SLippery SLope Video!

Wirxli FLimflam - "SLippery SLope" (2007)
Video recorded and edited by Evo Szuyuan. If you cannot see this embedded video, click here.

Hey there in-world music composition fans,

Finally, Evo Szuyuan has recorded an accurate and sublime machinima version of my first composition for the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, called "SLippery SLope" (2007).

Many many thanks to all the Avatar Orchestra performers as well as Evo Szuyuan for reflecting the composer's original intention in the form of a fantastic video/audio edit!

Also, super thanks goes out to:

A) DeThomas Dibou who designed and built these special architectonic SLopes exclusively for my composition.

B) Bingo Onomatopoeia for the customized HUD performance interface design for my composition.

C) Miulew Takahe for coordinating the Orchestra rehearsals as well as engineering the audio recording archives.

D) DannyDarko Raymaker for taking the very first video-document of SLippery SLope.

E) Maximillian Nakamura (the Founder of the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse) for helping me develop the first performance HUD for SLippery SLope.

To learn more about the history and context (including the performer credits) behind my very first music opus composed exclusively for the Second Life universe, click on these previous blog postings:

1) SLope SLipping and hanging out.

2) SLippery Slope's in-world Premiere for the Pages exhibition in London. This first performance includes the first machinima video archive by DannyDarko Raymaker (video recording) and Miulew Takahe (audio recording) as well as the full transcript of the official notecard score.

2) SLippery Slope's dress rehearsal.

3) Thursday's SLippery Slope rehearsal.

4) Bingo's HUD help in his Hometown.


Also, check out these audio podcast archives recorded and collected by Avatar Orchestra Metaverse co-founder, Miulew Takahe in reverse-chronological order...

I - Recording of the studio version of SLippery SLope recorded by Hopi Jun and Miulew Takahe for the official machinima performance for Evo Szuyuan's videography.

II- The second half of the official machinima re-take peformed in reverse-SLope order to generate bonus video material for Evo Szuyuan.

III- Documentary recording of the 1st official performance of SLippery SLope.

IV - HUD test for SLippery SLope (the composition-in-progress).

Hyperformal Fun Times with Dancoyote Antonelli...

Here I am floating around one of DC Antonelli's favourite wading pools. This water lily is much more than a pimped up Monet-Motor - this stylish thingie is also part of some evolutionary species chain that DC himself designed....whoa! The initials for "D.C." might come to stand for "Darwinian Creationism" ;-)

Hey there Op Art Trippers, Hyperformal Attire Junkies and Abstract Expressionists,

Last night just before Fau Ferdinand dropped by my PR Office to repair the building's pixel cracks, I was hanging out for a brief yet fun time with the Hyperformal artist and Skydancer Supreme, Dancoyote Antonelli...

You may have read about him in the Second Life Guide. If not, here is a pic of him...



Anyways, DC showed me around his various exhibition/installation sites which included some very trippy Op Art at In Kenzo's place, AMO Island for the NMConnect Campus curated by Larry Pixel.

Speaking of pixel(s), DC and I discussed the definition of Hyperformalism...For DC, Hyperformalism is referring to artwork that appears to be the most "native" to the environment of Second Life. For him, his avatar is a kind of "brand" or "logo". I agree with him here - I am also a brand, trademark and logo :-)

In terms of the environment, his definition of Hyperformalism gets a bit tricky because DC does not like representational remediation but this gets problematic because culturally speaking, the most "native" form of SL experience involves a massive amount of first world remediation...the Metaverse for most is a pop-culture mirror-world...but anyways, I digress...

On the subject of remediation though, check out this very kewl version of Robert Anton Wilson's FNORD...

FNORD!

Repairing the PR Office - Just another routine day...

Here is Fau Ferdinand arriving at my PR office to fill in my...errr... cracks....ummmm... ;-)

Hey there performance art and Martha Stewart fans,

This is just a quick blog tonight to show you what a routine day looks like for me when I am not busy being my usual glamourous SLebrity self....

As you can see, utter banality can exist even in an idealized virtual world such as the virtual world, Second Life.

My performance artist friend and colleague, Fau Ferdinand has offered to weld the cracks in my PR Office on Odyssey Island. The cracks in the office were cause by all the crackling theory sentences in that burning pyre in the middle of the office....there were cracks in the pixellated glass though - honest 2 gawd!

Fau at first thought it was some sort of remediated Kristallnacht event she was taking part in but I did not have any bling-bling champagne handy so I had to call it something...er.... Kunstlernacht.

