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[Internet Art & Culture] Research Critique - Second Front

Dina

Thursday, Oct 26, 2017 - 10:06:27 am

@ Putri Dina

The First Performance Art Group in Second Life : the Second Front

Growing up in a number of virtual world games myself from Runescape to Maplestory, I can fully (or at least 90%) relate to their performances in the virtual world. Players use their imagination and creativity to also role-play. Some would even create a series of short films using the game’s Read more →

Categories: Research
Tags: second front | virtual space | virtual world
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Randall Packer
Excellent Dina. You did a great job using the quotes to support your argument, and I think the screenshot captions were very informative. I thought the following was a very interesting statement:
Performing in a virtual world also allows intervention from any unexpected players who happen to pass by. 
This observation reminded me of what happens when we are performing in Facebook Live: we are in a virtual commons where anyone (at least friends) can pass by unexpectedly and interact with the performance. In the same sense, Second Live, like Facebook, is an open space, where people come and go, and not necessarily to experience a live performance, unless one just happens to occur. Then in a sense it becomes like street theater, taking theater out of the traditional venue and putting it into an entirely new space. So what result does that have, how does the "pop-up" performance change and challenge the way we experience live performance?
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Final Project Rehearsal

Ong Zi Feng

Thursday, Oct 26, 2017 - 12:38:05 am

@ Basics

https://www.facebook.com/pod.ozf/videos/10155238784503471/

In our final project rehearsal, we are focusing more on the grid appearance and the technical aspect of the overall feel, we also discussed and understand the flow through this rehearsal.

In our discussion, we decided on a few combinations like what to film and how should film it, also the passing of phone is rather tricky because we are afraid Read more →

Categories: Final Project
Tags: Documentation | Exploration | Final Project | IM | Interactive | InternetArt&Culture | OSS | Process | Project | year3 | Year3sem1
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Research Critique: Second Front

Xin Feng

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 11:06:30 pm

@ 「 xinfeng 」

Second Front is the first performance group existing only in the virtual space of the game, Second Life. As the world gradually moves into a technological era, the definition of space becomes less “concrete”. In performance, the performers take on a role, they play pretend. This creation of a make-believe character is parallel to that of our use of social Read more →

Categories: Research
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Randall Packer
You brought up some fascinating points about the relationship between the real and the virtual, that in effect one creates the other in juxtaposition. You said:
The use of the game Second Life in the work that Second Front does can be seen as a form of remediation. They use a pre-existing space and narrative of Second Life to recreate a story that reflects that of real life and give life their characters.
You seem to be suggesting that they are bringing real life elements into the virtual space, and then reenacting them to create differences. In other words, they accentuate the difference between the two by superimposing the real on the virtual and then undermining and altering this reality. This is very true. They create situations in Second Life that mimic the real world, but then demonstrate behaviors that are entirely different: such as defying the lows of the real world by flying, or robbing a bank, or staging an apocalyptic scenario of violence and destruction. They in effect, transcend the real because the virtual space allows for this transformation. Very interesting points!!  
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Research Critique: Second Front

Siewhua

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 10:11:50 pm

@ Siewhua 's

Second Front is an international performance art group who utilises a online world platform, Second Life as their main choice of medium. The group are made up of performance art (not performing arts) artists from around the world. They aim to explore new and different environments in the virtual world, like the game Second Life. In a way they are exploring Read more →

Categories: Research
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Randall Packer
Excellent and so many interesting ideas raised. The idea of stolen or faked identity is a very interesting one. Given that Second Front's approach to their performance work in Second Life is to assume new identities, and sometimes transform themselves into the identity of other real people, there is a great deal of blurring going on. And you are right, the nature of Second Life lends itself to creative possibilities that are not possible in RL, making performers bolder and more daring in their narrative approach. My only suggestion is that when you provide a quote, and you mention a name such as Great Escape, or refer to several people in your text, that you explain it, otherwise the reader won't know what you are talking about. Let me know if you have any questions about that.
Randall Packer
Excellent and so many interesting ideas raised. The idea of stolen or faked identity is a very interesting one. Given that Second Front's approach to their performance work in Second Life is to assume new identities, and sometimes transform themselves into the identity of other real people, there is a great deal of blurring going on. And you are right, the nature of Second Life lends itself to creative possibilities that are not possible in RL, making performers bolder and more daring in their narrative approach. My only suggestion is that when you provide a quote, and you mention a name such as Great Escape, or refer to several people in your text, that you explain it, otherwise the reader won't know what you are talking about. Let me know if you have any questions about that.
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Research Critique: Second Front

Val Lay

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 09:01:30 pm

@ ◢ ◤

Every week as I embark on writing research critiques, I know I would raise my eyebrows. (Why thank you Randall for the fascinating and hard-to-understand-at-first-glance case studies.) This week, it was no different as I entered into the realm of Second Front, as I attempt to decipher a gist of it.

