Land of Illusion 太虚幻境

The discussion on new media art creativity takes place in the context of global financial crisis. The key issue is not about funding for art, but the essence of art, if we consider artistic creativity is inherent human need. Independent thinking, profound reflection upon history and reality, meditation on individual and social transformations, those are ways toward our innermost truth; achieving aesthetics built upon traditional and contemporary visual culture, free and innovative expressions, those are the means revealing the wonder of imagination, the energy of creativity.

As new media artists, on one hand, we propose using digital media and communication technologies, the effective and relatively low cost approaches, to enhance dialogue and collaboration in artist, intellectual communities global wide; on the other hand, we submit a constructive plan based on our several years dedicated work in reinterpreting folklore culture of China with  digital art, which aims to cause awareness in audiences and artist community to rethink the cultural impact of globalization, the value of tradition, especially, view our own heritage with a fresh eye, and translate them into a global language with digital arts, therefore contributing to studies of culture and value in the Internet age.

Machinima On View

For global art community including Chinese contemporary art world, it is a good time to talk about the significance of digital art, web art. Only half year ago, we were still thrilled by spectacular art events held in Shanghai, Beijing, one after another. China had been playing the role as world’s largest manufacturer, no exception for art-making. Easily the bubble bursts. Party’s over. Factories and galleries are shutting down, workers and artists are looking for a new place to start …

Thus we’ve got reasons to question – do we really need huge budget to make good art? do we need to physically travel across continents and reside at luxury hotel for exhibitions all the time? what is the art-making good for? how can one make his/her work visible?

Today, communication technologies allow people to express themselves on the Internet, or network for making helpful social connections. Artists can publish almost all types of work online, interact with audiences, and collaborate with artists from different continents – in many cases, in real-time. Within the context of global financial crisis, it is the fact that artists have a limited chance to travel, organizations have to reduce art events demanding large budget. But creativity won’t get affected for it is an integrated part of human existence. With proper digital tools, we artists can help ourselves and each other, even galleries to expose artworks to a large audience at minimum cost therefore giving individual freedom for creativity.

What makes difference between this blog and NY Arts New Media & Net Art? While they are created by same authors and both focus on cyber arts -

this site transfers totally personal voices and visions

it takes part of my eternal and invisible inner garden, just like the Grand View Garden in Second Life

nothing official or public here, though I don’t mind sharing the reclusion …

its existence is purely the result of the physical and spiritual beings of the authors, no goals to achieve, never bothered by vanity …

still only one stop during my drift, though I call it “home”

deeply, deeply inside me … so beautiful…

it welcomes all free thinkers and individualists to be my guest of the private garden, in where you may take a break, read, meet a few legendary characters, or simply smile at yourself …

Land of Illusion net-art platform

Introduction
Land of Illusion, a platform dedicated to Internet-based art, is founded by new media artist team from Beijing, Lily & Honglei, in 2006. Since being launched in Second Life, the multi-user-virtual-environment,  in 2007, a series of virtual installations, online performances and forums have been created in “Land of Illusion.” By collaborating with artists,  educators and scholars from all over the world, many new media art projects have been innovatively developed to reflect on cultural values and issues.

We seek dialogue with institutions and individuals to improve cross-cultural communications, arouse environmental and social awareness through art on the Internet, more importantly, support new media artists making contributions to humanity.  Visit Land of Illusion in Second Life now.

Mission
Land of Illusion platform is affiliated with NY Arts Magazine. Their goals include:
- Promoting Internet-based art and new media art globally.
- Exchanging Internet-art and new media art between western countries and China, therefore strengthening cross-cultural communication.
- Exploring the effectiveness of different channels presenting experimental new media arts, including traditional gallery spaces in New York City and Beijing, magazine and newspapers, and digital media in cyberspace, such as virtual world platforms, blog and website.

If you are interested in participating exhibitions or posting information about your projects, please go to Call for Project page.

Virtual Construction and Implications
view video
Land of Illusion, the large-scaled virtual installation in Second Life includes three major constructions, namely eastern section Grand View Garden (figure 1), western section Great Firewall (figure 2), and underground section Crystal Palace (figure 3). It interprets themes in Chinese history and folk tales by deploying animation, sound, digital video components and interaction online, and is designed to challenge the existing artistic approaches, also explore new ways of communication in an increasingly globalized world.

The net-art project is evident that the overseas real-time collaboration of artists become more efficient, and the author/reader interactivity can achieve a new level through online channels. As the definition of “public space” keeps altering and expanding in the Internet era, artists need to adopt new tools in order to re-examine the relationship between individual and society. In cyberspace, artists find their visions of history, the inner lives characterized by cultural experiences, finally become globally approachable and shareable. The project also reflects on a cultural position “in-between”, and intentionally blurs the boundaries between art and research, creativity and cultural studies. Land of Illusion, the platform launched in Second Life in 2006, has developed a wide variety of themes rooted in eastern folklore in forms of virtual world happening and video installation.

(figure 1) Eastern Section: Grand View Garden

“… basically, I’ve got bored by the physical reality, the so-called ‘real world’ in which individuality is dying. … with Land of Illusion, I’m able to live with my dream and actually share it with others. Because the characters in folk tales have been living in my imagination or dream since childhood, they naturally become part of my identity in forms of avatars in the virtual world. For me, creating a virtual world is a procedure reflecting on the cultural and personal experiences as well..”

“… here, I can live any life of the character in tales told hundred times by elders around me, live in the landscapes created by ancient Chinese masters with genuine admiration of nature…”

“… here, we live, dream and question

… What did we loss and why…”

- Lily Jun in SL

Net-art & Cultural Studies
Originally, the Web-based art project “Land of Illusion” is dedicated to the study of Chinese folklore’s influences and implications in the globalized world as well as within the Internet culture. In contrast to the existing research and presentation solutions, artistic approaches, especially those involving digital multimedia and Web-applications, have been used to disseminate messages. With this collaborative art experiment, we aim to enhance the understanding of the relation of cultural heritage and contemporary societies.

Our team members have devoted to the creation of “Land of Illusion” since 2006. In order to achieve communications globally, we launched the project on Second Life as a Multi-user-virtual-environment at the beginning of 2007. Since then the collaborations with scholars and artists have been taking place. Indeed, “Land of Illusion,” the platform designed for meditating, reflecting on historical and contemporary cultural phenomena, is intended to induce more dialogues and studies to uncover the profoundness of eastern folklore.

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Land of Illusion Team

The realization of “Land of Illusion”is made possible by the collaborations of a group of dedicated contemporary artists and thinkers.

Lily (Lily Jun in Second Life) & Honglei – digital artists coming from Beijing, currently work and live in MA, USA. Website

Scott Grant (Xilin Yifu in Second Life) – educator, Australia

Kristy Lee (Victoria Bury in Second Life) -educator. USA

Ry Daniel Shanks (Meixing Yu in Second Life) – digital artist. USA.

Bill Weaver – media artist/activist. Canada. Website

Philip Zhai – music composer, philosopher. Guangzhou, China Blog

Affiliates:
NY Arts Magazine, NY
NY Arts Beijing Gallery, Beijing
Broadway Gallery NYC, NY
Monash University (Second Life), Melbourne, Australia
China Cafe (Second Life), American Library Association