Your New President SaveMe Oh, Rose Borchovski And Peter Greenaway Are Angry

After being banned for one day from secondlife, one of my first ladies, Rose Borchovski was brutalised too. Read this.

ANGRY ROSE SPAM;

Hello Secondlife art Lovers:

My Susa Bubble Installation : The Kiss has been returned to me from the SL7B sims where Linden is celebrating Secondlife.  I quote “The images on your build are in violation of our general rating, to be clear: Nudity is not allowed at art events with a general maturity rating.”
I would like to point out and educate Linden Lab that most of classic and contemporary art is based upon nudity. Not because of Sex, but because of the beauty and the vulnerability of the human body, the human body we all share and look at in the bathroom mirror in the early morning.

The story of Susa is a sweet but savage story, told in image and text, sound and installation. It is about our dark inside, but also shows how vulnerable and lonely we all can be. My art shows a naked body, but it is not about nudity or sex.

Art being shown at a public art event of Linden means pretty pictures that bring aesthetic pleasure void of all critical thinking. Culture must be “safe” / sterile, no matter how free of content that makes it. As implemented by LL, “Community Standards” means content so content less that no viewer has even a remote chance of being caused to think about anything, to question any of their values or assumptions. Safe in SL means safe from thought.

When I protested against it in the group chat I was shut out .I was told not to discuss it in SL7B Group Chat “because this isn’t the place” — because NO place is the place to discuss it — because we don’t even want to think or let others think about the ideas we don’t want to think about

The worst part of censorship is not that which is censored, but the climate of self-censorship it imposes on all artists. Art is about having a voice. Art is about thinking differently and about thinking from fresh perspectives. When artists are not allowed to have a voice, culture is not allowed to progress.
When I hide my susas nakedness, I have stopped telling her story.

Nothing is more resistant to authoritarian control than a naked body. Control & conformity require uniforms. Nudity is too wild and uncontrolled. When you know my Susa Bubble story you can see it isn’t really even about “nudity” but that just suggests how powerful the forces for thinking-avoidance-at-all-costs are. Better to censor the world than risk allowing in a question that could topple the status quo. Authority does not like questions. Authority does not like creativity. Authority does not like art. Authority does not like nudity.

I did not bring my installation to the celebration to publicize myself, I make in art in SL because I want to share my Susa story and touch people

Greetings Rose Borchovski

In an direct talk with Courtney Linden she get this responce:

Rose Borchovski: last word is spoken, or I dress susas or they are not welcome, according to Courtney they are offensive

As your new president I asked well known film maker Peter Greenaway for a reaction, here is his comment:

SECOND LIFE NUDITY CENSORSHIP

Dear Courtney Linden,

As a reaction to the rejection of Rose Borchovski ‘s art installation : The Kiss at the Celebration Sim, I would like you to read this.

It seems to me incredible that you are enforcing censorship concerning nudity in public forums on Second Life.

Traditions of nudity in Western Art have for centuries been legitimate, honourable and creditable.
The cyperspaces of Second Life – and Second Life has so far proved itself to be among the very best of such events –
are among todays’ cutting edge of visual languages – continuing an enviable tradition of new technologies in the visual arts
now that the orthodox cinematic arts are proving themselves moribund and archaic, and enforcing new efforts to
avoid artistic elitism and the encouragement of egalitarianism in artistic expression  Any artist worth his or her salt,
always must engage in contemporary technologies – it has been the very reputable tradition of the most worthwhile artists
that has benefitted us all. Visual artists have always taught us to look. The man-made world owes them everything.
Just because you have eyes does not mean you can see. And the political and social emancipation of the naked and the nude
by artists has been essential for humanist civilisation – it has given you and me great liberalities of thinking and self-respect.

Whatever else you think you may be doing with Second Life, you have created a very sophisticated tool that combines
traditions of painting with cinema and the graphic arts in present tense terms that permits visual expression
of language like never before. Do not underestimate what you have created –  but to remain creditable you simply
cannot enforce reactionary hypocritical standards that have been so discredited over the last five hundred years.

Like any self-respecting artist of course I am against gratuitous exploitation that demeans and insults intelligence and
sensibilities but by your blanket censorship you are now doing both those things – insulting artistic intelligence and
demeaning sensibility.
I suspect you are responding to pressure, to some form of mind-police, certainly to some form of political correctness
that is related to money and the slow swing to the political right that is happening all over the world related to
civilisation’s fear of financial insecurity. Don’t go that way. You are endangering a tool that is greater than you.

