Artists' meeting, Push sim, July 24, 2010

A number of Second Life artists met today to discuss the future of collaborative projects in SL (& the metaverse at large), similar to the Brooklyn Is Watching concept.

A new plot of land has been donated for our use, and the meeting today was how to best proceed and continue.

It will be another space in which any artist can rez his or her work for a week at a time without restrictions on content.

The aim is, in part, to restart the practice of doing regular video podcasts & critiques of the work. The space will hopefully allow for performance and multimedia as well.

This meeting has hopefully kick-started a movement that will gain more serious recognition in the "real-life" art world.

Why was Mab's post deleted?

I used to be pretty heavily involved with the Brooklyn Is Watching (hybrid SL/RL) project in Second Life. To make a long story short (and this is just a very general explanation), BIW closed, became Newark Is Watching, and moved to a different sim, thanks to the very very generous donation of land by art supporter Mab MacMoragh.

Sadly, Mab soon has to give up the land that she so graciously donated for that length of time. She posted about the farewell recently on both the Brooklyn Is Watching and the Newark Is Watching blogs.

However, her post was deleted (censored?) from the NIW blog for reasons that aren't clear whatsoever. Her admin rights to the blog were removed, too.

So, for the purpose of drawing more attention to this, I have decided to repost Mab's post, plus the comments that followed.

we work in the dark
18 June 2010

We work in the dark–we do what we can–we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art. (Henry James)

Take care with people you meet because you can’t see what invisible mountain of burdens they carry. (Anon)

Arahan has posted on his blog about the surprise announcement that Oberon made on my behalf regarding my inability to continue with Newark is Watching. The comment I wrote in response was too large to be accepted, so I’m putting it here.

~~~~~~

Thank you for this Arahan. You’re a good friend. I haven’t made a statement about closing because I haven’t been capable of knowing what to think or say, and actually Oberon’s shocking (to me) group announcement was the first I’ve really thought about it in concrete terms. He knew I was struggling with a morass and took it upon himself to make it public, which was a tremendous favor to me as it unlocks the issues and makes things move along. I’m grateful for that.

I have no reason today to think the future of Newark is Watching will be anything other than different and interesting and new. This is my hope. The meeting on Saturday with all concerned (Gallery Aferro should attend) will be a beginning step to make it clearer what could happen, what the possibilities and limitations are, what the organization and structure of it should be.

Gallery Aferro has made public their preliminary schedule and, while I don’t know how it would all fall into place, it seems they now have time to learn and plan and revise, revise, revise, revise, if they’re serious and are open to the challenges, realities and possibilities of virtual art. My feeling is they’re interested in committing to a successful ongoing workable format, in whatever ultimate form it takes (probably a much different ultimate form than anyone can yet envision).

Last year when Jay asked me for land to temporarily rezz megaprims I was happy and honored to be in a position to help because I like him personally and felt like I knew him well enough to be able to judge that the financial sacrifice would be worthwhile. However neither of us could know then that not only would this temporary expense be prolonged indefinitely, but he was also asking for my blood, sweat and tears, and most of my real life useful waking hours (I don’t have many).

I don’t intend to take on an administrative role in the new Newark is Watching because it’s impossible for me, a severely disabled person who is frequently debilitated, to sort through nuts and bolts of something so complicated and labor-intensive. It’s dangerously easy for me as a naive nurturer to be swept into things like this over my head beyond my abilities. Too deep, too far. I hope to remain a quiet supportive observer of art on the periphery, as I was before. I have other dreams, long neglected now, set aside for Brooklyn is Watching’s sake. I have to be responsible with my life, as does everyone.

I can’t speak for others, but I have no feelings about what has happened on Push SIM with Brooklyn is Watching other than gratitude I could be of service. No regrets. Even if no one was making official podcasts, we were there talking about the art amongst ourselves, and in that real connection was poetry. I loved Brooklyn is Watching and its artists from everywhere with all their languages who would come and go and come back again leaving their marks and influences like waves on a beach. I’m not an art scholar or an art critic, though I respect those who genuinely are. I have no aspirations or abilities in Second Life to be anything other than an arts lover.
~~~~~~

The past is history. Let it go. Now is the time to prepare for the future. I wish Newark is Watching well. Thank you everyone for all you’ve done.

