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“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up…” On real and virtual Patriotism

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In view of the upcoming celebrations for the 60th Anniversary of the Republic of China, I came to think about Patriotism and national values.
The intrinsic meaning of celebrating anniversaries resides specifically in its emotional and ritual significance of keeping a community together through historical memory and common beliefs.

Quite often, though, the original importance of a specific anniversary gets lost in the flow of time, and what is left is merely a common sense of affiliation to some settled ideas, such as traditional customs or religious celebrations (with the feeling that the more these celebrations lose track with their original significance, the more they become a simple excuse to have some extra holidays!).
But despite this loss in meaning, they still keep their original sense of keeping the community together and in this way they are still to be considered an important occasion of mass aggregation and power.

RMB City saint patron

RMB City saint patron

What I’m wondering now is whether or not on-line communities undergo this same patriotic and national processes so typical in any RL societies.
I am still very doubtful about this subject, but I have the feeling that the crucial elements inspiring patriotic and national values are completely lacking in the virtual space (thankfully or not): the sense of affiliation to a common lineage, tribe, nation, state, religion, customs and traditions doesn’t belong to the vast, multi-cultural, intra-national and heterogeneous ocean of the net.
On-line communities and virtual worlds belong more to the ‘non-space’ of infinite possibilities, to that UTOPIA of chances and exchanges that doesn’t define any specific Nation and community.

But if we wanted to take it less seriously, we could initiate a SL anniversary on June 23 (this year would have been the 6th one) and celebrate our almighty ‘Linden Lab’ God in the form of His embodied son Philip Rosedale.

Proposals for the national anthem and flag are warmly welcomed!

Blog — Gianna Yebut, September 27, 2009 @ 8:29 pm

RMB City at ‘Utopics’ exhibition, Switzerland

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RMB City takes part in the 11th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition in Bienne (August 30-October 25, 2009): ‘Utopics, Systems and Landmarks’ presents 50 installations and interventions all throughout the Swiss town of Biel/Bienne created by artists, idealists, dreamers and thinkers from all around the world.  http://www.interversion.org/utopics/home-1

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More's Utopia

The idea of ‘utopia’ dates back to 1516 when English humanist Thomas More published his fictional work on a new and ideal form of society: originally meaning a ‘no-place-land’, the term have been stretched and often confused all throughout the centuries with the term eu-topia, meaning ‘good place’ and it is related to terms such as ‘dystopia’, ‘counter-utopia’ and ‘heterotopy’.

Esperanto flag

Esperanto flag

Ranging from interesting and heterogeneous interventions, from the linguistic dream of a common language, the Esperanto, to some civic and community experiments, the exhibition mixes real and fictional worlds and is meant to detect the common urges, criticism and dreams underlying the search for a ‘different place’.

Freetown Christiania, Copenghagen

Freetown Christiania, Copenghagen

At the base of any utopian desires there’s a very concrete and tangible criticism of the contemporary society, of some political, social and artistic situations, sometimes it becomes a real escapist way of believing in a ‘better place’ sometimes it is just an intense and magical spell allowing human mind to go over its limits and possibilities…quite distinctly human imagination is the only element ‘utopianly’ without boundaries in life.

Our virtual SL world of RMB City is a perfect case of ‘no-place-land’ and I like to think of this second life of ours as an immense platform for imagination, hopes and spiritual renewal.

Blog,Media Center,News,Press,RL Events — Gianna Yebut, September 20, 2009 @ 9:25 pm

Party People

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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

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

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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

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