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.


:))