Annie Ok: “10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop” in ISEA2009: The Exhibition, Belfast, Aug 7-Sept 6
“10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop”, the machinima documentary I co-directed with Eyebeam artists Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg about their Invisible Threads mixed reality installation, is showing in ISEA2009: The Exhibition in Belfast, Ireland at Golden Thread Gallery. View and download the complete exhibition catalog here.
Golden Thread Gallery
7th of August – 6th of September
Opening Times Tues – Friday: 10.30am – 5.30pm
Saturday – Sunday:10.30am – 4.00pm
Exhibition opening night 7th of August: 7 – 9pm
Still from “10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop” by Annie Ok, Jeff Crouse & Stephanie Rothenberg
From ISEA2009: The Exhibition:
ISEA2009: The Exhibition presents internationally leading edge artists from across the globe in an unprecedented multi-site exhibition in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 7 – 29 August 2009. On display in the Ormeau Baths Gallery, the Golden Thread Gallery, in the foyer gallery of the University of Ulster Belfast campus and in the public domain, this exhibition addresses contested spaces focusing on the environment, political and economic conflict and the human body. Curated by Kathy Rae Huffman it will display an exciting range of innovative and challenging work at the interface of art, science and technology.
Exhibiting artists:
OBG: Kuaishen Auson; Revital Cohen; Vince Dziekan; Matt Green and Stuart Sloan; Allan Hughes; Kuuki: Gavin Sade and Priscilla Bracks; Martin Rieser; Sam Kang Li with Justin Zhuang, Serene Cheong and Wong Shu Yu; Scenocosme: Grégory Lasserre & Anaïs met den Ancxt; Pam Skelton; Squidsoup, ETH Zurich, horao GmbH; Ola Stahl and Kajsa Thelin; Alexa Wright
GTG: Tony Allard and Kristine Diekman; Jay Bushman; Candida TV: Agnese Trocchi and Antonio Veneziano; Ian Clothier; Joseph DeLappe; Denise Doyle; David Elliott, Andrés Colubri, Patrick Tierney; David Guez; Jim Kosem; Paula Levine; Diana McCarty, Mare Tralla, Reet Varbalne and Kathy Rae Huffman; Max Moswitzer; Will Pappenheimer and John Craig Freeman; Personal Cinema and The Erasers; Rainer Prohaska; Pedro Rebelo; Stephanie Rothenberg; Stephanie Rothenberg and Jeff Crouse with Annie Ok; Mark Skwarek, Joseph Hocking and Arthur Peters; Brad Todd; UBERMORGEN.COM; Andrea Zapp
Ulster: Lauren Alexander; Joseph DeLappe; Petko Dourmana; Anthony Haughey; Fiona Larkin; Christina McPhee; Richard O’Sullivan; Geoffrey Alan Rhodes; Sreejata Roy & Mrityunjay Chatterjee, Debashis Sinha
ISEA2009: The Exhibition has been developed as an extended part of ISEA2009, the 15th International Symposium on Electronic Art, which will take place from 23 August to 1 September 2009 on the island of Ireland. Hosted by the University of Ulster the symposium focuses on Engaged Creativity in Mobile Environments.
Annie Ok: “10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop” in NO LONGER EMPTY “Reflecting Transformation” exhibition, NYC, July 30-Sept 26
“10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop”, the machinima documentary I co-directed with Eyebeam artists Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg about their Invisible Threads mixed reality installation, is showing in the NO LONGER EMPTY “Reflecting Transformation” exhibition in NYC. Participating artists include Yoko Ono, Cao Fei, Alyson Shotz, U-Ram Choe, Siebren Versteeg, Sean Slemon, and Suzanne Song.
NO LONGER EMPTY: “Reflecting Transformation”
July 30th – Sept. 26th
Location: The Caledonia, (retail space to the right)
450 W 16th St near 10th Ave
Still from “10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop” by Annie Ok, Jeff Crouse & Stephanie Rothenberg
From NO LONGER EMPTY:
ART FILLS VACUUM CREATED BY RUSH OF EMPTY STORES
NO LONGER EMPTY, a not for profit group that places high quality art exhibitions in vacated store fronts throughout New York City, is pleased to announce the launch of its second project in the (yet to be leased) retail space of The Caledonia under the recently opened High Line.
To reflect the revitalization of the meat packing area in general and the High Line in particular, the exhibition will reflect this urban regeneration through art works selected to reflect a theme of transformation.