Anyways, Fau did a great job at welding my office back up to "normal" so I gave her a L$5 honourarium.

Here are two more pix from the event...

Here is a pic of the moment right when I paid L$5....she seems happy and grateful for the remediation, right?

My buddy Catherine Omega....err....Kappa showed up on the scene to be part of the final photo shoot for this blog posting..yaaaaay!

Well, I guess I should have focused on blogging more important things like hanging out with DC Antonelli earlier this eve and Second Front's Interaccess workshop series...but uhhhh.... next time :-)

SLippery SLope Strikes Back!

Except for the photoshopped and censored friends list on the left hand side, this is an authentic in-world screenshot showing the assembled orchestra about to ascend the first blue SLope designed by DeThomas Dibou. On the left, you can see the colourbar performance HUD interface designed by Bingo Onomatopoeia and the Hypercello performance HUD interface designed by Robbie Dingo and yes, the notecard score designed by me, Wirxli Flimflam :-)

Photo by DADA RAU.


Photo by DADA RAU.


Photo by DADA RAU.


Hey there Hyperclassic(k)al music(k) and Gesamtkunstwerk Fanatix,

On the July 22nd, 2007 - news-waves reverberated throughout Second Life's New and Classical music scene... SLippery SLope Strikes Back! The architectural component of my very first composition for the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse called "SLippery SLope" was re-installed by our in-world designer DeThomas Dibou last week so our videographer, Evo Szuyuan could make a more accurate video-document of our realtime embodied virtual music performance.

Also, one of our composing colleagues, Miulew Takahe was able to officially employ the services of his sound engineering intern, Hopi Jun and create a more studio-friendly audio-snapshot of my composition.... Yes, it is true, to get the full experience and intent behind my Gesamtkunstwerk, you would have had to have actually been there as your avatar self and live in the moment.... But hey! These recently recorded documents are going to lure you very close to the "real" thing.

If you want to read the contents of my composition's notecard score in more detail...just click on this blog posting here and scroll down...

Well, here is what I have for you from these two new performance sessions so far to display:

1) Miulew and Hopi's audio recording of the entire first full take of the 2nd performance (including the hyperclassical instrument tuning before we officially performed my composition).

2) Another audio recording by Miulew and Hopi where we flirted with the idea of climbing my musical SLopes in reverse in order to get some extra bonus video-footage for Evo's special forthcoming machinima-esque presentation.

I should also give credit here to those Avatar Orchestra performers who I have not mentioned yet in this posting...If you performed with me on this day and I have left out your name and/or your hyperlink, please contact me in-world right away so I can revise this posting.... Ok, here is a list of some of the other Orchestral Players on SLippery SLope:

Gumnosohistai Nurmi
Junivers Stockholm
Way Sands
BlueWave Ogee
Maxxo Klaar
Jannne Janus
Paco Mariani
Nnoiz Papp

Nnoiz Papp also had a friend named DADA Rau who took some great snapshots and was also able to archive the chat-history transcript from this performance.

In other post-musical news, it has been a really busy past week in Second Life. Along with Second Front, I have been interviewed twice by Ian Daffern for the Globe and Mail as well as presented a special workshop for Torontonians yesterday at InterAccess Gallery. I will be blogging this whole mediated experience very shortly...

In the meantime, please explore the rest of this blog while scrolling down and stay tuned for Evo's video of "SLippery SLope" as well as future blog postings from yours truly... :-)

Wirxli and Tart Gallery in Vancouver's Georgia Straight Magazine!

Here I am posing with the founder of Vancouver's Tart Gallery in Second Life, ByrneDarkly Cazaret. We were both interviewed in Jessica Werb's article "Visual Art's new avatars" in the Georgia Straight Magazine in RL. The car we are standing on is outside the Tart Gallery and resembles the car of a mutual dude we know of in Vancouver called Midnite. Apparently, ByrneDarkly picked this car because it reminded her of one of Midnite's custom cars in RL...whoa! Trippy! I used to live one building East of this dude (I mean Midnite, not ByrneDarkly who is obviously a SERIOUS Dudette...smile) in Vancouver in RL!

Hey Performance Art, Pop Art and Genuine Publicity-for-its-own-sake Fans!

I just got some print press in the Georgia Straight Magazine in Vancouver yesterday. The Georgia Straight is Vancouver's main free weekly print periodical and get this... Bob Geldof used to write for this zine in the 1970s!

