Final project briefs

I've adjusted the project briefs that we are launching tomorrow, based on some observations of the things that the students have been up to so far. One of the students is doing some work based on his graphic novel work, so I've added the 'Building on success' brief to give him a framework to develop this. This brief should also make it easier for those struggling to see the point by linking the virtual world to something familiar and personal. The second brief that I have added is designed to give permission to the fantasists in the group. The 'Abductive reasoning' brief is about jumping in at the deep end and doing something totally weird and different. I think this will appeal to a couple of the more adventurous builders in the room. I've also emphasised the collaborative possibilities a little more clearly. Here are the 4 briefs that I will hand out tomorrow:

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BA(Hons) Graphic Arts & Design
School of Contemporary Art & Graphic Design
Leeds Metropolitan University

Open Habitat project briefs

Please choose one or more of the four briefs detailed below.
Start date for all briefs: Monday 12th May 2008
Deadline for all briefs: Friday 23rd May 2008
There will be a prize of 25000 Linden Dollars for the best overall solution to one of these briefs.
(Please note: All content that you generate in Second Life is subject to copyright laws. You must only upload your own images, or images that you have the right to copy.)

Project brief 1 - Individual
Shrine
Your task for this project is to build a shrine to your avatar.
This shrine may represent your ongoing experiences in Second Life. Your shrine might be a way of exploring and developing your avatar’s ambitions. Your shrine may be a place of refuge for your avatar. It may be a place where your avatar shows off. It may be your avatar’s inventing shed. It may be a gallery of portraits of your avie. It can be pretty much anything you can imagine, as long as it expresses the essence of your avatar.
You should use your allocated plot on LeedsMet island to develop this work.

Project brief 2 - Collaborative
Reality Jam
Reality Jam is a project that Cubist and Kisa are working on for the International Symposium on Electronic Art 2008. We are using the following quote from the isea2008 website to guide us:
“While the reality effects of photography had forced a re-evaluation of the conventions and concerns of painting as well as of perception in the mid 19th century, the realistic aspirations of recent visualization and experiential technologies (e.g., in animation, gaming, immersive environments, mixed/augmented reality) are forcing us to reconsider our registers of the ‘real’ in our media and our everyday lives.
The confusing of the real and the virtual through seamless transitions and the perpetual obfuscation of the edges that demarcate them are increasingly the focus of scientific research as well as of creative works. The improvisational nature and interference potential of such ‘reality jamming’ - i.e., this pressing together of the real and virtual in a context where their distinctions are deliberately obscured - open further possibilities for research, scholarship and creative production.
In this theme, we also seek to encourage artists and researchers to explore the ways in which the ‘virtual’ presences and experiences of folklore, religious beliefs, magical rituals and science and media-fiction interact with and counteract the lived experiences of the ‘real’. Scholarly presentations, art works and research in the areas of virtual, mixed and augmented reality, not restricted to the technological platforms and equipment that enable such experiences, are especially encouraged.” - http://isea2008.org/page/30/
Your task is to work together with one or more collaborators to produce artwork that follows the theme of the Reality Jam exhibition.
You should use the dedicated collaboration area on LeedsMet island to develop this work.

Project brief 3 - Individual or Collaborative
Building on Success
Reflect on the work that you have produced this year. Consider the things that have gone well, and the things that you have enjoyed. Think about the nature of your practice and the underlying themes and theories that you have been exploring. How might your practice translate into 3D?
Your task is to produce a 3D exploration of your practice (or combined practices).
You should use either your allocated plot or the dedicated collaboration area on LeedsMet island to develop this work.

Project brief 4 - Individual or Collaborative
Abductive reasoning
“Abductive reasoning, as described by Darden professor Jeanne Liedtka, embraces the logic of what might be. Designers may not be able to prove that something ‘is’ or ‘must be,’ but they nevertheless reason that it ’may be.’ This style of thinking is critical to the creative process.”
[Creativity that goes deep. BusinessWeek online. http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2005/di20050803_823317.htm]
Forget the work that you have produced this year. Forget that you are supposed to be a graphic designer. Imagine what might be possible in a virtual world when the restrictions of your personal history and your chosen discipline are removed.
Your task is to work alone, or together with one or more collaborators, to create all that you choose to imagine.
You should use either your allocated plot or the dedicated collaboration area on LeedsMet island to develop this work.
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