Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Learning from Florence
Dear friends,
I would like to make some considerations about the Rinascimento virtuale exhibit. Now, two weeks after the opening, I can make a sort of balance of this project. And I can say that the two preminent concepts I am keeping in mind are the following: this project has been a start, a beginning to show SL art in a new way in RL, and that I learnt a lot from this experience. In fact, as always happens, there were the pros and cons of making a new thing.
It has been an interesting project and I worked hard to accomplish in the best way that idea. Anyway, one can easily imagine that a project like this is very complex and demanding and not all we wanted to do could be made. By the way, many things are really Not Possible in Real Life, but I ensure that I made my best to make that thing happen.
Please consider the efforts and close an eye about the errors.
The most positive issue of this project was the possibility to show Second Life art in an important context, in an historical museum in the centre of Florence, offering to the art of Second Life a sort of legitimization. That's quite important, because here, in many cases, we are not talking about the art of people who are already known in that field but about very talented people who need to be discovered.And I can ensure you that was a big challenge: in RL there is a quite strong resistance to accept those new talents. In general the gallery owners say they prefer people with a solid artistic background: I don't subscribe to this point of view, since this way we should have missed the masterworks of Basquiat.
The second big issue was to mix Second Life art and anthropology, suggesting that SL art is not just the art of a social network but a kind of social network in itself, creating relations and documenting day by day the life of a new world.
These are the focal points of the project.
Now, as I said, I consider this exhibition as a start, useful to improve this kind of project. And I am sure that this first exhibit could represent a beginning to make some other projects. Naturally, this first one should be considered a beginning to make it better. So, please be comprehensive about all the things that could be improved. We are studying them, considering many issues and making treasure of that past experience.
I don't know yet if there will be any follow-ups, thought that some people from art centers and museums in Europe expressed their appreciation for the exhibit and for the catalog.
What is sure is that I would like to define an advisory board, since I am sure that many competences are needed to define a complex field like this in the best way: Second Life art is a huge territory and it would be interesting to share our opinions, since I noticed that some outstanding theoricists and critics had not the good occasions to meet each other. There are many studies, many features, but sometimes there is not a proper dialogue. That's a pity because there would be a lot do to: define new styles, preserving artworks, creating some sort of encyclopedia or to define an historicization of SL art.
That said, I am analyzing the format of the exhibit and I am collecting all the suggestions that arrived from the artists and the visitors. And for me the complaints (I hope they are not many) are more interesting than the compliments, since with them we will be able to improve that exhibit and to make it better, to give the good relevance and visibility to Second Life art.
I would like to make some considerations about the Rinascimento virtuale exhibit. Now, two weeks after the opening, I can make a sort of balance of this project. And I can say that the two preminent concepts I am keeping in mind are the following: this project has been a start, a beginning to show SL art in a new way in RL, and that I learnt a lot from this experience. In fact, as always happens, there were the pros and cons of making a new thing.
It has been an interesting project and I worked hard to accomplish in the best way that idea. Anyway, one can easily imagine that a project like this is very complex and demanding and not all we wanted to do could be made. By the way, many things are really Not Possible in Real Life, but I ensure that I made my best to make that thing happen.
Please consider the efforts and close an eye about the errors.
The most positive issue of this project was the possibility to show Second Life art in an important context, in an historical museum in the centre of Florence, offering to the art of Second Life a sort of legitimization. That's quite important, because here, in many cases, we are not talking about the art of people who are already known in that field but about very talented people who need to be discovered.And I can ensure you that was a big challenge: in RL there is a quite strong resistance to accept those new talents. In general the gallery owners say they prefer people with a solid artistic background: I don't subscribe to this point of view, since this way we should have missed the masterworks of Basquiat.
The second big issue was to mix Second Life art and anthropology, suggesting that SL art is not just the art of a social network but a kind of social network in itself, creating relations and documenting day by day the life of a new world.
These are the focal points of the project.