(crossposted)

Posted by Mab MacMoragh on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 3:55 am.

----------------------------

2 Responses to “we work in the dark”

Mab, this is a beautiful post. Thank you so much for your support of all of us (I’m not even a SL artist and I feel so supported and nurtured by you!). Your support of SL art goes way beyond the financial – you’ve invested in us spiritually and emotionally, and I know that you gave of yourself until you were exhausted. I know you will remain an avid viewer, cheerleader, (generous) critic of, and participant in SL art, and I’m excited to see what this new chapter brings for you as well as the work that is yet to be made.

Left by Amy Freelunch on July 20th, 2010

----------------------------

Mab,

I did get your comment on my blog and have just published it and replied. I don’t know why it does that, I think it’s a bug, it does it to me too.

Anyway, ditto to what Amy said and here’s a copy of my reply -

“Thanks a lot for getting in touch and your thoughtful response.

I’ve been much less charitable in my summary of the situation than you, but your patience is a virtue I don’t posses. The lack of communication from Aferro has driven me nuts, call me old fashioned but when I ask questions I expect an answer. They’ve ignored us for a while now and that has caused a lot of bad feelings, so then to suddenly have a burst of activity and expect everyone to comply with their wishes whilst ignoring their failures strikes me as arrogant and deluded.

I do think the project has mainly fallen apart because of Jay’s absence, it needs an anchorman to keep everything focused, secure the guests etc. We all know that his organisation was sometimes chaotic but those early podcasts were often excellent, I listened to every episode very keenly, there were some brilliant guests who offered insights into SL art that was sorely lacking.

Jay seemed to lose interest and sort of wandered off, I still don’t really know why he did that, but the departure of the brains behind the project left a massive hole. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so harsh on Aferro, maybe they were roped into it without really knowing what was expected of them, after all Don at JTP was just the host, he didn’t get involved in organising anything else as far as I’m aware. But without Jay around his role has to be taken over by someone and so it is up to Aferro to take it on themselves or find (and pay) someone to do it for them.

I think you’re right to back off and protect yourself, there has to be a limit when things start affecting your health.

The most depressing thing about all of this is Brooklyn is Watching was a really great idea that has been badly neglected. Perhaps Newark will indeed rise to the challenge but it will take a lot of time and effort to bring it back to its former glory.

As you mentioned despite the absence of official podcasts there was still something worthwhile happening on Push. There was just so much uncertainty and confusion about BiW/NiW it always overshadowed everything positive.

Anyway Mab, big thanks to you for keeping the space alive for so long, it will be missed.”

Left by Arahan Claveau on July 20th, 2010

So... is there some reason that we're missing as to WHY the fuck Mab's post would have been deleted? She generously donated her land and time and money to supporting artists in SL without really asking for anything in return. The fact that she was basically given the finger by the NIW people is really goddamn awful.

She left these big boots behind at the Newark Is Watching parcel:

GIANT MOTHERFUCKING BOOT

Description: made for walkin'

----------------

Update - Mab has posted again on the Brooklyn Is Watching blog:

moving forward

Hello Gallery Aferro and Jay,

When I woke up today (I sleep at odd hours, similar to a baby’s schedule) I had communications that my latest blog post was taken off the Newark is Watching blog.

I can see that for myself now, and also that I have been denied access to the blog.

I realize it’s possible you may not understand this but I was involuntarily put in the very tough position of buffer between Aferro and Second Life® virtual artists whose work I care about and believe in, all of whom have been trying to do the best they could on a completely voluntary basis, blindfolded and hamstrung by uncertainty.

For every question you were asked and didn’t answer, I probably had a dozen related come to me, which I answered as well as I could and as promptly as I could, even if it was just to say ‘I don’t know, let’s try to find out’ or ‘we must keep an open mind’.

I have never attempted to influence anyone’s opinion on anything that has happened except to urge for understanding, patience and tolerance on your behalf.

The art in Second Life®, as in all participatory conceptual art, depends on engagement, curiosity, and timing – you get from it what you bring to it.

