Bryn Oh Has a New, Government-Sponsored Art Installation in Sansar - But Will Her Fans from Second Life Journey There to See It This Time?

"Hand" is a new installation in Sansar by longtime metaverse artist Bryn Oh, and as with previous projects like this one,  it was funded by a grant from the Canadian government (the Ontario Arts Council, in this case). It's a new chapter in works that have previously appeared in Second Life and Sansar, and the story is striking:

"'Hand' is a portion that reveals one of the characters named Milkdrop from a previous story is a technological singularity AI who was tasked with running the world for humankind," Bryn tells me. "Long story short, Milkdrop determined humans in their current state were the biggest problem and created a virtual space where they lived, loved and worked, so addictive that people would purchase 1, 5, or 10 year food canisters so they never had to log out.  Milkdrop then let humanity starve and perish, unaware, in their virtual world."

Here's an amazing thing: Bryn tells me that previous chapters in Second Life typically attract 30,000 to 40,000 visitors -- but she expects this Sansar installation will her installations in Sansar only bring in about 500 visitors. Why aren't her thousands of fans traveling from one Linden Lab virtual world to another, to see her latest work?

"I would love to see lots visit and perhaps I will be wrong," she tells me, "but I have already spoken to some who were excited to go, only to find it is just for Windows." (Sansar still only works on Windows and Oculus/Vive.)  "Others don't have computers they feel will run it."

The other problem is Sansar doesn't have a large enough userbase for collective spontaneity:

"In SL," as she puts it, "someone might see a work of mine and tell a friend who teleports over instantly. If it is in Sansar, they need to install the client and leave the world they 'live' in."

That's disappointing if understandable. It also illustrates why Sansar has failed to attract a crossover audience from Second Life or other online game/virtual world platforms.

In any case, Bryn is happy to be working in Sansar for creative reasons. 

"I love my fans," as she puts it, "and will bring 'Hand' to SL as well. But at the same time, I need to grow and follow what fascinates me, what keeps me passionate about the art medium.  I am an Immersivist artist and Virtual Reality is a tool I have waited a long time for in order to further the degree of immersion I strive for in my artwork.  It is extremely powerful and words don't do it justice, you need to experience it.  My goal in life is to one day be 85 years old and still be creating and passionate about my art, even if nobody is seeing it. 

"For me, in the end, it is the act of creation that is rewarding, I love sharing my work but I enjoy making it more."

That's great, though for her sake and the sake of so many talented people like her, I hope this crossover barrier can be solved-- if not by Sansar, another virtual world or platform.

Update, 12/17: Amended the estimate of Sansar's visit count based on Bryn's comment (see below).

Comments

[Dirk]

Sadly no. I remain in SL (albeit intermittently now) and never made the leap to the other platform. I'm sorry Bryn, but this time I will have to miss your art. Still, very proud of a funded Canadian artist doing virtual world installations.

[sirhc desantis]

As it was ser Oh I thought I would show willing and pay a visit as there would be something worth seeing.

Sadly, it seems the -thing- will no longer run on even win boxes that it ran on just a few weeks ago. With the latest update (still with the updater saying 'Thanks for joining Sansar in Early Access!' - guess that was a clue really) I have had to physically restart the box as it just locks. Even trying to force to task mangler resulted in the oddest 'cannot access login security blah' message. First time, it was the only thing running. Second time, had resmon up - which did its best but was also locked =^^= The login screen (when it deigned to show) has some bizarre slowly animated elongated vaguely space invader thing on it. I would have taken a screen grab but... as I said, all locked up. Fabulous.

No real ill will towards the Lab (hey been in for 12+ years) its just I'm no longer going to bother with their 'new' toy (and having been trying to on and off for a while. Crossover barrier is one thing. Having something that even works is another.

Looking forward to seeing 'Hand' when it appears on a stable platform.

SL a stable platform. Never thought I would write that.

[Clara Seller]

I guess I'm self-centered. When I've ventured into cultural events in SL, a good portion of the enjoyment of doing this is the act of adding to the experience of who I am in SL. I'm very attached to the person I an in that world.

It's like the difference between live music and listening to a recording. I'm much more adventurous and open when I'm listening to a live performance. I don't have that attachment in Sansar and there's nothing about it that inspires me to want to be attached. I appreciate Bryn Oh in SL, but to get me in Sansar, I'd need some artist that I'm so obsessed with that I completely forget about myself.

[Acacia Merlin]

For me, it’s still the Mac issue. Given how many creatives use Macs, it’s a big fail on the part of the
LL team not to design for the Mac too.

[bufje]

if is true that Bryn had 500 visitors in a day in Sansar is a extraordinary success. You are comparing long time installations is SL and one that have opened yesterday...

[Iggy 1.0]

What Acacia said. No Mac, No Iggy. Even to see her lovely work.

But I'm impressed that she got 500/day. Still, that's hardly the sort of numbers to sustain a business model, unless you are peddling high-end Italian supercars.

[bryn oh]

"Here's an amazing thing: Bryn tells me that previous chapters in Second Life typically attract 30,000 to 40,000 visitors -- but her installations in Sansar only bring in about 500 visitors. Why aren't her thousands of fans traveling from one Linden Lab virtual world to another, to see her latest work?"

Wagners question to me in the interview (which is not shown) was how many did I expect to come to the exhibit in Sansar. I said I didn't expect many would come.. perhaps 500. I meant over four months or so not a single day. In second life there are unique visitor trackers on my sim but I don't have access to that in Sansar... so its a guess of 500 over months. Not a lot. I really have no idea how many will come.

[Rachel]

If I had the right computer I would be visiting this exhibit on Sansar. It will take the world a while to catch up to the new platform.

I've invested a lot into my persona on the older platform as well. I think there is still a great deal of potential there.

[Wagner James Au]

"I said I didn't expect many would come.. perhaps 500. I meant over four months or so not a single day."

Hi Bryn, thanks for clarifying. So I can update the post, what's your estimate for visits of previous Sansar shows (over the course of the show's run)?

[bryn oh]

I really have no idea. In second life I have a visitor tracker than gives me information on who visits, but I am not sure if someone has created such a counter in Sansar yet. The problem is that second life has 15 years of scripts compared to Sansar which uses different programming called C#
While C# is much more robust than LSL there just is not a lot of scripts yet. Sansar has some really great features but unfortunately a barrier, for me anyway, is the scripting.