Virtual homes don't keep you warm...but they are something to think about.

So...

I've been doing quite a bit of research and playing around inside of Second Life as of late. One of the first things I've noticed about it is how much the world imitates reality. I think its interesting that Second Life users are essentially focussed on building a virtual home and adorning it with virtual furniture/paintings/etc. I have also talked with quite a few virtual artists using Second Life as a medium and am having a hard time putting my finger on exactly what it is I am trying to accomplish by exploring the aesthetics of 3D virtual artmaking.

This coupled with an experience I had the other day has started me thinking about a slight refinement of my idea. The short version of my experience is that I was walking home from class and passed a homeless man who was trying to play guitar but couldn't get it in tune. He asked me to help him out, so I tuned it for him. Then he asked me to teach him something and I showed him how to play power chords. After which he was so bloody happy that he had at least a start to some sort of creative outlet... Which of course made me feel like a good, upstanding citizen who isn't entirely stuck-up and prudish.


So my idea is as follows... I have been considering 'exploring the aesthetics of collaborative artmaking in 3D virtual space' by co-authoring a series of 'spaces' with multiple collaborators. Essentially my thought was that I would create 4 or 5 different spaces (each with a different collaborator). Each space would be start as a blank 3D canvas and then slowly each of my collaborators and I would build our individual spaces in the likeness of our collaborative vision. At the end of the year show, viewers could explore each of the spaces separately and see the likenesses/differences that each of my collaborations share.

I still believe that this is something I'd like to pursue, but with the caveat that each of my collaborators has no 'real-world' home to inhabit. I want to see what the people who don't have a house adorned with IKEA would create if they were given the chance to mould their own 3D reality. My hope is that, unlike a lot of Second Life users, their creations will imitate a much less material place. So essentially what I am proposing is to create a series of interactive 3D spaces which are co-designed by me and people such as my guitar playing friend who do not really have their own space in reality.

There are some significant challenges to this idea, in that I will need to approach and find collaborators and meet with them on a relatively regular basis (which puts a lot of faith in the success of my project in other's hands). However I think that after a few conversations I can help to bring their visions to life by doing the actual modelling and creation of the virtual spaces on my own. My ideal would be to find a few people who are as excited about having a medium of expression as the guy with the guitar (e.g. I give them a pad of paper and they draw what they see, etc.), but I realize that this may be a little too hopeful. Regardless though, I really do think that people without attachment to a physical home are capable of coming up with some of the most interesting 'virtual' spaces. It's an interesting idea to create a virtual home for those without a physical one. It isn't going to keep them warm but perhaps it will help them expressed their ideas.

Any feedback on this thought is much appreciated as I am still not entirely sure about whether others will find it as interesting as I do.