Linden Lab to Support Second Life Art (But First They Have to Define It)
While the Second Life community was buzzing about the long awaited (Beta) release of the new Second Life Viewer 2.0, Linden Lab also made another big announcement. On the official Second Life blog, Niko Linden announced the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program. The LEA program is being created to help support, encourage, and highlight Second Life artists and their work.
In the upcoming months, it is our pleasure to take a more active role in encouraging the arts inside of Second Life. We are excited to announce the creation of a Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program which will help support, encourage, and highlight Second Life artists and their work. We hope that the collaboration between Linden Lab and the wealth of talented Second Life artists will contribute to a vibrant new chapter for the arts in Second Life.
The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) program’s goal is twofold:
- To create an immersive space for artists to share their art, build connections, and prosper in the Second Life community
- To provide a new way for artwork to live on within our ever-changing virtual world.
While still under design, this program will be a partnership between Linden Lab and Second Life artists, with the additional objective of gathering, displaying, and maintaining art at an inworld Arts Hub. We are currently building the LEA organizing committee, which will include members of the Second Life artist community and Linden Lab employees, to guide the program’s management. Under the creative direction, organization and guidance of the LEA committee, we will hold biannual art exhibitions, highlighting the most creative artwork happening inworld.
Niko says that they are currently looking for a “small but dedicated group” of Second Lifers who are willing to make a commitment to the program, which (at least for now) will be headed by CEO Mark Kingdon. Those interested in joining the committee can apply here.
While this extraordinary endeavor is long overdue, it also faces some challenges. Despite the fact that Niko says, “the key to understanding art is not in trying to decide what it is,” that is exactly what Linden Lab will have to do. The announcement is already full of comments arguing this very question… What is Second Life Art?
So far, most of the controversy stems from Crap Mariner’s insistence that Second Life music is art. He argues that the Second Life musicians are not always just “one guy with a guitar playing on a stage.” He says that some SL musicians create immersive experiences as part of their shows, and that they cannot be “pushed to the back burner” anymore. I agree and disagree. Music is absolutely and undoubtedly an art, but just like not every painting is art, not every musical performance is an art either. Having said that, musicians like Grace McDunnough and her full out live music production Musimmersion, most certainly fit the billing of art. But where do we start and end that thin defining line?
I tend to lean towards definitions in which Second Life actually facilitates the experience and/or emotions that the art provokes.
Bryn Oh described this better in her response to the announcement:
We are in the frontier of a new art movement which is unlike others before it. As an oil painter i would not expect a jpeg of my work to be considered for inclusion, as all the element which make up the beauty of a painting are lost when converted to this format. All the brush strokes which convey emotion are no longer seen, the colour is often changed when scanned and they lose the presence which an oil painting can have in real life. I think we have to look at it from an art history point of view. What, in ten years time, would an art historian say defined this new medium? What is unique about SL art over other forms of art we can find in rl. A 2D painting on a wall can be appreciated for its colour theory and composition but we remain passive observers. The ability we have in Second Life is to create paintings that you can enter and explore. Instead of paint we use sound, prims, particles, scripts, narrative, and many other tools which allow us to create a new form of art. Immersive environments allow the viewer to be drawn into the virtual experience and forget rl for a time. That interaction is unique to this medium except for perhaps installation art or earth art. Determining what is unique about this medium should really be the guideline as to determining what should be included.
Wagner James Au also attempted to create his own similar definition of Second Life art on his blog:
Second Life art is art that attempts to essentialize an important aspect of the human experience in a way that’s only feasible in SL, leveraging most or all of Second Life’s unique affordances.
In the end no one can ever truly define art. In my opinion, the keys to the success of this program will be (as Bryn said) determining what is unique about this medium and the art in it and also remembering the distinction between a craft (music is a craft) and actual art (Musimmersion is art).
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by GiannaBorgnine: Linden Lab to Support Second Life Art (But First They Have to Define It) -http://bit.ly/cXLsfU…
Sounds like no matter where LL draws the lines they’re going to exclude and upset people. Art strikes me as being one of those things where it’s not a case of whether something is or isn’t, but rather a question of degree. I think there’s always going to be people arguing that if one thing is considered art then so too should something else. Personally I like your idea of art being something that elicits an emotional response or has a unique experience. I think for me, it’s also about expressing something in a novel way.
Whatever definition they go with I’m just hoping that six or twelve months down the line the committee doesn’t morph into some kind of elitist buddy network :S
I don’t see how music is art. When is the last time you went to a museum, and saw music exhibits? How would you even exhibit music? I think Crap sees $$$.
