I just got an e-mail from a friend of mine in SL, Scott Kildall, who is famous for his eccentric performance arts based in SL. Some of you SLers may have heard of his 28 Avatars Later where SL Zombies went through the grid, in various bars and locales, and infected other residents. This Zombie attack was documented as machinima. It turns out that he is embarking in a new project to build viruses and he is seeking funding for it. As his previous projects, this one is equally interesting. Here’s his description:

This is a huge endeavor, which began in Second Life and is culminating in a new artwork: a 13-foot high trojan horse which will be stuffed with paper virus sculptures. These will include real viruses such as rabies and smallpox and imaginary viruses such as the Andromeda Strain and Snow Crash.

We are presenting the work at the 01SJ Biennial in early September and here we will be conducting workshops for 2 weeks on how viruses work, how to build papercraft models and also on sustainable construction techniques for large-scale sculptures.

We have received partial funding but have to raise more to complete the project. We are fundraising through Kickstarter and if nothing else, I’d encourage you to watch the video and learn more about the project.

Why is this an important project? We are doing something unique in terms of technology, namely using a computer-controlled shopbot to build out a wood armature from a Sketchup model and using printing directly onto a recycled compressed bio-board to make this physical sculpture look like a 3D model. This type of project has never been done before and will hopefully inspire others to use similar techniques instead of messy and dirty ones. We will be sharing our techniques with the public.

Also, we will be teaching people how to make 3D paper objects in an burgeoning papercraft movement which encourages use of ones hands in an increasing digital age in a gesture to bring people together in real space.

Thank you for considering this and we appreciate any support you might be able to give,
Scott and Victoria