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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Hello everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I’ve been reading in on this thread with great interest,
and Stephanie was saying back-channel, “When is Patrick going to say
something?”, because she knows I will.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>There is too much going on to write about – warning –
lots of links.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>First of all, I’d like to say that although SL has been a
primary medium for the past 3-4 years, I still love it as an artform and hold
it deeply circumspect. There is wonderful energy out there, fantastic
synergies, abut also egregious misunderstandings between previously unfamiliar
constituencies. There are also groups, called “Immersives” by
blogger Bettina Tizzy that insist the primacy/importance of SL over the
quotidian world, and I have talked extensively with Cao Fei’s creative
team to understand that most of the community in-world has no idea what a
Trienniale is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>But this is also puzzling, as there are immense numbers of
people who are trying to become famous there. (That’s why I have an
avatar called “Andy Rembrandt” that runs the Second Factory…
More on that in a few months).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I think that the article talking about the demise of SL is a
product of two things: First, the failure of SL to take over the entire net (as
it seemed like Linden promised it would, which was impossible), and the
disjuncture of social connections/communities. Obviously, someone just coming
in and rooting around for a bit is not going to be swarmed by the community
and swept off to all the digerati parties, and they don’t happen
24/7. You have to know who’s throwing the party, and when to be
there. Therefore, I think that the writer just expects the parties to be endless,
but I seem to be taking an opposite polemic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>What has been happening? This could be a few pages in
itself, really.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>A few notes, though.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>First for Lynn – Odyssey’s administrator is burnt
out and wants help or to retire, and no one is willing to take it on. It
may fold if this is not filled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Second – yes – Gazira. She’s been on
extended vacation, as SL burns you out, as time compresses in virtual worlds,
due to the degree of interaction required to maintain mindshare, and the amount
of involvement that occurs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>This Fall, Gazira (and I) had a show in Ljubiana, Slovenia where
she did some great interventions where she asked people to converse with Gazira,
and also showed a video frame version of our piece, 7UP.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.gazirababeli.com/actingasaliens.php">http://www.gazirababeli.com/actingasaliens.php</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><a
href="http://www.gazirababeli.com/TEXTS.php?t=canweunderstandavatars">http://www.gazirababeli.com/TEXTS.php?t=canweunderstandavatars</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.gazirababeli.com/COLLABORATIONS.php">http://www.gazirababeli.com/COLLABORATIONS.php</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>This Fall, Scott Kildall and I, Aland Sondheim and Foofwa L’immobilite,
and Lily and Honglei did a wonderful mixed reality show at Eyebeam, where
Second Front unlocked a crypt of Data Mummies, Alan and Foofwa did an amazing
dance performance (and Sandy Baldwin as well, sorry), and Lily and Honglei took
people on a tour of their amazing Sunken City, a critique of the Three Rivers
Project in China. Beautiful work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>http://thesecondfront.blogspot.com/2009/10/second-front-release-avvie-road-dvd-at.html<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>For what I have been doing, I’d like to send you http://patricklichty.wordpress.com/<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>This includes a nod by Art21, my retrospective, and new texts in
the Performa 07 catalogue (I wrote the Second Front one anonymously), and the
new piece in Public Art Review.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Stephanie and Jeff just had their virtual sweatshop at laboral,
Lynn has been ongoing, Cao Fei has been doing great things with RMB, which has
its first anniversary coming, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>This is just the tip of the iceberg – I’ll talk
more, but I’m going to go play bingo with joncates at the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>What do these people want?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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