Eno's 77 Million Paintings in Second Life...

Here I am at the entrance to one of the many installation spaces where some of Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings are on virtual display. If you want to see the text description on the wall, you will need to attend this space in person to have a closer look :-)

Hey there Long Nowbies, Eno-oids, Evening Stars and Oblique Strategists,

I just got back from an epic opening tour of Brian Eno's multi-installation sponsored by the Long Now Foundation, BlueAir TV, Ars Virtua, Leeds College of Art and Design (England) and the Art Center in Avignon.

I have to perform very early tomorrow for the Pages exhibition so I will keep this brief (yeah, right...heh heh!)...

Well, I had a great time and met lots of new people. There was lots of chatting and intrigue and we were even sent on a treasure hunt to find free goodies in every hosting gallery...wow, no wonder I faffed around for so long ;-)

Well, I gotta go to bed now but check out the photos below....zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

The main Lobbyseum (a cross between a lobby and a colosseum - heh heh) was packed full of Eno-oids. The main attractions were Angrybeth Shortbread (artist), Cyrus Huffhines (organizer), Rubaiyat Shatner (Ars Virtua curator), Howard Rheingold (VR Culture Guru) and Xantherus Halberd (Art Center curator and Eno's personal avatar designer). I barely had time to sit down before I was told to find this teleporter with some ambient turquoise glow on one of the top stairs as a way (Cyrus called this way a "contingency") to get my ass over to the next place...sigh!

My buddies from Second Front were also there - Man and Tran. If you'll check out the chat history for sec, you will notice that the enigmatic "Alexander Rose" is signing off...Cyrus says Mr. Rose worked with Brian Eno very closely to emulate the 77 Millions Paintings in Second Life but...someone raised the possibility that Rose is really Eno's alt....might this be possible? Hmmmmm.... I mean, only the artist himself would bail out early, right? ;-) Hmmm..on the subject (tangent), someone in the audience noticed that Brian Eno's profile seemed to not have any payment nor financial transaction information... Well, it makes sense to me...He promises to pay his sponsors back every Thursday Afternoon.

This pic is just showing you another crowd shot...This lobbyseum was packed right up with nosebleed seats...it is small wonder that the Teleporter took so long to take us to the next SLated venue! They were not kidding when they said it was hosted by "The Long Now"....heheheheheh!

Ok ok, this is just yet another gratuitous crowd shot in a hopeless attempt to namedrop using the attending avatars' nametags.... I wish I knew who more of these people were though - they MUST be SOMEBODIES ;-)

I just HAD to show you an example of the chaos leading to the first Teleport to Kula and from there, to the Art Center. Normally, finding the washroom in a place as large and laggy as this is an oblique strategy seriously worth considering but in the 21st century, we are scrambling like zen-less lemmings trying to find Another Green World....well, Another Green Teleporter anyway...er....turquoise is green right? You know what I mean, right? ;-)


Ok, it is true, I am not an in-world purist...I did indeed photoshop this pic after taking a screen capture.
Somehow, I finally figured out how to bask myself in this turquoise delight and teleport all the way to Kula which only appeared to be one floor above the Lobbyseum in Kula... go figure! Hmmmm..I think I saw an Evening Star in the distance while teleporting...naaaa...it was not Sirius enough ;-)


Finally, I am here (still somwehere in "Kula", from what I now understand) although I am not quite sure where "here" is...sigh! I felt like I was on the lot for the set of Music for Films V ;-) Is it me or do I only see 2 paintings here...there must be another 76 Million and counting left to see...I hope they have a fast refresh rate ;-)

I took this pic to make sure I was posing next to Howard Rheingold. It is all about seeing and being seen, right? It is a good thing I had some alone time with him...If I yelled out that Howard Rheingold was in the audience, they all would have smart mobbed him, for sure ;-)

So finally, I made it over to the Art Center to attend the first major video installation remediated by Angrybeth Shortbread who for some reason has managed to temporarily hide her nametag (she is the one standing next to Man Michinaga with the blue kimono). I really liked this room alot and was very grateful for getting ahold of a free exhibition catalogue at the front entrance :-)

Ok, phew! Angrybeth's nametag re-appeared for the sake of this blog posting. This pic also shows a close up of my good buddy and colleague from the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, Miulew Takahe. Oh geez, that reminds me, I gotta perform with the AOM at 9 AM tomorrow and with my SL daughter Fwwixli Swindlehurst even earlier at 7:30 AM...yikes! I had better hurry up with the typing if I am to get any RL sleep.

