CONSUME is no doubt the most compelling and impressive art installation in Second Life (SL). CONSUME is a new SL skyscraper nearly a mile high (4000 feet), filled with artworks from 8 SL celebrity artists, experts in totally immersive SL art installations. Built in a few weeks and filled to the brim with great art, it is an amazing achievement. Visit CONSUME in SL:   http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caerleon%20Isle/92/5/36

"CONSUME is art, information, education and amusement!" - Pixels Sideways, CONSUME Artist

CONSUME is an eye opening art-inspired shopping experience, a skyscraper housing a glorified department store. Before the skyscraper, you are beckoned to open it's solid gold doors. However, you will need a Credit Card to enter; happily supplied by an outside kiosk (Picture 2). The Credit Card HUD does NOT use SL money (Lindens), but it does keep track of your CONSUME purchases and interest charges. If you fly round the building, you'll notice a steady stream of merchanize trucks arriving (Picture 4). This department store is constantly supplied with ample goods by 10 new trucks arriving per minute. On the side of the building is the result of consumption, a huge expanding trash dump (Picture 5).

Entering the lobby, we see the 1st of many great artworks "THE CONSUMERS" (Picture 3). Four banks of elevators can whisk you to all public floors of the megastore. Floors 1 through 12 are a shopping game (Picture 8) and art installations by various artists, including: Artistide Despres, Banrion Constantine, Sowa Mai, Lollito Larkham, Luce Laval, Pixels Sideways, Poid Mahovlich, Ub Yifu, Pete Jiminy and Trinity Halberstadt. Each artwork is an immersive experience. A broad range of consumption issues are addressed through this message art, such as over consumption, media involvement, bailouts, healthcare, wealth, poverty, education, and toxic waste. There is a mixture of serious topics and hillarious fun, such as a bumper car ride with colliding bailout banks in a room full of money.

"So we get a little silly up here but we wanted poeple to have a reward at the end and also have some serious fun at the top of consumption" - Pixels Sideways, CONSUME Artist

On Floor 13, you learn the point of the shopping game and sage advice is offered. Consume is a bit of serious fun and often quite witty (Picture 7). On the upper levels, there is a control room, an artists gallery, and some tower levels. There are several amusements on the roof of the skyscraper, including a magnetic sphere (wild dance) and a BIG surprise! Can't tell you, but you MUST see it! Way Fun! Hint: Every proper skyscraper must have one!

Totally immersive art is a new expressive media that is growing exponentially in SL. Because SL construction is very inexpensive and fast, the "art on a wall" paradigm is fading fast in SL, being replaced by art environments that completely surround you and become a participatory experience.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW: The next section is a prepared Interview statement from Pixels Sideways, CONSUME Founding Artist. After that,  I wrote up a handy guide to exploring CONSUME. After that, some additional information about CONSUME Usage and Events. Then, what follows is the press kit information from the CONSUME Artists. It includes a complete list of contributors to the massive and awesome project that is CONSUME.

INTERVIEW WITH PIXELS SIDEWAYS - CONSUME FOUNDING ARTIST

Pixels Sidways talks about CONSUME and taking any1 on a tour of the CONSUME project.

I had a great time showing any1 Gynoid around the build, talking about what we had completed and what was still to come.

I'm still laughing about any1's comments on Sarah Palin and her preferential hunting techniques (there is a context here that you will understand once you access this part of CONSUME).  I promisd any1 I'd get her a copy of Pete Jiminy's very special Sarah Palin sculpture he made during the run up to the Nov 2008 elections.  :-)

The opening on Sunday May 24 was a preliminary opening.  Due to the scope of the project, we're still a work in progress this week and expect to be complete and fully functional (lag permitting) by this Sunday, May 31 after 2:00pm which is our next opening date.

The early opening last week with several avatars on the sim was immensely helpful in helping us gauge what we needed to tweak, what kind of signs/instructions were needed for certain aspects like the Credit Card Game, how much we can still add to the exhibition and where we might have to dial back on scripts because of limited resources/lag.