One of the things I have said to my son about being an artist is: Art must hit on the beat or have a good reason not to, otherwise it’s not art- it’s just dust in the wind.

Thank you for your time and as I said in my now-removed blog post, I wish you well.

Mab MacMoragh

Posted by Mab MacMoragh on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 12:29 am.

Art in Second Life - Dying out?

Brooklyn Is Watching seems to be pretty much dead in the water (the former weekly podcasts just aren't happening, the blog updates are becoming less and less frequent).

Now the Not Possible In Real Life blog is being discontinued.

So, what's going on? Is the art community of Second Life just going through a slump - or has the golden age of art in SL coming to an end? Is this pattern indicative of a downturn of Second Life in general?

My two nominated works at the Best of Brooklyn Is Watching

I am extraordinarily grateful to announce that two of my artworks were nominated for the Best of Brooklyn Is Watching -


I'm Sorry, Dad

and

Bunnyken In La-La-Land.

I set them up near each other at the display space, and it's sort of odd to see them juxtaposed in such a way; I mean, the subject matter, the intent, the emotion that went into the pieces could not be more opposite.

Also, it was a bit difficult to revisit I'm Sorry, Dad. Fortunately, it was saved to my inventory in pretty much one piece, so there was no need to spend a lot of time dwelling on it.

Teleport to the exhibition space here - http://slurl.com/secondlife/KU%20Art/214/117/21

Make sure you have plenty of time to explore; there are a TON of amazing pieces of art to experience - many by some of my favorite Second Life artists: Arahan Claveau, Ichibot Nishi, Dekka Raymaker, Selavy Oh, Dancoyote Antonelli, Glyph Graves, Bryn Oh... and many more!


Press release about the festival here.

Best of Brooklyn Is Watching Voting Results!

Taken from the Brooklyn is Watching blog:

Voting finished: The 30 best list

(*Note: Artists whose names are in bold are, or have been, Arthole artists.)

Podcaster’s votes:

ARAHAN CLAVEAU, Injustice
COMET MORIGI, foggy forest
DANCOYOTE ANTONELLI, Tower of Light
DEKKA RAYMAKER, 8 Platforms
GAZIRA BABELI, Avatar on Canvas
GLYPH GRAVES, Wind Installation
ICHIBOT NISHI & ARAHAN CLAVEAU, Beyond Human
ICHIBOT NISHI, episodic.atomized
JURIA YOSHIKAWA, A Window Into Your Mind
LONETORUS HABILIS, Garden of Colour
MISPRINT THURSDAY, Aeroport
NEBULOSUS SEVERINE, I’m Sorry Dad
NEBULOSUS SEVERINE, Bunnyken in La-La-Land
OBERON ONMURA, Beacon
PATRICIAANNE DAVIAU, Lilliton
PAVIG LOK, Intellectual Property Garden
RACHEL BREAKER, MAGICENCHANTED DREAM FACTORYNOBASE
REZAGO KOKORIN, Watching Brooklyn is Watching
SELAVY OH, Spiral
SELAVY OH, Attractive Art

Public votes:

COMET MORIGI, Wind Particles
ALIZARIN GOLDFLAKE, The Maze
BRYN OH, Sea & Sky
ALIZARIN GOLDFLAKE, Night Light
BRYN OH, Rabicorn Environment
ALIZARIN GOLDFLAKE, Come Go With Me
ALIZARIN GOLDFLAKE, Phosphoressence
BRYN OH, Drawing Out the Shiver
SOLKIDE AUER, Black Pearl
SOLKIDE AUER, Radiations (Radiazioni)

------------------------------------------

Thank you to all who have voted and participated - as always, I am grateful for your continued support!

Vote, Vote, Vote!

Public Vote for Best of BiW Year One Now Open! Voting deadline is the end of Saturday, July 4th.

Taken from the Brooklyn is Watching blog -

Ok here we go. Podcast participants are sending in emails to me with their picks- that will account for 20 of the choices.

Who picks the other 10? YOU DO. Anyone can vote. Vote wisely- Vote only once. Voting is only today (july 4) and tomorrow (july 5) till 2pm eastern. Artists- you might want to send out some emails about this to let your fans know.

