Zilla Warrhol | RMB City Blogs

Naked Idol in RMB City a Sweet Success

On June 13, 2010 at 8 pm SLT, a gaggle of nude avatars gathered in RMB City for “Naked Idol”, the city’s first ever Nude Pageant. Judged by a panel of three celebrity judges: RMB City builder Rodion Resistance, Second Life scribe Hamlet Au, and RMB City founder China Tracy, the contest featured over a dozen avatars in various states of undress, their appearances ranging from ecstatic to subdued.

In her opening remarks, China Tracy mused: “RMB City began on the premise of distance: between first life and second life; between real people and avatars; between realities that penetrate dreams and dreams that project onto realities; between visible and invisible, between you and me.”

Is there a distance between our bodies and ourselves? Naked Idol encouraged its participants to attempt to bridge that gap, and the result was many an exposed, uncensored, creative soul. Our grand prize winner, Vivienne Graves, was adorned with tattoos and a pair of cat legs. When asked about her inspiration for her naked skin, as well as how it feels different to be naked than otherwise, she remarked “I identify with a lot of traits that are considered ‘feline’: independence, curiosity, playfulness…and the avatar is a way to represent that….as a catgirl it’s possibly more an expression of something a bit feral and untamed?”

Well said, Vivienne. Our first runner-up, Molly Montale, fit right into RMB City with a high-tech, shiny, glittery skin with Chinese characters scrolling across it. She explained that her “nakedness” was representative of “21st century China”, in that the country has “the advantage to move strongly into the future”. Our second runner-up, Ford Roffo, took a decidedly Simian approach. His monkey suit avatar skin provided some laughs, and lots of inspiration, when he explained “I am already a human in RL, why come in here where I can be ANYTHING in the world, and a lot not in this world, and just choose to be a human again?”

Congratulations to all of our excellent, and stunning, naked participants: Jose Ravenheart, Storm Vayander, najlah Jewell, Tersa Vella, Vax Sirnah, Pussycat Catnap, Nella Boccara, GoSpeed Racer, Sonya Swindlehurst, Eleri Ethaniel. Finally, thanks to our three judges, who didn’t look so bad in the nude either, if I do say so myself!

We encourage you all to go untamed!

Group Shot! Naked Idol in RMB City: Prize Winners and Judges

Grand Prize Winner Vivienne Graves

Naked Idol Competitors (Face the Judges)

Great Ass!

Second Runner-Up Ford Roffo

Blog,Events,Media Center,News,Press,Press Releases,Projects,Second Life,SL Events — Zilla Warrhol, June 17, 2010 @ 11:44 pm

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Party People

Famed writer, activist, and Second Life personality Hamlet Au put on his party suit on Sunday to help RMB City fete itself onto the SL map.

“Never mind the sex courtesans, dance first!” he urged gala guests (referring to the mei nu, or beautiful women, whose greetings in City Hall are intended to lure visitors into their sex parlor, one of the newest additions to RMB City).

And dance they did. DJ MoShang Zhao set forth a steady stream of ambient beats, and a full-to-capacity crowd watched as Iris Ophelia debuted stunning fashions inspired by RMB City from a variety of avant-garde designers.

The highlight was the world premiere of a new machinima from acclaimed filmmaker Lainy Voom, who created a mystical encapsulation of RMB City cloaked in the language and dreamy romanticism of Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”.

It was this particularly imaginative power that marked the first occasion in which RMB City’s people pulsed with a collective sense of energy and wonder, the same sort found in China Tracy’s own dreams.

Please stay tuned to Hamlet’s blog, New World Notes (http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/) for the best RMB City-inspired snapshots in the coming days.

Blog,Events,Media Center,News,Press,Projects,Second Life,SL Events — Zilla Warrhol, September 15, 2009 @ 6:04 am

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New World Gala: A Grand Re-Opening of RMB City

PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2009

New World Gala: A Relaunch of RMB City
A Night of Art and Music Inspired by RMB City, Hosted by Hamlet Au
Featuring the Unveiling of the Guggenheim Museum in RMB City
Cao Fei (SL: China Tracy)

September 13, 2009 @ 7 pm ( Second Life Time)
September 14, 2009 @ 10 am (Beijing Time)

“Is this your city?” asked the young man. The angel answered: “It’s yours.”

