REMINDER: Second Life Social Fabrics Event--Deadline Approaching

Artists and designers using Second Life are invited to submit proposals to Social Fabrics SL. Please include a 500 word description of the project's concept, a 250 word technical description, special requirements (if any), images or sketches, and contact information.
Proposals must be emailed by no later than October 15th to Patrick Lichty (aka Man Michinaga) as PDF or Microsoft Word file, at [email protected]. Selected proposals will be notified by Nov. 1.

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

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

Participation: Depending on the final venue, participants must be available to take part in the final event, which will be a pre-CAA in-world exhibition where in-world Second Life video documentation will be compiled for display at the Dallas event. Image documentation (300 dpi JPG or TIFF images) will be required by January 15th for inclusion in the exhibition catalogue.

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

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