Some questions which came up again and again vis-a-vis Virtual Worlds - especially the one in Secondlife - Are Virtual World things real?
To reply to these puzzling existantial queries, I have written back in 2009 my experiences for Secondlife-world time.
The main points are here:
Time is a limited ressource and the person who spent time specifically for you, to be with you - in person in real life, and online via their avatar - has given you the gift of their time and is a real friend.
The Virtual World becomes "real" when the people inside invest their true selves in it. What is life if you are stripped of memories? We have only memories - to provide good memories, you must have high quality experiences.
This translates into high quality objects, scenarios and time - just like in the material world - immaterial world and material worlds are both components of real life.
http://swannbb.blogspot.com/2009/11/high-quality-sim-for-good-memories.html
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
HuaKui BallBall, large, medium and small
Real human scale 1:1 small
Human scale with different mannequin sizes. Left: Extra Extra Large, building size ball, 20meter diameter; Top: Large ball, sitting 5meter diameter sphere; Right: Extra Large ball, 10meter diameter.
Large size ball with mannequin as human scale
Saturday, 10 December 2011
3 idiots making of ***half, The White Sheik ***half, Intelligence of Being Human
3 idiots making of ***half,
New pop film everybody says I would like. I got a hold of a making of, thinking it was the film, after I watched it entirely I find it very informative. Very good. I like to know behind the scenes type of mechanics and the actors, what efforts they made to achieve for example a lisp for a character etc. All very impressive and I really like last scene of the clear magnificent setting. So clear, water and sky all in one. Apparently the actors had oxygen problems, they were gasping for air after each piece of dialogue! Wonderful making of.
The White Sheik ***half
Fellini has made this very multilayered film about a young bride to be falling in love with romance as portrayed in Photo-roman comics, and he clearly showed each characters multileveled humanity. Regardless of how naive the girl is, the lady editor is warm and friendly towards her, she wants her to enjoy her romantic dreams. The taxi driver chases after the husband from place to place and waits to get paid, because he knew the husband is in hot water, so he waits without breaking the husbands "show". Very human. And the police man, in his detective professionalism, gets the husband to say his name, his fathers name, each time he utters his name; clack clack clack, the typewriter gets going as if hes already committed a crime... very funny and subtle. The "white sheik" comes on land, and faces this big fat woman, his wife who slaps the girl, and gets his man. So immediately the white sheik denys all doing w the girl, climbs on the back of the vespa, holds on tight the fat woman - she is the one for him! She resolves all his problems, and is the true pillar of solidity of his life! All the pretty girls in the world are just little snippets of candies, no more. The girl is played by a very pretty saintly pure young actress, very gd in her role. Fellini's wife plays this nosy woman, w very bright eyes, a little kookie but so likeable. The Juilette of the Spirits, same charming eyes. In the end, the girl gets together with her new husband, who is now truly she knows he is her white sheik. It is good that she had experienced this little dream breaking romance. It is very intelligent this movie shows each person involved in the production of romance, so necessary in peoples difficult lives. Each character has rules and boundaries that makes their lives not so easy and each part provides something sweet to make life go easier, and nobody is really that naive to believe in it at the first degree. So, this movie is so great in that all these multiple simultaneously occuring layers are all happening so well, nobody is mean. Everybody can make a little room for the other when in need. That, is being human. Intelligence of being human or rather Deploying Human Intelligence.
New pop film everybody says I would like. I got a hold of a making of, thinking it was the film, after I watched it entirely I find it very informative. Very good. I like to know behind the scenes type of mechanics and the actors, what efforts they made to achieve for example a lisp for a character etc. All very impressive and I really like last scene of the clear magnificent setting. So clear, water and sky all in one. Apparently the actors had oxygen problems, they were gasping for air after each piece of dialogue! Wonderful making of.