Anyways, now we have Jessica Werb who is so obviously going to be the Bob Geldof of the 21st Century (now that she has finally gotten around to interviewing yours truly) write about my own performance practice with Second Front . I wish more was said about Second Front but I guess she had to fit both SF, myself plus Tart Gallery on the same single page so there you go...that was the compromise.

Well, I figured I should get my photo taken with my co-featurette, ByrneDarkly Cazalet. Fortunately, she appeared just as I was done taking the first two promo photos in her gallery. I actually teleported away from the gallery before registering that she was directly in front of me but I quickly returned to the scene and got my token promo photo with her... wOOt!

Well, if you want to read the online version of this article, click here.
If you live in Vancouver, it is in news-stands today :-)

Here are the other two photos I took literally minutes before ByrneDarkly arrived on scene...

Here I am lounging on a couch in the sultry lobby of the Tart Gallery...I might be lowering my brow on the pillow but I sure know how to daydream many dreams about spending eternity with a couple of stylish and glam posters depicting an air-brushed air guitar!

Here is the view from another couch unless the sheer exhilirating flaneur action was not visceral enough in the previous pic...I am now dreaming of Tartzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Breaking News III: SLope SLipping and Hanging Out...

Photo by Miulew Takahe. Here I am waiting for the rest of my performance art group co-members Second Front to show up for our Breaking News III performance demo at Reuters (SL) and at Inter-Access Gallery in Toronto (RL)... You can read all about it on Second Front's official blog posting...

Hey performance art, new muzak and dedicated flaneurship fans!

These past few days have been active again for me in Second Life.
First off, Second Front performed a sequel to our classic Breaking News series at Reuters. You can read all about it by clicking here.

Well, check out the photos and their respective captions below so you can see what other fun stuff I did this past week...

I had my routine tuesday rehearsal with the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse. Here we are getting ready to test some new sounds for Miulew Takahe's composition, "Fragula"... You will also notice a small cube with a picture mapped onto it...the pic is of my last performance of my own composition called SLippery SLope.

The next day, I managed to meet with AOM's architect/designer, DeThomas Dibou and he agreed to re-install my SLopes for my composition's next performance taking place this Sunday at 1 PM SLT. DannyDarko Raymaker and Miulew Takahe have already made a decent video of the first performance but the video that will be taken this sunday by Evo Szuyuan will be a more accurate document of the realtime spatial qualities behind the orginal intention of my composition. Anyway, this pic shows quite clearly the re-installation of my SLopes and I brought along a few friends to check it out: Fau Fernidand, Sugar Seville (not pictured here) and Nebulosus Severine.

Later on my good friend Gog Mannonen showed up on the scene and got straight to the mischief which we all know and love as "peformance art"...heheheheh..I luuuuv Gog's choice in chewing gum and slimy green-goo gun-balls! I have been SLimed!


I was so pleased when Gog wanted to swat my bum with an electric fly-swatter...bring it on, Mah-Gog! Yaaaaay!

Mattes Paintings and the Beuys of Summer...

"Look, but do not touch the merchandise!" Here we are roving around a pile of broken columns (known in politically correct circles as a post-colonial clearcut) doing our best to out-snub each other by keeping our public traps (mouths) shut - how post-minimal and post-modern is that? For a second there, I thought I was no longer in Second Life at all but rather attending a typical gallery opening in Vancouver ;-)

Hey there performance art and conceptual art fans,

Phew! My RL wedding has finally taken place so now I can continue where I left off and blog the text-waste out of my system again...

About 12 hours ago, I was invited by Pei Twang (Eva Mattes) and Pei May (Franco Mattes) to appear as an actor/actress (actron) for their documentary on their 7,000 Oaks remediation series based on Joseph Beuys' original installation at Documenta.

At first, I thought they would be interviewing me about the Oak I installed outside my PR office but once I got there, I realized that The Mattes (Eva and Franco) were actually organizing a a rigidly disciplined and purified conceptual piece of their own (minimalist) making. I liked this "documentary" idea alot and I think the Mattes produced a very appropriate stand-alone artwork that transcends mere video-documentation and had in fact, entered the realm of "conceptual virtual performance"....ooooooooooo....sounds sorta intellecual-ish, eh?

Well, let me explain this whole lofty concept a bit more for you...

Basically, we (the actrons) were allowed to walk around but were not allowed to chat in public nor were we allowed to sit down and modify the landscape...the whole experience was very performative and much like some sort of Zen Group meditation in Canada... Unlike Canadians, I thought that Italians were perfectly comfortable with overt urban alterations of the landscape? I thought it was only part of the Canadian mentality that forced the artist to stare blankly in awe of the landscape without acknowledging the presence of their colleagues nor the potentials for urban renewal.