Here I am posing with my free copy of Eno's roleplaying classic (well, if you consider the i-Ching to be a form of Ancient D&D roleplaying) titled "Oblique Strategies". Maybe I will create a performance using it? Hmmmm.. I think I will use this tomorrow as a guide for my collaborative performance tomorrow with my daughter, Fwwixli...she could certainly used some more transmitted wisdom from the elders. :-)

I think in this pic I am at Ars Virtua now...it was all one big ambient haze and daze! I was pleased to see that the refresh rate for the paintings was living up to its hype :-)

The opening event ended with a giant party bash at the Collective at Leeds University. Only with an Eno-event would you have a party at a University! Heheheheheheh....

Juria Yoshikawa's 4...

Hey ambient installation fans,

I quickly managed to squeeze my lanky avatar into Juria Yoshikawa's collaborative installation at the White Cube Gallery called "4" just hours (or maybe days) before it officially closed down for the next artist in line.

I was very immersed in that space... I could have faffed my precious time away there for hours, it was so refreshing and calming!

It was super ambient and I was allowed to both dive and float around this multi-floored condo space. It is too bad this installation has to disappear..I hope someone will be able to re-install it somewhere else so I can continue to bathe in its quadragenic atmosphere :-)

Because I am lazy, I am just going to parrot for you here what seems to be her official press release:

Installation art by Juria Yoshikawa.
Original soundscapes by composers Miulew Takahe, Bingo Onomatopoeia, Auxillary Snook and AldoManutio Abruzzo.

At White Cube Gallery
June 3rd to July 4th

Week 1: 6/3-9 Miulew Takahe
Week 2: 6/10-16 Bingo Onomatopoeia
Week 3: 6/17-23 Auxillary Snook
Week 4: 6/24-7/4 AldoManutio Abruzzo

4 weeks, 4 installations and 4 composers. "4" is Yoshikawa's latest installation work and collaboration with composers Miulew Takahe, Bingo Onomatopoeia, Auxillary Snook and AldoManutio Abruzzo.

Given a month in a 15x15 meter cube shaped art space, she chose to use a single number as the beat to create to. The idea is simple, to install a new artwork and create a new composition in the gallery each week. The minimalist number concept then extends to the 4 SL musicians - one each week.

Each composer is given a single number 1, 2, 3 or 4 to create a soundscape based on their musical interpretation of that number. Yoshikawa will use each of the 4 weeks to extend her ongoing exploration of light in immersive spaces. Yet this time, she will take on the challenge of using the art space itself as the raw material of the sculpture.

As with light, sound, motion and time - the art space is material for the creator. Can a simple number inspire? Please join the artists at 4 to find out.

Here are some more photos I took of my brief appearance there earlier "today" (it was actually night, in my time zone)...

Here I am diving straight into the floor...lol! Am I going through the rabbit hole to visit Alice in Wonderland? I hope the building is insured

After awhile, I chose to be a floater instead of a diver...phew! Now I can keep my head above light ;-)

I almost decapitated myself while stuck in this floating pose...Is my torso really connected?

Ok, now I am really floating...yaaaay! I can now have a closer look at White Cube Gallery's neighborhood.

I invited my friend Catherine Omega to join in the fun. Since she was about to go to bed in RL anyway, I figured this installation would help put her to sleep...heheheh!
Catherine and I are thinking of performing here with our friend Pravin DeSantis.

PAGES Exhibition in London - Day One...

"Rue Blanche" by Miulew Takahe. Video recorded by Evo Szuyuan. If you cannot see this embedded video, click here.


"Fadheit" by Maximillian Nakamura. Video recorded by Evo Szuyuan. If you cannot see this embedded video, click here.


"WNK" by Bingo Onomatopoeia. Video recorded by Evo Szuyuan. If you cannot see this embedded video, click here.


"Vicky's Remix" based on "Vicky's Mosquitos" by Hars Hefferman. Video recorded by Evo Szuyuan. If you cannot see this embedded video, click here.

Here I am buried in the crowd that is eager to watch myself and my colleagues peform in the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse.

Hey there peformance art and new muzak fans,

Yesterday was the first day of the PAGES Exhibition Festival called "PgUp" that was being broadcast live in RL at the Notice Gallery in London. Spinster Voom was (well, still is) the curator.

***NEWS FLASH FROM THE NEAR FUTURE: Spinster Voom has blogged a posting from this event.

For the first part of the day, my new muzak group, the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse played the classics from yestermonth. These included: Rue Blanche by Miulew Takahe, FADHEIT by Maximillian Nakamura, Vicky's Remix (based on an early improvisation called "Vicky's Mosquitos" by Hars Hefferman) and WNK by Bingo Onomatopoeia.

***NEWS UPDATE FROM THE NEAR FUTURE - To listen to performance of "Rue Blanche" from this event on the 28th, click here.

After those classics were re-played, I suddenly became an audience member and really enjoyed myself while checking out the next performance of the day...

FAU FERDINAND AND GAZIRA BABELI - All nOObs are Sailors (performance, 2007)


If you cannot see this embedded video, click here. This video was recorded by Evo Szuyuan. Please watch the whole video to see what happened to me at the very end of the performance...

