My application to a show called The Real has been accepted. I will be bi-locating my project Fluoxetine in cyberspace and meatspace. I am building a sculpture in Second Life a MMO in which some of the alumnis of CADRE have started an online new media arts center called Ars Virtua. The opening is April 29, 2006 look for the invites soon.

Here's the call:
Ars Virtua Gallery and New Media Center is looking for works for our
inaugural show. The theme of this show is "The Real" and will be
exhibited on the grounds of Ars Virtua which is located on the border of
Butler and Dowden (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dowden/41/58/52/) in
Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com)

We are looking for 2D media, video and sculpture (including scripts)
produced within the 3D engine. All representable media will be accepted
for consideration but artists are cautioned to be economical with the
number of prims used in sculpture.

For too long "the virtual" has been supplanted by "the real" in the
realm of communication and entertainment. We recognize that there is no
need for replacement, but for extension. We see that 3D game engines are
creating new environments with new rules that are just as tangible as
the old ones, but on new terms. Education and art have been waking up to
value of simulation as it relates to and does not relate to campus and
museum life. The value of simulation or perhaps the threat of it occurs
when simulation begins to trump that which it is simulating. That is the
purpose of this exhibit, and though it does not make every exhibit in
space-time useless or passé it does attempt to offer a wholly electronic
alternative, an "other" real.

"The Real" will be juried by a group of artists from the CADRE
Laboratory for New Media.

Here's my proposal:
Proposal for 'The Real’:

Fluoxetine is an anti-depressant pharmaceutical. It is a common prescription for conditions related to depression and panic disorder. My work titled Fluoxetine is a soft sculpture of the bio-chemical and is reminiscent of the plush toy transitional objects of childhood. Simultaneously, Fluoxetine is a prim-sculpture in the Second Life cyber-reality. The realspace and the cyber Fluoxetine are fetish objects to be held and cuddled as representations of the anti-depressant. The plush sculpture becomes a visceral realization of the coping mechanism made from the composite of bio-chemical functions and cultural connotation of the represented form.

I am constructing the Second Life sculpture with scripts that encourage the SL avatars to interact personally with the cyber-Fluoxetine as a simulation of the real Fluoxetine sculpture in which the public will be encouraged to publicly interact.

Thomas Asmuth

Manifesto of the Artist on 28 February 2006

a. The foundations of the world are beautiful in their natural geometries and form.

b. The essential theories and physics of familiar objects and substances become deeply imbued and burdened with the subliminal connotations of cultural utilization of these substance-objects.

c. I like to explore the philosophic landscape that is formed between the subtexts and substance-objects. On these topographies I often discover rich metaphors.

Thomas Asmuth


So it was with these observations I was able to sort of decant the reason I wanted to make a soft sculpture (or transitional object) in the form of a Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor named Fluoxetine. This chemical belongs to anti-depressant class of pharmeceuticals and I wanted to make some work about them, the modeling used to explore the chemistry, and the subtextual meanings created through our employ of these chemicals.

The viewer should be able to hold and take comfort or play with the sculpture. The full size maquettes is being rendered in a stretch velour which is very sexy to the eye and touch.

I managed to do something, although it wasn't any where near what I had set out to do in the beginning. My ideas about dissolving a chunk of rock salt as a record of time and memento morii did not come to fruition. I was plagued with hassles of not being able to find the materials I wanted in due time.

Let's talk about what I was able to achieve. When I started to edit the video I was really disappointed to find out that I had lots and lots of nasty background noise in the shots. I was really frustrated with this as I had purposely gotten up in the middle of the night to put together a set and shot most of my tape. I had to construct the audio artificially. I was pretty ok with this eventually because it would allow me to do what I wanted: really isolate the phenomena of time.

My shots were pretty interesting. I did find that I was really struggling with the fact that I wanted this to be a minimalist piece. I kept thinking of Warhol's Empire and looking at the minimalist phenomenist (is that a word?) work of Olafur Eliasson. I found it very hard to sit with the long shots and leave them be. In the end I think I have done too much complex shot mixing to really explore this idea of a minimalist film. I do think that I created a piece that has some visual interest but I missed the true minimalist aesthetic. It is very hard to do minimalist work in this media, the time base makes me very anxious. I believe it is far, far harder to make a minimalist video versus a minimalist painting.

Anxiety. I didn't realize the power of this anxiety when I started. Since I ran in to issues with my salt metaphor, I abandoned that and thought I would be making a meditative work. I envisioned a dark space with little reference and a rhythmic drop. A film that focused on the phenomena. The phenomena and lack of reference raised my anticipation, the length of the shots raised my blood pressure. I showed the film with the timecode specifically hidden so that my audience would have to pay close attention. Thus my film became very physiologically challenging.

Susan referred to this latest video's strategy as using a spectacular media to witness a non-spectacle. I am of two minds about this comment. I fully understand her viewpoint. Nothing happened in the mundane sense in my film, yet it was projected on the 'big' screen while thirty people sat analyzing it. My ambivalence though comes from the idea that something did happen: time passed, people got very uncomfortable, the anticipation was palpable in the room (Cat called me a Sadist, heehee), the phenomena that I am so interested in really shook them ( or annoyed them). So in this way I disagree. Phenomena are spectacular to me, time constantly makes me anxious, I take drugs to help me deal... Perhaps non-events are very good subjects to use a subject matter.

Chris made the point that the anxiety was heightened by the captive nature of the classroom audience. I agree but, I think it would be very interesting to try to work it into an installation that achieve the captive nature that worked so well on Wednesday.

Julia Bradshaw made the point that she thought I could go more minimal. I think she is correct.

Thank you for a great semester, Profesora.

I put together a set in my studio today. I came in early to do this and I started shooting about 5AM. I had an appointment at 8:30AM; when I returned to keep shooting the class next door was in full swing. I got tons of background noise which I don't want. Hopefully I can construct the audio from the 30 min. of video shot earlier.

My salt experiment to create a larger crystal did not panned out. I decided to not shoot using the salt. I hope I can pull this thing together as a medititative piece.

I was not able to secure a large block of the Himalayan rock salt last night. I was able to find some smaller pieces I am going to see if I can distill a larger crystal by dissolving some and trying to evaporate the water.