Now, as I said, I consider this exhibition as a start, useful to improve this kind of project. And I am sure that this first exhibit could represent a beginning to make some other projects. Naturally, this first one should be considered a beginning to make it better. So, please be comprehensive about all the things that could be improved. We are studying them, considering many issues and making treasure of that past experience.
I don't know yet if there will be any follow-ups, thought that some people from art centers and museums in Europe expressed their appreciation for the exhibit and for the catalog.
What is sure is that I would like to define an advisory board, since I am sure that many competences are needed to define a complex field like this in the best way: Second Life art is a huge territory and it would be interesting to share our opinions, since I noticed that some outstanding theoricists and critics had not the good occasions to meet each other. There are many studies, many features, but sometimes there is not a proper dialogue. That's a pity because there would be a lot do to: define new styles, preserving artworks, creating some sort of encyclopedia or to define an historicization of SL art.
That said, I am analyzing the format of the exhibit and I am collecting all the suggestions that arrived from the artists and the visitors. And for me the complaints (I hope they are not many) are more interesting than the compliments, since with them we will be able to improve that exhibit and to make it better, to give the good relevance and visibility to Second Life art.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Spazi fuori sincrono
Pochi giorni fa sono stato intervistato in SL da Papper Papp per il TG Crashinews. Nello studio di registrazione mi sono seduto male, come si vede nel video. Guardando Frank così intrecciato alla poltrona, ho pensato che in casi come quello si potrebbe parlare di "spazio fuor sincrono", una cosa che mi ricorda molto la pittura cubista.
In SL finora ho visto gente che parlava fuori sincrono, alla Enrico Ghezzi, ma forse meriterebbe di essere esplorata questa dimensione degli spazi che si integrano o che si dis-integrano con i corpi degli avatar. Si è parlato di responsive architecture, ovvero di architetture che variano modularmente al contatto degli avatar. Ora si può anche parlare di una irresponsive architecture, di una dodecafonia architettonica degli spazi-corpi in SL. In poche parole, di "spazi fuori sincrono".
Sunday, November 02, 2008
libro: Viaggi nell'animazione
A cura di Matilde Tortora
Viaggi nell'animazione
Interventi e testimonianze sul mondo animato da Émile Reynaud a Second Life
Tunué - «Lapilli» n. 15
cm 14x19; pp. 160; ill. b/n; cop. 4 colori, plast. opaca con bandelle; rilegato filo refe
Euro 17,50
ISBN-13 GS1 978-88-89613-45-0
In questo volume, curato dalla docente e critica di storia del cinema Matilde Tortora, sono raccolti gli interventi di autorevoli studiosi e artisti, italiani e stranieri: Luciana Bordoni, Bruno Bozzetto, Patrizia Cacciani, John Canemaker, Mario Franco, Mario Gerosa, Michel Ocelot, Gianni Rondolino, Nunziante Valoroso.
Un’antologia di interventi di grande livello che restituiscono, a vantaggio di studenti, appassionati e addetti ai lavori, un quadro oggi quanto mai complesso e affascinante, sul percorso intrapreso dal film animato.
I saggi e le interviste contenuti in Viaggi nell’animazione vogliono essere infatti degli itinerari nel film animato, nella sua storia e nelle sue varie tecniche: dai precursori dell’Ottocento al cinema muto, dal disegno animato ai pupazzi in plastilina, dalle silhouette alla computer grafica 3d, fino al cinema di Second Life.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Some styles to define SL art (a preview from the Rinascimento virtuale catalog)
1) Digital Impressionism
There is a lot of art in SL, but the sources of inspiration can be very diverse. That is why the codification of new styles is very much needed. For example one could talk about Post-kitsch, or Techno-romanticism or even Emotional Surrealism. For the moment, among the few terms already accepted by the in-world art critique one can find: digital impressionism, describing a kind of photo-painting characterised by a strong sentimentalism, something between The Matrix and the Italian book “Cuore” (Heart, by Edmondo De Amicis, 1886).
