FIT Senior Student Photo Opening

Alison (left), Brian (center) and Hildy (right) at the opening

Thanks to Brian Emery and Alison Wermager, FIT had it’s first ever art opening in a virtual world on monday May 12. It was a historic occasion and one day, FIT will look back at that day as a major milestone. Brian and Alison’s students (BFA seniors) were introduced to Second Life and the art that’s being created there on occasion throughout the semester. Then, for their final show, they took their work and uploaded it into Second Life, and attached the images to “prims” and sized them appropriately.

The work was all installed in a pre-fab gallery that Brian and I purchased a few weeks ago for L$1999 (about $8). We had fruit punch and champagne and fruit (all virtual of course) and lots of faculty and students came to see the students’ really amazing work. There were artist’s statements and videos too. Thanks especially to Hildy Gardner, Josie Vargas, Ron Amato, Deborah Klesenski. Bill Mooney, Reginetta Haboucha, Steven Zucker, and others who came to see. And thanks especially to all the students for all their hard work and creativity… (and Brian and Alison, my heroes).

Ron Amato (aka Professor Amiot) who did his own amazing installation for his Masters thesis on the Quad and on the FIT land.

And the always-wonderful Babbs Ballyhoo (Meredith Sharp) — before the opening.

Oh, and me in the fabulous Edwardian Wreath Dress…

More of a Second Life for FIT…

This past week, Janine Hawkins (aka Iris Ophelia), our Keynote along with W. James Au for Technology Day (I’ve just started reading James’ book — it’s a MUST read), posted a written version of her talk at FIT – a kind of beginner’s guide to fashion in Second Life.

Janine writes about

• The relationship of real world and virtual fashion – how in many ways they mirror each other, but how virtual fashion allows for things that are not-possible-in-real-life (examples: some expressions of steampunk and cyberpunk).
• Some success stories.
• The ways that fashion designers and businesses can use the virtual world as a prototyping platform (to see what works and what doesn’t work), to raise brand-awareness, and as a franchise location. But she offers two solid rules for success: 1) Translate the Values and 2) Never Under-Estimate the Platform.

Speaking of Not-Possible-In-Real-Life, it had been bothering me that we all walk around in SL for the most part replicating our real-world, when so much more is possible in the virtual world. That’s when I found Bettina Tizzy’s blog and was lucky enough to have W. James Au introduce us. Bettina is currently very busy (with Rezzable Productions) working on the brilliant Garden of Not-Possible-in-Real-Life Delights (inspired by Bosch). This is a build festival –

This is not about recreating Bosch’s Garden. It’s about imagining and crafting your own. If you were to journey into heaven or hell, what would this look like, and how might you make this as immersive as possible? Think Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” but with your own twist. And what are the earthlings doing that might force them into the depths of the underworld or paradise?

Read more about this exciting project — which opens after May 14th. I can’t wait. As a souvenir, I took an interactive version of Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, which you can now see on the FIT site. Try touching it and see what happens!

Here’s a pic of me in wings standing in front:

Bettina took a few minutes break to share with me some Not-Possible-In-Real-Life fashion by designers Eshi Otawara and 3Star Tyne. Wow! They were breathtakingly beautiful. I should have taken some pics.

Perhaps a fashion show at FIT in the fall of these and other Not-Possible-In-Real-Life fashions?

OPENING!
Speaking of shows at FIT, tomorrow FIT’s BFA Photography students will open their senior show in Second Life on the FIT campus from 1-3 EST, at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%202/170/201/26

See our listing here and here.

Here’s a photo of Brian’s class in Second Life:

Hildy Gardner and Josie Vargas have both indicated interest in integrating Second Life into their Fashion Design curriculum for the fall, and so has Robin Sackin, chair of the Fashion Merchandising Management Department. And Brian Emery of the photo department (who together with Alison Wermager organized the above show) has a great idea for co-teaching a course with a fascinating assignment in Second Life.

Here’s a shot of Hildy (aka Sig Klaar) who has been building up a storm:

And Ron Amato (aka Professor Amiot) has been installing his Masters thesis project — with some great videos on the history of photography. See them at the FIT site

Off-topic, I’ve also seen some beautiful art in Second Life in the last couple of weeks. Here’s me (Max Newbold) in an installation of works by Alizarin Goldflake.

In a few weeks, FIT will move to a larger lot on Learning 2. In the few months we’ve been in SL, we’ve used up our space.

Thanks to Janet Brav, Jeff Buchman, Hildy Gardner, Steven Zucker, Michele Nagel, Ron Amato, Brian Emery, Alison Wermager, Josie Vargas, Naomi Gross, Robin Sackin, Renee Cooper, Kurt Wendt, and others for their enthusiasm about Second Life this semester…