In Conversation with Chestnet Rau: Social Artistry

July 6, 2011
4:30 PM SL/PST (7:30 PM EST)

Virtual environments allow us to push the envelope of understanding who we are at multiple levels. Such self-examination can be an exercise of fear in action where we want to reach out with one hand while pushing away with another. Establishing a balance between the two is a mix of social artistry and grace.

This week Kevin and Chestnut Rau (http://slofdreams.blogspot.com/) discuss various social perspectives on social artistry and how the development of relationships push the boundaries of understanding ourselves and the world around us.

Chestnut rezzed into Second Life on June 16, 2007 and had little experience in virtual worlds or gaming at the time. Like many newcomers she was utterly amazed by what she saw and quickly developed interests in innovative virtual art, the vibrant live music scene, and photographing the wonders of the virtual world.

In 2009 and 2010, Chestnut was the events writer for the popular blog New World Notes. In that capacity she sought out and wrote about the most interesting and innovative events that were happening in Second Life every week. More recently, Chestnut has concentrated her creative efforts on her personal blog where she makes observations about living a virtual life, highlights fun places to visit and shares RL and SL photographs.

Chestnut recently joined musician and art patron Zachh Cale and Amase Levasseur, the curator of the amazing art sim Originalia, to work on a new project called Art Screamers. They will be inviting some of Second Life’s top artist to create innovative installations using the resources of a full sim. They are in the planning stages of the project and look forward to opening Art Screamers to the public at the end of July.