Smarthistory: The Blog

We had been following Brooklyn is Watching with great interest for some time now. So, we were thrilled when Jay van Buren left us a comment here, and then graciously invited us to guest podcast with some Brooklyn is Watching regulars. We had a GREAT time talking about SL art with Boris Kizelshteyn, Shirley Marquez and Jay. We found their differing perspectives created a tremendously exciting prism of ideas. We also realized that by bringing together this group to grapple with the art that is brought to Brooklyn is Watching, Jay has, in effect, created a post-modern salon.

Salons have historically been most successful when culture is at a point of radical disjunction when traditional modes of meaning formation are strained. Salons provide an ongoing discussion where new and radical ideas can be viewed, assessed, and eventually understood. Is it possible that Jay has undertaken just such a effort? While we have only spent a short time with Jay and his group, it was clear to us that the underlying impulse the other night was not one of familiar ideas being comfortably rehashed, rather there was a subtle sense of urgency, that we were all seeking each others assistance as we, together, sought to understand what art in Second Life could be and what makes it important.

What we have done here is to create another podcast–with video–using snippets of our podcast with the BiW folks. It seems to us that BiW is approaching the art of Second Life very much the way we have looked at art here on smARThistory, by exploring it through conversation.

To listen to Jay’s entire unedited hour-long podcast, go to Brooklyn is Watching.

To listen to our podcast, click below:

 

 Podcast Video [10:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download