This week, we were at Brooklyn is Watching’s opening for their top top 5 and top 30 At Odyssey ande Kansas Univ sites.

Seems like GE (Scott Kildall was in Brooklyn for the physical event, and Pat Lichty (as Man Michinaga) was there virtually. Lizsolo tp’ed in from St. John’s.

You can see why I’m protesting.  

Just revolting.

Italian culture has just gone down the drain…

Jerome Sans is Director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing, and cultural curator for the hotel chain Le Meridien. He co-founded the innovative Palais de Tokio museum in Paris in 2002, and served as its co-director until 2006, and has curated numerous exhibitions worldwide. He is a singer and songwriter as a member of the rock band Liquid Architecture (www.liquidarchitectmusic.com). 

Since we created the “Dream Umbrellas” project for Fei in Deceber of last year for the Yokohama Trienniale, I wanted Man to be there, because he had been very absent from the RMB scene, and could actually make that time (1 AM, New Orleans time).

No one else from SF were on, so I invited Mab Macmorath, one of the organizers of the SLon Des Refusees that will be going up in a couple weeks, and we mainly observed.   Giana, and italian artist fromt he RMB  team, showed up about a half hour early, then about ten minutes before, Cao Fei and Jerome Sans followed, along with an entourage of avatars.

The event was to swear out Alan Lau, and swear in Jerome (who goes by SuperConcierge) - his platform is that of accessibility and interaction - a concierge who is interested in the interfacing of worlds, and the interaction with its residents.

Since Man will be finishing the Umbrella project in Sept-Oct, it’ll be interesting to see how Superconcierge will breathe more life into the RMB City project.

After the inauguration, we went into Fei’s giant Panda where we experienced a cyclonic money jar, and when I found myself being thrown around by the currency, one artist sid, “See? The market is a turbulent and dangerous thing.  You should be careful before jumping in…”

Too True.

More info HERE

The Other day, Lizsolo was practiciing her perrformance as breastfeeding Zombie Alien Empress, when she decided to inform a lot of us (Helfe, me, a few others) that she has figured out a way to broadcast live from SL.  I fired up the channel, and ther eon my screen, was the Empress at her breast, and I thought that this was the time for the Pizza Slut, PizzaCicci, to arrive on the scene,

Within minutes, the pizza truck was on screen woth liz, with a piping hot deluxe for her and her young’un.

But, off in the distance, what did we hear?  Gandhi (played by Joseph DeLappe) was in prison, and he was tired of gruel.  The Empress of the Underworld and PizzaCici to the rescue!

We went over there, to be confronted by his guard, but Liz teleported inside, and my pizza serving paddle went right throught he wall. Another satisfied customer!  Gandhi then returned the favor by doign some of his “REDACTED” performance tweets, and after an hour altogether, I logged off.  The amazing  thing is that we can now broadcast to people without SL running.

We live in science-fictiony times.  

Have we created through Social Media a “New Togetherness”
Have we realized McLuhan’s Global Village?
If Open Source/Free Libre is another form of Free Love, have we made a trans-panoptic state or created a Sartean hell.
Is our new togetherness a new form of “Free Love”?

CONCEPT
“For the period of time, I am performing a durational/relational piece about Social Media asking, “What is Love?” After seeing an ad campaign by Macy’s with pure-looking hippie girls selling the “Summer of Love”, and the YouTube video talking about “2.0”, I’ve come to wonder about what love has become since 1967. Has it merely become a marketing tool for collectivized individuality, or can we still love one another? The concept of togetherness in the age of networked society is complex, but perhaps we can derive meaning from looking at the differences between 1967 and 2009.
For seven days, I am going to make my life transparent to the Social Nets, in a loving (?) sense of Marina Abramovic’s The House with the Ocean View or Hasan Elahi’s sousveillance work. During this time, I will try to have a channel open at all times, inviting people to have a “virtual be-in” with me, and stage small happenings in the gallery.”

JOIN THE HAPPENING:
In Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
Open 10-5 Wednesday - Sunday, 10-8 on Tuesdays,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

In Second Life:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/I%20AM%20Columbia/58/52/22

On Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/patlichty
Summer of Love 2.0 on Facebook

On Myspace:
www.myspace.com/summeroflove20

On Flickr, Delicious, Digg, youtube, you3b:
summeroflove20

On Twitter & Yahoo IM:
patlichty

Email:
plichty aht colum dot edu

PARTICIPATORY EVENTS
July 7-12+, 2009 Noon-5PM in Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Gallery,
Daily performances from 2-3 PM by Second Front at I Am Columbia in Second Life
Group Hug Panoramic Photos, Jul.12, 3 PM Outside MCA Gallery
Special Events all through the week. Look at the Facebook page for the most info.
In Second Life:
Daily Sculpture competition in “Ragland” region, 7 PM, SLT/PST.

@ The MCA:
Daily Discussions of the daily topic, 12×12 room
1-2 PM CST
“Hug” Action, 3-4 PM, 12×12 room
Panoramic “Group Hug” photo:
3 PM July 12, outside MCA (Meet at 12×12 room @ 2:45)

GIFTS:
In Second Life:
Free “Dream Umbrellas” created in cooperation with Cao Fei for RMB City @ the Yokohama Triennial
Vendor at http://slurl.com/secondlife/I%20AM%20Columbia/58/52/22

Second Front performed as part of the project “Artistic Creation Workshop in Second Life” at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux arts of Algiers. This project was initiated by artists Wafa Bourkhis (Tunisia) and Myriam Myriam Hammani (Algeria) with Professor and artist Mohamed El Ghobrini.

“Among the endangered species of noise pollution, there are the Dolphins who suffer from one day to another causing the death of a significant number… On the occasion of the establishment of the Artistic Union for the mediterranean, and under the auspices of the Association capucine.net based in Paris, it was thought to highlight these problems of the Mediterranean … an exhibition-performance-installation in Second Life métaverse about the noise that dolphins suffer.”

The Second Front performance of Noise Ratio took place on Saturday April 25th in the world of Second Life and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Algiers.

Documentation from our performance by lizsolo Mathilde/Liz Solo and Fau Ferdinand/Yael Gilks.

Dolphins frolic along with lizsolo as Dolphin Fairy.

Fau Ferdinand is also a delicate water creature effected by all the noise pollution.

Gazira Babeli’s Gazbots runs in different directions.

And so, the carnage begins….

Gazira surveys the dead.

So many dead…

Each member of Second Front responds in their own way.

We release more creatures.

Gazbots come.

In the end, just as the dolphins of the Mediterranean, we are banned. A good way to end a performance.

Second Front have just released a new machinima made by Osprey Therian. The video was conceived by Fau Ferdinand with Bibbe Oh. Losing It was performed at RMIT Creative Media in Second Life by Fau Ferdinand and lizsolo Mathilde. Sound by Zeb Vindaloo, a.k.a. Robert Gilks. Special thanks to Pyewacket Kazyanenko.

Click the image to watch the vide on Blip tv