When any1 popped over this week and I gave her a tour of CONSUME, we still had several rooms that were works in progress, along with some tech issues and teleport systems that still had to be installed and a few features that were not up and running.

The Credit Card Game was running but since all the floorw were not finished, the entire game was truncated -- but we hope to have all the floors finished by Sunday.

As any1 noted, you must first obtain a CONSUME credit card from the ATM machines at the entrance.  These are necessary to play the CONSUME Credit Card Game and for accessing different areas of CONSUME.  You don't have to play the game to explore the entire exhibition but you'll need to be wearing the CONSUME Credit Card HUD to get inside different places and access certain teleports.  :-)

If you play the game, you'll learn about racking up debt -- as any1 did -- and at the end of the game you'll find out how you did.  The amount of debt you accumulate can add up very fast.

Just ask any1 who may still be traumatized from learning that her spending habits totalled up enough debt to rule out any future botox treatments.  :-]

The completed build will have a lot more interactive elements -- including some very tongue in cheeck/parody/satire about serious issuse relevant to our consumption.

Additionally, we'll have features such as video, slide show presentations, a message center, VIP Board for leaving photos, comments, etc., that will be added and periodically updated during the run of CONSUME.

We're also adding French and Italian language versions of text to the instructions for the CONSUME Credit Card Game and elevators, as well as the ATM screens at the entrance.  We hope to add additional language translations as well.

Our goal for CONSUME has been to create immersive, interactive and provactive art that engages visitors, informs, educates and encourages discussions about our consumpton -- why we consume, how we consume and how our consumption affects us, the people around us and the world we live in.  Hopefully, were on track.  :-)

As previously noted to any1 during our tour, some of the features were not up and running yet but are definitely not to be missed such as The Tower with it's Magical Stairs that lead up to The Sphere of Magnetic Attraction.

Artistide Despres created the stairs and the magnets and scripts for the Sphere.  She also scripted the CONSUME Credit Card Game, the neverending transport of goods via the trucks, the trash in the dump that keeps piling up, the funny follow flies, the rezzers I've used for the bumper cars and other things.   Artee's quite prolific and brilliant with scripts, in addition to being an amazing artist in SL and great professional photograher in RL.  And she is really funny and wonderful to work with -- even when I drive her toward madness with seemingly impossible ideas or late additions to the collaborative work.

And when it comes to fabulousness and genius scripting, the same can be said of Trinity Halberstadt (who holds the distinct title of Script Goddess for the Caerleon sims) and the fantastic elevators she created.  Trinity managed to create four banks of elevators that transport two avatars on each and work in an environment that tends to tilt toward lag.
Given that CONSUME shares the Caerleon Isle sim with Nonnatus Korhonen who has a very significant Artificial Intelligence installation on 1/4 of the sim that uses up a good chunk of resources (and you should definitely visit Nonn's Mellifera Project -- it's quite awesome), Trini's elevators worked despite all the wonky lag and scripted objects running on the Caerleon Isle sim.

The contributions to CONSUME by Artistide and Trinity are a significant part of the experience as well as shaping the context of making CONSUME's over the top consumption environment relevant.

And Pete Jiminy's CONSUME logo/branding which you will see throughout the build is another essential part of creating a totally immersive experience. We want the magnitude of CONSUME to hit home -- in the same way that the multi-nationals and other corporations constantly hammer us over the head with their omnipresent branding.

Pete has hammered out so many variations of graphics textures on this project, I've lost count.  He's a great graphic artist in SL & RL and also a wonderful fine artist in RL.  His signature style of SL sculpture can be seen at the very top of CONSUME aka "A Very Big Problem."

All the artists involved  -- Artee, Trini, Pete, Aequitas/Banrion Constantine/Sowa Mai, Poid Mahovlich, Lollito Larkham, Ub Yifu and luce laval --  totally rose to the thematic challenge and went well above and beyond with the work they created.  I'm amazed and moved by their interpretations of their specific themes.

