Why do you make art in SL?

[Amy Freelunch]

Ok, this is for a different site than BiW (I write for several different websites because I always have nervous energy to burn) but I am working on an article about artists who work in SL. It's very much an introductory article - the first chunk will deal with "What is SL?" and that sort of thing. Mostly, I want to explain to artists what the potential of the space is like and that sort of thing.

So here's the deal: What would be great in an article like this is quotes from actual artists. If you could address the question of "Why do you make art in SL?" and let me know if I should credit your RL name or your SL name or whathaveyou, that would be really helpful. I can't promise I use everything you leave for me, but I'll definitely try and include as many people as possible.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!! All your feedback on the Flickr question was just great.

xo - Amy

[Klink]

Because Second Life allows me to create art that wouldn't be possible for me to create in the real world because of the usual constraints such as cost of materials, time, gallery space,etc. There is almost no limit to what you can create in second life so that is a major reason I use it to create art.

It's the next step in the evolution of digital art.

[Juria Yoshikawa]

It stimulated my imagination in ways no other medium had done since art school 20 years ago.
It connected me to an audience and a pool of collaborators (sometimes one in the same).
It broke down economic and geographical barriers.
It solved a pain point of my isolation in Japan.
I had the chance to be a female artist.

[Amy Freelunch]

excellent... thank you guys. anyone else?

And Juria... I love that you described me as "zany" in your email!! :)

[Arahan Claveau]

I didn't join Second Life with the intention of making art, it evolved into that over time when I became bored of what was on offer and started digging deeper, it slowly became apparent that there was more on offer than shopping and fucking. I saw what others had achieved and the possibilities intrigued and inspired me, I started experimenting with the medium and continue to do so three years on.

[Selavy Oh]

second life offered the possibility to make an experiment that would be much more difficult and time-consuming in real life: to create a character, develop it over time, give it a body of work within its virtual world, and see where that might lead to.

pretty interesting experience, actually ...

[Arahan Claveau]

I think Amy forgot about us :(

[ichibot]

lol

[Amy Freelunch]

Oh, quiet, you. No, I didn't forget. I've just had my head up my ass for many different reasons.

There's... stuff going on. Stay tuned.

[Arahan Claveau]

Haha, OK I shut up.

Stuff eh? Exciting!

[Selavy Oh]

seems that this is the most evident question which can be asked. i got exactly this question by the RL journalist who caught me at BiW (sigh, i guess i said mostly trivial stuff. i need a public relations person!). i typed something about international audience and being in SL as project in itself, but i have to admit that i'm not really satisfied by my answer.
could someone please tell me why this is such a prevalent question? i was never asked: why do you make paintings/photography/sculpture (you name it). is it just because it's a new medium?

[Amy Freelunch]

For me personally, I asked it because I'm (very slowly) working on this article that's about what SL has to offer artists, so "why do you make art in SL?" is a good way to introduce the topic and involve voices other than my own. So just as someone writing an article, I think it's an open-ended enough question that can give you a lot to work with.

My primary medium is drawing and I do get asked an awful lot why I draw. Somehow drawing (I guess?) seems less valid in people's minds than painting? I'm not sure. I think also in general that most of the public (including the audience I'm writing the article for and, very likely, the journalist that you talked to) just don't know that much about art, so this is a way for them to basically get around asking why it is you do what you do at all.

As an aside, in my asking people "why do you make art in sl?" the answers I've mostly gotten are:
*because of what SL offers in terms of free space/materials
*because of the built-in audience in SL
*because I want to experiment with a new medium and SL allows me to do that more or less anonymously [that was interesting to me]
*because the field of art in SL isn't as entrenched and stratified as the RL art work, simply on the account of it being rather new. [also interesting]

Anyway. Don't know if this helps.

[Edo Autopoiesis]

Why do I make art in sl?

A personal answer:
I am already making art in RL and I can continue with that, so what is the added value of doing sl art opposed to rl art?
When I went into sl I didn't go there to make art in the first place. Firstmost I came there to explore, to experience this world. Out of curiosity about this new phenomenon that seems such a logical development, that so many have been expecting already and that finally seemed to become a 'reality'. It turned out to become, quite unexpected, also a world to meet people and to become emotionally involved. That was amazing, thrilling and also quite scary, actually ("what am I getting myself into?!? Is this healthy?").

Only after a while, I felt inclined to make some art, 'to do something purposefull with my time in sl'. I felt that sl shouldnt be 'just entertainment' for me. So doing some art in sl became a sort of excuse for me to be in sl. Maybe that is the most honest and personal answer: "I like to be in sl, and executing my profession (artist) in sl is just an excuse to be here and still feel responsible". Maybe not a very honorable motivation... maybe a bit of a hypocritical reason.

Having said that, there are also some reasons that relate to the characteristics of the multiuser, 3D virtual reality medium:
- Having studied architecture(3D!) and music, and having a strong interrest in generative, interactive, scripted work, sl seems such a logical extension of that.
Specific to sl:
- It's such an ease and joy to create in sl! Like playing with LEGO! This is mostly because of the low level entry of the creation tools and the fact that you create while in-world, as opposed to creating off-line and then upload your creation (this can hardly be underestimated).
- sl has it's own culture (mostly because the scale of the community is seemingly large enough). You can make art in sl that is only reacting to the culture inside sl itself. In other words: you can make art that doesnt make any sense to non-slers and still be purposefull because the number of people that do* get it (experienced sl-users) is large enough. In comparision: youtube also has its own culture because its community is large enough. This is an essential aspect, I think, because in the end grown-up art shouldnt be about the medium but about something that you need* to express, whatever that may be. (So, as an artist you actualy hope that people will ask you: "why do you make art?" instead of "why do you make art in sl?").

Time shortage requires me to end it here... I hope this makes some sense to someone...

PS: Actually, asking why you paint or sculpt in rl is also a very good question.