2) Post-kitsch
First of all here we are not talking about kitsch to refer to the style of those throwing themselves into the ever-impetuous river of bad taste. We are actually referring to a very refined style emerging from a very precise need. Those who often navigate on the internet, know that it is easy to get lost. Therefore one always needs certain points of reference, which could be important sites, or, if talking about works of art, could be very complex works, dense with references. Such works, due to the “wedding cake effect”, could become buoys to find one’s way in the web’s mare magnum. Even on SL one can find this kind of work, which allow the tracing of the aesthetic coordinates of the greatest part of Flickr geography.
3) Psycho-architecture
This kind of style can be found mainly in a few Survival Horror kind of videogames, à la Silent Hill, while in SL it hasn’t succeeded yet in becoming popular, except for certain areas in Toxian and Midian. We are here referring to disturbing architectures, existing in full empathy with those frequenting them. The emotions, fears and obsessions of those trying to escape from these places, seem to be oozing out of the walls themselves.
4) Post-deco
A popular style in 2004-2005, it proves that even in SL there is an internal chronology, which causes fashionable styles to be quickly replaced by the next ones. Post-deco was a playful and lighter version of the ‘20s and ‘30s art deco, and the best examples could be found in the tele-hubs (tele-transportation stations), which today don’t exist anymore. Particularly interesting was that of Zermatt.
5) Barnumism
This style takes its name from Phineas Taylor Barnum, the legendary owner of the most famous circus in the world. It refers to the artistic tendencies of those who enjoy the circus-like attitude of SL, a world full of the most bizarre and strange things. With a keen eye, the disciples of Barnumism search for Salvador Dali style landscapes, Fellini or Jodorowsky style characters, Wunderkammer style objects and with their art they aim at the enhancement of these foolish peculiarities.
6) Neo-rococo
In Second Life not everybody thinks that the future is supposed to look like the protagonists of a cyberpunk novel. On the contrary, it could be an elegant, revised and restyled version of a remote past. Those avatars inhabiting Versailles, the famous sim à la Louis XIV, seem to have come out of a Ray Cesar painting, creating a new style equally influenced by Watteau’s Gilles and Steven Meisel shootings for Vogue.
7) IS-Factor
IS-Factor (Iper-Sensorialism Factor) is a term used to describe those intense works aimed at provoking a very strong reaction in the spectators, actively involving them in the fruition of the work. Photography, in this sense, is used to stimulate all the senses of the observer and not just the sight. In a single shot is contained a whole dynamic sequence where one could even perceive the sounds and smells. See, for example, Sysperia Poppy’s work.
8) Super Pop
The Pop Culture of the 60s and 70s is always one of the main sources of inspiration for SL artists: Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol are still considered the sole inspiration for many SL snapshots and many are also the explicit tributes to these artists created daily. In any case, there is also an urge to push Pop Art potentialities to its limits, thanks to new tools like Photoshop. This is how many absolutely contemporary works are created, like the playfully hallucinated portraits by Toko Voom and Daequix Scarborough.
9) Post-collectionism
In this case the “post” prefix is not referred to a time category, but to the posts themselves, the comments posted on Flickr to give one’s opinion on a certain work. The collectors of posts create their work precisely according to the comments they could receive, studying landscaped and portraits able to raise the interest of those who are likely to leave a comment.
At this point we have to note that:
1. In order to belong to post-collectionism a work has to have at least 42 Flickr comments.
2. Even those leaving comments acquire the status of artists, since with their words they contribute to the legitimation of the work itself.
10) Hyper-quotationism
Maybe because they have often been accused of not being sufficiently cultured, sometime SL artist end up filling their work with citations, yet without becoming Post-kitsch. There are explicit citations like those inspired by the film Sin City, and less obvious ones, like the Edward Hopper style atmospheres pervading the photos taken on Chouchou Island, which remind us of a Eugenio Montale poem.
There is a lot of art in SL, but the sources of inspiration can be very diverse. That is why the codification of new styles is very much needed. For example one could talk about Post-kitsch, or Techno-romanticism or even Emotional Surrealism. For the moment, among the few terms already accepted by the in-world art critique one can find: digital impressionism, describing a kind of photo-painting characterised by a strong sentimentalism, something between The Matrix and the Italian book “Cuore” (Heart, by Edmondo De Amicis, 1886).