The performance begins with Fau asking for a nOOb in the audience to volunteer as a participant in her performance. The obviously naive nOOb named Hopi Jun is called to the stage for the sacrficial offering...

At first, Hopi does not mind being in a Hot Pot Cauldron full of scolding water (what a nOOb, his nervous system has not even activated yet!)...but then when he finds he is trapped in this cannibalistic concoction, he screams for a teleport from the frying pot into what hopefully is not a fire...

Somehow, Hopi managed to get TP'd out of harm's way. I guess he was only needed for a few minutes - enough to add some flavour to the Cream of nOOb soup! It was at this point that I gave Fau a bottle of Absynthe in order to ensure that the soup was truly tasty...I guess at one point, Fau herself had a sip of the fairy sauce as she was getting quite tipsy...no wonder she reached for her...machine gun!

I was one of the few people sitting down and to my surprise, Fau gunned me down in front of the fountain...I guess that Abysinthe made her a little wOOt lOOpy! Well, I was alive enough to ensure the audience (curators, critics and collectors etc etc) that my recent death should enhance the value of my work for future generations. ;-)

Here is a better angle of Fau where you can see her DOOM-esque machine gun. Gazira was a collaborator in this performance but I guess she decided to stay on the sidelines for as much as possible...probably to avoid Fau's friendly fire...lol!

After her performance finished, we watched an in-world machinima video that was edited by Gazira and Fau...It was very tribal and trance-y, I must say... I felt I was having some sort of shamanistic near-death experience with all this minimalist drumming that was ensnaring my fragile psyche. Well, it must have only been a near-death experience because I was soon back on my feet and thanking the Lindens-on-High for my Second Salvation!

Stay tuned, for my next 2 performances happening on June 30th early in the morning in SL... I will be premiering my new composition "SLippery SLope" with the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse and will also be performing with my adopted SL daughter, Fwwixli Swindlehurst.

SLippery SLope Dress Rehearsal

Here I am performing with both my hypercello and my purple HUD backpack alongside the HUD designer, Bingo Onomatopoeia. Quite the action shot, eh? Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

Hey performance art and muzak fans,

Yaaay! The attendence was superb for the dress rehearsal of my brand new composition "SLippery SLope" for the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse. We will be playing the premiere as part of the Pages Exhibition in London on June 30th. Spinster Voom will be curating this event.

Anyways, the orchestra performers were very resilient and rarely slipped on the 3 SLippery SLopes that DeThomas Dibou made for my composition. I think we can perform this within the 30 minute time frame offered by the curator. I am also very pleased that the AOM is starting to be more "orchestral" in scale...I think I had a full string section (well, a string quartet of cellos anyway) and at least 2 flutes!

Here is the quick bit of PR about SLippery SLope that I wrote on the fly to meet Spinster's looming press deadlines...

"Wirxli Flimflam's SLippery SLope is a performative composition that enables each orchestra performer (avatar) to navigate through the SLopes designed for him/her (Wirxli is gender neutral) by DeThomas Dibou in Virtual Haidplatz.
Wirxli has divided the roles of each orchestral performer into 2 groups: Classicist and HUDer. The Classicist plays "conventional" classical instruments such as cello and flute. The HUDer wears a HUD (Heads Up Display) whose interface was designed by Bingo Onomatopoiea. The goal of each performer is to climb up 3 SLippery SLopes without falling. Aleatoric instructions are given to each orchestral performer in order for them to determine how to musically interpret these 3 SLippery SLopes."

I want to thank Evo Szuyuan for taking such great action shots of yesterday's rehearsal. If you want to see more of here photos from this event, click here.

Well, here are a few more from Evo's Picasa website.

Here is an aerial view of Virtual Haidplatz. This gives you a general sense of what the entire performance space looks like with all 3 SLopes visible. Photo by Evo Szuyuan.


This pic was taken near the beginning of what I think is our 1st dress rehearsal. We are on the 1st blue SLippery SLope which I think is the most difficult one to ascend without falling off. In skiing, the "Blue Square" is the intermediate level, but this felt more like we were skiing uphill on a "Black Diamond" ski run...yikes! Photo by Evo Szuyuan.