The White Sheik ***half
Fellini has made this very multilayered film about a young bride to be falling in love with romance as portrayed in Photo-roman comics, and he clearly showed each characters multileveled humanity. Regardless of how naive the girl is, the lady editor is warm and friendly towards her, she wants her to enjoy her romantic dreams. The taxi driver chases after the husband from place to place and waits to get paid, because he knew the husband is in hot water, so he waits without breaking the husbands "show". Very human. And the police man, in his detective professionalism, gets the husband to say his name, his fathers name, each time he utters his name; clack clack clack, the typewriter gets going as if hes already committed a crime... very funny and subtle. The "white sheik" comes on land, and faces this big fat woman, his wife who slaps the girl, and gets his man. So immediately the white sheik denys all doing w the girl, climbs on the back of the vespa, holds on tight the fat woman - she is the one for him! She resolves all his problems, and is the true pillar of solidity of his life! All the pretty girls in the world are just little snippets of candies, no more. The girl is played by a very pretty saintly pure young actress, very gd in her role. Fellini's wife plays this nosy woman, w very bright eyes, a little kookie but so likeable. The Juilette of the Spirits, same charming eyes. In the end, the girl gets together with her new husband, who is now truly she knows he is her white sheik. It is good that she had experienced this little dream breaking romance. It is very intelligent this movie shows each person involved in the production of romance, so necessary in peoples difficult lives. Each character has rules and boundaries that makes their lives not so easy and each part provides something sweet to make life go easier, and nobody is really that naive to believe in it at the first degree. So, this movie is so great in that all these multiple simultaneously occuring layers are all happening so well, nobody is mean. Everybody can make a little room for the other when in need. That, is being human. Intelligence of being human or rather Deploying Human Intelligence.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Mondrian's painting closeups
photos by James Elkins
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-elkins/post_1036_b_756669.html
Closeups of Mondrian's paintings
I was at a critique session of an art school.
A student mounted a number of "copied" Mondrian to show her criticism against todays practice of museums sometimes just showing copies and not the original.
When I looked at these copies, they look like postcards blown up, or worst quickie striped "copies".
If this exhibition-work-installation is meant to be "criticism of todays Museum practices" - just a very good essay or photos of these existing practice would be good enough? Why go to the trouble of reproducing all these paintings by hand so the dimensions are exact etc. ?
I have respect for good copiers, because to make a good copy of a master painting, it also takes great artistic dedication - whether the copy is very life like or just amateur love like.
Here in this case, I think the student has wasted her time. Because her message is really thin and the effort that she has made to set this argument in a spatialised installation is - time wasted. The paintings have no love in it.
Then, other teachers think this is sufficient whether the copy is v gd or not is not important, the student has made a statement and its very good work.
I question this point because, why not copy Mona Lisa? Why choose Mondrian? Is it because we think Mondrian is much easier to fake than the very familiar Mona Lisa?
I think its a waste of time, because, this art work has no love in it. It is purely a "mediatic critique" thats not worth all this effort. In the end, the reason why we have copies in museums are not cynical. It is a solution to an existing problem - that of a standing in while the original is on loan or in the vault or whatever.
I think all paintings, whether by famous artists, or copier or students or amateur naive painters, without an authentic desire to create the painting, its not worth it. Because you will end up with a pile of "quickie look-a-like stand ins".
So, I asked the student, has she ever seen any of the Mondrian originals. No, she has not. (Why not copy something she has seen?)
So, I checked on the Internet, and within the first page, the third down the list, we see the article on "copying Mondrian" by James Elkins. There are very good photos of closeups of the painting too!
What does this all mean?
Part of this shows the change of what "painting" means and how "painting" as an art form has turned from the act to meaning, to critical gestures; and students today are applauded for "critical capacities".
I ask this question, as an artist, what is your "pleasure", your "content"? There are thousands of bad worthy of heavy criticism of moral, esthetics, from many different angles. How do you choose to criticise this or that? And would you rather use your time to improve your own work and make it better rather than criticising these other works/phenomenon?
Its very easy to be critical of a specific event or phenomenon, but without placing it in context, the criticism is too easy, too light, too ineffective. It doesnt bring much food to the table; neither for the "critic" nor for the viewer.