– Italo Calvino, “The Castle of Crossed Destinies”

Many of us are born into shelter, nurtured in the arms of people who guide us before allowing us to encounter our physical realities on our own. But imagine that you are born not into the arms of your mother, but into the arms of a city; and that you are grasped, embraced and cultivated by the towers and vessels, sounds and sights of a fantastical empire. For China Sun, the baby of China Tracy, this is reality from first breath. When China Sun asks “What is life?” it is RMB City who answers.

RMB City’s original manifesto envisioned freedom from the conflict between virtual and real, positing the city not as a mirror for determining cold hard truths, rather, as a partial reflector, a magic pond of sorts for discovering the complex, layered, and fuzzy strangeness of existence. An experiment in modern urban planning, RMB City is evolving into a compact, yet whimsical and decidedly complex setting for such discovery. It now begs questions such as: Can a decision made in second life affect the first? How does density, in turn, impact our destiny? What does it mean for life in a city to be sustainable? What is it like to fly?

The answers can be found by ushering in a new phase of RMB City, an era, beginning today, in which you are encouraged to not simply visit the city, but rather to live there. RMB City has a new mayor, SuperConcierge Cristole (RL: Jerome Sans), who will welcome newcomers by answering the questions of any visitor, be they philosophical, practical, or personal. New, interactive destinations in RMB City, like an experiment in noise and listening by Yan Jun, a dynamic UFO by Neville Mars, and a Sex Parlor by Cao Fei will challenge visitors to repeat their experiences in order to understand and interpret their inherent tensions. Finally, a new building, a Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in RMB City, will open for the public to enjoy.

Please join China Sun for RMB’s grand re-opening party, a celebration of energy, vitality, and action filled with prominent figures in the Second Life community. The gala, hosted by the venerable in-world writer Hamlet Au, will feature a fashion show and photography contest presided over by in-world designer Iris Ophelia, and the premiere of a new machinima by in-world filmmaker Lainy Voom. Additionally, all of the new additions to RMB City by its real-life artistic collaborators will be open for exploration.

RMB City is a place for, among many others, the flaneur, the voyeur, the laborer, the aristocrat, the scientist, the poet, the activist, the sage, and the child alike. You are encouraged to come in, visit, and make RMB City your home.

LOCATION: People’s Palace, RMB City (RMB City 1 (220, 16, 65))
TIME: Sunday, September 13 @ 7 pm (SL Time), Monday, September 14 @ 10 am (Beijing Time)

New to Second Life?

To join Second Life and visit RMB City, register for a free account at https://join.secondlife.com/

Need Help? info@rmbcity.com

About RMB City:
www.rmbcity.com

Developer of RMB City: Cao Fei and Vitamin Creative Space
Facilitator: Uli Sigg
Public Presenter: Serpentine Gallery
Chief Engineer: Avatrian

Blog,Events,Media Center,News,Press,Press Coverage,Press Releases,Projects,Second Life,SL Events — Zilla Warrhol, September 9, 2009 @ 3:54 am

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RMB City at Art 40 Basel

Basel, Switzerland
June 10-14, 2009

“… Spaces have multiplied, been broken up ad have diversified… To live is to pass from one space to another, while doing your very best not to bump yourself.”

– Georges Perec

This is the context in which RMB City exists at Art Basel, as a space along a journey of varying places and surroundings. A fantastical community in the vast virtual world of Second Life, RMB City now features “People’s Limbo”, a new series of interactive, experiential activities in response to the global economic crisis. The project is an exploration of the feelings of despair, denial, and loss of control that accompany financial catastrophe, as well as the simultaneous potential for progress toward rebirth, self-reliance, and freedom. In the words of Lao Tsu, “If you empty the self and relax your desires, you will know more clearly where you are heading.”

