community

a reaction to a discussion about the future of odyssey and to work by gazira babeli at odyssey east (the meteors in the image), this temporary large scale installation dealt with a specific aspect of space in second life: the number of available prims (building primitives). once that number is reached, building becomes impossible. the community of flexible poles, swaying gently in the virtual wind, occupied all available prim space. the space was already almost inaccessible due to gazira's work; after installing community it was not only inaccessible, but also unusable. however, every visitor, who managed to access the area despite the meteors and the slowing down of the user interface caused by the number of flexible objects, destroyed part of the installation, not temporarily or reversibly like in previous work, but irrecoverably. every member of the flexi-community, which was touched by a visitor, moaned about the intrusion and floated away for once and ever. the visitor had the choice: creating new space for new work, but acting as an intruder, or staying away from the work accepting its occupation of the space.