I just had a great phone conversation with Cylindrian Rutabega, who is playing at Wishfest tonight at 7pm.
She’s been hanging out on Solaris II for two days, just wandering around and enjoying the SIM.

The beauty is that Solaris II is none other than the latest work of artist Somatika Xiao (a.k.a. David Stumbaugh). Somatika is the artist who collaborated with Spot Draves on the Sheep Vortex exhibit at Node Zero Gallery last month. So here’s how it started. Wishfarmer Gary Bukowski, Somatika, and I came up with the idea a couple weekends ago of something called a “Flash Festival.” Similar to the Flash Mobs of Real Life, combined with the old school charm of a Full Moon Rave.

For those of you who don’t remember such events of lore, Full Moon Raves were wonderful free dance/art/music festivals that happened in the early 90’s, where you went to the first location just to pick up a map to the second location, which was usually on the beach or in a park somewhere, all tucked away, and usually on private land with the owner’s blessing, where you were generally safe and sound.
These events were free, equipped with lots of water and oranges and things, and often came with a free pancake breakfast in the morning, often while you and everyone watched the sun come up together.
We’re trying to capture a little of that magic, while also expanding upon it a bit to include dancers, artists, and performers of all kinds. The sky’s the limit, if you have a live act, or even a finished work, that you’d like to stream to a large number of people from all over the world.
So again, a “Flash Festival” is kind of ad hoc DIY combination of music, dance, film and art festivals all rolled up into one — and for as long as it lasts!
We’ve also decided to let the artists run wild, where the question we’re trying to answer is: “What if we made a big art installation, with a main floor, three stages, and also an underground cavernous area (The Rabbit Hole), where anyone could stake out a little area and set up a display. (I hope it goes without saying that object spam will be removed 🙂
Node Zero Gallery artist Feathers Boa has already set up an little installation in the Rabbit Hole. Your art installation could be next 🙂
Feathers Boa’s Art Installation on Solaris II (in the Rabbit Hole)

Then what if we took it a step further, and set up each stage with its own media url, and each with its own set of video screens, and wrote some code to enable anyone that belonged to our “Wishfest Performers” group to jump on stage, load in their stream, and just start playing.
If all your friends sign up for the “Wishfest 1.0” group – you can send a notice to them to let them know you’re onstage and playing (or in advance to let them know when you will be going on.
Yes film makers, djs, and video artists, you can invite some friends and load in your pre-existing video/media streams, if you wish. It will work fine! Have a party – Throw a Rave! This island should be able to hold a lot of people. We made it sturdy with lots of Wishfarmer love.
So teleport to Wishfest on Solaris II and decide for yourself how your art/music/films/dance/performanceart/dj mixes etc. etc. etc. can work into the linearly twisted beauty of this SIM, courtesy of Somatika Xiao.
If anyone has any questions, or tech issues, comments or ANYTHING – IM Haley Bailey in world or email Haley Bailey/Lisa Rein at lisa@wishfarmers.com.