Arahan Claveau to show at the Australian Centre of Photography; Arthole Season 2

Brit Arahan Claveau will be taking part in a month-long show opening on September 5th at the Australian Centre for Photography in Paddington, Australia called Avatar. Thirty six of his photographs of avatars from Second Life® will be shown alongside images from WoW, Sims 2 and other virtual worlds. The ACP mounted the show, because "Being yourself just isn't quite enough any more." In addition, a talk will be held on September 6 to discuss the possibilities and the pitfalls of being superhuman; whether through celebrity, performance enhancing drugs or a virtual alter-ego.

Arahan said to me, "I agreed to it because the focus is not so much about the actual photography which, as you know, I quit a while back, but more about the politics of being an avatar. I think it’s a fascinating area for discussion; raises all sorts of interesting questions."

We've had a number of discussions, Arahan and I, regarding his decision to quit photography in Second Life and delete his stellar Flickr account, which I took pleasure in and referred to frequently as a solid resource. I still maintain that it is a historical loss, as he had documented many exhibits and activities that no one else had, to my knowledge. His photography (and the production and art direction for it) was exceptional, and most of that body of work has been wiped from our art map as well, although some can be viewed on his website.

The following interview is about two years old, but Arahan still feels the same way about most of it. "Probably less positive about the concept of mind uploading," he added.



Fortunately, Arahan is still making Machinima.

Meanwhile, season 2 of Arthole, his collaboration space with Nebulosus Severine who recently gave us Chasm, will relaunch on Sunday, August 31 with new works by these two on second level, and Ichibot Nishi and Selavy Oh on the third.

Arahan Clavaeau vexes me, significantly

This is Part I of three blogposts related in some way to Arthole that I hope to get out sooner rather than later.

Had it not been for "flat art," it would have taken me a lot longer to discover him. Fact is, there are 2D complements to virtual worlds that I adore and they translate into photography and Machinima shot in immersive 3D environments and then displayed on the Web. I generally don't like looking at flat images of anything in-world, with some exceptions: people like Feathers Boa and Douglas Story take 2D photography and breathe scripted life into it. But that's another story.


Arahan, together with Nebulosus Severine, created a new art space called Arthole

That said, Arahan Claveau (aka Steve Millar; rez: 6/28/2005) first sparkled on my radar on November 2007 when I came across this image by him.


Lamentum

With my antennae already on red alert, I was tickled when AM Radio pointed me to this discovery, a very dear, gorgeously rendered story book - appropriately named "Small Story: A Tale Without Words" - featuring a narrative collection of photographs that had been styled and shot within Second Life®.



Arahan cancelled his Flickr account (bother!) a few weeks ago and doesn't publish photographs taken in Second Life anymore. "They bore me," he says, though he does do some Machinima now and then.

By axing his Flickr account, Arahan has deprived me of a source of pleasure and a place I could go to learn about some of the more polemic history of Second Life - so I'm not amused.

"Second Life photography became less and less relevant for me. A lot of it had to do with wanting to channel my efforts into other areas, but it has become overwhelmed by glamour photography and I can't compete with breasts," he added.

Whatever... I'm pissed. That said, Arahan has a grid-wide reputation for artistic provocation. By cancelling his account, he is inciting me and his other fans to stop ooo'ing and ah'ing at his pretty pics and start looking at his other works. Damn, there goes pretty... now I have to look at his gallows .


His photography may be often whimsical and breathtaking but to me, Arahan's installations in-world speak - for the most part - about pain

Since 9/11, I have become increasingly chicken-livered about topics that make me feel pain and sadness. To that end, Second Life is the cadillac of anesthesias: I am able to interact with hundreds of avatars on a daily basis, while rarely having to consider the price of petrol, the latest treachery in political campaigns, or the earthquake in China. That is, unless Arahan's art is about. While he is always polite (when he gets serious he calls me Madame, yikes! This always makes me feel like I need to rise to some occasion), and sometimes playful, he is seriously committed to his vision of art as a tool of revolutionary change.

Take this Injustice installation, for instance (teleport directly from here). Here we have a seemingly innocuous pink room strewn with even pinker balloons. Dead center, a gallows where someone, presumably, has been executed by hanging. The party is over. His account of the story is further explained with the help of Real Life photographs of two Iranian youths about to be hanged and a notecard that explains the men's plight.

In his comments on the Brooklyn is Watching blog, Arahan went on to explain, "(This piece) was originally part of larger installations and was much more of an attack on complacent ‘queer eye’ types. In a nutshell it was saying “listen faggots, there is no equality, we are never going to be accepted by mainstream society so stop pretending. We are being beaten, tortured, murdered and executed every fucking day, get off your arses and fight back now!” When it comes to fighting for our lives there should be no compromise and this of course doesn’t just apply to homosexuals."

More sobering still was a second notecard that shocked me greatly. As wordly as I like to think that I am, I forget what it's like out there, beyond my liberal home in Southern California. Take a look at the penalties for homosexuality around the world. Mission accomplished, Arahan.