Reflecting Transformations references the regeneration of the area and the transformative nature that art can have on a community. This group exhibit also reflects the minimalist aesthetic that the blank slate of a new development can afford.
NO LONGER EMPTY was conceived as a meeting point between art and the economic crisis. The organization seeks to provide a challenging platform to artists and to revitalize the empty commercial spaces by creating more traffic and showing the sites filled with positive energy instead of being just one more empty storefront in the city. We also want to support the local business community of each area through the increased flow of visitors that these exhibitions will bring. on.
Rik Riel: Machinima that Matter – A list of machinima films with a Social/Political Message
via The Click Heard Round the World:
- 10 Convention on the Rights of the Child 1 Minute PSAs (link one, link two) by Global Kids
- “Avatars Against the War” (2007) on an anti-war protest in Second Life by Rik Panganiban
- “A Better World in Second Life” (2007) a 5 part documentary on the social uses of virtual worlds by Josh Levy
- “A Childs War” (2007) on child soldiers in Uganda by the Virtual Video Project of Global Kids
- “Dead in Iraq” (2007) online protest in “America’s Army” MMOG by Joseph Delappe
- Draxtor Dupres’ machinima news reporting in Second Life regularly covers social and political topics
- “The French Democracy” (2005) about the French riots by Lionhead Movies / Alex Chan
- “The Greenest Console” (2007) about pollution in the game console industry by GreenPeace
- “Invisible Threads” (2008) parody art piece on sweat shops by Annie Ok
- “Oils Well” (2008) about the global oil crisis by Civil Protection
- “Race to Equality” (2008) on access to education by the Virtual Video Project of Global Kids
- “Repuffs” (2008) political satire by the Martin Brother
- “Safety Kids” (2003) PSA on child safety around railroad tracks by LA MTA
- “A Second Life on Second Life” on people with disabilities in SL by Scribe Media
- “Sheik Attack” (1999) on the horrors of war by Eddo Stern
- “Snoop Votes” (2004) by Paul Marino, Adam Penenberg, and Magdalena Kimshizzle
- “This Spartan Life” machinima series that has dealt with a number of serious issues, from the future of the book to Net Neutrality by Chris Burke
- “Standing Alone” (2006) about a couple’s loss of a child by Decorgal
- “Swift Kicks Moms for Truth” (2008) political satire by Silver and Goldie
- “An Unfair War” (2006) war commentary by Thuyen Nguyen
Thank you for including my film in your list, Rik!
Annie Ok: “10 Simple Steps to your own Virtual Sweatshop” in video_dumbo for D.U.M.B.O. ART UNDER THE BRIDGE FESTIVAL on Sat, Sept 27
http://www.videodumbo.org/08-exquisite-schizophrenia.html
http://dumboartfestival.org
http://www.annieok.com/OtherProjects/InvisibleThreads
D.U.M.B.O. ART UNDER THE BRIDGE FESTIVAL
video_dumbo
8:30pm, Saturday, September 27, 2008
Galapagos Art Space: 16 Main Street
Program repetitions at Echo Chamber: 111 Front Street Galleries
D.U.M.B.O, Brooklyn, New York
10 Simple Steps to your own Virtual Sweatshop
Stephanie Rothenberg / Jeff Crouse / Annie Ok | 2008 | 8:15 min.
This short explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies, and real-life commodities through the creation of a designer jean sweatshop in the metaverse Second Life.
Stephanie Rothenberg uses performance, video, and net-based media to create provocative interactions that question relationships between individuals and socially constructed identities, lifestyles and public spaces. She has performed and exhibited at festivals including Sundance Film Festival, ISEA, Conflux and Zer01 San Jose. Jeff Crouse, Senior Fellow at Eyebeam, is an artist and programmer mixing technology and comedy to make fun and critical projects. Exhibtions include Sundance Film Festival, Futuresonic in Manchester, DC FilmFest and Come Out and Play Festival in Amsterdam. Annie Ok is a multimedia artist based in NYC. She was a long-time senior artist of RUN Collection that has exhibited at Alleged Gallery, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Creative Time’s The Anchorage, Centre Georges Pompidou, the Purple Institute, and Pitti Imagine. She’s directed videos for MTV and Iron Man, and is a metaverse consultant to MTV, Picture Production Company, etc.
