Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey 1967 by Diane Arbus (photo ex to the right)
There is a nascent "art world" in Second Life. Mainly it consists of people, with an artistic bent, making screenshots or environment sims inside the SL world. The results are of varying degrees of sophistication. Most of the work in SL seems more influenced by LOTR, Heavy Metal than the masterpieces.
But when they are...well that is another kettle of fish.
There is being influenced in art and honestly mentioning the source. Then there is ripping off the idea, plagiarizing it and calling it your own. Finally there is releasing this debauched work into the wild, gathering the accolades of the genius that is not your own and claiming the title of artist for yourself. I see the latter very often in SL.
You see, I understand the freedom that SL offers. It is a space to realistically practice and nurture that spark of creativity inside. But developing this streak isn't easy, it is hard work and requires a great many hours of self reflection. Many people don't want to go through that kind of ordeal. Especially when there is SLFame beckoning and fans to attract. It is easier to stand on the shoulders of someone else's hard work than it is to work.
No matter how you change the source material, it will never be yours. You can dress it up, dress it down, change it's place and time and turn it inside out. The idea will never be yours. You can even insert it into a 3D environment but the fact remains the kernel of the idea is not owned by you. I could take Arbus' work (and I've seen many iterations of it in SL) and create a replica of it in SL. But I could never claim it as my own, not even if I dress my version of the Twins in Polka dots and flowers. Not even Stanley Kubrick could claim ownership of this work when he inserted it into his scream-o-thon The Shining. That creepy, unsettling symmetry of the twins' portraits was all Diane Arbus' work, her art.
The new internet age has made plagiarism easy. There are even movements such as the ridiculous "Info wants to be free" that cynically encourage people to rip off other work. That people are okay with this is because there is a dark age in art history. The general public are not being given the basic tools of art history and style. Budget cutbacks have turned art classes in public schools into former ghosts of themselves. It is this ignorance in the public that allows the plagiarizer to do his/her damage. However even if everyone was able to study art and were decently knowledgeable about artists, there would still be the occasional rotter who would just steal. And they will keep stealing until it unfeasible to do so.
In SL, since it is a new form, has an elasticity that allows for the lay person to work on their own creative eye. But I'm sure as the platform gains popularity and stature, more trained artists will move in. It will be a shame, because it will cut off access to genuinely talented people with no formal training. However it will also get rid of the dreck and derivatives masquerading as art too.
Labels: art, computers, culture, Diane Arbus, digital art, inspiration, mmorpgs, photography, plagiarism, second life, technology