On MAY 31, SUNDAY, at 2:00pm SLT, we'll be having our second opening - I"m sort of notorious for having two, and sometimes three, openings on a large project as I find more things to add, fix, tweak, etc., after each "opening."  :-)

Maybe I should refrain from calling them "openings" and call them "New Things Happening Events."

I'm delighted to have met any1 Gynoid and had a lot of fun showing her CONSUME.

And hopefully after Sunday, May 31, more people will get to experience this project that these wondeful and talented artists created.

Big hugs to any1 and on behalf of evryone involved with CONSUME, we look forward to having you visit the CONSUME exhibition.

Enjoy!

Pixels Sideways

ANY1's GUIDE TO CONSUME

Visit CONSUME at   http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caerleon%20Isle/92/5/36

At the landing point... look for the signs to left and right of doors...
In same frame... click on button/key pad to get your Credit Card HUD... You will need it!
Wear your Credit Card HUD
Walk to in front of the gold doors... and click ur Credit Card HUD to Open!

Ground Floor features "The Elevators" by Trinity Halberstadt and "The Card Game" by Artistide Despres and Pixels Sideways

Take the escalator up half way... then fly off to get to the elevators... Click the Red Elevator Button
Whatever door opens.. fly/run there... and click on the pose ball in elevator...
Now click on elevator floor... and choose a Consume Floor... When you get there... Stand Up..
Click elevator doors to open them (if needed)... and walk into the art build

First Floor features the build "Make Your Choice" by Ub Yifu
Second Floor features "Home" by Pixels Sideways
Third Floor features "Bailout Bumper Boondoggle" by Artistide Despres and Pixels Sideways
Fourth Floor features "An Exquisite Technology" by the Consume Artists Group
Fifth Floor features "Grand Illusion" by Luce Laval
Sixth Floor features "Health Circle" by Lollito Larkham
Seventh Floor features "Hurkey!!!!" by Pixels Sideways
Eigth Floor features "Live a Greener Live" by Poid Mahovlich
Ninth Floor features "Once Upon a Time There Were Books" by Pixels Sideways
Tenth Floor features "Two Worlds" by Artistide Despres
Eleventh Floor features "Not So Virtual This Reality" by Pixels Sideways
Twelth Floor features a build by Sowa Mai and Banrion Constantine (Aequitas Artists Group)
Thirteen Floor features the Consume "Reveal"

Hint: Use credit! To discover the secrets!

Above 13, the game is essentially over... Elevators don't go there... with with a little SL trickery, you can get there (cam up an sit in any chair you can find)... 14th floor is the Control Room.. cool very fast rotating objects... seats are in the corners... On 15th floor is the artists gallery.... portraits of artists... there was a row of chairs in that room...
Above that there are 2 tower floors... essentially collanades
Then... there is the sphere... kinda cool stain glass sculpture, you can fly through...
Then... at the tippy tippy top... THE BEST BIT... is a radio tower with a BIG surprise! Way Fun! Try sitting on everything there!

CONSUME EVENTS, DISCUSSION, and FUTURE PLANS

Pixels Sideways: We're gonna have the big official opening on Sunday at 2:00pm SL Time (May 31, 2009) --

Pixels Sideways: We also want to encourage people to follow the escalators up and around and back down -- because we have informaton on how things work - and we will have examples of icons and what these icons mean about certain features of the installations like sound, video, etc.,  that will be located in places throughout the building.  So we should tell people to follow the golden arrows we'll have put in place.  Once the visitor has seen all the intro info and they're back on the ground floor, they can then access the elevators.

Notice for Friends: FYI: I am working on CNN iReport ( http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-264566 } covering a new SL totally immersive art build - called CONSUME (about human over-consumption) - it's very impressive 13 floors of artwork and fun. - a surprise on top - will be torn down soon -  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caerleon/90/5/35

CONSUME is a multi-artist collaboration that explores various themes of human consumption.