The People’s Limbo video, consisting of 12 short scenes, offers a Real Life (RL) audience a unique view of the essence of the “People’s Limbo” experience. Some of the activities are competitive and reflect the influence of past economic realities: for instance, one in which the visitor is thrown into the middle of a dense bubble of chaotic, bouncing balls, only to find it increasingly difficult to maneuver her way out, mirroring the quick loss of control that occurs as an economic bubble builds (and quickly collapses). Others, like a sustainable community garden, are meditative, and represent idealized visions of the future. A foot massage parlor staffed by Marx, Mao, a Lehman Brothers executive, and Lao Tze, serves as a philosophical platform for investigating all of these ideas. In their imagined dialogue about desire and self-awareness, the Lehman Brothers executive quips “Take all this as a journey in the ‘Limbo of Life’”.

In addition to “People’s Limbo”, RMB City at Basel also consists of short videos of previous experiential projects, including “The Birth of RMB City”, “No Lab in RMB City” (a collaboration between Cao Fei and MAP Offices that envisions a virtual New Orleans) and “Qi of RMB City”.

Blog,Events,Media Center,News,RL Events — Zilla Warrhol, June 3, 2009 @ 9:04 pm

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Opening Night for People’s Limbo

Miniature Tigerpaw’s photos from the star-studded opening of Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation @ Hong Kong Museum of Art

: Spectators in People’s Limbo

: Gilbert and George

: Hong Kong Museum of Art

: Marc Jacobs and Maggie Cheung

: RMB City in Real Life

Blog,Events,Media Center,News,RL Events — Zilla Warrhol, June 2, 2009 @ 1:48 am

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People’s Limbo @ Hong Kong Museum of Art, People’s Limbo in Second Life

“People’s Limbo in RMB City”
Cao Fei (SL: China Tracy)

At “Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation” Exhibition
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
May 22, 2009-August 9, 2009

“People’s Limbo” is a new series of interactive, experiential activities that take place in Cao Fei’s RMB City, a fantastical community in the vast virtual world of Second Life. A reaction to the global economic crisis, the project is an exploration of the feelings of despair, denial, and loss of control that accompany financial catastrophe, as well as the simultaneous potential for progress toward rebirth, self-reliance, and freedom. In the words of Lao Tze, “If you empty the self and relax your desires, you will know more clearly where you are heading.”

Beginning May 22, 2009, ten videos of the ten new People’s Limbo activities will be displayed in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, as part of the “Louis Vuitton: Passion for Creation” group exhibition. The videos offer a Real Life (RL) audience a unique view of the essence of the “People’s Limbo” experience, while Second Life (SL) users can experience the work firsthand. Via avatars, people may participate interactively in each of the ten activities, as if playing a virtual art game.

Some of these games are competitive and reflect the influence of past economic realities, like one in which the visitor is thrown into the middle of a dense bubble of chaotic, bouncing balls, only to find it increasingly difficult to maneuver her way out, mirroring the quick loss of control that occurs as an economic bubble builds (and quickly collapses). Others, like a sustainable community garden, are meditative, and represent idealized visions of the future.

Perhaps the penultimate People’s Limbo experience is to visit the foot massage parlor staffed by Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, a fictional Lehman Brothers executive, and Lao Tze. In their imagined dialogue, Marx’s avatar quips to Mr. Lehman Brothers: “To be frank, your idea of freedom has gradually drawn out human beings’ unsatisfiable endless desire”, to which the executive replies “But without desire, the world becomes so boring”. Their philosophical examination of all of these ideas continue until the executive dispenses with a final piece of advice: “Take all this as a journey in the ‘Limbo of Life’”.

People’s Limbo

In Real Life: Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
In Second Life: RMB City: People’s Limbo

Special Thanks to Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création

Events,Media Center,News,RL Events,SL Events — Zilla Warrhol, May 26, 2009 @ 6:52 pm

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