Nationalism aside, I actually needed to meditate in some way as I was really stressed with my life outside of my Second Life and I also had an Avatar Orchestra Metaverse rehearsal to attend to as well as an offworld interview with Jessica Werb from Vancouver's Georgia Straight Magazine later in the evening...

Well, this was not the only reason why I played along with this whole kinetic "Mattes Painting" since I fully understood the conceptual intent behind their "documentary" footage. It was definitely High Art (although not as High as I usually like to get....heheheheheheh). I am sure the machinima that they will be producing from the event will be very surreal and eerie...silent, yet deadly ;-)

This was indeed a Stealth-u-mentary.... Here are some more pix...

Here we all are again...still looking cool and refusing to speak to each other lest we break the minimal sanctity of the "documentary" performance. At this moment, you would expect the Mattes to say "Act Natural!" or something like that... ;-)

As part of my performative contribution, I decided to play strictly by the rules while subverting them as much as possible. So, while still keeping my mouth shut, I did my best to raise as much suspicion as possible without actually doing anything. Here I am getting a little too close to the Mattes for comfort. They must have known I was posing in front of them to take a very opportunistic yet stealthy photo-op for my blog...one might almost think if they were to judge this pic based on their first impressions that The Mattes are my loyal and intimate collaborators...heheheheh.

Once again, the Champions of Post-Minimalism tacitly survey the post-mortem remains of mute Josepherian "nature" (or something lofty sounding like that). We love Cosmos Island and Cosmos Island Loves Us!

Finally! We were allowed to sit down....Woo Hooo! wOOt! wOOt!

Here I am sitting with my good friend (and performance art colleague), Fau Ferdinand. She found a way to sneak in her own voice via the method of thought balloons...I bet the Mattes were sweating pixels once we arrived on the scene ;-)

At the point this pic was taken, I was offered a beer by SLEnquirer's CEO, Lanai Jarrico. I must admit that I am a very cheap drunk...I can even get tipsy off of a single freebie...whoa!

Here we are running towards a hill or something for some sort of photo-op...ummm..I have no idea what we were doing really at this point but looking pretty. Check out the chat-history for the Sound of Music reference....It was more like the Sounds of Silence...sigh!

...and for our final group photo, we posed in front of the main building facade on Cosmos Island... It was somewhere around this time that Nilo Oh OD's on some virtual substance and we were obliged to revive her... Geez, is conceptual art, the opiate of the masses these days or what? Sigh!

Taking a brief vacation from Second Life for my Real Life Wedding...

Tea Chenille and I are getting married in real life (RL) this saturday. Tea is also in Second Front.

Hey there Second Life Junkies,

I am actually taking a vacation from Second Life this week...well, to tell you the truth,I am not just taking a break to attend the July 4th celebrations in the U.S.A., I am actually getting married in Real Life this Saturday so I guess I should prioritize that for a few days... :-)

So, if I do not blog at all this week, that is why...ok?

I actually posted this above pic in a previous posting where I first mentioned my RL marriage....

Anyway, please check out the postings below....

PAGES Exhibition in London - Day Two...

Wirxli Flimflam - "SLippery SLope" (2007) [Video/Audio Excerpt]

"SLippery SLope" (2007) composed for the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse by Wirxli Flimflam. DeThomas Dibou was the architect for this site-specific composition. This is a salvaged excerpt from the in-world premiere which combines the video archive from DannyDarko Raymaker with the audio recording from Miulew Takahe. This video is not in sync with the audio and is not an accurate portrayal of what avatars witnessed live. If you cannot see this embedded video excerpt, please click here.

***UPDATE FROM THE NEAR FUTURE - SPINSTER VOOM HAS BLOGGED THIS EVENT...AND HAS ALSO PROVIDED ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT THIS EVENT***

**ANOTHER UPDATE FROM THE NEAR FUTURE - MIULEW TAKAHE FROM THE AVATAR ORCHESTRA METAVERSE HAS ALSO BLOGGED THIS EVENT***

Hey there performance art and new muzak fans,

Finally, I have posted some salvaged archives from Saturday's performance event that was part of Spinster's PAGES (PgUp) exhibition in London.