Put your place in the position of the copier, what are the issues involved in this act? What do you learn from the process and seeing the end result and other peoples reception of your act? Did your message deliver something thats worth your action? (Only the creator could fully answer this question)
For what reasons did the author of the copying decided to launch this laborious or easy work?
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Sl is good for... architecture prototyping, machinima
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/11/the-myth-of-why-second-life-failed-to-go-big.html#tp
The Myth of Second Life's Failure to Go Big: It Wasn't Lack of Practical Applications, But Poor Execution & Market Timing
It's quite easy to find numerous "jobs" that Second Life has been used for, in ways that other platforms couldn't provide as well. Here's just a few:
1// Second Life has been used by many filmmakers as a low-cost, resource-rich platform for making 3D animation -- i.e. machinima.
2// Second Life has been used by therapists and veterans as a high value therapy platform for treatment of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), which is "Working when nothing else has.”
3//Second Life has been used by architects as a low-cost, resource-rich prototyping platform.
The Myth of Second Life's Failure to Go Big: It Wasn't Lack of Practical Applications, But Poor Execution & Market Timing
It's quite easy to find numerous "jobs" that Second Life has been used for, in ways that other platforms couldn't provide as well. Here's just a few:
1// Second Life has been used by many filmmakers as a low-cost, resource-rich platform for making 3D animation -- i.e. machinima.
2// Second Life has been used by therapists and veterans as a high value therapy platform for treatment of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), which is "Working when nothing else has.”
3//Second Life has been used by architects as a low-cost, resource-rich prototyping platform.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Avril***
Avril ***
Very nice film on nuns. About the awakening of a young girl grew up in a convent - a very strict order - maybe Carmelite. There is a heavy criticism on Camalite vow of no speaking, no contact with outside world. When, all the elderly nuns are there for some personal reasons - often unspeakable. The young girl Avril, was suggested by the head nun to take a vow forever devoted to god and had to give up all the worldly possessions and stay locked up in a small white room - the little chapel. She was to renovate the place and speak to no one for 2 wks. Comes a middle age nun - she whispers at the door that the girl was not really an orphan, she had a brother - and she wanted to, she could take the two weeks of confinement to get outside to look for her brother. She left the door unlocked. The girl gets out, and finds her brother and began an awakening of the senses. This part is very well played with very good transitions. The young nun has a flair for drawing and artistic sense. She soon makes friends with a paint vendor. Within two weeks, she found her brother and his boy friend, the paint vendor young man and herself. To decorate the white chaple she painted her body with pink paint, and the boys in blue, and printed the body on the white wall - a la Yves Klein. The film is interesting, and the references to contemporary art is interesting. A film to use for discussion. What do people see, which are the issues that makes us think more and maybe jump start our imagination. Makes us query which parts are plausible and which parts are rather forced. In all cases,the intention of the film maker is sincere.
Very nice film on nuns. About the awakening of a young girl grew up in a convent - a very strict order - maybe Carmelite. There is a heavy criticism on Camalite vow of no speaking, no contact with outside world. When, all the elderly nuns are there for some personal reasons - often unspeakable. The young girl Avril, was suggested by the head nun to take a vow forever devoted to god and had to give up all the worldly possessions and stay locked up in a small white room - the little chapel. She was to renovate the place and speak to no one for 2 wks. Comes a middle age nun - she whispers at the door that the girl was not really an orphan, she had a brother - and she wanted to, she could take the two weeks of confinement to get outside to look for her brother. She left the door unlocked. The girl gets out, and finds her brother and began an awakening of the senses. This part is very well played with very good transitions. The young nun has a flair for drawing and artistic sense. She soon makes friends with a paint vendor. Within two weeks, she found her brother and his boy friend, the paint vendor young man and herself. To decorate the white chaple she painted her body with pink paint, and the boys in blue, and printed the body on the white wall - a la Yves Klein. The film is interesting, and the references to contemporary art is interesting. A film to use for discussion. What do people see, which are the issues that makes us think more and maybe jump start our imagination. Makes us query which parts are plausible and which parts are rather forced. In all cases,the intention of the film maker is sincere.
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