Avignon - There are, according to the latest count, 6.6 million avatars in Second Life. While all of these avatars are distinctive in one way or another, the one named Destroy Television is truly an avatar like no other.  Destroy Television is the brainchild of Jerry Paffendorf (SNOOPYbrown Zamboni in SL) and Christian Westbrook (Christian Prior in SL).

Having an avatar that belongs to two people is not unique, but having one that is controlled by the world via the World Wide Web is. Visitors to her site at http://destroytv.com/ can chat with her (and through her), influence her movements and control what she sees in SL.  

Starting with yesterday’s opening and running until June 2nd, Destroy Television will be live in-world as part of the Destroy Television Art Show, a ten day groundbreaking multi-media mixed-reality “lifelogging” or “lifecasting” event.

 Held in Second Life at the GHava{SL} Art Center  http://slurl.com/secondlife/avignon/140/178/421/  and in real life at the Fuse Gallery/Lit Lounge, New York City

http://fusegallerynyc.com/ or http://litloungenyc.com/lit_home.htm , the Art Show is a groundbreaking mix of the real world and the virtual world.  

At the opening, for example, attendees were able to see a video screen that showed the real life programmers and guests at New York City’s Lit Lounge who were watching a video screen that showed what the avatar Destroy Television was looking at, which was of course, the attendees. The virtual and real spaces blended seamlessly into the surreal for many of the opening’s attendees, both real and virtual.  

The task of maintaining the two worlds was quite chaotic at the opening, as GHava{SL} curator Annie Ok (Xantherus Halberd in SL) attended the opening at the real life space in New York and the virtual space in Avignon.

 “The virtual lag is killing me and this real life place is mayhem!” she joked.  To add to the power of the Destroy Television Art Show, the avatar is programmed to automatically capture photographs of the things she sees and tag them with location names, names of avatars present, chat, and so on, at a rate of approximately one tagged picture every five seconds.