2011 - Art Year In Review

Despite having a completely-disrupted year and 6 months of hospital hell/enforced medication addiction, I was able to do some pieces this year I am happy with:


1. Commodity

When the Industrial Era began, it broke the connection between kinship and trust and began the perceptual shift of people as commodities to be used rather than human beings/resources. Datamining accelerates this process where people are dehumanized into aggregated sales data, market segments and things. I don't like this trend; it makes it that much easier to dismiss real human problems by abstracting them into some mental marketing model.

Commodity was done to point out the conflict between person as object and as human & to engage dialogue about the marketing/selling of artists. The dreams concealed in each part were very deep fears, wishes, hopes and yearnings of mine and I sold these intimate parts of myself in order to contribute to the UWA artist's prize pool. I really was astonished by the speed of the reaction to this piece.


2. For Your Viewing Pleasure

Involving the issues of art curatorship and accessibility as well as the problem of encouraging interaction with virtual art when people have been trained all their lives to be "hands off!" on artwork; the reality of a media culture where curators and institutions claim ignorance of their confederate role as perception & attention manipulators.


3. Prime Radiant/Chroma

Both pieces explored my love of the color palette & transparency of the pure light of a computer screen along with the problem of translating the CYMK [print] color model to RGB [screen] and mixing colors in light.


4. Daddy (for Sylvia)

This piece was a great break for me, as it was created in 3D from the memory of a painting I did at 16 and had forgotten. Plath's work touched me in deep places and has affected me my whole life. Daddy gathered many strong personal reactions from people.


5. Theatre of War

"War is entertainment" they say, and in these days of video-game-like rocket launches, remote Predator drones, breathless semi-pornographic weapons summaries on the mainstream media channels, it only seems more so; dehumanizing war and contributing to our alienation - it's easier to kill someone when they are just a blip on a screen and not a human being.


6. Time Considered As A Helix Of Semiprecious Stones

Another light-piece encouraging "slowing down" & working with overlapping transparencies mixing and blending RGB color and light, with a 9-track multi-directional soundtrack.


7. Down On The Data Farm

This issue had been concerning me for some time; I get very aggravated filling out soooo many forms for this blog, that blog, avatar, world, email, twitter, this & that - when I am painfully conscious of the reasoning and uses for this enforced data-cross-correlation (echo of Commodity) - so I had already been thinking (and talking about) these issues and started work on this piece at the beginning of July. I had only just completed it (and was still studying it to see if it needed trimming/additions) about 12 hours before the whole Google/Nymwars/PlusGate issue caught fire.


8. Big Winter

One of my most naked pieces, dealing with my feelings of isolation, depression, vulnerability and existential hopelessness. Big Winter is the main story subject of the upcoming film of the same title, which has been delayed by my illness (dammit!) although the 47-track soundtrack was completed in late Spring just before I got sick.


9. OccupyLEA

Inspired by the Occupy movement but continuing my examination of the curator/sponsor/patronage issues of art brought up in For Your Viewing Pleasure. #Occupy has become a deep and meaningful thing to me and this performance-work engaged the issues directly and with explosive reaction, bringing up issues surrounding the arts patronage of Linden Lab discussed in many blog postings and forums for 9 months and engendering heated dialogue among many.


10. A Reply From The Recalcitrant I, II, III

Writing pieces rebutting the perception that we who talk about the problems of Linden Lab hate SL and are the reason for its niche status. Meditations at length on how much we actually love SL/virtuality and wish it to succeed, even to the point of being unpaid (and mostly unappreciated) beta testers.

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Some other nice things happened for me:


My installation State of Mind was featured in a talk by Rik Panganiban (SL: Rik Riel), Community Manager at the Non-Profit Commons in his keynote speech "We Built This City: Creating a Better World" at the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC).

I got to take part in both Spring & Fall semester interaction with students from Cal State University at Long Beach in their Art110 - Introduction To The Visual Arts program as a Featured Artist.

I began investigating materials and contacting fabricators in preliminary consultations for bringing my Radiant Stallions into physical manifestation; also experimenting with materials for fabricating Lady With A Fan and Big Winter. and continuing my focus on creating/translating digital pieces into physical works.

Was invited to speak at the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable on the realities/challenges of creating art in virtual worlds.

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Other things... at the suggestion of Wizard Gynoid I began my Netpolitik blog, which engages the politics of the Information revolution - issues I have been involved with since 1993... started making machinima/videos, which was something I tried in the late 80s to mid-90s but is much, much easier now that I have a computer than can handle rendering in less than 27 hours at better than 320x240 and don't have to tiptoe and hold my breath hoping it doesn't crash 80% into the rendering or completely fill my hard disk.


Although I lost half a year, I am still satisfied with the work I've done and look forward to doing even more in 2012.

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Solstice-time Stirrings and Doings

Inworldz Holiday Gala

IWurl: Inworldz Holiday Gala

The Inworldz Holiday Gala is now open to the viewing public and it is spectacular. This year's chosen benefit charity is the well-known Toys For Tots, a program begun by the US Marine Corps Reserve in 1947 by reservist Major William L. Hendricks. Kiosks for donations are set up near all the builds, and donations will be gathered and sent to Toys For Tots.

In previous years in Second Life, the inworld Toys For Tots campaigns have raised substantial amounts to benefit this charity. Please come and visit this wondrous winter carnival and send a donation to a child for the holidays.

As mentioned, the builds are really gorgeous; given Inworldz' prim allowances, size (dis)constraints and the creativity of the residents, the builders have really outdone themselves.

There is a Santa's Workshop, a fantasy Ice Forest of magical creatures, ice skating, a beautifully-done train which encircles the entire Gala and can be hopped on for a relaxing tour, horse-drawn carriages, winter hay bale tour carts, and of course lots and lots of snow and blinky lights.

There are also some "warm-weather" areas for the folks Down Under and other peoples for whom it is warm and dry this time of year. This is a no-advertising, no-selling event so come and enjoy the energy and creativity shown here.

