Second life tabloid scandals.

Salvatore, I really don't think you're a no-no, it's just that you're
reiterating something that's been done many times, and a lot of us have
seen it before.

You're asking the boilerplate questions, doing the boilerplate
interventions. It's solid stuff, but subjects we fought over in grad
school.

This stuff's at least 2-5 years old, and at least 18 mos. in Second
Life.
Now, questioning why virtual history isn't more common knowledge might
be a good one.

Maybe I'll go flood someone's yard tonight.
Hmmm.
Better yet, turn an entire sim into a lake.
That was my favorite trick.

Patrick Lichty
- Interactive Arts & Media
Columbia College, Chicago
- Editor-In-Chief
Intelligent Agent Magazine
http://www.intelligentagent.com
225 288 5813

FAX 312 344-8021
[email protected]

"It is better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees."


—–Original Message—–
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Salvatore Iaconesi
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2007 2:50 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Re: Re: second life dramas

Patrick Lichty said:

> He's protesting for pro-choice at Planned Parenthood…


wow.. you found out.. the internet is so powerful.

i actually enjoy watching some of you pretending i'm a no-no, and making
statements.
some of which i even agree with (as i said, i would have kicked myself
out of odyssey, too.. it's part of the game), some of which i don't. but
that's (first/second)life isn't it.

> First of all, I feel that it's great that Odyssey has its first troll.


:) just let me get my cave's texture right, and we're set.


and the: getting to the point

> Secondly, I ask what the function of the intervention was. Obviously,
it
> has gained some attantion, which is a core principle of tactical
media. But
> then, what is the sociocultural function?

raise questions on how real-world schemes transfer to virtuality, on the
way that our flesh-and-bones forms of perception and of social
interaction try to occupy spaces in which they make no sense, on the way
in which the collaborative digital spaces (not only SL, but also blogs,
for example) turn out to be spaces for ego, for closed-mutual-recursive
interaction.

On how globality is sometimes just another neighborhood, with houses
that are just a little farther apart.

And on the possibilities offered by accessible spaces ( but this is an
old issue. It sounds like "everyone is a musician, everyone is an
artist, everyone is a critic, everyone is a curator, everyone is a
journalist… " etcetera, and the obvious arising critique… don't take
this one too seriously..).

now: don't jump to conclusions too fast, as my position on these issues
1) doesn't matter that much and 2) it could be very different from what
you might guess by inspecting my actions, which are not declarative, but
investigative

> In my opinion, bombing Odyssey for perpetuating the banal
> mimetic recreation of boring traditional art is like striking
Greenpeace for
> not protecting the environment well enough.

and, about my actions: i did the same things all over second life.
I even posted a couple of them to rhizome, and a couple to odyssey, too!
the fact that i didn't look for coverage (on media, newsletters,
whatever) is just another story.
i posted this whole thing here because i thought it was both funny and
interesting, at the same time, and because i love rhizome as a platofrm
for discussion.
and i am quite enjoying the responses, too. If any of you want, i will
post a guy's 3 weeks of offenses he sent me for flooding his lawn on SL:
they're interesting, amusing and grotesque, at the same time.

but that's not the point, is it?

the point is being able to discern.

it's a recurring question that doesnt actually have a real answer.

it's, partly, about new media.
sometimes the question transforms into "how do i sell new media art"".
sometimes it transforms itself into "what *is* new media art?".
sometimes it transforms into "who are new media artists? who can say
'i'm a new media artist, and not a programmer?'"
sometimes even into "what do critics and curators want? they want to be
artists, too?"
sometimes also in "you infringed my
copyright/work/activity/fame/whatever. don't you know?"

and it's, partly, on virtual/digital environments. first part of this
question: are they really democratic? second part of the qustion: is the
fact that many try to put their analog_life schemes (part of them, at
least: studying the various cases is an interesting topic itself) into
digital spaces an evolution or a form of exhaust valve for real_life
frustrations?

these questions are, in a way, missing a part of the global perspective:
digital objects and spaces are different, in terms of immateriality, of
free replicability, of ubiquity, of the sources used to create them, of
the instruments used to experience them, and a whole lot more.

> If Salvatore wanted to question commercial mimetic practice, he could

> certainly go to the decor art island Artropolis which is marketing
itself
> similiarly to a Kinkaide-esque approach for Second Life, or any of the
other
> kitsch galleries. That is, aiming at mass marketing art using
SL-based
> memetics. Or look at half the artists covered in SLArt blog and have
at it.

well.. as a matter of fact, i did already :)

polygonal hugs!
s
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