Click Here to VOTE

What I’m going to do is take the 20 highest rated artworks from the podcasters lists- those are in, and then take 10 highest rated works from this survey that are not already in because of the podcasters voting and those 10 will be in too to make up 30.

FULL EXPLANATION OF THE FESTIVAL IS HERE

View results of voting so far

Description of all the nominated work here

"...what/who IS Bunnyken, anyway??"

This post is long overdue. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain the story behind Bunnyken, so I'll make an entry here for posterity.

Simply put, Bunnyken is a half bunny, half chicken creature -- hence the name. Although I often refer to it as "he," it is of indeterminate gender.

But the mythos of Bunnyken cannot be explained that easily. Not by a long shot.

It all began about 5 years ago, when I came across a very strange item for sale while searching weird auctions on Ebay just for the hell of it:

(image copyright: the original photographer, whoever you are...)

It was listed as Bunnyken, and I thought it was funny & creepy and odd, so I saved the pictures of it.

Fast-forward to a couple of years later, when I was pondering what avatar to wear to W-hat's Third Birthday celebration (April 27, 2007) in Second Life.

Arahan, CickMy Lunt (now known as CensoredMy Lunt, due to SL's ridiculous, crybaby policies) and I were set to DJ for the event, so I wanted something funny and weird to wear.

I somehow remembered the pictures of the bizarre bunny/chicken doll I had saved, and I thought I'd try to recreate it in Second Life.

Arahan (left) and me get ready for the big party!

The above picture shows the first incarnation of the Bunnyken avatar. I later improved it with better texturing, etc.

In Second Life, I began to make various prim sculptures of Bunnyken -- the first significant one being, of course, Bunnykenball at Brooklyn Is Watching, about a year ago:

I grew more and more obsessed with this mysterious character, and wanted to know more about it. I searched the web in vain for any information about its origins -- there is literally NOTHING out there, I have tried.

I kicked myself for not bidding on that Ebay auction! I didn't think I would ever be lucky enough to find one again... but lo and behold, about one year ago, I found ANOTHER for sale on Ebay, and I bought it.

This is actually Bunnyken in its original form.

[The one in the yellow suit must have been someone else's weird creation -- a Bunnyken head on a decapitated doll body. Genius.]

It appears to be some kind of cheap plastic Easter toy. The head is easily removed and has a hollow tube neck. The button on the front of its body turns. I think it's some kind of candy dispenser -- fill it with jellybeans or other small candies, turn the button, and a single jellybean will be dispensed into one of the little indentations on the base, each of which has short phrase:

-- BE GOOD -- BE HAPPY -- YOU'RE SWEET -- I'M IN LOVE -- LUCKY ONE --
-- ROCK 'N ROLL -- SAY YOUR PRAYERS -- HUG ME -- KISS ME --

(image copyright: the original photographer, whoever you are...)

I asked the sellers if they knew ANYTHING about Bunnyken's background -- what year(s) it was made, where it was manufactured, anything. The sellers had actually brought this Bunnyken to Antiques Roadshow, and even the appraiser had no idea what the hell it was.

From the Ebay auction page:

"It reads BUNNYKEN on the bottom so I am assuming that is who made it.

I took it to the Antiques Roadshow, they had never seen or heard of one before and thought it was pretty rare and very different than anything they had seen.

They apprised (sic) it between $75 and $100...."

Since then, Bunnyken has returned time and time again to my SL artwork (often with Arahan's help)...

I have since found and purchased yet another Bunnyken on Ebay, but I am no closer to figuring out anything about its origins.

It is still as mysterious, creepy, and whimsical as it has ever been. And I am not really quite sure why, or how, but the character of Bunnyken seems to have taken on a life, and will, of its own. It is a godlike figure, and demands worship.

Dekka Raymaker's rebuilt installation - Adult Content Removed

“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.”
– Henry Steel Commager

(quote found on the wall at Adult Content Removed)

I mentioned Dekka Raymaker's installation, Adult Content Removed, at Brooklyn Is Watching recently, but by the time I blogged about it, the work was already taken down.


Fortunately, Dekka was able to recreate at another location, so go visit it if you haven't yet had the chance.