Scene from 'The Longest Night' at the Holiday Gala

This is my own build, one scene from the storyboard for my film-in-planning, 'The Longest Night," which will incorporate several of my major pieces. You might recognize 'Big Winter' and 'Solstice Tree,' two of the elements which inspired the whole story of the film.

Tawa (Hopi Sun Katsina)

The Hopi Sun Katsinam are the new element; they dance around the Woman sleeping in the snow to a loop from the soundtrack (completed late this Spring) for the film. The build also features a 5-directional particle blizzard of cross-blowing, whirling snow. You can see more closeups of the detail on the Katsinam in this Flickr set.

You can also find gifts under the huge (monstrous, gigantic, words-cannot-encompass-its-Yggdrasil-like-volume) Yule Tree set up in the center of the Holiday Gala, including this small one from me:

Brushed Silver Angel jewelry set

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Second Life doings


... over on the Second Life side of the grid, you might be the recipient of my Solstice Gift: a teeny companion Bear that clings to your upper arm (or other chosen attachment point) and protects you from grumbleyheads. Yes, he is small, but I assure you, he is fierce! (the knot is almost gone from my shoulders from working on him at micro-prim level; I am now spoiled by Inworldz' prim scalability for making-tiny)

This little Bear is a childhood memory of Clippy Bears, a fad that started with little bears and branched out to all kinds of animals (I remember monkeys and kittens) that you'd clip to your hair, shoelaces, backpack, jacket (even a punk black-leather jacket).

This Bear is small but has a large heart

VWER special Arts Panel

It was my pleasure and honor to be invited to speak at the Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable Arts 2011 panel along with my friends soror Nishi and Wizard Gynoid as artists active in SL, OpenSim and other grids to talk about making art and life as an artist working in immersive 3D settings.

Chaired by Ignatius Onomatopoeia [RL Joe Essid, a faculty member in the departments of English & Rhetoric & Communication Studies at the University of Richmond], the panel was a stellar Who's Who of educators and artists working in virtual environments; among the luminaries were Merlin Moonshadow, Elphaba Helendale, Delightful Doowangle, Grizzla Pixelmaid, Wrenaria Antiesse, Sam55 Chester, Ridvan Atolia, Zotarah Shepherd, Kavon Zenovka, Sheila Yoshikawa, Rachelle Monroe, Frankie Antonelli, Lyr Lobo, snow Scarmon, Praxislady Witt, BackWoods Texan, barbarathelibrarian Magic, LoCE99Ch8 Morpork, Kali Pizzaro, Shailey Garfield, Nava Wonder, Claudia13 Rossini, Tomkin Euler... PHEW!

24 on the sim at the conference, including the renowned Pathfinder Lester, Hypergridnaut extraordinaire [who "just likes to poke around"] and who surprised and flattered me with several nice comments about my piece "Commodity" (awee was I pleased!).


We talked about Unity3D, making a living as an artist (VR/RL), barriers to real-time collaboration, hardware/bandwidth/latency problems in collaborating, the patron model of support, 3D printing, RL/VR crossover work, WebGL, the problem of deliberate retardation of tech because of trying to "corner the market" and locking up collaboration/variation, what grids we all explore/work in and why, future models of revenue/support for virtual reality, the wonder of people exposed to making in virtual worlds as opposed to merely consuming, machinima as a way to reach people unable to get into VR, preservation of virtual art for future collectors/buyers, computers as a tool for creators and... my spleen :D [there were some possible future-organleggers at this meeting!]

Plus a discussion of whether Iggy's companion Raven should have either a small Santa hat or elf ears for the holidays (you know which one I voted for).

It was a wonderful and heady experience and I am very grateful and honored to have been asked to attend. Soon, I am told, a transcript of this session will be available on the VWER site in the Library section (as soon as the site is rebuilt, although there are links there now to past conferences which are a great resource and well-worth exploring).


Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go make a kidney for Pathfinder before he comes in the night to collect one...

The Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable Arts 2011 panel

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Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Things change all the time, and I've had some changes in Inworldz -

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Stefanik Dagostino is happy to have me back at the S&S Galleries of Fine Art - along with the Little Gallery and Painting Expo he has maintained for me there, he's had me build a nice new addition to the S&S Sky Gallery at the Museum at Cannery Row, where I have put out Big Winter, which now has a not-for-sale-separately companion Miniature in a snow globe (you can't make things that small in Second Life!) and which won the Phi Designs Prize at the University of Western Australia's 3D Open Art Challenge in October 2011, and The Fountain of Salmacis, based on Time As A Helix of Semiprecious Stones, which won 3rd prize in the Challenge and is a Finalist in the Grand Finale.

The Christmas Treasure Hunt starts tomorrow!

Stefanik is also the creator of The Hunt Club - an idea he had when Inworldz was fairly new to get people to explore the grid and find out what was out there in Inworldz. His Hunts are always great fun, and with the expanding of Inworldz, this year's Christmas Hunt will be huge, so come Hunt, starting December 10 and throughout the holiday season til January 6; gather the goodies and explore the grid!

The Sky Gallery at S&S

The Little Gallery at S&S

The Painting Expo

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Midsomer

I'm also happy to be welcomed by Leanna and Mera to have a small shop for my Garden of Sound in Midsomer, where I'll be keeping my crickets, frogs, whales and Singing Flowers. They've also invited me to put out my holiday items in the central square, where you can find my Singing Carolers, Sparkling Yule Tree, some pretty holiday rugs/wall hangings and free holiday jewelry.

Leanna has done a fabulous job bringing winter to Midsomer; it's pretty, warm and snuggy, so swing by for some holiday treats in the Cafe and great chat with the residents of Midsomer!

Midsomer's Holiday Plaza

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Inworldz Holiday Gala

Finally, don't forget, the Inworldz Holiday Gala will be taking place starting December 17th. This year's chosen Charity Drive is "Toys for Tots". We will have kiosks or donation builds, (Inworldz official only) set about. Please let's make this a banner year for Inworldz participation in this wonderful charity. No child without a gift, of love. This is a "No Sale" "No Advertising" event, just a celebration of the holidays and the spirit of giving.