It looks like Bingo and Jannne Janus have successfully reached the crest of the blue SLope...yaaay! Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

Bluewave Ogee also made a concerted effort to finish ascending the blue SLope. Maybe she just liked the colour blue because it matched her name? Maybe she was fixated on the colour or something? LOL! ;-) One tip I have for the performers is to take a run straight up the blue SLope without looking back - be brave and the blue SLope will be bypassed. Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

Here is proof that I actually eventually made it to the concluding purple SLope...phew! Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

Here is Jannne Janus triumphantly playing his hypercello on the edge of the pink SLope...what a cliffhanger....er...SLopehanger! ;-) Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

This a lovely pic of my good friend Chi5 Shenzhou who decided to perform as a HUDer for my composition...yaaaay! Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

My composition was not the only one we workshopped for June 30th. In fact, the orchestra also previewed Miulew Takahe's brand new composition, Fragula. Here is a pic of the two of us performing it...the way this photo was taken, you would think it was a duet or something. ;-)



....anyways, I look forward to performing premieres of both my composition SLippery SLope and Miulew's piece Fragula on June 30th :-)

Thursday's SLippery SLope rehearsal...

Posing in front of the blue starting SLope - Left-right: Wirxli (me), Miulew Takahe, Junivers Stockholm (hyper-flute), Bingo Onomatopoeia and Way Sands (hyper-cello). Miulew and Bingo are going to be "HUDers" while Junivers and Way will be among the mini-legion of "Classicists". Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

Hey performance art and new muzak fans,

My first official rehearsal dedicated to my new music composition, SLippery SLope was a success! Many thanks to DeThomas Dibou for creating my 3 SLopes. I encourage you to attend the in-world premiere on the 30th of June as it already sounds radically different than our 1st HUD-only rehearsal in late April.

I will not tell you much about the composition within this post as I would rather save that for a future blog posting where I can reflect on SLippery SLope's in-world premiere at Spinster Voom's Pages exhibition in London (RL) and Haidplatz (SL).

I will only say for now that I am mixing classical performers and HUD navigators into my composition...It will be a tribute to both the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries :-)

In the meantime, check out a couple more photos from thursday's AOM rehearsal of my composition "SLippery SLope"...

Aerial view of Haidplatz. This view shows the blue, purple SLopes and part of the pink SLope. Photo by Evo Szuyuan.

Here is a pic that I took where I show some of the performers' nametags for your convenient benefit. You can see a colourbar to my left. That is part of the performance HUD designed by Bingo.

I almost forgot to mention that my AOM composition will be premiering on the same day as my collaborative performance with my adopted SL daughter, Fwwixli Swindlehurst.

Discussions with Dapto...

Here I am lounging around with the Aussie critic Lisa Dapto in her comfort zone...

Hey performance art and critical theory fans,

I have literally just finished hanging out with Dr. Lisa Dapto. She was part of my nOObjectivity collaborative performance that took place in late May at Plurabelle Posthorn's new space in Trollhaugen.

We are hoping to book an addition 2 hours one of these weekends with Plurabelle so we can finally document and archive our collaborative nOObject.

During the last session, Lisa had login problems (we now realize the problem had to do with Microsoft Vista) and could not give a proper crit of my nOObject. At last Dr. Pastichan Yifu was around to critique the first nOObject.

Anyways, here is another angle of our re-discussion session...

Hang Out Daze...

Here I am totally SLacking on the couch while hanging out and watching a bunch of DVD videos with Fau Ferdinand (on my left-hand side, your right) at Nebulosus Severine's place (on my right-hand side, your left)...What a bunch of SLoths, eh? ;-)

Sooner or later, someone had to take a washroom break, there were simply millions of movies to watch and kill time with...Maybe Fau just left for a moment to work on her art for a sec and feel productive or something like that...zzzzzzzzzzzz ;-) At least Nebulosus had the right idea and turn her faffing time into a more artistically productive "installation"..now that is what I call aesthetic efficiency...heh heh!

Hey there performance art SLackers,

Some of you might be wondering "what happened to Wirxli lately? We have not seen him around except for official events!"

Well, for the most part, you are correct - RL has consumed most of my time and energy lately.

However, I have had a couple days to hang out in SL to prove that I am still alive and able to SLack like the rest of us...I just needed a bit of downtime before I prepare for more of my official events (collaborations, mostly).

As you can see from the above pix, I SLacked and SLothed around with my new pal Nebulosus Severine and my old pal, Fau Ferdinand.

It was only yesterday when I hooked back up with Fau and her good friend Zodial and invited them to Eifach's 80s night disco-video installation to dance to Bronski Beat and the like...Neb and many other friends (including members of the AOM and Lizsolo Mathilde from Second Front) also had the time to party with us... Oh, I should mention that it was not 100% 80s night at Eifach's place...There were video cameos by George W. Bush and Eifach's RL daughter ca. 2005...

Here are 2 more pix documenting yesterday's party at Eifach's place...

Ok, this pic was taken a day ago and it shows how seriously I was in "hang-out" mode...Here I am with a bunch of friends (nametags displayed) at Eifachfilm Vacirca's multi-video installation...I think I forgot to mention that Nebulosus' video-room also doubled as an installation.

Here is another angle of Eifach's video installation. I took a pic from this angle to show the 3D nature of the installed video-cubes...trippy!