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.