American Apparel and Performance Art – a series of questions

So, there I was, me and a friend, at a shop, late on Thursday night. Browsing the “shelves” and wondering what to make of it. SL, being new to me, I was curious to have a look, plus discover how this would work.

[edited for historical brevity]

Wooooooooo. Well, first off, welcome to SL. If you enjoy random, strange, bizarre, and off-the-wall (as I do), then you're in the right place. Its a brilliant canvas for strange and all its permutations, and perfomance art fits right in there...some people's entire SL existances are performance art.

That being said, the personal interactions here sometimes get less leeway than the building or creation aspect - although, by and large, we're a pretty laid-back lot. Your questions responded, by number:

1. I imagine they wouldn't be happy for the same reasons a brick and mortar store wouldn't be happy if the same thing happened in their lot - annoyance or harassment of the customers. In addition, AA and other stores aren't really in SL for sales as much as gaining brand recognition and doing something new, aka marketing. And companies usually cultivate their image extremely carefully, including trying to control the experience one has around their brand.

2. Not a clue. I have a working idea of IP rights as it applied to virtual goods and creations, but no idea how RL laws protect acts of performance art, which would probably have some bearing on how they're protected in SL. Either way, the responsibility to protect your rights lies firmly in your hands, and your checkbook.

3. The responsibility issue is one that, I think, used to be more highly debated. The entire concept of SL is that the users create the world, so right out of the gate its implied that by being here you're invited to give back via creation or interaction, but I doubt that anyone could successfully argue that you're expected to. There are many SL residents that exist here to socialize and generally enjoy their time with friends, and are here to enjoy what others have created - and they're needed as well! Without an audience, an aspect of the joy of creating is gone.

4. Speaking from my experience working with RL companies expanding into SL, the exploratative aspect really is a big one. Again, a lot of it goes back to marketing. Check out this recent article which explains a lot of what they're thinking better than I. (It's subscription based but the abstract sums it up pretty well.)

5. I'd say that performance is highly valued, but in a manner different than what you may be thinking.

SL is still catagorized as a game, and it has a number of the same problems that other online games have - griefing being a major one as of late, as you can now create unlimited accounts, and people can act on a throwaway account in a manner that they never would on their main account. People's tolerance for strange behavior has gotten a lot lower, because we're all a little more jumpy that the wierd person that just wandered on our property is going to shoot us up in the air a million meters. Basically, your prospective audience isn't in the best frame of mind to experience performance art, because its just too hard to tell if its art or someone being an asshole. (Combine that with the built-in limitations of text-only chat and the fact that you can never know if who you're meeting is really who they say they are, or if they have any intentions of maintaining basic levels of civility, and the subtleties and understood framework that makes performance art work in RL are suddenly lost in SL.)

I don't say any of this to discourage you. I like performance art, I like unexpected, I like wierd, I like it when people get into a role and work it. Just be aware that A) corporations generally protect their brand very highly and its extremely easy for them to ban you from their private land, and B) a number of residents are liable to jump the gun and abuse report you, or just think you're one of the myriad of alt accounts created to be a dick to people.

EDIT: an additional thought, which you can take or leave - maybe it might help smooth interactions to let people know via your profile that you're a performance artist? I know it kind of takes away from the whole thing, but it would provide a general courtesy to others and help ensure that your performance is taken for what it's intended to be.

Hi! My name is Aimee Weber and I'm an offical spokesperson for Paril Bowie.

On behalf of Paril, I would like to issue her official statement on this subject. She is, in fact, deeply sorry for her deception and is willing to reimburse American Apparel any perceived damages in the form of USD or community service. She would also like to affirm that misrepresenting oneself can cause confusion, loss of trust, and possibly financial losses. Therefore she urges others to always make their actual role in any engagement clear and unambiguous.

I think we can all agree with Paril.

-Aimee Weber
(performance artist)

You should check out this link. These folks (about 80 in total) all walked into a Best Buy wearing blue shirts and tan pants, but never once claimed to work there. However, they would stand around and be friendly and helpful to people when asked about things. It was incredibly well thought out, put smiles on people's faces (including some of the confused staff), and refrained from causing possible harm to the reputation of the business. They also pulled it off without even using the words "poo poo", "potty", or "turdy".

http://improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57

Performance art is good. But when it threatens to harm the reputation of the store, it's worth a ban from the property and an AR.

Corrected for brevity.

These forums need a popcorn smiley.

Dear Paril,

You might enjoy joining "Culture Jammers", which was inspired in part by the above story.

Any officer of the group, me included, can invite you to join.

Sincerely,
Siobhan OFlynn

Rob Cockerham over at cockeyed.com also does this type of thing in RL and they are generally harmless bits of fun. I always like hearing about these types of things.

In SL, the W-HAT group used to own most of the sim of BAKU and made the most amazing/wonderful/creative/disgusting/thought provoking stuff. However, they would often go "over the line." Some of this was deliberate to provoke an emotional response. Some of them were just f***wits who got off on making people cry. Problem is that in SL, the bad stuff is all that gets talked about and remembered. You could effectively kill your SL presence with just one bit gone bad.

The recent "I am a store manager" scam you refer to is exactly why your bit might not be well received. A lot of people got ripped off by that and to them, this type of gag would no longer be funny. Now if you had a group title over your head that said "He doesn't really work here" and still tried to pass yourself off, that would be funny and the culture jamming would work within the framework of "our culture." Your bit would have totally worked "as is" just two months ago.

With the new influx of over 100,000 accounts in a very short period of time, the culture here has taken yet another shift. What would have been harmless and amusing is now griefing and you can get banned from land/abuse reported/suspended, etc.

Your boat party thing in RL, for example; you didn't get arrested and it only brought about confusion and, I am sure, a good laugh for some folks- in SL you would have been orbitted, banned from the land, abuse reported and had several forum posts written about the incident. For such a creative place, we don't seem to have much of a sense of humor or adventure lately.

Now all is not lost for a creative person - you just have to work within the limits of your environment and know where the line is and just how to creep right up to it. Expect some push back from certain folks, but if you spend some more time learning the exact points to tweak (reading all the screaming here in the forums is a great place to start,) you will be able to have fun with SL and it will have fun with you.

My only performance art is to buy small pieces of roadside land and set up rest areas. I have a sign, picnic table and barbeque set up for the weary traveller. An idea might be to get a premium membership, get with some friends, think up an installation, group your land allowance together and set it up for a short period of time. It will cost you a little bit of money, but not a lot. You can also work with existing places and get the nod and wink from the owner to do a bit. Osprey Therian did this recently at The Shelter with a bit involving hazmat suits.

Realize that people like Aimee and others who do these corporate gigs are making a living doing it. If months of hard work convincing a company to come to SL and then building it all is "ruined" by some folks out for a laugh, they aren't going to be pleased. You are messing with their livelihoods and that becomes, as they say, SERIOUS BUSINESS. I think that Aimee's response above was excellent and showed that she can take a laugh as well as the next winged woman. I wonder how much you owe American Apparel?

thank you for all your responses.

Love,
P.

Love it.