Rowan Derryth did a nice job of defining what constitutes Second Life art for him on the Prim Perfect website*. In his words it has to both be rezzed and to resonate. I’m tired of seeing Second Life snapshots being called art, and as much as I love paintings and drawings, a picture of an oil canvas is not really “Second Life art,” at least not to me.
The art should use the special features of this media (particles, lights, prims, lighting effects) to be considered “Second Life Art,” if you ask me.
It doesn’t make me comfortable that the same people who brought us the open space crisis and many other debacles will be the definers, but I like the idea of this medium being supported. I will watch this with interest.
*Rowan’s full post is at http://primperfectblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/ekphrasis-an-introduction/
Wikipedia defines art as “the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics”
I think that says it best and anything that applies to that should be considered.
Also, Second Life musicians perform in RL not SL, and some SL painters use RL mediums. Their 2d art is just as much a part of the SL art community as 3d art.
artisans have always been pathetic i came into sl to create clothes but a guy gave me his one time transferrable light pant for 150 L$ and told me good luck one day u ll be like me standing here and nowhwere to go. artists always regret on how hard they’ve tried but failed at the art of compassion and confidence and i know for sure the new sl viewer is not good as the last one pls help the 1000′s of designers who have something to offer thank you
what?
It’s only going to be the popular kids choosing who’s coolest like everything that is so called Linden run. Why bother.
SL fashion should also be considered art. Many of us spend just as much time if not more working on our pieces from scratch. We also make some of the most original artistic pieces ever designed. Check out NPIRL fashion – http://www.flickr.com/groups/npirlfashion/ http://npirl.blogspot.com/search/label/fashion
“Art” is one of those funny things, I think, that you can’t really define. It escapes definition, you can’t always put it in a box and label it. That’s what makes it art I suppose, and the truth is in the eye of the beholder. There will never be a definition that will meet everyone’s criteria needed to describe what art is, let alone what art in Second Life is.
If something someone created moves you in some way, or speaks or connects to you somehow, chances are you could call whatever that something is art. This goes for any type of expression, be it performance, music, video or a virtual sculpture of some sort. There is no litmus test for this.
That being said, I still think an appropriate course of action here is needed. We need to take things on a case by case basis, and judge the contributions of residents by merit. For ONCE I actually relate to what Captain Redgrave is talking about. SL is plagued by an “old boys club” of sorts, an upper echelon of residents that *somehow* seem to control who or what deserves the attention of the Second Life community. Some call this the FIC. I know this sounds like paranoia, but it isn’t. This a real problem, and I am really worried that the same problems residents experienced while participating at SL6B and Burning Life are going to hamper the Linden Endowment for the Arts.
So, in summary, I don’t think a definition of Second Life Art is really that important. What IS important is that any organisation controlling who and what receives support from the Linden Endowment for the Arts is unbiased. In order for this to be a successful endeavour, residents and resident’s projects should receive support based on merit, for themselves, and for their work. Otherwise, we’re going to see the same people month after month releasing their fantastic new creation, funded by the Linden Endowment for the Arts. And who will these people be? Probably the friends of whoever is on the board of the Linden Endowment of the Arts.
The fact is, if they are serious about acknowledging, encouraging, and hopefully archiving artwork created with the SL environment they need to reach out to the art community and hire a professional curator, or two. If this is simply going to be amateur hour with “M” and the boys saying ” I don’t what art is, but I will know it when I see it.” then please spare us. It is all a bit too much like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland saying, “Hey gang. Lets put on a show! Please show the artists and the artwork created within second Life the respect it deserves. There is indeed a great deal of incredible work generated within this environment, and as part of the broader experiment of “create your own world” it is something that needs to be cataloged responsibly. Every one that uses this mercurial medium is an artist no matter what their preferred method or skill level. The beauty of the SL build tools is in their simplicity. They have allowed access and provided inspiration for a multitude of people to engage in the creative process that may very well have never done so otherwise. Let us not collapse into petty discussions about what is TRUE art, rather let’s hope that this endeavor is sincere, and well intentioned, however it needs the focus of a trained professional. In so far as I would not want creatives programming the servers, please don’t leave it to programmers to curate the art.
[...] 2 Tweets The Secondlife Newspaper: The Lupercalia Festival at Roma 2 Tweets Linden Lab to Support Second Life Art (But First They Have to Define It) | Sand Castle Studios On the official Second Life blog, Niko Linden announced the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) [...]
[...] Linden Lab to Support Second Life Art (But First They Have to Define It) [...]