Artists participating in CONSUME are:  Aequitas (Banrion Constantine & Sowa Mai), Artistide Despres, Lollito Larkham, luce laval, Pete Jiminy, Pixels Sideways, Poid Mahovlich, Ub Yifu and Trinity Halberstadt.  Additional technical scripting consult provided by Jeb Soderstrom and Nonnatus Korhonen.  Caerleon Isle collaboration sim and the Caerleon group of art and education sims generously provided by Georg Janick.

CONSUME opens SUNDAY, MAY 24 at 2:00PM SLT and will run for 3 weeks on Caerleon Isle.  Please note that due to the scope of this project, we are still tweaking and adding content.

SLURL:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caerleon%20Isle/92/5/36

PRESS RELEASE INFORMATION from Pixels Sideways, CONSUME ARTIST

ABOUT CONSUME

Housed in and around a monolithic department store towering over 1200m tall, CONSUME features an art installation on each floor created by artists responding to, and exploring, a particular aspect of consumption.

The overarching theme of CONSUME ponders the question:  When is enough enough?  Within this context, the various themes of CONSUME explore our desires and wants, and needs, to consume everything around us.

The challenge for each artist, in addition to creating work in 64sqm vertically aligned cubes, was to take on an area of consumption and find ways to express through art, how and why we consume, what happens when we consume and how does our consumption affect us, the people around us and the world in which we live.

The grounds around the CONSUME department store building set the stage by illustrating the flow of our consumption.  On one side, trucks roll endlessly out of large pipes extruding from factories into large pipes embedded in the base of the CONSUME building.  Simultaneously on the other side of the CONSUME building, the same "pipeline" leads to the massive amount of garbage continuously piling up as a result of our consumption.

Tucked away on another side is the plight of those who have little or nothing to consume -- and are subsequently disenfranchised, marginalized, harrassed and punished for not being prolific consumers and therefore, not a productive part of the chain of consumption.

Between the creation and disposal of the neverending stream of goods and services we consume, lies the CONSUME department store with its imposing facade rising upward from a nest of buildings bursting out of the ground.

Once inside the CONSUME department store building, visitors gain access to the elevators which will lead them to each floor to experience the artists' interpretations of the following areas of consumption:

Ground Floor: First Impressions  - Introduction to Consume  (Pixels Sideways)
1st Floor:     Media/Entertainment/Pop-culture  (Ub Yifu)
2nd Floor:     Home / Family / Place   (Pixels Sideways)
3rd Floor:      Money / Power / Politics  (Artistide Despres & Pixels Sideways)
4th Floor:      Technology / Digital Divide (The Consume Artists)
5th Floor:      Sex / Love / Emotions  (luce laval)
6th Floor:      Health / Pharama  (Lollito Larkham)
7th Floor:      Food / Agriculture / GMO  (Pixels Sideways)
8th Floor:      Energy / Resources  (Artist:  Poid Mahovlich)
9th Floor:      Education / Knowledge  (Pixels Sideways)
10th Floor:      Materialism  (Artistide Despres)
11th Floor:     People / Populations / Philanthropy  (Pixels Sideways)
12th Floor:      Religion / Spirituality  (Aequitas - Banrion Constantine & Sowa Mai)

CONSUME also features an ongoing "exquisite corpse" concept installation  on one of the floors of the CONSUME department store  that addresses Technology and the Digital Divide.  This work is created by all the artists participating in CONSUME who will continue to add pieces to this installation -- building upon each others contributions.  This collective collaboration will continue to develop and change throughout the run of the CONSUME exhibition.

CONSUME emulates multinational corporations by featuring consistent brand reinforcment by the repetitive use of CONSUME logo designs in obvious and subliminal contexts.  Created by Pete Jiminy, the CONSUME brand appears throughout the exhibition.  From 3D signs to 2D images on packaging, trucks and computer screens to various textures used on the CONSUME buidling iteself, the CONSUME brand is omnipresent.

