This blog post is not exactly overdue, but only because I didn't have a deadline. However, it has had an enormous gestation period. Let me show you.
I took this picture at Bryn Oh's awesome immersiva The Brittle Epoch today.
I took this picture on October 29.
Yes, that was before it opened and yes that's Bryn Oh in the picture.
I like to think it's because of my shiny, well-oiled blogging machine that I got a VIP tour, but it was really probably Bryn Oh's insurance company insisting that I be accompanied by an adult through all her future builds. Or, she wanted to find the person most likely to get lost in her new exhibit and gave me a call.
Whatever the reason, I got to go through The Brittle Epoch with the artist that created it before it actually opened! That is one to one day tell the grandkids for sure, I was thrilled and honored and scared out of my wits because I have a well-documented history of mishap when touring Bryn Oh's builds and I was desperately trying to be cool.
I mention all this for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that I got to humble-brag about my glitzy blog backstage access lifestyle (haha). Primarily though, I started here because I need to impart to you, dear reader, how much thought this post required. I've mused on this one a lot.
Also, I'm not versed well enough in the world of Art to know how unique this is- but as I believe that Bryn Oh's work is groundbreaking in so many ways I suspect that this sort of run-through is more common in a narrative story telling field than a visual art exhibit and thus a fairly new thing on this big blue marble. My role in going through the exhibit early, in addition to getting the story for the blog, was so that Bryn could see if the audience could follow the bread crumbs she'd put out for them to follow, to literally get through the narrative without getting lost, and to make sure all the teleporters were simple enough even for me to get through without incident. (Of course I had incidents).
Bryn Oh's stories move us through 3D space as well as the timeline of their own narrative, so she has to plan it so that the guests move through the exhibit to hear the chapters in order, which is actually why a forever-noob like me is a perfect crash tester, now that I think about it. Museums plan walking tours and such all the time so that's not new, but what if the museum were a whole suburban neighborhood with an amusement park, theatre and more? How about adding drawers to open and buttons to push and distant hillsides or pod racks with interesting staircases that call you away from the narrative How about adding a terrifying monster thing chasing you around? That's from her work The Singularity of Kumiko. Seriously, this stuff is amazing Art, and we are lucky to be here for the start of it.
My review then, as my review now is GO SEE THIS! (It's great on its own, a hundred times better if you see her other stuff first, there's a list below the article).
Ok, back to the article.
I was completely blown away the first time I went through The Brittle Epoch and I have been blown away by it every single time since. Usually by some different aspect of it, today was the richness of the vision in general, and the richness of the textures as well.
But always, it's the lore.
There's a whole world created here by Bryn Oh and it's based in our exploration of artificial intelligence and these little waifs we met in Hand are furthering their adventures here, but at the same time the lessons they learn are directly aimed at us.
For example, there is a point in this story when Bryn Oh brings up Christianity, Greek Mythology, Tolkien's Middle Earth and the Star Wars Universe all in close proximity, the juxtaposition brilliant and welcome as it reminds us that we are surrounded by storytelling and lore and magical realms all the time, and I add that Bryn Oh's lore nestles nicely alongside those giants.
It's very keen and sharp satire, but it's also several layers deeper than that.
With Bryn Oh's work we are presented with a world much like our own. We sink our attention into our gadgets and our feeds and we miss the actual living that is happening while we're looking at our screens. We're selling our connection with nature, and with other humans, for machines and pixels. In particular, with nature I mean the pure, true and loyal hearts of animals like our beloved dogs.
Ok, well cats too, but only when they feel like it.
How about a picture of one? How about with a robot dog with gramophone head and a teddy bear with clockwork parts. Yeah, we got that.
Right? This picture is like art all by itself. So I should mention that all of these pictures look even better when you visit her sim, because it's literally all around you, because you're walking around them, camming around them. There are buttons to press and things to find and everywhere you look is beautiful and cool.
The lighting and layouts and aforementioned textures are just gorgeous. All these pics are literally screen captures, all the lighting and everything is all Bryn Oh. Another link just so you have no excuse.
So this online world is pretty cool but we are missing out on the relationships that we need. But, life is messy, love is hard, lives end too soon but maybe can be saved by technology. The powers of technology become a siren song to enhance our real world experience and again we're on the slippery slope of seeking pleasure and comfort instead of genuine experience. The pixelated life does have its benefits.
For example, it empowers people. Technology allows us to lift a voice that's not tied to gender or skin color or any of the other things our society judges on in a face to face environment. The Brittle Epoch very cleverly and succinctly points to a history of misogyny and victim-blaming in western thought, as it gestures toward a new world ahead. We don't know the details of that world yet, just that technology plays a major role. Sound familiar?
Finally, this place is gorgeous. That moon! You've seen pics of it and if you didn't know, you wondered where it was I bet, it's that gorgeous.
There are lots of things to click and find, lots of easter eggs and cool things, click everything! Don't miss the commercials.
Other stuff that will help you understand what's going on here if you wanna dig a lil deeper into Bryn Oh's work;
The real world is changing rapidly, metaverses will continue to grow as we use them to make our lives "simpler" and to escape the pain and suffering of meatspace. It's a brave new world for mankind, and according to some of Bryn's lore, it might be a dark road ahead.
I can't wait for her next work, because the last two have been amazing. GO SEE THIS! :)