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Friends

My friends soror Nishi, Alizarin Goldflake and Maeve Eiren have generously offered me build space to make more artwork - mmmwwwaaahhh!

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Wizzy Makes A Klein Bottle video

Wizzy Makes A Klein Bottle

You Tube (better-quality/fullsize) link

My friend Wizard Gynoid demonstrates the beauty of mathematics and topology by constructing a Klein Bottle in the virtual reality of Second Life.

The full rezzing from the initial trigger took 2+ hours, and the coloring of the panels took additional time. It's really something, as you can see on the video.

Here's some of the maths about this project:

[20:03] Wizzy Gynoid: nEdge = ( 6 * nVertex) / 2
[20:03] Wizzy Gynoid: nFace = ( 6 * nVertex ) / 3

1200 points
2400 faces
3600 edges

7200 prims total


I am told by Wizzy that SL resident Desdemona Enfield was of assistance in the math/scripting department.

If you want to know more about Klein Bottles you could read this:

Imagining maths: Inside the Klein Bottle

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The first piece of music used in the video is an arrangement of my musical/interactive piece Alchemical Table in Second Life; this composition is now titled Points of Order.

The second piece of music is Slow Light 1 (Ambient) and is by Moby, used with permission for non-commercial use in this video through the generosity of Moby, a most excellent person.

Immediately flagged by You Tube, I am now in the dispute process; good thing I have a license from Moby ^_^

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Busy, busy

As you can see, I've done several videos in the past 2 weeks; in case you missed them, here they are on You Tube:

Subject of Study: A video displaying the Virtual Art Gallery made for me by my students as part of the Cal State University at Long Beach Art Department's Art 110- Introduction to the Visual Arts program, Fall 2011 semester.

Three-Ring Circus (Director's Cut): The Circus of O! comes to town.


Storming Heaven: An immersive philosophical build in the Inworldz virtual reality grid.


Still learning how to maneuver my joystick; lighting is next, so go easy on me please :D

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Subject of Study - Art110

Subject Of Study
Cal State U at Long Beach's Art110 class

You Tube link (better-quality/full-size)

Flickr photo set

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I've been working with the Cal State University at Long Beach Department of Art's Art110 - Introduction to the Visual Arts Virtual Art Gallery program since last year. I've seen a lot of the gallery builds; some of them wonderful craftsmanship, but I have not seen anything like my students presented yesterday for their class; the gallery they created for my work.

This year's team has produced a stellar piece of artwork. Not a mere gallery for displaying pieces of my creative output and beyond a build, these three students have crossed many bridges and created a work that is not only structural but meaningful.

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Two weeks ago this team was faced with a disaster known to all of us; the loss of their entire work output. The preliminary structures produced from their sketches and ideas were good (for noobs) although they were running into the realities of digital (or any) art: costs (in prims), time limitations and struggling with bringing their vision to obstinate materials. Because they are creating separately and because they do not have full-perm copies of my works, everything was lost, torn apart in the Return.

In less than two weeks, their building skills jumped to a point where some people in SL much longer than them wouldn't be ashamed of this build. Their vision also took a leap, integrating their first sketches and physical ideas into a comprehensive whole, a look into my life and the meaning of my work.

This is far and away not only the best gallery I have seen from these students in two years, but a real work of art, with meaning incorporated into the structure and layout of the gallery. It's a very deep understanding of my psychic roots, personal motivations and creative processes.

I am incredibly impressed, and also flattered and honored to have been a catalyst for such work. This is great stuff in any art world. To have students, new to SL and to virtual reality, produce such a work in less than two weeks is amazing.

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I do not know if the gallery is in a permanent location (they shift them around while in Presentation mode) so I can't include a SLurl in this post. If you see me inworld, IM me and I'll check if the gallery's still there. It might be (probably, because this is a showcase build) be set up later for ongoing exhibition, as some galleries were last year (mine among them). If so I'll publish that SLurl when it comes.

I have requested a copy of this artwork/gallery because I believe it to be a great piece of work. If so, maybe I'll be able to host it myself sometime. In the meantime I've made a small video for the girls, to express my gratitude, honor and joy at having worked with them and for other people to enjoy their work; they deserve it.

Elayne, Robin, Leticia: thank you so much for the opportunity to interact with you, talk about art and explore the creativity in virtual worlds. You made art for me; you should be very proud of your work.

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Inworldz Dreamz & Visionz Art Festival opens today

Alizarin Goldflake, soror Nishi and I ride
La Toymaker's magical coach and horses;
we haz sparkle ponies!

Some of the most spectacular builds you've seen in any world are on display at the Inworldz Dreamz and Visionz Art Festival, opening today at 1:00pmSLT/IWT/PST.

IWzUrl: Inworldz Dreamz & Visionz A Stage

Sponsored by Inworldz Founder Elenia Lewellyn and organized by arts patron Jeri Rahja & Quadrapop Tree, the Festival runs from Nov. 12 to Nov. 22 and features many amazing artists from both Second Life and Inworldz. Some photos from Bradd Laval and from Jeri should wet your appetite for this extravaganza.

From November 12 to November 22nd, the public and judges will be viewing the works created, while enjoying some of the best performers available at the stage on Sim A. Builds not possible in Second Life and a layout that reminds me of the London Expositions make this an event not to be missed.

The Map Links below will take you to a pavilion (designed by Alizarin Goldflake) in the center of each of 4 sims hosting this event. From there, a teleport board will take you each artist's dream & vision.