Anyways, it took me forever to post the above video with the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse. Saturday was really stressful in that I was scrambling to find someone to video-document my premiere of "SLippery SLope". Fortunately, DannyDarko Raymaker was able to record the video component and then I just need to find someone with audio. Miulew Takahe had a very live and raw recording from his avatar's perspective (yes, the composition is very subjective and spatial) so I mixed in his audio archive with Danny's video excerpt and what we have as a result is a very confusing and non-synced video...but hey, it is better than nothing and I am extremely grateful to Miulew and Danny for helping me to document my transient composition. I was going to re-perform it just for a machinima muzak video but I found that DeThomas Dibou had already de-installed the SLopes from Virtual Haidplatz on Odyssey Island...sigh! Oh well..I can always compose a new piece and ensure that it can be re-performed over and over...

Ok, some of you are wondering what the whole concept is behind my composition.
Well, I already summarized in an earlier posting so if you just click on this link here and scroll about half-way down, you will see my official PR paragraph about this composition.

However, I think it is about time I displayed for you in fine print exactly what my official notecard score for the composition looked like...

This might not make much sense to you as a reader but thankfully, it made sense to the members of the Orchestra...phew! The text you are about to read below was actually not as daunting as it first appears. For starters, I guided them through the spatial aspects of the composition a couple of times throughout our scheduled rehearsal times. In addition, I ensured that the score was seperated into a "HUDer" score and a "Classicist" score so the performer only needed to focus on their unique role within this very spatial and SLope-specific composition...

Ok...here is my full conductor's score:

"SLippery SLope". Full Conductor's Score by Wirxli Flimflam, 2007

There are 3 different coloured SLopes designed by the Architect, DeThomas Dibou: Blue, pink and purple.

There are two unique roles in this composition that an orchestra player can choose:

CLASSICISTS wear and play a scripted pitched instrument (eg. cello or flute)

HUDers wear 2 HUDs made by Bingo (performance HUD and Info-Receiver HUD)

If you fall off any SLope:

CLASSICISTS = Play c-b-bflat over and over in loop while returning to the 1st blue SLope (or after 5 minutes of performing, returning to the SLope you fell off of).

HUDers = Everytime you recognize one of the 3 colours on the clothes or hair of an audience avatar, play a button that corresponds to that colour (blue, purple, pink) while returning to ascend the Blue SLope. (or after 5 minutes of performing, returning to the SLope you fell off of).

Note: Wirxli will play both the role of the HUDer and the CLASSICIST and will do some improv soloing while climbing the SLopes.

Blue SLope (top buttons in HUD)

CLASSICISTS = Play b-flat drone on scripted instrument (ex. cello)

HUDers = play from the blue buttons on the HUD if you see these Regensburg landmarks while on the SLope:

a) Wolf Lesen und Lernen
b) wittl musik
c) any avatar in the audience that is wearing blue...

Pink SLope (middle buttons in HUD):


CLASSICISTS = Play b drone on scripted instrument

HUDers = play from the pink buttons on the HUD if you see these Regensburg landmarks while on the SLope:

a) Wolf Lesen and Lernen
b) Reise Studi/Haifplatz
c) Rossini cafe bar and restaurant
d) Any avatar in the audience wearing pink

Purple SLope (bottom buttons in HUD):

CLASSICISTS = Play c drone on scripted instrument.

HUDers = play from the purple buttons on the HUD if you see these Regensburg landmarks while on the SLope:

a) Avastar Vending machine
b) Lepanto
c) Peppers
d) Any avatar in the audience wearing purple.

The piece is complete once every CLASSICIST and HUDer have successfully climbed across all 3 SLopes without falling.

Ok, there you go....that was the score...not too difficult to follow, right? ;-)

Well, here was the one pic I took of the premiere...

Yes, it is true...this is my only photo from my composition's premiere. I was too busy performing and conducting the performers of the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse...sigh! You can see that I am acting as both a "HUDer" and a "Classcist" for my role as I have Bingo's HUD interface and the Hypercello's keyboard interface on my screen which was designed by Robbie Dingo. If you have any other photos of my compositional premiere, please email them to me at ideatron@gmail.com


The second in-world premiere to be featured on saturday was "Fragula" by Miulew Takahe. It is quite a fun and dynamic piece as you can probably tell by my theatrical and gymnastical backflips. I consider Fragula to be the most frenzied composed for the orchestra so far. I have since nicknamed it "Count Fragula". I was seriously fragged that morning so I was pleased to let all my aesthetic frustrations out. Here is the official audio recording from our performance of Takahe's Fragula.


Here was what happened earlier on in the day...

Earlier in the day, I collaborated with my adopted daughter Fwwixli Swindlehurst for our very first public performance together called "Ageplay Performance Residue #1". You can read all about it on our collaborative blog and on the curator Spinster Voom's blog.