Turing: Back to the Future

He has the appearance of a space man from gentler times,  when the only cyber bullies were the Cybermen, and jetpacks were boxy, like Volvos, on the safe side. In real life, Patrick Millard is a Pittsburgh-based photographic and sound artist, and a graduate of SCAD (oo Savannah!). In SL, Formatting Heliosense is part DJ, part curator, part exhibitor, and all round good guy at the Turing Gallery, at the heart of Galatea Gynoid's Extropia Core region in Second Life.

Formatting Heliosense: I didn't plan to curate or own a gallery when I entered into SL per se, but I certainly entered into this world in order to extend what I was doing artistically. The idea of virtual worlds is in conceptual alignment with the work I do in RL about technolgical and environmental symbiosis. The thing that is unique about Turing Gallery compared to most SL galleries is that we have a consistency on theme. We do not show particular media or approaches to artwork, but we show only art that coincides with Extropian interests - Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, The Singularity, Transhumanism, Technology, Space, and all things that emphasize a a more complete future through advancements in technology.

 When Formatting said that, I had visions of migratory goatherds in space, but then I googled the difference between transhumance and transhumanism. Don't tell him, it's embarrassing. But back to the Turing - the structure's by Vidal Tripsa. Originally intended to be part of a mall, the Turing Gallery has been home to futuristic and conceptual art since August, and has already attracted big names including Maya Paris and L1aura Loire, Scarp Godenot, Kolor Fall and Wizard Gynoid. 

Formatting Heliosense: Along with the gallery, I run the club here, Technohenge, DJing and organizing the other DJ's while Zada Zenovka is on extended hiatus. The music and the scuptures and painting - it's all art to me; but it is a group that makes the sim run.
 Like all buildings in Extropia, the gallery  is named after a famous transhumanist. Alan Turing (you know, Bletchley Park and all that) devised a test to tell when a robot/machine/computer has achieved human communication skills to the point that it is believable. Now, if that could be hacked and used as a Contacts List filter...

Formatting Heliosense: Our first artist in the new location was Xenophile Neurocam. His work was a fun showing because it filled the space in a comprehensive sense. He did not allow the space of the gallery or unique divisions between halls and open exhibition spaces become a hindrance, but rather a opportunity. He even made one room completely immersive by putting the viewer in a completely dark environment and then adding his sculptured and annimated work to the space.

The next show is being set up - it's an installation by Scottius Polke called The Shrine of Previously Discarded Notions. It sort of looks like a ribcage, with a warm glow. Formatting summed it up in a single word: 'hugs'.
In his studio you can see a couple of pieces from this Formatting Gaia collection; you may recall that naked acreage on show at the Enaxia and also at Quadrapop Lane's Tree Gallery last year.

From the tower, you can look down on Extropia to the strains of techno music; there's also his original work Nanoresponse. Want to experience Nanoresponse but afraid of heights and/or not inworld? Click here.

What's Formatting looking forward to in 2011?
Formatting Heliosense: The 2011 edition of Scien&Art, organized by Marjorie Fargis and Talete Flanagan. I have offered to host part of it here at the Turing. I'm also quite intrigued and attend the Cybernetic Arts stuff that that group is doing in world.

The future's bright.