IWZurl: Sim A
La Toymaker
Richard Muni
Scotsgraymouser Janus
Snoots Dwagon
soror Nishi
Juanida Deharo
rigg torok
Alix Walpole
Nico Bascom

IWZurl: Sim B
Bradd Laval & Leanna Caerndow
Julia Hawthor
Katharina Svarovski
Maximillian Svarovski
Dannon Robbiani
Teal Freenote
Miso Susanowa

IWZurl: Sim C
Nicci Winsmore,
Praline Barjowski
Tigger Genira
Alizarin Goldflake
Betty Tureaud
RAG Randt
Mira Karu
Neeks Karu
Nickola Martinov & Micheil Merlin

IWZurl: Sim D
Strand Starsider
Ub Yifu
Scarp Godenot
Xzavia Yifu & Zauber Paracelsus
Wizard Gynoid
Noa Sawson
Macaria Wind & ML Smith
Ole Huss
Cat Cotton

List of Performers:

November 12th - Opening Day
12 Noon DJ Vickie Day
1 pm Declan Greenfield
2 pm Rafella Docherty
9 pm Ichie Kamachi

November 13th
12 Noon Torben Asp
1 pm Prowess Rayna

November 14th
12 Noon CECI Dover
1 pm DJ Vickie Day

November 15th
12 Noon DJTommy Seetan
1 pm DJ Julianna Michigan
2 pm Dirk Quarmac

November 16th
12 Noon Chandra Deed
1 pm DJ Vickie Day
2 pm Josie Anderton
8 pm DJ Starhawk Courtois
9 pm Oshi Shikigami (Poetry)

November 17th
2 pm DJ Thumper Love
8 pm DJ Winter Solstice
9 pm DJ Boo Zipper

November 18th
1 pm DJ Astoria Luminos
8 pm DJ Boo Zipper
9 pm DJ Winter Solstice

November 19th
12 Noon Torten Asp
1 pm Eliz Watanabe
2 pm Slow Motion Circus
8 pm Quantamis Navarathna
9 pm Prowess Rayna

November 20th
12 Noon Melodee McDonnell
1 pm BGSinger Buble (Hermit)
2 pm MrMikie String
8 pm Ganjo Mokeev
9 pm Oshi Shikigami (Poetry)

November 21st
12 Noon Josie Anderton
2 pm DJ Boo Zipper
8 pm DJAyameko Kibala

Closing Day - November 22nd
1 pm Marky Helstein
8 pm CelticMaidenWarrior

You can check here for an updated Performer's List, which is still being added to at this time.

Festival Judges McCabe Maxsted, Jayjay Zifanwe and Velazquez Bonnetto will all be making their rounds to decide on the two best items on each sim between today and Nov. 22. This is a huge event, with many virtual artists showing what is possible in Inworldz, and not to be missed (and not because I have work there either!)

The official Inworldz Dreamz & Visionz blog


Festival Team:

Building – Alizarin Goldflake

Graphics – Miso Susanowa

PR/Media – Nazz Lane / Briawinde Magic

Scripting – Zauber Paracelsus

Events/stage manager – Sunbeam Magic

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Virtual Occupation: Political Action In Second Life

Anonymous Artist

On October 22 at 6:36pmSLT (Pacific Daylight Time, the inworld time of the virtual world Second Life) OccupySL performed their first Virtual Occupation of Capital Exchange, "the #1 Stock Market Simulation Game in Second Life."

The Rules of Engagement are somewhat different in the virtual environment, as the owner of a "sim" (an area of virtual land) can "boot" (remove) and "ban" (prevent re-entry) avatars from the area using server tools (which happened, as detailed below) so a continual Occupation is not technically possible. However, a public artist's sandbox hosted at the Linden Endowment for the Arts [LEA] was chosen as a secondary/fallback site that would allow OccupySL to set up a sustained "artwork" to raise awareness and promote discussion of the issues of the Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Together and related contemporary global social change movements.

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The Politics of Art

Lest you think this was some sort of personal attention-getting stunt, I beg to remind you of the long history of artists who felt the need to speak out about the social and political conditions of their time: from the classical (Picasso's Guernica and Massacre In Korea, Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat, Goya's The Third Of May 1808 and The Black Paintings, Édouard Manet's The Execution of Emperor Maximillian and The Barricade (Civil War), Otto Dix's Erinnerung an die Spiegelsäle von Brüssel (Memory of the Mirrored Halls of Brussels), the work of William Hogarth and the satirical art of 18th-century England) to the contemporary (Banksey, Ai Weiwei, Barbara Kruger, Chris Ofili, Tania Bruguera, Tamara DeLempicka, Jenny Holzer, Steve Shepard, Käthe_Kollwitz, Ben Shahn, the Bogside Artists, Dorthea Lange, Diego Rivera, Sue Coe, Richard Hamilton, Hans Haacke, Andres Serrano, Marcus Harvey, Andy Donato , Eric Johnn, Graffiti, cartoons and the China/Avant-Garde Art Exhibition in Beijing in 1989 and zhengzhi popu (Political Pop) movement in China), art and politics have been inextricably combined.

Art & Agenda - Political Art and Activism - 50 Stunning Political Artworks - The Top 10 Pieces of Political Street Art


Contemporary Art In Virtual Environments

I'd also like to remind you that artists like Eva and Franco Mattes ['Synthetic Performances'], Cory Arcangel ['Super Mario Clouds', 'Various Self-Playing Bowling Games'], Miltos Manetas ['SuperMario Sleeping', 'Flames'] Harun Farocki ['Serious Games I-IV'], Joseph DeLappe and the ElectronicOrphanage, Jodi, Mind Games and
Game Modification, Hacking, Patching, Avatars and Code-based Practices within Contemporary Art projects/shows have used virtual & game environments to make artistic statements of a political nature.

The US Army also uses virtual worlds...

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Second Life Left Unity is the seed organization of the OccupySL group and has been raising awareness in Second Life of the issues surrounding the RL #Occupy Movement since shortly after Occupy Wall Street, inspired by the 15-M/Indignants Movement in Spain, captured the imagination, concerns and frustrations of thousands of people across the globe. SLLU has raised money for #OWS through donations and virtual concerts and distributes information, links and support for #OWS from within the virtual world of Second Life.

Just because we live, work and play in a virtual environment does not mean we leave the physical world and our concerns outside. If you are inworld and are interested, use Search to locate the OccupySL group and join for information and updates related to OWS and OSL actions; the Twitter hashtag is #occupysl.