Invisible Threads to exhibit at Synthetic Times, co-organized by National Art Museum of China, Parsons School of Design and Eyebeam
Synthetic Times: Media Art China 2008, a Cultural Olympics project that will open at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in June 2008, launches in NYC with programming co-organized by the exhibition’s curator, Zhang Ga, the MoMA, Parsons School of Design and Eyebeam.
http://www.mediartchina.org/events/newyorkmoma
On April 15, following a day-long symposium at Parsons, Eyebeam will feature a performance of Invisible Threads by Eyebeam artists Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg, as well as performances by Taeyoon Choi and Friedrich Kirchner, at 8 – 10PM.
http://www.eyebeam.org/engage/engage.php?page=unique&id=168
EYEBEAM
540 W. 21st Street, (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
New York, NY 10011
Tel. 212.937.6580
Invisible Threads documentary by Annie Ok, Jeff Crouse, & Stephanie Rothenberg:
http://www.annieok.com/OtherProjects/InvisibleThreads
About Invisible Threads:
Invisible Threads is a mixed reality performance installation created by Eyebeam artists Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg. The project explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies and real life commodities through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in the metaverse Second Life. Simulating a real life manufacturing facility that includes hiring Second Life “workers” to produce real world jeans sold for profit, the project provides an insider’s view into current modes of global, telematic production.
Annie Ok: “Invisible Threads”
“10 Simple Steps to your very own Virtual Sweatshop with Telematic Manufacturing.”
Invisible Threads is a mixed reality performance installation created by Eyebeam artists Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg. The project explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies and real life commodities through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in the metaverse Second Life. Simulating a real life manufacturing facility that includes hiring Second Life “workers” to produce real world jeans sold for profit, the project provides an insider’s view into current modes of global, telematic production.
original concept: Jeff Crouse & Stephanie Rothenberg
video directed by: Annie Ok, Jeff Crouse, & Stephanie Rothenberg
machinima: Annie Ok
live footage: Stephanie Rothenberg & Broken Branchez Productions
music: Kraftwerk
Invisible Threads installation at New Frontier on Main at Sundance ’08.
Invisble Threads was made possible by the kind support of Eyebeam & Sundance.
Second Life® and Linden Labs® are trademark of Linden Research, Inc®. Invisible Threads is not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research®.
A Second Life sweatshop in the heart of Park City
From Salon:
Multimedia artists Stephanie Rothenberg and Jeff Crouse bring “Invisible Threads: A Virtual Sweatshop in Second Life” to Sundance, where workers “make” designer jeans in exchange for Lindens.
Eyebeam’s Invisible Threads: Images from New Frontier at Sundance
New York Times: At Sundance, a Second Life Sweatshop Is Art
From New York Times:
At Sundance, a Second Life Sweatshop Is Art
One of the more exotic premieres at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is “Invisible Threads.” It’s not a movie, but a virtual sweat shop that exists only on Second Life, the online virtual world, yet produces real-life, custom-ordered, personalized blue jeans.
Stephanie Rothenberg, a new media performance artist, and her collaborator, Jeff Crouse, a digital artist and programmer, started Invisible Threads a year ago while at Eyebeam, an art and technology center in New York. Invisible Threads is intended as art, but they see it as a window into so-called telemetric manufacturing methods of the future.
So Ms. Rothenberg was invited to Sundance as an artist who incorporates film and video.
The jeans are being shown and sold for the first time at Sundance, in a beta version. Customers tell the Invisible Threads staff the size and style of jean they would like, the instructions are sent to the virtual factory inside Second Life, where workers push buttons that generate an image. From that image, a pattern is created and sent to an industrial printer, made by Hewlett-Packard, which spits out the custom-printed canvas cotton patterns. The patterns are then cut and assembled on the spot (at a Sundance Festival venue, that is) with a glue gun and a little stitching for reinforcement. They cost around $35.
The margins are pretty good. The Invisible Threads “factory” has sixteen workers, who are paid 200 Lindens an hour – about 90 cents, which is pretty good pay by Second Life standards. Factory workers are also granted 500 square meters of Second Life “land” on which to build a house.
“What I think is fascinating about her work is that it is a step towards what our future is going to be,” said Jeffrey Winter, a panel programmer for the Sundance Festival who focuses on media, art and technology. “It’s called art now, but in the future it’s going to be how you get your jeans. It will be daily life. So often what you call art is just people who see the future before the rest of us do.”
Ms. Rothenberg, who has an interest in the politics of labor, agreed. She said the project is evolving into something less about art and “more about telematic labor.”
Inside the Invisible Threads virtual factory. (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)
