Password protected entire 50-min movie http://vimeo.com/98288361 Check the dedicated web site #joinmein50years.net

The Funky Senior Home

With «#joinmein50years » Sneja Dobrosavljevic promotes ‘The FunkySeniorHome’ a fake senior home set in the virtual world of Second Life and invites her friends to project themselves 50 years later (to project themselves and imagine what they would look like and what their dreams, desires, fears would be at that stage in their lives) and interact with her there on a regular basis.

Videomachinima

Only those avatars who are ready to replace their fabulous Second Life appearance by a skin that makes them look old will be accepted to participate in the encounter/project. The first scenes recorded with avatars at the “FunkySeniorHome” were used to make a video machinima which will serve as a ‘commercial’ trailer to invite new avatars to join the existing group and become members of this prestigious and unique place to be. The sequences can be watched on the dedicated web site  #joinmein50years.net «

Several constellations of the work

#joinmein50years » comes in several constellations, ‘In-world’ (Second Life) and Real Life ‘Exhibition’ . The constellation chosen for exhibitions enables the visitor to interact  with a series of avatars via a simple dialogue box.

Exploration of the impact virtual worlds may have on the real life

Second Life is a virtual world for social exchange but also a creative environment for many artists.  By setting her interactive piece in Second Life, Sneja Dobrosavljevic wants to explore the impact virtual online worlds may have on Real Life. By adapting the existing tools specific to Second Life (avatar appearance, gestures, outfits, animations and scripts) specific to her own needs and goals and by using promotional techniques from the advertising field, she mimics in Second Life a serious Real Life  issue (the issue of aging) in a ludic manner. Second Life is not used as an escape (from RealLife) but as a chance to step back temporarily from the real world in order to find new solutions and see common problems/everyday activities in a different way.

« #joinmein50years/The FunkySeniorHome » is an urgent call to reflect on what it means to be old and to age in today’s western society. The project responds to the need for more innovative structures for the Elderly/older people which do not only focus on nursing and care but  also on intellectual needs and personal growth. #joinmein50years was shown in London during the Postgraduate Master Show at the Camberwell College of the University of Arts London and in the group exhibition “Process in Exile“