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OccupySL - Action: Stock Exchange

The virtual 1% meets the virtual 99%

The first action of OccupySL went smashingly. As planned, we rallied at the SLLU OccupySL area and agreed to act in strict accordance with #OWS principles: no griefing, no harassment, no provocative or mean comments (no violence)... just raising awareness. When all were ready, we teleported into the Exchange...

... where we were immediately greeted by MR CEO and his greeter-bots and group-join script. In fact, we were continuously asked to join the group by this bot/script even in the midst of our brief exchange with MR CEO. MR CEO seemed on the defensive from the very start, accusing us of griefing him (in the first 30 seconds) and then getting increasingly harried and aggressive (just like some RL ("real life") Banksters we know, yes?) despite our polite and friendly comments and greetings.

If virtual worlds like Second Life are a reflection and microcosm of the physical world, nothing could have illustrated these principles more plainly than our encounter at the Stock Exchange. Perhaps the questions raised earlier this year about the business model of the Stock Exchange, its treading close to the rules regarding in-game gambling and the subsequent attention had MR CEO on guard; we will never know.

What we do know is that our action mirrored events surrounding the RL Occupy Movement. The confrontation between the Bankster and the Occupiers was immediately fraught with intolerance, misunderstanding, bad communication and no curiosity, interest or even civility on the part of the Bankster.

We OccupyLEA

Action: Fallback

As agreed, and reflecting the RL Occupy Wall Street which was forced to abandon its planned Occupation of Chase Plaza for Zucotti Park (now renamed to 'Liberty Square', it's original name before Brookfield Properties bought it as a zoning requirement - kinda like the SL 'land bonus' prims), we moved to the public sandbox at LEA5 and began to set up our tents in what we have rechristened 'Liberty Squared' (L²).

While we were setting up, Thirza Ember, who had advance press notice of the Occupation, IMed me and told me that MR CEO was making various wild claims (again in spooky syncronism with the RL Occupy Wall Street action) that we "griefed his sim" and "used scripts to crash his sim."

Comparing notes and screenshots, we observed that the sim was set to no-script, meaning there was no possibility of us "using scripts" to do anything there, as script running functionality had been disabled (which you could verify yourself by visiting the sim).

Contrary to MR CEO's private IM dialogue with Thirza and any1 accusing us of crashing his sim (with or without scripts), we were in fact ejected and banned by group tag and then MR CEO rebooted his own sim. No one did anything to MR CEO and certainly not anything that would crash his sim; he seemed to convince Thirza of this but fortunately all chat logs and screenshots agree that the usual 2-minute-warning drop-down box indicated that MR CEO was the person who "crashed" his own sim:

[the only edits made in this chat log are to remove "so and so is online/offline" lines; the name of the STOCK EXCHANGE has been made generic and spaces are put between relevant sections for readability. Raw logs are available if needed and can be verified by Linden Lab]

OccupySL HQ
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Flagg/223/67/94

Baxter Aubin: About time to do it...
Merriam Galaxy: should we go now?
NTropy Sellers: I'm ready
Merriam Galaxy: yup :)
Ringo Stark: 3
Baxter Aubin: Yep
Ringo Stark: 2
Ringo Stark: 1
Ringo Stark: go!
Miso Susanowa: YAY!
Teleport completed from http://slurl.com/secondlife/Flagg/223/67/94

The region you have entered is running a different simulator version. Click this message for details.

Automatic group invite SL 2.3: To join our group, open `Local Chat` and click the given link.

GREETER-BOT: Hi Miso. We hope you enjoy your visit to [STOCK EXCHANGE].
SECURITY GREETER BOT: Hello Miso. At [STOCK EXCHANGE], your safety is our top priority.

Automatic group invite SL 2.3: secondlife:///app/group/[STOCK EXCHANGE]/about
Automatic group invite SL 2.3: To join our group, open `Local Chat` and click the given link.
Automatic group invite SL 2.3: secondlife:///app/group/[STOCK EXCHANGE]/about

ANOTHER BOT (Suit Black): Hi Miso. Click on the large bottom monitors to receive a landmark and notecard on companies listed on the [STOCK EXCHANGE]. Enjoy your visit.

[STOCK EXCHANGE] Office Assistant: [another bot! Sheesh no wonder the guy crashed his own sim; it's infested with bots!]
Click the buttons below to receive more info on our services. IM MR CEO if you have any further questions. We appreciate your interest in [STOCK EXCHANGE]!

Miso Susanowa: Hello Mr Bot
Miso Susanowa: oic
Wizard Gynoid: hiya crystal.
Miso Susanowa: hi Crystal :)
MR CEO: Well this is awesome (this is the first thing he said to us!)
Ringo Stark: we are here!
Wizard Gynoid: this is what democracy looks like
Ringo Stark: and we are the 99%!
Miso Susanowa: occupy sl!
Baxter Aubin: Hiya MR CEO. :)

MR CEO: So now you're picking on someone who makes $40,000 a year?
Merriam Galaxy: Hi MR CEO
MR CEO: I think this is pretty misguided
MR CEO: I'm no millionaire
NTropy Sellers: It's not personal, MR CEO
Merriam Galaxy: it's just a symbol, MR CEO
Ringo Stark: nope
Ringo Stark: join us!
any1 Gynoid: Hiya MR CEO!
Merriam Galaxy: it's not directed at you
Merriam Galaxy: yes, please join us :)
Miso Susanowa: and if you don't make that much, then you are also the 99%
Miso Susanowa: hi! :)

MR CEO: This is my lot, so it is directed at me
Merriam Galaxy: not at all
NTropy Sellers: Well, we're not here to grief or harm. Just to raise awareness.
MR CEO: This is griefing
Merriam Galaxy: not in the least
MR CEO: Please leave my lot, I haven't done anything to any of you people
Baxter Aubin: It's directed at the media, the public, the politician. It isn't personal.
MR CEO: No, this is personal
MR CEO: I haven't done anytning to any of you
Liqwid Lancaster: lol
MR CEO: I don;t go to your lots within SL to grief
Merriam Galaxy: please, MR CEO, it really isn't
Ringo Stark: time to fly
Miso Susanowa: we've just shown up MR CEO...
NTropy Sellers: This helps you, MR CEO. We're giving you traffic and free publicity.
MR CEO: You aren't helping me at all - you are harassing me
Liqwid Lancaster: I was about to say, I never saw anyone give up free traffic :p
MR CEO: I don;t go to your lots in Sl and harass you
MR CEO: So why are you doing this to me?

