Picture 2: virtual sculpture by Igor Ballyhoo CARP metaverse art exhibition 175 soon as they are banned. It is an ongoing problem which I hope Linden Labs finds a resolution for. As for live music in SL, more and more musicians have discovered that performing in SL is a good way to gain fans for their RL careers, or to help get started in a RL career. It is good for audiences in SL, as there are far more musicians in here per capita. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? *Laughing* The population in SL skyrocketed this past year. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? Well, I’ve seldom found a dragon to slay in SL; most dragons I know are friends of mine. Yes, and nothing compares to SL, even with all the bugs. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Last year, I would have said that more and more RL corporations would be funding the arts in here, but I no longer believe that. I have seen corporate funders come and go, and the one thing they have in common is that they all seem to go, they have not found a way to make SL pay off enough. Many thanks to those who contributed and to Tini 176 metaverse art Picture 3: Consume level 10. Artistide Despress metaverse art 177 it is to get up and go out and do something. We are on earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.” The Arts in Second Life Part Three Nazz Lane Sunday, February 3, 2008 I’m awfully fond of just “farting around” so I’m reluctant to dismiss his statement in whole. I believe that those surveyed for this and previous editions of “The Arts in Second Life” would disagree as each has built a community in this electronic metaverse of Second Life. All are remarkable and every day they get up and go out to do something for us and themselves. And it is something. This is the last in the series, I do hope you’ve enjoyed hearing from these extraordinary people on what they’ve done and are planning to bring to our Second Lives in 2008. Here is part three of a survey on “The Arts in Second Life”. While reading Kurt Vonnegut’s “A Man Without a Country” recently, I’d come across an interesting comment he’d made regarding electronic communities. The chapter recounts how, in his writing life-time the technological impact had brought changes and, from his view, not for the better. He presents the reader a vignette of his routine in sending off marked up pages to a typist. It’s a delight to read and its theme revolves around the contact and interaction with his fellow New Yorkers. He begins with the picking up of an envelope at a stationery supplier, then a visit to the post office and concludes with his mailing by dropping off the envelope with the pagers. He then tells the reader: “Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We are dancing animals. How beautiful Picture 1: opening event Deruub pastorelli 178 metaverse art Picture 2: Eifachfilm Vacirca Arena instalation 2009 metaverse art Picture 3: Global Wood by Caravaggio Bonetto 179 180 metaverse art Picture 4: Imagine: CEO Barbie by Caravaggio Bonetto Foto:MillaMilla Noel metaverse art 181 land and Publishing Island. This is a commercial area now and I wanted to work nonprofit with writers so I moved on to develop that project. Jilly Kidd Written Word What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL Literature community and why were they significant? The first milestone was the first SL Book Fair in Spring 2007. I helped to organize this with a team of people, the main ones being me researching and finding exhibitors, Selina Greene offering her land as the venue and organizing the event, and Roman Zeffirelli doing the build. This was a milestone because we gathered together publishers, writers and people involved in book design and production, all in one place, in a way that paralleled the London Book Fair. By gathering together, the exhibitors could attract traffic in a way that’s difficult if they are in isolated locations only offering their own books, designs and writing. Exhibitors stayed after this event to create what is now Book Is- The development of broadcasting on SL. As part of the book fair, we encouraged authors to make appearances reading from their work using podcasting, but they still had to reply to audience questions in text. Afterwards I started an author interview show called “Meet the Author” which is broadcast on SLCN.tv, Second Life’s cable network. SLCN streams this show live and I can talk to authors by phone anywhere in the world while the audience on SL can listen and ask questions by IM. The author reads, is interviewed and replies to questions all in live voice. This makes it like a professional television interview and is well in advance of what was being done for literary shows earlier in the year. The show is also streamed live online and archived for people to see on the website so it can also be seen by people who don’t use SL. In this way, SL and RL have merged for this type of show. Another effect is that authors have seen the show online and have been attracted on to SL to join the literary community here. This show is for published authors and you can see it on http://www.slcn.tv/meet-author The advent of voice. With voice becoming generally available, the types of events I’ve been describing have become much more widespread. Anyone can hold a reading in voice even if they don’t have access to a stream or broadcasting technology - and they can film it and post to YouTube. The move from small isolated writing groups to big events and projects, like the ones I work on, helped get all of this started as we could get the land and the technology. Now I’m very happy to see an explosion of writing and literary events all over SL, with some professional authors appearing in cafes here and there, and writers gathering on beaches and in venues to read out and share their 182 metaverse art metaverse art 183 work. The development of major SIMs for writers and publishers. Growing out of the projects described above, major SIMs have developed for writers and publishers. Book Island and Publishing Island are a professionally run venture with regular events. As a nonprofit organizer, I was surprised to be picked up by two very generous landowners who provided free space for me to work with writers. The first was Johnny Austin at the Joysco Convention Center who provided the venue for me to start my “Meet the Author” show. The second was Thinkerer Melville who provided a large parcel of land on Cookie Island to let me work with writers. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Picture 2: virtual sculpture by Chen Pitney Things haven’t developed how I imagined at the beginning of the year as I only imagined getting the writers’ community together to enjoy friendships with writers across the world. The potential of SL has made it a much larger enterprise than I could ever have known. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? I see performance as being the way forward in 2008 and the next trend. We will still have the fairs and exhibitions to let writers display their work in various ways - with virtual books, links to websites, links to audio and live readings. In 2007, we had the largest ever writers’ exhibition in SL - the Autumn Writers’ Exhibi- Picture 1: MillaMilla Noel Picture 3: living architecture nnoiz Papp concert by Velazquez Bonetto, Josina Burgess & Caravaggio Bonetto 184 metaverse art Picture 3: axis mundi by Igor Ballyhoo metaverse art tion. We will continue to have these events to bring the writing community together and to let others see all or our work. I see performance as the next big trend. Writers and publishers are increasingly wanting to have their work displayed not just as text, but brought to life on stage, film and audio. On Cookie Island, we have a team of people under Thinkerer Melville, who are very involved in performance in SL and RL, so we’ll be bringing all sorts of performance art to SL. This isn’t just literary - I also look for talented comedians and live singer songwriters who perform on our Saturdays Wild show on Broadway Live Island. All of this is to encourage live original writers in all forms on SL. 185 volved with the Written Word and taking SL seriously as a place to have a presence. On January 30th, we’re hosting an event for the Poetry International organization (contact Ardor Foden who represents them here). This is a major Dutch poetry organization which also publishes international poetry and has links to national poetry societies. We’re helping them make a film of their RL poets reading in SL and this will be shown in the Written Word’s Red Sky Club on Dutch National Poetry Day January 30th. The film will be followed by readings by some published poets on SL including a reading from my book. Hope to see you there! We also have Written Word competitions every month for L$5,000 prizes and publish virtual books with the winners. Writers here are also published online on our site http://www.writtenword.org.uk/ and can do a free online poetry workshop on my website message board http://www.communigate.co.uk/london/ justpoets Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I was never on virtual worlds before so I had no idea what would be possible. I think coming to a virtual world as a total newbie can make you look at the potential in a totally different way, but I had a steep learning curve. The good thing about SL is that there’s plenty of free help available so we learn fast. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) More RL authors and organizations are getting in- Picture 4 worldwide audiovisual improvisation (VJAZZ) by Velazquez Bonetto & Josina Burgess. Art Space Diabolus benvolio 186 metaverse art Picture 5: eternity is watching you by Igor Ballyhoo metaverse art Desideria Stockton Literature Alive! 187 the one we are most proud of is a full scale Dante’s Inferno used to teach the novel Linden Hills by African American novelist, Gloria Naylor. Designer Eloise Pasteur created an awesome 3D version of Hell based on the text of the Inferno. Another milestone includes winning a Foundation for Rich Content grant to create the Literary Holodeck which allows us to pass out our open access builds to anyone wishing to use them. Additionally, we won a Texture Support grant from the V3 Group which helps offset the costs of texture uploads. Continued support from SLCN.tv allows us to offer engaging prizes to students. Finally, Intellagirl Tulley and Typerwriter Merlin’s book, Second Life for Dummies, features Literature Alive! as an example, and that is an excellent milestone for us. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL Literature community and why were they significant? Literature Alive! has really come of age in the last year. It went from a small project, just involving my students, to a grid wide project that targets not just student but also residents. Educational Designer, Eloise Pasteur, came on board as a volunteer early in the year, and, her arrival marks the most significant milestone. In the quest to provide edifying grid content to residents, Literature Alive! seeks to provide immersive environments that allow participants to engage the environment even when classes are not in session. In the past year, we have developed over 27 sites for literature, and we have highlighted the work of about 117 authors. While all of our builds are milestones, Literature Alive! has grown in ways that I could never have imagined. It started out as just me and my students. Once Eloise Pasteur came on board, we were able to build engaging environments that moved beyond the “standard” college environment. As we met more and more people and collaborated with more of the educational community, we grew in leaps and bounds. Daliah Carter, a student from the pilot group at LCCC, is now my assistant. We really are blessed by how Literature Alive! has grown, but I think it is truly telling of the desire to have edifying content in the grid. People WANT cool places to go that don’t involve money. The sciences have been doing a tremendous job (ISM, NOAA, Genome), and now literature is duly represented. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? 188 metaverse art metaverse art I think the educational community is growing exponentially, and there will be more of a call for collaborative projects. In the fall 2007 semester, my students participated in the World University Exchange program headed up by Elmo Wilder. This brought together students from the US, Canada, Korea, France, and Japan. I think more of these partnerships will surface as we learn how to use SL as a collaborative and social educational tool. I also believe that more universities and colleges will legitimize virtual educational tools. In the past year, many of us have faced great resistance on our real life campuses, but as more and more articles are published in peer review journals like Innovate, the more we will find legitimacy for our work. Legitimacy leads to funding in many places, and many people are starving for institutional funding. I think organizations like NMC, ISTE, and Elven will continue to grow as people collaborate with each other and seek professional development. These organizations have been leaders in providing cutting edge development opportunities, and I anticipate that they will continue to grow. Finally, I think more educators will try to utilize the teen grid for high school projects. Fred Fuchs, at FireSabre Consulting, and Global Kids are doing amazing development work and I anticipate they will continue to grow. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have toured a few other virtual worlds, and they are OK. If Second Life didn’t exist, I would certainly use Picture 1: immersivavirtual environment by Bryn Oh 189 them, but SL has the best graphics (so far). I do believe that someone will build a better virtual world, so SL has the challenge of keeping up with the competition. However, I believe Linden Lab is full of a lot of heart; this model wasn’t built on making money, it was built on a dream to change the world. The philanthropy in SL, the work of the MacArthur Foundation, and the work of residents working together for a cause (breast cancer, Relay for Life, The Virtual Orphanage Project) are all marks of long standing commitment to global service. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Literature Alive! will be creating a full SIM ghost town for the reading of Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. Students will be working together to create visual and audio-prim poems by Maya Angelou. Students will be working at the VIT world campus to build a tenement museum and a progressive era timeline. We are still looking for a home for the Inferno, but will be doing a small scale version of it on land donated by MillionsOfUs. I am fortunate to have the amazing Eloise Pasteur and Daliah Carter on staff, and we will work together to create rich environments that provide access to literature. Professionally, I am guest co-editing Innovate on an issue on virtual worlds. Literature Alive! hopes to establish a presence on the teen grid, as well. Most importantly, we hope to maintain our mission: we hope to create a lifelong love of learning through a lifelong passion for reading :) 190 metaverse art Picture 2: Run for your life by Velazquez Bonetto metaverse art 191 Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? ItsNaughtKnotty Cannned INKsters Things seem to be going about as one would expect. A little drama, a lot of expansion. There’s no way to keep up with all the events now. Second Life seems to be growing up. If only we could get the Lindens to give newbies the tools to help them get connected to other people on arrival, rather than worrying about how to alter our appearance, it would do wonders. I tell every new person I meet to join as many groups as possible right off the bat. We’re needlessly limited to 25 groups and a meaningful Second Life is all about collaboration and creation. Why the Lindens don’t make that more evident to new arrivals is still a mystery to me. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL Literary world and why were they significant? Last year, SL saw an explosion of cultural events. Establishment of Cookie SIM and sLiterary sim were key components for authors. At least two other SIMs are dedicated to book-ish themes. The number of periodicals paying for news stories grew. Theatrical groups received the gift of voice chat ... which the rest of us curse! The grid became stable enough to reasonably hold large group meetings without fear of lag or crashing. And, of course, the INKsters was founded and, I might be biased, but we’ve been digging the authors out of the woodwork all year and have a pretty amazing group together now and we continue to grow every week. Ummmmmmm, I expect real world entities will find a way to make Second Life more than just a place for cheap advertising. Big interactive builds with highly creative designs seem to be evolving every day. My hope is the tools will continue to evolve to allow more artists access to easier tools so that people don’t have to be professional programmers to create new and interesting things in Second Life. From a literary perspective, I’m betting we’ll see “the metaverse” come into its own as a literary genre that is distinct from science fiction. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you 192 metaverse art metaverse art have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I’m a chat room addict. This is a fancy chat room where you look for the LEAST popular rooms, instead of the most popular. Being able to do a 3D web design while hanging out with people who have similar interests is quite charming, too. My experience with other virtual worlds is fairly limited, but I’ve been to enough of them to know that our ability to create our own content here is unique and quite wonderful. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Well, I can only speak for the INKsters. We’re going to continue the daily competitions. I hope to find the rest of the writers in Second Life and put them all to work. :D We’re expanding our critique group, our land holdings, our publications, and probably our workshops. We’ll do everything we did this year, on a much bigger scale. Ultimately, my main goal is to find those people who feel a calling to become authors and help them find the tools to make their inner voices come alive. If I can help somebody do that, then I’ve made Second Life a better place. Picture 1: CYBER MALL by Caravaggio Bonetto Picture 2: CYBER MALL by Caravaggio Bonetto Picture 3: CYBER MALL by Caravaggio Bonetto 193 194 metaverse art Picture 4: CYBER MALL by Caravaggio Bonetto metaverse art 195 Possibly another milestone is the appearance of Broadway Live Island, a cluster of SIMs related to Broadway theater. These are being developed by Tom Polum, an experienced Broadway producer/artist. This, along with the ballet production by IBM and the documentary produced by Molotov Alva, mark the entry of real world cultural activities into SL. Thinkerer Melville Communication Arts What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL Literary world and why were they significant? Voice. Many literary activities depend on oral communication. Poetry reading, once done in streaming audio, changes from a monologue to a conversation when you have voice. Plays can be more naturally done in voice and really require voice (oral reading) for collaborative development. Even written prose benefits from oral reading in a group. Other milestones that I would identify are development of live comedy acts (Lauren Live) and live theater (by the Act Up group in July and October). Both of these are in response to the arrival of voice capability. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Things move so fast in Second Life that I’m not sure I had a firm idea of how things would develop. I expected that the advent of voice capability would lead to the developments cited above, but I had no idea that things would move so fast. I started actively using surrogates (Skype, TeamSpeak) for SL voice before the real thing became available. I encouraged both Lauren Weyland and the Act Up players to use the TeamSpeak server to get ready for performances in voice. I suppose others were doing likewise. So I think one of the reasons things move fast in SL is that many people are bringing lots of previous experience with them. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? I think the milestones mentioned above represent “proof of concept” steps in the cultural development of Second Life. As to the greatest impact, that is a judgment call that depends on the viewpoint of the caller. I will pick a sleeper on that. One of the groups I am working with wrote about seven plays last fall. These are all in a series to be called “Tales of the Meta- 196 metaverse art metaverse art verse.” I see this as a demonstration of the potential for collaborative writing in Second Life. Last summer we realized (the Act Up players) that our rate-limiting factor was going to be the availability of suitable scripts with the necessary permissions to use copyrighted material. Now that the INKsters have demonstrated that they can produce the kind of scripts that are needed, I expect that capability to have a big impact. Another trend I saw start is the development of multimedia art. (That’s the name I made up for it.) It is the combination of several forms of art, such as poetry, music, and 3-d graphics. Elros Tuominen makes some interesting versions of active art. I am now using them in a video I am making and expect to combine one of them with music and voice script I have written to produce a video. I hope to get other people to explore other ways of combining art forms in collaborative art. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have not explored other virtual worlds except superficial inquiry. My impression is that SL is the only VR world where I could work with older, professionally experienced people – the kind who would seriously interact with literature and art. I would suggest that art and literature in a virtual village work better than art in a lonely garret. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, open- Picture 1: noizz Papp concert in immersiva. Virtual environment by Bryn Oh 197 ings, influences etc.) Predictions are really hard to make, especially about the future. I expect to see the development of theater groups, some touring with a repertoire of one-act plays that they can offer to interested theater venues. Some of these plays will no doubt be produced as videos and perhaps even used in ways that generate a little income. I also expect to see an increase in comedy performances – both solo and skit format. Molotov Alva’s documentary, “My Second Life” has been sold to HBO and should run this spring. I expect that the production of a marketable video out of Second Life will stimulate much more activity of this kind. More generally, I expect continuing change in the demographics with a substantial increase in the number of people with “grown-up” interests – business, professional, cultural, literary, entertainment – the kind of things people would look for if their company wanted to move them to a town they had never heard about. Such people enjoy and support the cultural amenities of a community and I expect they will do that in the virtual community of SL. 198 metaverse art Picture2: Consume, Grand Illusion by Luce Laval metaverse art 199 I would have to say, with the invention of the voice chat, bringing more feeling and strength into readings, more jazz / coffee shops opening up and theatre coming full fledged into Second Life, there have been wonderful changes. I hope to see more in the future, including widespread discussions and a library of material written by SL residents, for all to share. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Lauren Canetti Arts and Literature Group Again, I would point out that the voice chats, along with the larger population of intellectual people seeking intellectual activities would be the largest impact. I personally have 200 people in my arts and literature group just chomping at the bit for more to soak up. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL Literary world and why were they significant? I would have to say that in the last couple years that I have been here, I have seen interest groups move from the standard, carefree events and groups, to something more intellectual and thoughtful. The bringing of books into SL and the constant creativity of its own residents provide a huge backdrop for cultural and intellectual discussion of many works. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? I have been involved with other virtual worlds, and in all of them I have found myself, not drawn to their tasks and storylines, but drawn to the intellectual conversations among the members... much of my time was spent sitting around a table in an involved discussion. This is what brought me to SL and what fuels my desire to stay here... I am not bogged down with meaningless tasks, unobtainable goals, I am able to enjoy an evening with a nice glass of wine and some strong intellectual pursuits. What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) I see the theatre expanding in the next year, and am 200 metaverse art metaverse art hoping to get myself involved in that. I personally am excited to be reformulating my book study group and an art discussion group after a recent illness. Thankfully, I have someone else running the group in another area of the world, so we are hoping to have more participants, expand the views, etc. I believe that expanding coffee shops to having more poetry readings and, eventually, putting together a library of works from the SL residents themselves will be a wonderful goal to obtain in the future. Picture 2: Caelreon consume Picture 1: Caelreon consume Picture 3: Caelreon consume 201 202 metaverse art Picture 4: my brain connected to the metaverse by Igor Ballyhoo metaverse art 203 shop “The Book Doctor” and pick up a few note cards to edit and stories to work on. Instead, I have been busier than I ever imagined with RL work, paying RL dollars all because of my virtual shop on Book Island. What were the trends that began last year that will have the greatest impact in 2008? Angeline Blachere Book Island Events and Discussion I think that avatars’ thirst for good books to read will continue to grow. I also think that more and more people come to SL as a place to market their work. There are readings and workshops and a thriving literary community. Have you explored other virtual worlds and has that had any influence on what you’ve done in SL? If you have, has what you’ve done there been influenced by what you’ve done or not done in SL? I have not explored any other virtual worlds. I consider SL the most serious one for my needs and my market. What were some of last year’s key milestones in the SL Literary world and why were they significant? I think the opening of Book Island as a free standing SIM and the subsequent addition of Publishing Island paralleled the growth of the literary scene in SL. The SL literati hunger for places to find books, read books, display their works, and actually publish their work. Looking back to the start of last year, have things evolved the way you thought they would? Why or why not? Definitely not the way I thought, but the reality was much much better. I thought that I would open my What can we look forward to in 2008? (Events, openings, influences etc.) Definitely more events, book fairs, and readings and as the reputation grows others will follow. My friend and I met again over morning coffee as I was finishing up this last part of the series. She’d commented in surprise at all that had gone on this past year and what was in store for SL’ers this New Year. “Nazz, what will be the next subject for your list?” she asked. I replied, laughing, that I hadn’t even had a chance to think about it. “Well, you’ve been so wrapped up in this and we’ve not had much together time of late. Maybe you could take me … hmmmmmm …..I know! 204 metaverse art metaverse art *She puts hands on her hips while turning the upper half of her body slightly to look at Nazz over a shoulder. She bats her eye lashes and curls her lips into a smile whispering seductively *… somewhere romantic,” she said. All I could do was grin and nod my head in agreement. My special thanks to each of you who contributed to this edition and Parts One and Two, from me, the humble recorder of your activities. And, also, a thanks to all whom I didn’t touch for this series of articles that are building communities in Second Life. Picture 2: Museo del Metaverso, Cyberlandia by Velazquez Bonetto Picture 1: Museo del Metaverso, Cyberlandia by Velazquez Bonetto Picture 3: Museo del Metaverso, Cyberlandia by Velazquez Bonetto 205 206 metaverse art Picture 4: Museo del Metaverso, Cyberlandia by Velazquez Bonetto metaverse art 207 erfahrung/aufsaetze/belke_leder.pdf Naomi Devil EMOTICON Studienarbeit Institut für Architekturwissenschaften Fachbereich Architekturtheorie Technische Universität Wien 2009 Klára Gehér Avatar History Institut für Architekturwissenschaften Fachbereich Architekturtheorie Technische Universität Wien 2009 References Georg Franck Mentaler Kapitalismus Eine politische Ökonomie des Geistes Carl Hanser Verlag, München und Wien 2005 ISBN-10 3446206876 Watzlawick, P., Beavin-Bavelas, J., Jackson, D. 1967. Some Tentative Axioms of Communication. In Pragmatics of Human Communication - A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. W. W. Norton, New York. Belke, B & Leder, H. (2006). 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