So I finally did some work with Second Life of my own, a performance called Between Saying and Doing. This was the result of some ideas I’ve been thinking about for over a year but was also to a large extent an experiment with something I didn’t quite understand (why exactly are artists using this?), something I distrust (the linden dollar economy and it’s similarity to a Ogliarchy) and something I feel is far too over hyped.

In this latter respect the work is a huge success (in other respects that is not up to me to decide). I do now understand why artists have become so fascinated with Second Life, there is a lot to play with in terms of identity, the body and space, very traditional themes for artists. Discussing the work and in general creating work with Second Life, with artists who are much more invested in this than I am has been enlightening.

I still remain skeptical about it all but feel that criticism from within (in this instance) can be very useful so with this in mind I am planning some more work, definitely some performances but also some work that will take other forms. I’m quite interested in collaborating due to the immediacy of the ‘space’ and see it as an opportunity for a large investment of ideas but little investment in time and (ideally) no investment in Linden Dollars. If your interested post a comment here…