Merriam Galaxy: it's not you, it's about what wall street and stock markets do
Miso Susanowa: no one's harassing you MR CEO, really
Ringo Stark: you can always eject us
Baxter Aubin: You seem like a nice guy, MR CEO. I have nothing bad to say about you personally.
Miso Susanowa: we just came! No prims, no junk, no crashing
Miso Susanowa: no violence
Merriam Galaxy: nope, we are very nice ppl

[System Message] MR CEO ejected and banned you from this land. You are no longer allowed here and have 15 seconds to leave.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Others were able to remain for a little longer, as it took a few moments for the ejection/security program to get to them, but no one was on the sim longer than 10 minutes, and most of that 10 minutes was spent by the documenting parties at the sim border where they had been thrown by the banning.


At OccupyLEA, comparing notes

Thirza Ember: hey someone used a script to crash his sim
Thirza Ember: or so he says
Thirza Ember: I thought you guys weren't going to grief
Miso Susanowa: nope
Miso Susanowa: sticking to exactly the OWS principles
Thirza Ember: well, he says not and he's going to report you
Miso Susanowa: and no one tried any scripting at all except for the hold-sign scripts
Miso Susanowa: well, thats fine, we logged everything
Thirza Ember: you did crash his sim
Thirza Ember: i was there when it crashed
Miso Susanowa: no one griefed Thirza we all agreed on that for days now
Miso Susanowa: he did mass ejects
Miso Susanowa: and any1 is a stockholder there [any1 Gynoid is a full member of the [STOCK EXCHANGE] and thus has every business being there.

any1 Gynoid: the freaking CEO is claiming we attacked with scripts...
Miso Susanowa: did anyone try to run scripts there?
Miso Susanowa: besides simple holding scripts?
Miso Susanowa: in the signs?
Kitten Mai: Don't think so.
Merriam Galaxy: nope, not me
Ringo Stark: nope
Thisbe Blackadder: all i have is my ao
Kitten Mai: My boots may be resize scripted but that's it o_O
[again, screen captures support our claims that the land is set to NOSCRIPT]

Thisbe Blackadder: all we did was tp in and stand there *shrug*
Kitten Mai: Yup
Liqwid Lancaster: he restarted the sim
NTropy Sellers: How could we grief with scripts when no scripts are allowed on his land?
any1 Gynoid: HE crashed the sim ... he admitted that
any1 Gynoid: rebooted on purpose
NTropy Sellers: Speaking of scripts.. how does one get a script to run here when scripts are not allowed??
any1 Gynoid: He's p*ssing himself because he might lose prims or some such nonsense...
Merriam Galaxy: an angry businessman protecting his property from a perceived threat

Miso Susanowa: you say he admitted crashing his own sim?
Miso Susanowa: do you have that log pls?
any1 Gynoid: yes big time... he rebooted the sim
Miso Susanowa: he is claiming we crashed his sim
Liqwid Lancaster: He rebooted it because I got the little 2 minute warning tab as I was leaving
any1 Gynoid: plus we all saw the warning messages
Miso Susanowa: i got "you are no longer allowed here you have 15 seconds to leave
Miso Susanowa: which is some kinda [security] orb
Akabn9 Ewry: the warning messages mean it was a controlled reboot. MR CEO did it on purpose.
Merriam Galaxy: he shut it down, there was a 2 minute warning
Ringo Stark: me, i got ejected and banned
Gabriella Glenfadden: i had just arrived and got the 2 min warning
Miso Susanowa: total transparency
Kitten Mai: I just got ejected. Didn't see the 2 minute warning.
Miso Susanowa: and no one ran any scripts or anything?
Baxter Aubin: I was ejected, no warning.
Merriam Galaxy: I was ejected to the edge and couldn't walk back
NTropy Sellers: It's a no script sim.. how could we grief with scripts?
Thisbe Blackadder: i was ejected and banned at 18:39, then tped here
Merriam Galaxy: I took screen captures of it
Miso Susanowa: great Mirriam! can you send that to me email pls?

No, OccupySL did not crash the sim; the owner did [rebooted]

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The bigger story here is of course not MR CEO at all, but exactly the kind of thing that is experienced by the RL Occupy groups every day. We were polite; we did not go somewhere we had been forbidden to go [and do not plan to go again now] and yet an instant antipathy and hostility to the simple message of the 99% Occupiers came into play.

This is why OccupySL was formed; to raise awareness of these issues.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

ACTION: OccupyLEA

Fortunately, the action at LEA was another parallel to the RL OWS events; As I was making the tents nice and tidy, two of the "owners" of the sims, PatriciaAnne Daviau and Solo Morningstar, came by. They expressed interest in the OccupySL movement and were very gracious and kind, giving me a tag (I had lost mine previously given when the Sandbox was new, some time ago) so that the tents could stay at L² in keeping with the guidelines of the self-curated gallery at LEA5. This is a reflection of the RL events at Zucotti Park in the first few days of the Occupation when the "owners" of the park, Brookfield Properties, told Mayor Bloomberg that the Occupiers could stay (before political pressure was put on them by the Forces of Wall Street).

At present, only our tents are there and a skeleton of the Media Center, which will contain links to RL Occupy information, websites and videos as well as links to the OccupySL site and actions. We will be working on those over the next few days and it should be very interesting!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Any1 Gynoid's writeup of the Occupation of CapEx

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

You can see more of our first action on Flickr in the OccupySL Group and in my own set. You can also read about the RL Occupy movement in my series 'Taking Wall Street By Twitter: an exploration of the power of electronic democracy' on my other blog, Netpolitik.