When the cultural histories of the early 21st century are written from hindsight, you will undoubtedly find the possibilities and
successes of Second Life being eminently lauded and praised.  Too many art forms in the 20th century have been stunted
and deformed and deflected into ineffectuality and banality by small mindedness. If you really insist in so-called protection
of innocence (and I really wonder what that really is – is it a synonym in fact for ignorance and intolerance?) then do so on a careful
case by case basis with intelligence and foresight. This will be troublesome for you to do, if you want to do it well.  But it will
be very well worth your while,

Yours, hoping you will see sense, and not be influenced by short-term gain.

Peter Greenaway, film-maker.

Rose spam
Hello , I feel I’m obliged to make a reply after all the dust I have raised:
When I did set up The Kiss it did not even cross my mind that I was violating any rules of the LL celebration. My Susa is a caricature , a cartoon,  she is naked like Donald duck is naked, she has no genitals, and a flat chest . She is not real , I do not even try to make her look real, she is a little creature telling a story. The story is about the dark inner life of us all.
The rejection of my Susa Bubble story from the second life celebration has caused a lot of discussion; it brought people together but also polarized their opinions. I also notice a big difference in culture between the continents.
The biggest shock to me is that I suddenly realised what Linden Lab is standing for. Different parties lectured me that I’m just a client and that I have NO rights. Everything I do in Second life is monitored and when it is not approved off, I can be ejected totally without any reason given. A warning was given.
A moderator of the Second life group burning life explained to me, that there is NO freedom of speech in this group or any other group owned by LL and I was rejected from the chat.
I raised my voice because I love making my art in Second life. I love the animation; the imperfection of it and the fact the world is build by so many different cultures from all over the world. I do not financial gain from it, but the joy to create and to develop my story is giving me an enormous thrill and I’m proud to be part of the SL.
I raised my voice yesterday because I was upset and surprised being excluded from the SL7B. I feel I was part of that community and that my art deserved a spot at the celebration, to be celebrated as well.
I raised my voice because of the way it was handled. When I came online I found my installation in my lost and found folder with a formal message in IM from a Linden. A moderator of the SL7B GROUP saw the installation on my sim before it was put down at SL7B. Several Moderators helped me while I was setting up the installation. I had sent all the information about my Susa Bubble Story by forehand to Linden: video, LM of my sim and notecard with info. I admit, I was absolutely naïf about my Susas being naked, I do not see them as being naked anymore but as vulnerable and lost. I’m not insensitive about other peoples feelings, the SL7B was not opened yet for an audience, they could have asked me to come down and explain the problem before deleting me.
I raised my voice because the installation I did put down at SL7B was not about nudity; you see some naked upper bodies with flat chests. I would like to stress that it is a complete installation: a mixture of space, image, sound and text.
I raised my voice, not to be personally seen or drawn attention to my art in SL but to be heard in a much broader context. I suddenly realize my avatar and all it stands for, can be deleted totally by one push on the button of a Linden. I hope people realize that in the end this is not about Rose and her Susa Bubble story, they become insignificant, it has a much wider context. This is touching us all.
 
The Kiss; (text of the installation)
 
We need a religion
Something to believe, a leader, wise and strong
Someone who can turn wrong into right
And right into left when it seems wrong
 
Among themselves they chose Susa one
The source from which they all sprung
Despite the fact she was the first to be double
One took the role of Leader on her own
Which of course was causing trouble
 
With a Supper they did try,
Drinking the wine,
Eating the fish
Breaking the bread
Sharing one dish
 
For a moment it felt good
All seemed to be at peace
but Susa Two kept sighing
not at all at ease
 
Two was jealous of the attention One got
And betrayed her with a single kiss
There was rumble in the sky
And the sun disappeared
One spoke soft: “why, oh why
Do you commit an act like this”
 
And that only because
of  jealousy or greed
We were all friends
What more did you need ?
 
Two shrugged her shoulders
and turned all pale
I don’t feel like a Susa
I‘m person of my own.
My name is Judith now
leave me alone!
 
Who do you think you are?
They screamed out loud
You are not more than we are
Maybe even less than more
That should be enough to make you proud
 
 
They all knew it was the beginning of the end
Today’s enemy was yesterday’s friend
6 was irritated by the way 7 ate
4 did not like the time 9 went to bed
3 teased 4 with a freckle on her nose
7 convinced 6 there was something wrong with her toes
10 spat in the wine of 8 just to provoke
8 hit 10 in the face not charmed by the joke
9 annoyed 12 by just laughing out loud
and 2 just kept refusing to be one of the crowd
 
3 times the cockerel crowed
it became the period of denial
to be a Susa made nobody proud
and with out any shame
they made Judith to blame
and  convicted her without trial
 
“It is not my fault”, Judith cried
“I’m not to blame
Blame her ! and her!”
And rather upset
She pointed around
We all make mistakes
You seem to forget
 
Thank you Rose)) I wish you an enjoyable and rich Second Life