You might ask yourself, "Why is censorship in Second Life is such a big deal? It's only SL."
I think it's really, really dangerous for people to accept ANY kind of censorship for ANY reason. Don't ever let anybody ever convince you that it's "for your own good."

SLurl here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fire/92/222/21

Dekka Raymaker's installation at Brooklyn Is Watching

Dekka's Raymaker's latest installation at Brooklyn Is Watching is one of my favorite of his works yet.

It addresses the proposed Geographical Separation of Adult Content in SL. An explanation, for my non- SL readers -- basically, Linden Labs (the company that owns and runs SL) wants to restrict what it considers Adult Content to certain areas, which would require a number of SL residents to obtain age verification on their accounts, which many people object to because they fear it will infringe on their right to privacy, and so on. It's a very complicated, controversial issue. One of the biggest questions raised is: What exactly defines Adult Content?

I personally think all of these potential restrictions are a bunch of bullshit, as I am vehemently opposed to censorship of any kind -- especially when it is imposed upon legal adults who are free to choose whether or not they wish to view certain content. Let people decide for themselves without having Big Virtual Government step in.

Dekka Raymaker's installation at Brooklyn Is Watching confronts these issues head-on. I urge you to go see this while it is still there.
*Update: Oh no! Unfortunately, it's been taken down already. Maybe he will have the opportunity to rebuild it somewhere else. Anybody out there who can offer some land to Dekka for awhile?

Check out a slideshow of the pictures I took while I was there:


(If you can't see the above slideshow, click here)

Some further reading about the proposed Geographical Separation of Adult Content in SL:

https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/blog/2009/03/12/upcoming-changes-for-adult-content

http://www.raulcrimson.com/2009/03/15/the-situation-of-adult-content/

Bunnyken memories

I didn't realize it until later, but the creation of Bunnyken In La-La-Land marks one year (almost to the day) since I first displayed something at Brooklyn Is Watching.

My first contribution to BIW was also a Bunnyken-themed piece, Bunnykenball:

March 21, 3008
[Which I had sarcastically set for sale for $L280523264, which translates to about $996,017.85 (USD) -- needless to say, nobody bought it... lawl]

Of course, this also means that Brooklyn Is Watching has been going strong for over a year now. I'm really grateful that it exists; it has given opportunity for many artists to share their work, and to partake in an ongoing, serious dialogue about art in Second Life. I'm glad I can be a part of it!

New piece at Brooklyn Is Watching

Bunnyken In La-La-Land

I did this piece in response to a bit of a slump/period of isolation I entered about a month & a half ago due to a long and (to me) depressing discussion over at the Brooklyn Is Watching blog; you can read the long & dreary thread here, if you are so inclined.

I never could quite explain why that conversation made me feel so dejected, but it crippled my urge to create much of any art at all in SL. So I pulled away from the art community almost entirely for quite awhile. Didn't make anything; didn't go see much of anything by anybody else, either. I felt like I had nothing to contribute to the dialogue, and nothing to gain from it, either. I spent some time working on other things; I read, I drew, I painted a bit.

Anyway, on Saturday I suddenly felt inspiration strike, & went on to build Bunnyken In La-La-Land. The image of the happy, jumping Bunnyken is definitely a nod to Arahan's original "Bunnykenland" picture, but the meaning & intent behind it is very different (and of course, is not meant to infringe on his idea at all). It represents the emotional & mental state of being in my own little world for awhile, not in a depressed way, but in a way that's kind of blissfully unaware & withdrawn on purpose. It also expresses my joy for the spring season, which has been intensified by music like Animal Collective's latest album Merriweather Post Pavilion (especially the final track, Brother Sport).

[As a matter of fact, I will be playing music to accompany Bunnyken In La-La-Land for my show this week on Arthole Radio. More details about the upcoming broadcasts soon!]

Bunnyken In La-La-Land is currently on display at Brooklyn Is Watching in SL. Here's the SLurl if you want to go see it: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/22/169/27

Fuck SL photography

Jay from Brooklyn Is Watching recently discovered a piece I had impulsively thrown together at BIW last week:

Unfortunately, the full meaning of the piece was lost -- there had been another box there, placed by someone else, when I created mine; but it had been either returned, deleted, or taken down.