SLurl: OccupyLEA Base Camp

SLurl: OccupySL Infohub and networking

Keep Calm and Occupy Second Life

This pooled collection on Flickr - Protests, Political Art, Democracy, Social Change - is a set of photos and artwork dealing with contemporary movements of global protest, including Occupy Wall Street.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

We are the virtual 99%.
We do not forget.
We do not forgive.
Expect us!

41:72:74:20:49:6e:20:52:65:76:6f:6c:75:74:69:6f:6e

My name is Anonymous Kitty

and I approve this message

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Machinima, UWA last call, Art110 and friends

CITY

Link to You Tube: better resolution and size

I finally got around to filming CITY, which was first created in early 2009 and shown at the Brooklyn Is Watching open-rez area, where it remained for an (unusual) 6 weeks and was written about by Siri Woodget (who took fantastic pictures). CITY won Honorable Mention for Immersion in the January 2010 round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge, and was shown once more at Pirats Art Network gallery in November 2010 (where my good friend Apmel amazingly bought one and has written about it several times). I even wrote a dab about it myself.

CITY is filled inside with light and movement and takes some exploration and some forebearance for the integral sound. Here is the display card for CITY:

"I lived in Los Angeles for 18+ years, most recently on Hollywood Blvd. & LaBrea, just one block catty-corner from the famous Mann's Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Los Angeles is a stage show; a Hollywood production. The city looks lovely and shiny from a distance or on television, but that reality is lived by less than 1% of its population. Most of us live in a "behind the scenes" reality of filthy streets, unresponsive or missing police, no air conditioning, crime, mini-mall blight, high unemployment, racism, virtual slavery (undocumented but useful workers) and incredible noise. This city is never quiet. It is never still. It is not 'Baywatch' or 'The OC.' Everyone doesn't live in Santa Barbara or have a pool.

This piece is about illusion being just as much a part of "real life" as anything "illusionary" in SL.

The sound for this piece was recorded out my own apartment window between 12-3am on various occasions; at times the sound in my apartment exceeded 130db! The side photos were taken in my apartment and outside it. The floor and ceiling are overlays of traffic patterns on the all-encompassing freeways, as are the flowing parts of the "star."

To experience CITY fully, please right-click the glowing star and SIT; Mouselook is recommended."

I am very pleased to have learned enough machinima to help you experience CITY the way that I feel it. I have entered this machinima in the MachinimUWA IV : Art of the Artists contest.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note: because of some of the comments I have read on machinima pages, I'd like to clarify that except for the two whiteout transitions to the wall photograph sets, there are no special effects in this machinima - what you see is what you can experience yourself from inside CITY, especially in Mouselook mode.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

CITY: Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the machinima consists of the soundscape of CITY mixed in to an adaptation of a 138-track soundpiece of mine called "The Angel Is Aerodynamically Sound" which I have worked on now for two years. I have no keyboards, so everything is hand-done, note by note, sample by sample, in a sequencing program. It features many world instruments and voices.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Big Winter

Big Winter is now showing at the last UWA 3D Open Art Challenge *sniffle*

I cannot begin to describe what Jayjay, Quadrapop and FreeWee Ling have done for the arts community through this program in three years. Beyond myself, I know that they have encouraged so many artists to show for the first time and brought much of the arts community in Second Life together to meet, view each other's work and to have a rallying point for community.

I am very sad it is coming to an end.

Corcosman Voom has also taken a nice photo of Big Winter.

PS: if you right-click on the figure, you will sit on the rocks and stare at her; good for photos :)

SLurl: Big Winter @ UWA

my good friend Apmel has written two very nice posts about Big Winter:

Heartbreaking Cooling [when she showed at Kelly Yap Galleries]

At the last UWA 3D Challenge, where he has awarded me the unofficial Gallery Villa Apmel Award in a tie with ush Underwood's Popeye the Sailor's Heritage ^_^

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Art 110

My students from Cal State University at Long Beach's Art 110 Virtual Art Galleries program are busy building the galleries for their artists; I can't wait to see them done!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

... and finally, just cuz, here's Trill Zapatero as the Magical Ballerina Horse...



... Wizzy Gynoid demonstrating her mastery of zazen by sitting on Rod Humble's Sparkle Pony Linden Bear...


... and finally, one of Lalo Telling's friends sent him this scan from a real menu:

Miso to go!! ^_^

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

InWorldz Dreams & Visions Art Festival

The founder of Alexanderia's Kingdom, Jeri Rajha, is pleased to announce the organization of an arts festival in the virtual world of InWorldz!

The "Inworldz Dreamz & Visionz" festival will be a juried event with prizes to be awarded to the selected first and second place winners on each of the four SIMs.

Applications are being received now for up to 64 plots for either individuals or for teams of up to four artists. The festival will commence on November 1st with the plot assignments and plots open for build. Then on the 12th of November an opening event will be held and the artist's
works will be open to view and the judges will begin their selections.


Information for Artists:

- If you haven't already done so, you will need to create an account and log into InWorldz. Applications are available through festival organizers and in key locations throughout the grid. Additionally festival information can be obtained through the Inworldz event forum.

- 64 plots available - each 32 x32 m ground foot print, with 900 prims each
plot

- Low lag scripts (scripting guidelines will be supplied)

- Individual or teams of up to 4 creators

- Builds must not be commercial - no selling or advertising other than a NC
or LM to gallery or store of the creator/s

- Gifts are ok - please use the giver script supplied

- Plots will be allocated by lot (i.e. randomly)

- Creators will be supplied with a foot print prim with path and orientation
indicators to begin building offsite if required

- Sky platforms over the plot are allowed but must be above 500m, not be
larger than the ground footprint and have a TP to the platform on the ground


Prizes:

- 1st and 2nd prizes will be given for each SIM (4 first & 4 second)

- Prize money will be raised via tip jars on the SIM's

- All contributing creators will get a small participatory monetary gift


Application Process:


IW residents can send their completed Application Notecard to Jeri Rahja. Also IM her so she can chase any NC that get lost. Once all plots are filled the plots on the SIM's will be allocated by random ballot. The lucky 64 individuals/teams will be notified via NC and IM and supplied with a creator's package which will include further info on how to proceed.


