#3 AM Radio



It was with sadness that I heard the majority of AM Radio's sims would be taken down in 5 months from now.  They have, up until now, been supported by IDIA Lab at Ball State University.  They deserve a great deal of credit for recognizing the arts in Second Life and supporting AM monetarily for so long.  When we look back at societies over the centuries many are defined by their art.  Ancient Greece, the Empire of Rome to the more modern Italian Renaissance masters.  France with their Salons and America in the 50's onward.  It is not always the case yet in many ways a society in their peak produces great art.  Yet what happens when a society is in decline?  are the arts the first to go?
     I don't think the United States of America is in decline.  They are definitely struggling yet so is much of the world.  However, not long ago I read that Gov. Sam Brownback had completely eliminated funding for the Arts in the state of Kansas.  The rationale was that in times of struggle they must essentially tighten their belts and remove the things which were not considered essential.  If the health of the arts do define a society then the first sign of decay in the USA would be Kansas.  It may be a blip or perhaps signs of things to come.
     Second Life is also a society, yet more difficult to encapsulate.  Its citizens are made up of people from around the world.  Its users are from both strong nations and weaker.  But it is a community and I believe it may eventually be defined by its arts.  It could be argued that Second Life is a type of country.  It has a population, an economy and virtual land.  It also has to deal with the worlds recession.  AM's work is some of the most beautiful and important in Second Life, it's loss will not just diminish Second Life aesthetically, it will also mark the departure of one of its great innovators.  If you look around at many of the sims in Second Life today, if you look with a builders eye, you will see that many of them are directly influenced by AM's work.
    This post is part of my top ten favorite builds from last year, and normally I would speak on the reasons for this, the techniques used etc,  instead I would like to focus on one solution to my fears of decay.  About a year ago I was approached by Pathfinder Linden to see if I would be interested in placing some of my work on Linden land.  I agreed and went to see the parcel.  It is called Pomponio Volcano and it's in Davenport.  I imagine it was terraformed in 2003 when they wished to create mountains and forests etc to provide an environment for their new virtual world.  It was a sensible idea yet as time passes we can see that a sim of a simple volcano does not really amount to much.  I understand the reasoning and I would have initially believed the same thing I expect, yet in hindsight simple terraformed land would be better used as art destinations.  Using barren linden land for art would keep works like AM's in world and preserved and would create destinations for new users while populating deserted regions.  Anyway, it seems like a good idea to me.  I know its likely much more complicated, for example just finding all the empty plots of linden land would be a time consuming chore in itself.  Determining who gets to be preserved on these lands and who doesn't would be a nightmare for someone as they would become a target for the angry rejected artists.  It wouldn't be easy but its something to think about.
   

Comments

Anonymous said…
sl land is too expensive and that's why great places are taken down. ll's business model needs to be re-thought entirely: it is as though you'd need to pay for your presence on facebook; that's totally silly. each new resident should be given land as a gift. regarding funding, decay and art, there is no need to worry: it is largely believed that the more an artist suffers, the greater the art :)
Betty Tureaud said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
I agree with Anonymous in that we should not worry. Art will live on, regardless of whether governments choose to participate in it or not. The Nazis couldn't squash the enduring influence of the Bauhaus, and many of our favorite artists are as interesting for the tragedies they lived through, as for anything that they put on canvas. These times are not so different from any other.
Bryn Oh said…
Yes I know what you are both saying Anonymous and Michael and I agree. However Bauhaus is not a good example as it reflects what I am saying. The Bauhaus movement began in 1919 and thrived during the pre-world war period when Germany was an economic powerhouse. Johannes Itten (and his revolutionary colour theoy) Paul Klee,Kandinsky and others peaked during this time with the Bauhaus movement ending around 1939 at the time of war and the destabilization of German society. In fact the school itself lost its grant in 1932 and ceased to exist in 1933. Joseph Albers then moved to the United States and continued the teaching of Bauhaus. It could be argued that the school of thought endured because it went to the United States which was a burgeoning superpower and thus had the money and stability to promote its endurance.
Mint said…
The Far Away can be found under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States license.

http://opensim-creations.com/2010/07/14/further-away/
Anonymous said…
@Mint Absolutely great! Thank you very much.
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