So, what they’re doing is not a game. Neither were Read more →

Categories: Hyperessay | Micro-Project | Research
Tags: performance art | virtual
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Randall Packer
Val you are so right! We are losing the ability to separate the real from the virtual, and that is what I refer to as the post reality. This is an excellent essay that raises so many interesting points. I really liked this one: Is there a fantasy element to Second Life that people can actually live their ideal lives in the third space to attract audiences? (I edited it a bit) I think you are right. I believe that Second Life is a place where people can act out their fantasies and in turn, engage with other people doing the same. The synthesis of this engagement creates narrative possibilities that are beyond the wildest imagination. I believe that is precisely what Second Front has pursued in their work. Great piece.
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Final Project Rehearsal

Su Hwee Lim

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 07:32:34 pm

@ Hwee's

We first discussed about how we should be doing the actual thing and details about our positioning. At first we wanted to film at the open area in ADM, however we realise that some of us will be backlighting as a result a dark video. So we decided to move out of indoor since we should test it out the Read more →

Categories: Final Project | Process
Tags: Internet Art & Culture
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Final Project - Test Run

Joan

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 07:24:20 pm

@ Joan

Hannah & Joan live broadcast

https://www.facebook.com/littleangel.hannah/videos/10159446580005425/

Cher See & Xin Feng live broadcast

https://www.facebook.com/sim.xinfeng/videos/10155367381841888/

Combine broadcast on OBS

https://www.facebook.com/goh.chersee/videos/10212224901431949/

Roles: Cher See (Police), Xin Feng (Police), Hannah (Thief), Joan (Thief)

Co-broadcasting reflection

One of the technical difficulties that we face while we were broadcasting was the lagginess of our stream. We kept on disconnecting with each other and the constant need to stay connected to the internet had Read more →

Categories: Process
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Research Critique - Second Front

Joan

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 06:49:36 pm

@ Joan

Second Front is an online performance art collective in the virtual avatar-based VR world called Second Life. The seven-member group consists of Gazira Babeli (Italy), Yael Gilks (London), Bibbe Hansen (New York), Doug Jarvis (Victoria), Scott Kildall (San Francisco), Patrick Lichty (Chicago) and Liz Solo (St. Johns). They have performed live, remotely from different locations, while being screened in various Read more →

Categories: Micro-Project
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Randall Packer
Excellent! I very much liked this quote you referred to:
So for me, my avatar is embedded in my psyche, rather than an extension of myself. – Great Escape
And then you mention that the avatar identity is buried deep in the unconsciousness. This suggest that our virtual lives can actually be drawn from dreams and from unconscious thoughts from the imagination. In that sense, Second Life presents itself as an intensely creative realm where truly anything is possible, so long as you can dream it.
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Research Critique Hyperessay – Second Front

Su Hwee Lim

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 06:26:46 pm

@ Hwee's

Second Front has it first performance art in 2006 “Breaking News” on the online virtual world of Second Life. The group include 7 members that comes from all around the world. Their performance was showcased in galleries and museums while the artiest would perform remotely which I find it very interesting! All of them would perform together at the third Read more →

Categories: Research
Tags: Internet Art & Culture
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Randall Packer
Excellent! I am really glad that you picked this piece because I actually hadn't looked at it yet and it is SO FUNNY! You are right, there is something very amusing about the vomiting of blood and other gross antics in this work. Why is that? We would probably find this horrifying if it were performed by people in their real bodies, but through their avatars it comes off as very comic. You are right, by separating our real and virtual selves, our avatars from our bodies, we are, in a sense, free to act out the most bizarre elements without fear of offending, it is the nature of the cartoon, in which violence, sickness, etc., can be realized in a different life, seen through the lens of funny side of life. It is way we can free ourselves from the constraints of reality.
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Research Critique: Second Front

Tiffany Anne

Wednesday, Oct 25, 2017 - 05:18:17 pm

@ Tiffany Rosete

Second Life

The Limitations of Second Life and Life’s Limitations

As a ‘game’ set in virtual reality, I find that the appeal of Second Life are the limitations of real life. Limitations like death, ageing, gravity and physical appearance (the list goes on) cease to exist in this virtual setting. Likewise, the reason why people might not enjoy the Second Life is Read more →

Categories: Research
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Randall Packer
Tiffany, you received some very significant points in your critique, such as:
Players cannot immerse themselves fully in the virtual world like they do in the real world, as much as they want to escape reality. Here lies the conflict of the first space and the third space.
But you never explained why. You did mention the limitations of real life, and how they can be surpassed in the virtual world, but I am very, very curious about your thinking the other way around. You also raised the idea of how can we adopt Second Front's artistic approach, and gave some relevant quotes, but I am not sure of your conclusion here. Perhaps there was something left out at the end of the essay? You have really great questions here and I would be very interested in knowing your responses with some detail.
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