Key Dates:

October 1st - 25th applications for plots open

October 27th - Plot allocations go out

November 1st - SIM's open to creators

November 12th - building completed - events start - judging starts

November 21st and 22nd - Judging concludes

November 22nd - prizes announced and presented


Festival Organizers:

Jeri Rahja & quadrapop Tree


Festival Sponsors:

IW Founders represented by Elenia Llewellyn


Festival Team:

Building - Alizarin Goldflake
Graphics - Miso Susanowa
PR/Media - Nazz Lane / Briawinde Magic
Scripting - Zauber Paracelsus
Events/stage manager - TBD


Festival Judges:

- McCabe Maxsted
- TBD
- TBD

The Collection of Holala Alter

You might know about the article published in the Spanish arts journal Arte Y Parte in December 2010 that highlighted many Second Life artists. That article was written by Julio Juste [SL: Holala Alter] and is a very scholarly look at the art and artists of the metaverse (particularly SL]. I wrote about that article here.


Holala has published a small piece about his collection of virtual art, which is quite extensive. It is in Spanish, so what follows is an automatic translation. (if some kind soul who has actual working Spanish would like to translate the article to provide a better and more-nuanced translation, we would both be happy! Please email me if you can do this!) The original article is here:

La Colección Holala Alter - Spanish

Notes on a collection of art SL
Julio Juste/Holala Alter

When I visited in autumn 2008 [resident] SpaceXcape, I met my future vocation in Second Life (SL): SL collecting art, which postponed until the end of the first draft of my dissertation, a study of the metaverse and verification in SL. The critical tools and theoretical formulations on the virtual self and the imagination of it, exposed in my academic research, have had an extended practice in personal enjoyment and critical appreciation of the artistic works of art developed in SL, and I defined as weightless.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This collection arose from a personal desire. A wish is a fabrication and is preceded by a feeling. The initial criterion that gave rise to this collection was the collection of works in SL and SL, whose creators handle the physics of this medium, and exploit what is a feature of the metaverse: the construction of an imaginary writing.

I appreciated the bold imagination and synthesis code, which requires, to some extent, to relegate some instruments of the fine arts. Virtuosity is a consequence manifested in the work, rather than a test of manual skill of the artist, as an exhibition of his skill.

What counts in this art is the emotional event that will trigger a state change. The imagination that show these artists gathered at The Collection Art Holala Alter SL is the result of a thought, an abstraction that does not abandon its virtual nature, because it manipulates matter. The reality has not materially. There is no interaction with matter, but with the mathematical thinking that will govern the pixels, with the intent to convey a certain meaning and feeling. A sustained metaphor semantics which creates a new physics.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

There was another question that, prosaic, was no less important: their economic viability. Even when the money in SL has a sense of miniature, the gradation of prices in this simulated world does not always keep consistency. So I set a maximum threshold under which the acquisition is always marked by the interest of the work, regardless of the name its author has assayed.

Do you guarantee the artistic interest of the work a high price? Taste in art is very subjective. After the attraction of a particular work arouses in me, is subjected to an internal debate: What? What resources the author has used to cause that attracts me? What is the key to his thinking?

Faced with an emotional situation that could qualify as outright, I value the relationship between writing and imagination when deciding on a purchase.


The concept differs from market seriously RL/SL in principle and until now there is no secondary market nor is there value; in art, the use value prevailing on the exchange value. The owner is not allowed to change the price, or transfer the work. The play is a guy who generates copies, close to the discharge of a song very rarely what is sold is an original. I do not know, in this case, if the author grants permission to transfer the work to another owner, and if allowed price change.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

What time of SL art portrays this body of work? The collection began in 2009 but has not yet been completed. It brings together artists born since 2006, coincides to a considerable extent, the generation of Holala Alter (2008), and leaves room for artists who have appeared recently exhibiting his works.

The relationship to these artists and their works, including the role of the self in this art, my avatar is part of it, or confused, or merges with the work, in this case, the self
appears as the work of art. It so happens that in the metaverse and the thing I equate to the extent that everything here is representation, the representation of a representation, and develops into a state subject dips. Immersion is the involvement of self with the environment, the consummation of the metaphor of electronic life.

The metaverse is necessarily diving. There are clues in this art that appeal to me greatly: its development in time in SL, the space is an act, is process, and exploits the topological symmetry to achieve meanings that expand the realm of the imagination.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

This collection includes works from the SB, but fit the criteria for the collection because the paradoxical relationship speculate SL / RL, and highlight the links between the two lives.

Art is the most artificial speech and the first man who invented and which is opposed to nature, although representing, abstracting, reducing its scale and subject. The other idea of identification between art and nature as art, it seems remarkable when assessing the works for possible acquisition.

In another sense, not always the works are for sale. And in some cases, my efforts to purchase certain works have been unsuccessful. So that the chances of executing my desires, sometimes away from my decisions based on them.



Artists in the collection:

Aneli Abeyante, Aloisio Congrejo, Anley Piers, Betty Tureaud, Binary Quadrity, Blue Tsuki, Cherry Manga, Chuckmatrix Clip, DACO Monday, Elie Maurice, Fiona Leitner, Fuschia Nightfire, Giovanna Cerise, Gleman Jun, Glyph Graves, Gracie Kendal, Heinky Shelman, Hypatia Pickens, Ichtyo broome, Loki glas, Luko Enoch, Maryva Mayo, Max Bobair, Miso Susanowa, Mitou Waco, Nessuno Myoo, Robin Moore, Sabrinaa Nightfire, Saiwun Yoshikawa, Buterbugsmetropolis Robo, Shellina Winkler, Shoshisn Shilova, Sistagrlro Wei, Treacle Darlandes, Tani Thor, Typote Beck and Yeti Bing.