The Condition of the Working Class in England / Igor Strojmaer [Ljubljana] / Robotic Lecture / Open Graphic Art Studio
Working Men! To you I dedicate a work, a faithful picture of your condition, of your sufferings and struggles, of your hopes and prospects. I wanted to see you in your own homes, to observe you in your everyday life, to chat with you on your condition and grievances, to witness your struggles against the social and political power of your oppressors. Having, at the same time, ample opportunity to watch the middle-classes, your opponents, I soon came to the conclusion that you are perfectly right in expecting no support whatever from them. Their interest is diametrically opposed to yours. Their doings give them the lie. Have they ever paid any serious attention to your grievances? Not they indeed, those are things they do not like to speak of -- they have left it to a foreigner to inform the civilised world of the degrading situation you have to live in. Go on then, as you have done hitherto. Much remains to be undergone; be firm, be undaunted -- your success is certain, and no step you will have to take in your onward march will be lost to our common cause, the cause of Humanity! Intima Virtual Base, 2008
The Ono-Hansen Piano Method (|In the Spirit of Fluxus) / Patrick Lichty [Boston] / performance / Open Graphic Art Studio
For the past two years, Patrick Lichty, and his performance art group Second Front, have been exploring the idea of performance art in online virtual wоrlds, especially Second Life. This piece is a reprise/parody of Al Hansen's "Yoko Ono Piano Drop" in which he dropped one piano from a height. In this work, the avatar, named Man Michinaga, is sitting at the piano while he is pummeled with a hail of virtual pianos, and later, cartoon anvils. In so doing, this piece begins a series which seeks to realize the unrealizeable aspects of many Fluxus scores, but also highlights the absurdity/surreality of performance in virtual worlds.