Jay had this to say on the BIW blog in response to my piece:

Thanks for coming back nebulosis (sic). I would agree with you generally speaking. And I would also say… um… so? There are a hellovalot more of what i call “blah blah blah blah” galleries out there than there are galleries showing anything interesting. ( these are galleries that have their hands over their ears and are saying “blah blah blah, im not listening to you… its still 1865 its still 1865 its still 1865″ — then down the street is another one that is saying “its still 1945, its still 1945″ etc etc. ).

Most of the stuff in the world is crap. always was always will be… what was it that drove you to particularly point this one out? And do you have any awesomely bad examples to point to that we can all enjoy?

To which I responded:

I definitely agree, Jay, that most of the world is crap. But what drove me to rez this particular piece was a box that isn’t there anymore.

Sometime last week I had been strolling through the grounds of BIW and came across a box with a mosaic of generic avatar portraits all over it, with the hover-text “Touch/Click me for invitation to a gallery of SL Photography” — and it just annoyed the shit out of me to see it — so I rezzed the box that you are sitting on in the above picture.

Fortunately, I took a picture of the two side-by-side; I’ve just posted it to Flickr (and I expect it will piss off some people):

Below the pic I added a caption, elaborating a bit further:

The box on the left is something I rezzed at Brooklyn Is Watching last week, in response to the box on the right.

(The box on the right has floating text which reads:
"Touch/Click me for invitation to a gallery of SL Photography"

The box I rezzed also has floating text, which reads: "Touch/click me for no apparent reason -- SL photography is fucking bullshit")

While SL snapshots/photos can be interesting to look at, I don't consider 99.9% of them to be anything more than mere snapshots -- I don't care how much Photoshopping went into it.

There are & have been a rare few individuals who can elevate it to an art form, but SL snapshots do not equal "instant-art" any more than random real-life snapshots do.

Perhaps the thing that irks me the most about SL photography -- and what has put me off about it as a medium altogether -- is the bandwagon mentality. It's trendy; it's a "me-too" hobby; it appeals to the 15-seconds-of-fame seekers. Most people who get into it never before had an artistic urge in their lives; and once they get bored with Second Life, they most likely will never do anything creative again. It's just a passing fascination for them.

ART is not a fucking hobby or a trend or a fad, it's a fucking way of LIFE, it IS life; and if you don't feel that way about your art, then you're NOT a fucking artist, you're a hobbyist at best & a phony at worst, so don't CALL yourself an artist simply because it sounds cool.

And, as I said -- I find many SL snapshots to be interesting to look at, but I don't consider them to be art. I don't take my SL pics seriously, either. They're fun to take, fun to play around with, and a cool way to document what I've been up to in SL, but in no way does come NEAR to calling upon my emotions and efforts in the the ways my REAL artwork does.

These statements & observations might piss you off, but I don't really care. You don't have to agree with me; it's simply my opinion.

So there you have it.

As far as awesomely bad examples — you can’t throw a rock in Second Life and not hit half-ass SL photography. How I wish I could throw it all into a fucking blender and just hit Purée.

Tag search in Flickr for Second Life (plenty of lacquered up tits & ass - *yawn*):

http://flickr.com/search/?s=int&ss=2&ct=6&w=all&q=%22second+Life%22&m=tags

'Trust No One'

on display now at Brooklyn Is Watching

Not the best work I've ever done, but eh whatever.

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/71/139/22

Burning Life 2008

A lot of people who know I'm an artist have been asking me lately if I'm going to have a build in Burning Life this year. My friends, for the most part, know why I refuse to take part in it.

I left this piece at Brooklyn Is Watching recently and also responded to a post about it on the BIW blog, saying this --

Burning Life — oh, how I used to love the event…

I’m with agreement with Arahan about BL 2005 and 2006. Burning Life 2005 was one of the first major exhibitions of art & building that I’d seen in SL and it blew me away. In 2006, I was overjoyed to have been one of the participants — it was the first time I had a really big plot of land to build whatever I wanted.

The festival was handled FAR more simply then; the land plots were given by lottery. People interested in having a build would submit their names & a couple specifics (whether they wanted PG or Mature land, etc.) to a thread on the official SL forums, and the winners were (supposedly) chosen randomly. The winners were given their plots (which averaged about 1500 prims, I think) and left to build, and that was pretty much it, other than the Burning of the Man event. There wasn’t too much other involvement or interference, other than volunteers and Lindens keeping an eye on stuff that caused too much lag, etc.

In 2007, it all changed, though I am not sure why. BL is usually announced late in the summer, and in 2007 the time was fast approaching with nothing much being said about it, other than rumors on forums that the Lindens weren’t going to bother anymore.

Then announcements went up about it, finally — but this time, a regular resident was in charge. It seemed at the time that he had taken it upon himself to get it going, since the festival might not have gone on otherwise. I was happy at first to hear about it — would have been disappointed if it had just been canceled altogether — but the whole thing quickly turned into a fucking nightmare.

The land grab thing was pretty annoying, for one thing; each plot of land had a little 12-prim kiosk on it that HAD to remain on your plot for the duration of the event. And most plots, other than the large theme camps, were considerably smaller than in years past — most about 200 or 300 prims. These issues were the LEAST of what was wrong with the festival, however.

It quickly became apparent that the resident who took charge of BL — who I will refer to as V_c_r_ L_mb_rt — was on a big power trip and micromanaged everything. To make a long and pathetic story short, people’s builds were being scrutinized constantly, you-can’t-do-this, you-can’t-do-that…. Favoritism, backstabbing, pettiness, ugliness. Oh, and the stupid Porta-Potties. The fucking stupid, 60-prim (I think) Porta-Potties which have no fucking place in a virtual world where people do not have bodily functions to attend to, yet the organizers insisted on their presence.

Then there was the censorship of Cheen Pitney’s statue — one he has rezzed at BIW in the past, as a matter of fact — most of BIW’s regular viewers and readers will recognize it. I don’t even want to go into THAT whole fiasco, so I’ll paste the link to the unofficial Burning Life blog articles on it here:
http://burninglife.com/2007/08/29/censorship-on-the-playa.aspx
and
http://burninglife.com/2007/08/30/nipplegate.aspx

[To DC, if you are reading this: We had a convo sort of recently about P__d M_h_vl_ch, and I mentioned vaguely that I despise her, tho I can't remember if I explained it all -- well, now you know why. I'm not printing her name in full here, either, because she has threatened to sue people in the past -- gimme a fucking break. Anyway -- ]

I ended up quitting BL 2007 in disgust shortly thereafter. I got myself into a bit of controversy on my way out by pasting a picture of V_c_r_ L_mb_rt’s face on a Burning Man model and leaving it on my abandoned plot. —
http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=204521&sort=Pictures.PictureID+desc&Name=Nebulosus+Severine
Within a day or two, I was locked out of SL, although I was never told I was banned for disciplinary purposes. Supposedly, it turned out to be a billing error, but the timing was pretty fucking uncanny. Not to mention that most of the things I had rezzed on my OWN land — not the BL plot, but my home gallery space — vanished without a trace, without explanation. It took me a week to get back into SL, and my missing items never returned.

I was stupid enough to have hopes that maybe, just maybe, BL 2008 would be handled differently, or at the very least, exclude V_c_r_ L_mb_rt and P__d M_h_vl_ch — you’d think Linden Labs would be out of their fucking MINDS to let those two back in after last year’s debacle — but, nope, both of those two still have major roles (though V_c_r_ has mostly a technical role rather than an organizational one, or so I’ve heard). As long as those two have anything to do with Burning Life, I sure as fucking hell will NOT be participating.

So now you know why I say, ‘Fuck your bureaucratic “arts” festival,’ Linden Labs, et al.

Left by nebulosus.severine on September 18th, 2008

So -- now you know why I won't have anything to do with Burning Life, if you didn't already know.

What gives??

What gives??, originally uploaded by Nebulosus Severine / CM Pauluh.

I have attempted to take some snapshots to disk of my most recent artwork at Brooklyn Is Watching and no matter what I do, the picture looks dark and dull.