2) Post-kitsch
First of all here we are not talking about kitsch to refer to the style of those throwing themselves into the ever-impetuous river of bad taste. We are actually referring to a very refined style emerging from a very precise need. Those who often navigate on the internet, know that it is easy to get lost. Therefore one always needs certain points of reference, which could be important sites, or, if talking about works of art, could be very complex works, dense with references. Such works, due to the “wedding cake effect”, could become buoys to find one’s way in the web’s mare magnum. Even on SL one can find this kind of work, which allow the tracing of the aesthetic coordinates of the greatest part of Flickr geography.
3) Psycho-architecture
This kind of style can be found mainly in a few Survival Horror kind of videogames, à la Silent Hill, while in SL it hasn’t succeeded yet in becoming popular, except for certain areas in Toxian and Midian. We are here referring to disturbing architectures, existing in full empathy with those frequenting them. The emotions, fears and obsessions of those trying to escape from these places, seem to be oozing out of the walls themselves.
4) Post-deco
A popular style in 2004-2005, it proves that even in SL there is an internal chronology, which causes fashionable styles to be quickly replaced by the next ones. Post-deco was a playful and lighter version of the ‘20s and ‘30s art deco, and the best examples could be found in the tele-hubs (tele-transportation stations), which today don’t exist anymore. Particularly interesting was that of Zermatt.
5) Barnumism
This style takes its name from Phineas Taylor Barnum, the legendary owner of the most famous circus in the world. It refers to the artistic tendencies of those who enjoy the circus-like attitude of SL, a world full of the most bizarre and strange things. With a keen eye, the disciples of Barnumism search for Salvador Dali style landscapes, Fellini or Jodorowsky style characters, Wunderkammer style objects and with their art they aim at the enhancement of these foolish peculiarities.
6) Neo-rococo
In Second Life not everybody thinks that the future is supposed to look like the protagonists of a cyberpunk novel. On the contrary, it could be an elegant, revised and restyled version of a remote past. Those avatars inhabiting Versailles, the famous sim à la Louis XIV, seem to have come out of a Ray Cesar painting, creating a new style equally influenced by Watteau’s Gilles and Steven Meisel shootings for Vogue.
7) IS-Factor
IS-Factor (Iper-Sensorialism Factor) is a term used to describe those intense works aimed at provoking a very strong reaction in the spectators, actively involving them in the fruition of the work. Photography, in this sense, is used to stimulate all the senses of the observer and not just the sight. In a single shot is contained a whole dynamic sequence where one could even perceive the sounds and smells. See, for example, Sysperia Poppy’s work.
8) Super Pop
The Pop Culture of the 60s and 70s is always one of the main sources of inspiration for SL artists: Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol are still considered the sole inspiration for many SL snapshots and many are also the explicit tributes to these artists created daily. In any case, there is also an urge to push Pop Art potentialities to its limits, thanks to new tools like Photoshop. This is how many absolutely contemporary works are created, like the playfully hallucinated portraits by Toko Voom and Daequix Scarborough.
9) Post-collectionism
In this case the “post” prefix is not referred to a time category, but to the posts themselves, the comments posted on Flickr to give one’s opinion on a certain work. The collectors of posts create their work precisely according to the comments they could receive, studying landscaped and portraits able to raise the interest of those who are likely to leave a comment.
At this point we have to note that:
1. In order to belong to post-collectionism a work has to have at least 42 Flickr comments.
2. Even those leaving comments acquire the status of artists, since with their words they contribute to the legitimation of the work itself.
10) Hyper-quotationism
Maybe because they have often been accused of not being sufficiently cultured, sometime SL artist end up filling their work with citations, yet without becoming Post-kitsch. There are explicit citations like those inspired by the film Sin City, and less obvious ones, like the Edward Hopper style atmospheres pervading the photos taken on Chouchou Island, which remind us of a Eugenio Montale poem.
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