Wednesday 23 June 2010

LEA, Arts and Artisans.

Well, just tried to plough my way through the meeting notes posted by Sasun here...now.....good luck if you follow that link.

Sasun is looking for feedback on the LEA update on the Linden blog, but, as FreeWee so wisely asks....dont you have to have feed before a feedback? For, in truth the update says absolutely nothing more than general banalities....viz..

"Our high-level goals for the LEA program are as follows:

Provide a starting point for artists in Second Life and for those interested in art to make connections and display their work

Encourage and cultivate art and artists within Second Life

Foster community, creativity, and innovation among artists and all residents interested in art.

Provide a way for artists to not only sell and promote their art but also to choose to donate it for linden preservation (optional)

Collaborate with existing art regions, galleries, exhibits and performance spaces to help nuture their valuable participation in SL arts"

Now, I have read enough marketing bullshit over the years to know that nothing has been said....lets look at this...

"Provide a starting point for artists in Second Life and for those interested in art to make connections and display their work"
...so...this means what? They are gonna open an art gallery...wow...that would be unusual.... (UWA already provides this facility better than anyone else on the grid).

"Encourage and cultivate art and artists within Second Life"...so, like SL7B and BL, give people a few prims for a few days with strict rules and regulations to be adhered to?... pretty sure they won't be giving me any money, or tier reduction....

"Foster community, creativity, and innovation among artists and all residents interested in art."...this I have to see....

"Provide a way for artists to not only sell and promote their art but also to choose to donate it for linden preservation (optional)" could this be more sales on Xstreet??

"Collaborate with existing art regions, galleries, exhibits and performance spaces to help nuture their valuable participation in SL arts"...sorry, this translates, for me as..."we will use your creativity to try and sell SL to noobs"..

But the whole thing is just full of crap. If I was LL I would give 50 sims to 50 artists for two months..... then I would give them to another 50...etc....how is that difficult?? Well...thing is, LL is gonna try and milk it for as much as they can, obviously, but, as usual they will make it so incredibly complicated that it will end up a mess.

There will be, I predict, a frustrating tendency to rate "RL" artists and "RL" art as the benchmark.

Art in SL is different.

There is no difference between Artist and Artisan in SL.

That means.... there is no difference between a great pair of shoes and some twirly rotating anim smooth sculpture...both are High Art.

In a very wise post by Alpha Auer in NPIRL (which I can't find now), Alpha points out how the art you wear on your body in SL is more like Art as it used to be.

She points out that historically paintings clothed walls in houses because they had a useful function whereas today they sit lined up in museums, as does 'Modern Art' if it isn't sitting in bank vaults. SL Art that has function (i.e. great shoes) therefore enriches our lives in the way art historically did. Stuff that RL would called Artisan, or Crafts is, in truth the Real Virtual Art.

This is not a concept I expect the LEA to grapple with, preferring things that look like paintings and sculptures.

I expect to be severely disappointed with the LEA.


:))

4 comments:

  1. I, too, am skeptical of the LEA and its goals. My hope is that it will strive to be inclusive, embracing and encouraging all artists (great and small) equitably. Otherwise, I fear its exclusivity…

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  2. The moment enterprises like Shell, MacDonalds, Lindenlab, Coca Cola and Nike go into art all alarmbells should start to ring. The moment of payback the oportunity mostely is the next day.
    Better stay independent with less dollars available.

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  3. ...and let us not forget architecture.

    ...and, for that matter, what about terraforming?

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  4. @ sunn...:)) Hi..

    @ saveme.... yes, I tend to agree. Independence has many advantages.

    @ Lalo, hmmm.....I would love to see some architecture but I have obviously forgotten it...must be subliminal. Certainly I think terraforming and landscaping are of major importance, then there's dance, music, etc. My main problem is with art that is designed specifically for art galleries. I have nothing against art galleries if they are seen as shops in RL, however in SL they tend to house the least interesting of the Arts and, I fear, will attract the most support from the LEA.

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