To test it, I uploaded a snapshot & then did a "save texture as" just to see if the same thing happened, but the uploaded pic looks okay -- SO WHY DOESN'T SAVING A SNAPSHOT TO DISK LOOK RIGHT!?

It's just something to do with this piece, I think, but I can't figure out what the hell it is. I've taken other snapshots to disk and they seem to look fine... bah!!!!!

* Edit: I have taken a few more snapshots to disk to test things, and it seems that anything with Glow on it is not showing up. I have no idea how to fix that... bah!!!!!!!!!!!

"I'm sorry, Dad" installation

After I had written this post, I wasn't feeling much better so I worked on an installation to go along with it and put it up at Brooklyn Is Watching. You can read Amy Wilson's (a.k.a. Amy Freelunch) comments about it here and here. I'll update this post with pics soon.

Pick Up Your Fucking Trash!

It all started innocently enough -- I paid a visit to Brooklyn Is Watching, which I hadn't done in awhile. I read the site on a regular basis and there were a few pieces I wanted to check out.

Some of the first things I noticed when I arrived were prim litter -- an empty box from some clothing shop or other, and a freebie go-cart. As I wandered, I found more random crap -- a couple of obligatory plywood cubes. None of these objects were meant to be left here as art. It's all just stuff people were too lazy and or inconsiderate to dispose of.

[And if any of these people in question wants to be a contrary fucking jerk about it and argue that they MEANT to leave it there as their art, well, I've got news for you, buddy -- your art fucking SUCKS.]

So anyway -- I saw all this shit laying around and created this to comment on it:

(You'll probably have to be signed into Flickr to see it, as I've set this pic to "Moderate."
As in "moderate"ly offensive? Because it has the F-word in it, oooooh!)

The arrows say this in the description field:

I have pet peeves. Prim litter is one of them. So unless you are new to SL as of today, pick up your fucking shit.

Put your fucking TRASH into the fucking RECEPTACLE.

Of course, the trash can is symbolic. Pick up your prim litter, delete it, whatever. Just don't leave it hanging around on land that isn't yours, you inconsiderate twat.


Brooklyn Is Watching is a place where anyone can build, thus it's inevitable that rubbish like this will appear, but it still pisses me off, no matter where it happens. It's the carelessness of people that annoys me, really, more than the objects themselves.

I've really been in a fucking mood lately. And part of it is a result of me holding back a lot of shit that I've wanted to say, not just pertaining to SL, but to a lot of things in my life. This is an issue that goes back years and years.

I am already a pretty outspoken person, but when it comes to things that annoy me or make me angry, I try to keep my opinions to myself unless I'm really pushed to the limit, because I don't want to be rude. Well, I'm sick of fucking keeping my mouth shut. I'm sick of biting my tongue. I need to man the fuck up and start saying more of what I think. Not to be a dick or anything, but why the hell should I keep it bottled up?

'LookWhatYouMadeMeDoOdEmEdamUoyTahwKool' at Brooklyn Is Watching

Arahan and I attended the Brooklyn Is Watching podcast #8 (late April, can't remember the exact date) and joined in the conversation. I discussed my work, 'LookWhatYouMadeMeDoOdEmEdamUoyTahwKool' (which I had updated and kind of built an installation around it), and Arahan discussed a miniature version of his 'Sick Cat' installation.

You can read about it here:
brooklyniswatching.com/2008/05/03/podcast-8/

Or, download/listen to the podcast here:
www.brooklyniswatching.com/podcast/biw8.mp3

Best compliment EVER.

"Nebulosus is a famous bad-girl artist in Second Life. She is incredibly gifted, sarcastic, and really really moody... This is a comment she left for Brooklyn Is Watching... And she's gonna kill me."

-- Dancoyote Antonelli, regarding my sculpture
"Like a snow-hill in air..." (Moby-Dick)
at the Brooklyn Is Watching podcast #4

For the record, the whale wasn't commentary at all. Just a random placement of a whale who needed a home.

Whoa. Bunnykenball makes the front page of the 'Brooklyn Is Watching' site.

http://brooklyniswatching.com/2008/03/23/the-bunnyken-ball-experience/