An Artist and a Poet In the Virtual World Second Life Collaborate On An Anti-Violence, Anti-War Installation

Provincetown, MA/Manchester, NH (PRWEB) February 11, 2008 -- Paul C'zanne and Jeannette Angell -- as their Second Life personas, PleaseWakeMeUp Idler and Sherpa Voyager -- have created an art installation titled "Political is Personal" in a rented warehouse in Second Life.

The installation consists of a seemingly abandoned industrial building, surrounded by nightmarish trees, through which the visitor walks to experience the exhibit. There are two floors that divide the warehouse into sections for viewing and reading. In one space, visitors find themselves walking through films of red gauze, causing one reviewer to call the area a "fog of blood." In another, faces of Iraquis follow the visitor along with the plaintive words, "Why am I dying?"

Yet another space speaks of and illustrates conspicuous consumption, the energy that drives acquisition and aggression. One illustration shows American soldiers clutching Bibles and guns; on the flip side is an Iraqui soldier clutching the Koran and a gun. Finally, one section of the installation requires one to confront the names of American military dead -- and the names of Iraqui civilian dead.

"I will say this," writes reviewer Grace McConachie, "it is a powerful, sickening, guilt-inducing exhibition. Even for someone like me who has been against the war from the beginning. Even for someone like me who does not live a particularly greedy or consumptive lifestyle. When you go (and you should) take your time, be free of real-life distractions, and reflect. And when you are done, if you don't feel sick deep in your soul -- well, you probably aren't human. Or at least not one I'd like to meet."

A notecard, Second Life's equivalent of an exhibit guide, tells the visitor, "Political is Personal is a collaboration between PleaseWakeMeUp Idler and Sherpa Voyager that explores the personal nature of violence through the lens of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq. Both the artist and the poet have been troubled by well-meaning but misguided individuals who have urged them to 'not take all this so personally.' But violence is always personal, and when it occurs on a large scale with the blessing and leadership of the government, there remains very little differentiation between what is personal and what is political."

The poetry -- in very loose verse, since the installation does not assume any precise beginning or ending-point - was written first, before the art was created around it. "I wrote this," says Sherpa Voyager, "out of my frustration in talking to people about the world, about violence, about what's loosely called 'politics,' and kept being told to not take it so personally. Well, it is personal. It's always personal. So that became my theme here."

"It's refreshing to see art like this," writes Nebulosis Severine of the installation at Chromotive.blogspot.com, "when far too many artists focus on beauty, whimsy, and easily digestible subject matter. Sure, there is merit in that kind of art (some of it, anyway), but it's far too easy to create it, and far too easy for the viewer to process it. I love beauty just like anyone else, but it doesn't challenge the intellect, it doesn't require one to think. I'm sick of that kind of art, most of it is shallow or superficial. Beauty is overrated. Beauty is effortless. I want to be attacked by the beauty of ugliness, I want my mind to reel from it."

Located in Second Life at Cryphia 50.144.30, the installation will be in place until mid-March 2008.

Second Life and Linden Lab are trademarks or registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. PleaseWakeMeUp Idler and Sherpa Voyager both maintain galleries at Artropolis in Second Life and in real life live in Manchester, NH, and Provincetown, MA.

###