In addition to the art installations, CONSUME also incorporates a fun and informative interactive game component.  To enter the CONSUME deparment store, you must first obtain from one of two ATM machines a CONSUME Credit Card which you wear on your hud.  The CONSUME Credit Card, marvelously scripted by Artistide Despres, keeps track of your consumption as you are presented with essential and non-essential products to consume - each of which has been assigned a specific dollar amount.  You can consume only what you need, or as much of what you want of either, or both.  The cost affixed to each item is then calculated on your CONSUME Credit Card hud, including compounded interest and appears in text above the card on your hud.  When you reach the 13th floor, you will find out how much you have consumed via a scoreboard that notes the total amount of debt you have have acquired and comments on your spending habits. :-).

To further enhance the immersive experience of CONSUME, the floors are accessible via an exhilarating ride in glass enclosed elevators created by Caerleon's resident scripting goddess, Trinity Halberstadt.

Additional amusement park-like features such as the Bailout Bumper Boondoggle and the Magical Stairs to the Sphere of Magnetic Attraction add a fun and whimsical bent to the exhibition.

And of course, what ostentatious skyscraper rising far beyond the clouds would be complete without a surprise at the top?

CONSUME is consuming -- a feast for the eyes, the mind and the spirit.  CONSUME is a fun engaging immersive collaborative work with amazing art and scripting by talented visionaries that demonstrates how VR worlds like SL can be used to create interactive art and environments that are culturally and intellectually enriching, stimulating and entertaining.

For additional information, please contact Pixels Sideways via IM or notecard in SL or email at pixsideways@gmail.com

CONSUME EXHIBITION CREDITS:

Artists:  Aequitas (Banrion Constantine & Sowa Mai), Artistide Despres, Jeb Soderstrom, Lollito Larkham, luce laval, Pete Jiminy, Pixels Sideways, Poid Mahovlich, Ub Yifu and Trinity Halberstadt.

CONSUME Concept/theme, building and adjacent grounds design, construction & art direction: Pixels Sideways.

CONSUME Elevators:  Trinity Haberstadt

CONSUME Credit Card hud, scoreboard & scripting:  Artistide Despres (with Jeb Soderstrom's scripting help)

CONSUME trucks rezzer and motion, trash dump rezzer, follow flies, Bailout Bumper Boondoggle rezzers, security scan, Magic Stairs, Sphere of Magnetic Attraction Magnets & Bi-planes particle shooter scripting:: Artistide Despres

The Big Monkey & Bi-planes:  Pete Jiminy (additional scripting by Pixels Sideways & Trinity Halberstadt)

Helpful sound scripts to minimize lag:  Nonnatus Korhonen (after visiting Consume, check out Nonn's fascinating A.I. Mellifera project on the sim)

Library Fishies script from Spiral Walcher

Appropriated and incorporated artifacts:
Modified Noobs (Art Laxness)
Modified Victorian House (Poppet McGimsie)
Modified Sculpty humanoids  and Hurkeys (Research Project)
Modified Trucks (Acadia Asylum)
GMO Lab equipment and other miscellaneous items in and around consume obtained from various sources throughout SL
Pixels particles created with the Xah particle Maker v1.6.1
Various images, sounds, textures, etc., used under Creative Commons license

Special thanks to all the artists who participated and all the creative peeps in our Caerleon family and elsewhere who lent advice and support.
A VERY BIG THANK YOUI to Georg janick for his incredibly generous gift of the Caerleon sims and his passionate support of artists and art and exploring knowledge in VR, SL & FL/RL.

ABOUT CAERLEON

The Caerleon sims are part of the Virtual Art Intiative.  The original Caerleon Isle sim was founded by Georg Janick in Feb 2008 and has since grown to five sims:  Caerleon Isle, New Caerleon, Caerleon Art Collective, Caerleon Art Collective2 and Caerleon Erato.  The five Caerleon sims are home to 31+ artist residents and educators and feature a wide range of art exhibitions, collaborative projects, art classes, lectures and  workshops.  For additional information on Caerleon & the Virtual Art Initiative, please visit our web site at:   http://www.virtual-art-initiative.orgPixels Sideways: