ISEA: day 2

i'm so disappointed!!! the pure:dyne live boot (cd or usb) doesn't work on ppc macs!!! : ( i was so looking forward to being able to really explore linux & the many great open source artist-led applications that are now available. but so far it's not to be. back in 2003 when i got hold of a dynebolic cd, it didn't work on any macs at all. now with pure:dyne, it hasn't been worth making it work on ppc as well as intel macs. my little g4 iBook may be 3 years old now but i'm hoping it's going to last me a while longer - i don't like this constant forced hardware obsolence; so i guess i'll have to wait, or borrow someone else's computer, to explore pure:dyne.

i was the invigilator for this session, which meant i got to hold a walkie-talkie & check that everyone coming in had the right tag, & help out if nevessary with any tech problems - which there weren't, so i didn't get to use the walkie-talkie (another small disappointment). the presentation, given by heather corcoran & rob canning, was very interesting. pure:dyne has been put together by artists to create an accessible & portable system that combines all the tools they use - pure data, gimp, blender, ardour, & a host of other handy apps for open source artists. i have the live cd so if you're a friend of mine with a windows or intel mac computer & i'm seeing you in the near future, i'm probably going to try to convince you to let me have a play ...

this morning at 11am there were 4 presentations that looked potentially interesting to me. as i haven't managed to find the paper abstracts on the ISEA web site (are they there?) i was trying to guess which would be the most interesting from the somewhat cryptic titles. in the end i avoided making a decision at all by taking so long to reply to 090909 emails that i missed nearly all of them. when i finally made it down to the conference i opted for convenience of location & slipped into the waterfront's main hall. denise doyle was wrapping up her talk about "the post-human imaginary & the body of the avatar". she identified the power of the imagination as being at the centre of the virtual reality experience, which i agree with; this is also one of the problems i have with virtual worlds such as second life which are predicated on the simulation and re-presentation of "reality", rather than the imagining of alternatives. denise admitted that she finds SL a very frustrating & limited place, which made me wonder why she has chosen to base her research in it - but i missed most of her presentation so perhaps she did address this.

the following presentation was titled "bridging worlds - approaches to hybrid art in physical & virtual realities", by john fillwalk, who began by saying that he was interested in how virtuality can inform physicality. almost all of the works he presented were in SL, & i found myself drifting off into conspiracy-theory-land wondering how linden labs has managed to co-opt such an enormous amount of research time and money into a commercial product. i haven't counted the number of presentations and artworks at ISEA that are based on or situated in SL but let's just say there's a lot. yet there seems to be little or no critical analysis of the environment (having said that, it could well be happening at other simultaneous sessions). john did discuss some interesting artists, such as adam nash whose in-world installations i've enjoyed, & a collaboration with the MAD emergent art centre in eindhoven - who are one of the RL nodes for the 090909 UpStage festival (yes, i know i keep mentioning it, but it is at the forefront of my mind right now).

fearing another presentation about SL, i ducked out of the hall & scurried over to the hilton hotel to join one of the interactive narrative sessions, where the one & a half presentations i caught were pretty good examples of how not to deliver a written paper. one was gheorghe dan who was speaking about netochka nezvanova - this had caught my eye because of the (apparent) new zealand connection with the origins of this fictional hybrid internet identity, but i never managed to get the hang of where he was going with it because i couldn't engage with his delivery. the Q&A was more listenable & focused on the conflict of tradition and modernity in romania & the ability of peasants to be artists or not ... hmm ...

i tried to catch a performance at lunchtime, but it started so late (due to the previous presentation finishing late) that i had to leave to invigilate the pure:dyne workshop - which then finished early due to having no network access. some people were staying to get assistance with using the live boot usb or cd, but as this wasn't an option for me i sat down to write this. the keynote which is about to begin is given by mika "lumi" tuomola, good friend of my avatar body collision colleague leena saarinen (he's talking about "accidental lovers" which they worked on together). it's these meetings, interconnections and intersections that i what i enjoy most about events like this.