My Flag, made by someone else
Your USA flag pants.
Your Lonestar “Don’t mess with Texas” denim jacket.
And their “Made in China” labels.
Populists on both the right and the left agree: globalization in the physical world (PW) comes with heavy and sometimes hidden costs.
Offshore Mesh Production
It is no different in our virtual world (VW) of Second Life. Early prim-based tools for making clothes, vehicles, houses, and anything else you desire, were nice & easy. But also crude.
Mesh has given us bodies, clothes, and objects of every imaginable kind. And of a quality and craftspersonship that early SL avatars could hardly have imagined. But when things aren’t made here at home, when they’re made overseas in some distant land, like Blender, or Maya, or any of those far away countries, we lose a connection between the work, the products, and the people.
For generations science-fiction writers have reveled in tales of future devolved civilizations. They depict cultures where people can’t fix the machines left by “the old ones“. Even as we wrap glorious mesh clothing on our perfect mesh bodies, we are living that sci-fi dystopian nightmare. Many avatars today don’t know that they can rez a simple cube, and from that make virtually anything. From that cube they can twist and sculpt and create wild remarkable things. Not everything in your life has to be imported from workers in a distant land. We avatars have, or once had, before we forgot, the power in our own virtual fingers to make anything we choose.
SLEA: Makers’ Island
Makers’ Island @ SLEA
a celebration of in-world creation
My SLEA proposal is for Makers’ Island! A place that celebrates in-world making. Anything and everything. From Flexi Prims to Physical Prims and all the incredible things you can make in-world. No ocean voyages or months of training in foreign lands like Blender or Maya required.
Studio Spaces
Makers’ Island will offer dozens of studio spaces where avatars can create projects and work on experiments.
Interaction Spaces
There will also be classroom and sharing spaces where the long forgotten, but still incredibly powerful, tools of prim building and manipulation can be taught and shared.
Programming
Weekly programming at Maker’s Island will include a variety of talks and experiences. I’ll try to find all the prim makers I can, if they’re still alive! And have talks and demonstrations by a variety of folks who build with prims.
Activities
We’ll also have group events, like Haiku Speedbuild, where everyone who’d like to participate has 50 prims and an hour to create a sculpture in response to a haiku.
Amenities
Facilities at Makers’ Island will include a Coffee Shop, Discotheque, and more. They won’t be the same SL coffee shop furniture that everyone buys from that one great mesh coffee shop designer. “Prim Coffee” will be… made out of prims! And, it will taste great! “Danceteria la Prim” will be… you get it! 🙂
Land & Sea
Makers’ Island will feature work on the land of the island and also in the offshore oceans. There will not be any skybox activity and the region will be no-fly and no point-to-point teleporting. The entire region will be walkable and there will be freely available boats throughout.
I believe it is important to have a kinesthetic sense of the island as a real, physical, virtual space. A walkable space and not a series of installations that you TP in and out of.
Accessibility
I’m not aware of visual, motor, or other issues that would make walking or boating 100 or 200 meters difficult for any avatars. It is possible I’m simply ignorant of issues that some avatars may face. If walking/boating from place to place is difficult for some avatars, I’d appreciate:
- Being informed of what the issues are.
- Help finding accessible solutions. Perhaps a special Group, or Group Role that allows flying, for example.
Resources Needed
I will need full control of the Region. Including:
- Terraforming
- Bake, Download & Upload Terrain
- Set Terrain Textures & Texture Elevation Ranges
- Set Water Height
Application
Aero Bigboots, SLEA L5 Grant Application (date sent)
This proposal is also available here: https://aero.ist/slea
- SL legacy name, display name and calling card.
Aero Bigboots, Aero Bigboots - Choose ONE: Full Region 20,000LI — 1/2 Region 10,000LI — 1/4 Region 5000LI — or Micro (Incubator) Grant LI usage variable according to location and availability. LI indicates land impact and varies when using mesh whereas a single prim = 1LI always.
Full Region - Confirm the approximate number of LI (land impact or prims) you are requesting.
20,000 - Choose the length of time preference for your Grant: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – or 6 months.
3 months (Jan-Feb-Mar, if possible) - Title of your installation MUST be submitted (Can be updated or changed in future).
Makers’ Island @ SLEA: a celebration of in-world creation - Poster of your installation MUST be submitted (Can be updated or changed in future).
vv See Below vv - Write a detailed description of your concept using words, textures, sketches, plans etc.
^^ See Above ^^ - Is this a new build or a redo?
New concept. - Have you received a past LEA or SLEA Grant?
No. - Will you create underwater, ground, sky or all of the above?
Ground & Underwater - Is this a solo, duo or group art installation?
I’m applying as a solo artist/curator. The project itself, as described above, hopes to include many dozens of avatar participants. - Are you a new artist requiring assistance or a seasoned pro?
I wouldn’t call myself a “Seasoned Pro”. I do think I have the conceptual, organizational, terraforming, and building skills to develop & present this project. - Would you like to utilize our SLEA Mentor Program?
I don’t think I will need assistance to create the space. As the project depends on significant outreach to bring in as many avatars as possible to create, explore, and interact, I would love mentoring/help with connecting this project to the largest possible SL community. - How familiar are you with all the SLEA regions?
Familiar. - Why would you like to receive an SLEA Artist Grant?
Over the years I’ve come and gone from SL. I’ve spent all of 2022 with an amazing group I first joined in 2011: the Second Life Cheerleading Squad (SLCS). The community, participation, and interaction of SLCS is phenomenal! It’s stronger, richer, and more fulfilling that anything I’ve ever experienced in SL. That spirit, and thinking about the “loss” of Prim Building skills made me consider creating an SLEA installation where we could revive the lost art of Prim Creativity & Community. - Are you prepared to commit to the completion of this art installation along with 1 event?
Yes! But not one event, many!!! - Do you agree to Linden Lab TOS, SLEA Moderate guidelines and SLEA requests?
Yes! - Your Email address to ensure contact efficiency. (Recommended but not required)
aero.bigboots@gmail.com
