Kliger Dinkin at Ars Virtua

As the first artist in Ars Virtua's Artist-in-Residence program (AVAIR), Kliger Dinkin aka Brad Klingerman is showing the project he has been working with during his residence periode at Ars Virtua. The exhibition opened 20th of April.
« Organizing light in the time and space of the projected image »
(the determination of an Image-Space)
About the exhibition here:
http://www.turbulence.org/blog/archives/004145.html
Development of the project here:
http://transition.turbulence.org/AVAIR/?cat=3
A pole with hovering text tells you to click it to recieve a FAQ notecard to help you navigate the exhibition. You do because it looks like you're going to need it. The room is filled with transparent images and hovering texts. It says like: What does it mean to make art in Second Life? The first texts you see is describing the intention of the project. Oh! And to the right there is a column with cubes and text to click to teleport into the exhibition. The teleportation column. "Teleports send visiting avatars to exhibition vantage points within the Ars Center." crystal - write - learn - read - teleport theater (on the roof, from where "visitors can also be sent to distant Second Life sims that contain functioning project infrastructure.") - entrance


OK, let's go!
crystal - I'm caught inside a labyrint of transparent image walls - almost... I bump into walls, go through images, a glimps of a de Chirico painting, I fall down, and finally land on the ground again.

write - "Writing, a tool that possesses the mechanics and intelligence necessary to physically transform the materials that compose in-world space, physics and form..."

I walk from text to text, reading, trying to figure out what this is all about. Expecting to see an art exhibition, I find it somewhat didactic. So what does it say?

"What does it mean to show art in Second Life? By representing a project using interactive hyper-spaces made of images, ideograms and holograms, showing the places, and ideas invented during the 11 week resisency..."

A very busy guy at the entrance shows to be the artist himself, (futurist) Klinger Dinkin, putting up a kiosque which gives you a catalogue for the exhibition. He flew of to put up a kiosque on the roof, where the teleporters to other sims are, before I could ask him some questions....

From the Teleport Theather on the roof you can teleport to installations on other locations.

I had some problems understanding the exhibition, especially the three machines for in-world experimentation: The Calibration Machine, The Analogy Machine, The Mutation Machine. I couldn't find any machines, or I didn't understand what exactly was the machines and therefore could not find out how they work. On the web site it's said that: "The exhibition attempts to engage visiting avatars as project participants. By interacting with the installation infrastructure, they will actualize its content." So I expected to experience that, but the exhibition it self is not very interactive, except from walking aroud, reading and teleporting. "Avatars use HUDs to capture and send project data back to the gallery. The HUDs are provided throughout the gallery and worn by participating avatars. When visiting a distant project sim, the HUD facilitates data extraction by creating screenshots, then automatically sending the image data back to the Ars Virtua gallery. " I fumbled a lot with the catalogue cause I thought the HUD came with it. It didn't. "Creating a feedback loop involving avatars is a reflection of the necessity to create meaningful space through presence and participation."
I had to IM the artist to ask him. Kliger Dinkin: (Saved Wed May 02 11:56:01 2007) My exhibition is a “representation” of the machines, the objects & spaces they produced and the data they extracted. Visiting them is possible through the teleports offered in the Ars Virtua gallery.
So, the exhibition as it stands is actually an example of the 1st generation builders syndrome, isn't it? Or is it just me getting used to going through walls and teleporting? Ok, the exhibition is a representation of Klingers project, the machines are not on, so the installation in the gallery is frozen and not alive. There are some great ideas presented in the exhibition, but WHY, WHY, WHY can't I participate? I want to try those machines, please.

Plurabelle Posthorn