Two nights ago I teleported into Arcadia Asylum´s African Slums, for about the fifteenth time in four days. Hylee´s picks are not for the timid. I had researched myself almost blind , and was touring the sim over and over trying to get a handle on the build and it´s damn near mythical creator. SL residents swore that she had simply vanished, OpenSim citizens claimed she was over here building away, everyone agreed that she was desperately ill. I had read more than once that Arcadia had died. One thing I had learned for sure, was that once you jumped into the Slums, you had at least ten minutes wait for everything to rez properly. So I´d been doing various chores, when I glanced at the screen, and saw a tiny figure with bright orange hair.
This is Arcadia Asylum. She talked to me for three hours.
It was one of the most indescribable experiences of my life, and bear in mind, my beloved readers, I was in Berlin when the wall came down.
Hello my dearest dears! How marvelous, here we all are ready for another exciting adventure on OpenSim , the software platform that hosts hundreds of independent worlds, many of which are connected by an amped up teleportation system called the hypergrid. If you do not understand any of this posts terminology, or want to know how to get onto OpenSim, please read my easy to understand OpenSim posts. And don´t forget my Newbie Glossary at the top of this page!
For those of you who are just joining us, in an attempt to tackle OpenSim´s leviathan OS Grid, I asked, okay, nagged my friend, respected metaverse artist, RL electrical engineer , grandmother of five,and really smart cookie, HYLEE BEKKER , an OS Grid resident who lives on her wonderful freebie region Ptarmigen Park , for a list of her favorite stuff. This is my second post in the series.
And now, just who the hell is Arcadia Asylum? I know how you feel; even after days of research and a long conversation with the lady, I am still wrestling with that one. Firstly she is probably the most well known, and prolific content creator in the entire metaverse. We are talking SL, OpenSim´s open and closed grids… just everywhere. After Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale, she is one of our most important, and controversial figures. Born about the time Cambodia was still called French Indochina, a real life radical graffiti artist gone digital graphics designer, with a formidable resume in the video gaming industry, Arcadia was a natural for Second Life´s earliest cyber utopian incarnation . Her first avatar was a pretty girl rat in who lived in her wonderful sewer tunnels, her second, and most enduring, was a mischievous Victorian waif, who quickly aligned herself with Second Life´s HOBO CULTURE; which was emerging in a direct response to the increasing capitalization of the virtual world. Often working 12 hours a day she developed her own CUSTOM TEXTURES and PARTICLE SYSTEMS which transformed Second Life from flat, simple, cartoon drawings, to the current dazzling world of color, light and shadow. She took a strongly moral and very public stand against Linden Lab´s overt shift in agenda, famously referring to “festering cesspools of greed and corruption”. She infuriated the growing business community with the free distribution of every single stunning prim she ever made. SL tried to go sleek and vapid, Arcadia´s sumptuously textured slums and barrios possesed a riveting power commercial builders could never hope to emulate. Her creations were everywhere. She became so famous she would receive hundreds of IMs a day. She would mute everyone, bellow to be left alone, then spend hours patiently helping the most novice builder. Her Open Source Urban Blight Project spewed her magical slums across the grid. Refusing to acknowledge virtual gambling and prostitution as anything but grotesque symbols of exploitation and misery, she used her money and stature to force them into segregated adult zones.” This train don´t carry no gamblers, liars, thieves,nor big shot ramblers, this train is bound for glory …” There was one last blow out with the powers that be..it could have been about anything. Then she was gone. From Second Life anyway. For Arcadia Asylum had slung her inventory over her shoulder, and struck out for the OS GRID , still a child and and orphan, this time as pigtailed anarchist PIPPI LONGSTOCKING. In reality, she was bedridden, moving around different medical facilities, trying to prolong her life.
My three mind blowing hours included an elaborate tour. When I had recovered somewhat from the initial shock, I took lots of pictures and notes. I am going to mesh them in with my original piece, which will, I hope give you a reasonably complete picture of the African Slums. Oh, and for once I won´t be talking much about freebies because A) You can copy everything on the sim. EVERYTHING. B) if you were in the Guggenheim, and Frank Lloyd Wright suddenly appeared out of thin air, handed you a chocolate bar, then took you on a personal three hour tour of his masterwork, would you talk about the candy?
Before we get started a couple of things:
1) You can get there by jumping to Wright Plaza or any upper OS Grid address and running a search on African Slums. It loads slowly, and is a bit laggy. My computer liked it if I walked or flew at a leisurly pace,and I couldn´t run too many other programs , like Windows Paint, while I was there. Inworld functions like copying or snapshots, were often slow as well. I will point out very laggy areas in my tour.
2) Set your camera angle much closer to your avatar. That is preferences>input & camera>default camera, then jack down camera view as low as you can stand it. Your camera angle may need to be somewhat higher, so you can still see properly. This will help you not get stuck at odd angles on the surface, and the subway. The sewers are impossible to navigate without doing this.
3) Be careful where you sit! Famously puckish Arcadia has traps set all over the place, which will announce” you´ve been impaled by a prim of Arcadia Asylum” and send you careening home.
4) Arcadia´s builds are meant to be read. Take your time, read the posters, soap boxes, and the beautiful graffiti, which are photographs of her real world guerilla art. She is trying to upload all her work from her hospital bed.
5) Every build on the sim depicts an event, place, something from Arcadias life. Everything on the sim has personal meaning for her.
I have made my beloved readers this map of the African Slums;unfortunatley the number one is in the yellow dot at the bottom of the page. And number four is obscured by the first 128 in the African Slums coordinates in the middle of the page, under the red ring. Sorry!
1) This is the main square of Bronx live in Africa. The crane is rotating, blimps and planes are cruising, smokestacks are puffing… Arcadia pointed out that there is a lot to listen to as well; not the music stream, the local sounds; chugging machinery, 40´s radio..the airwaves are almost as heavily textured as the builds. First we will explore the square, then take a tour up the street behind me.
1) On the other side of the gangster auto, you will see the first of many noobs depicting Philip Linden in various states of, well, unease. Here, he is standing on a pile of boxes, each of which is a themed animation set; spiritual,sport; water and beach, etc. If you walk over the square…
1) ..to the entrance of the subway.(The taxi is a hypergate, by the way.) If you go down the stairs, you sort of fall to the bottom. There are a few places this happen, it´s okay. You wind up..
1)… in the Slum City Metro. Poetry in motion.
The train station I am standing in is named for AIMEE CESARE of Martinique, poet, author, Marxist politician; one of the founders of the NEGRITUDE, a literary and ideological movement in the early part of the 20th century which definitively established that the shared experience of the AFRICAN DIASPORA was the best tool for fighting European political and intellectual domination. This school of thought played a huge role in the HARLEM RENAISSANCE . If you wait on the platform, a train will come, and take you to the next station, named for LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGOR , arguably the most important African intellectual of the 20th century; Senegalese poet, cultural theoretician, another negritude founder, who became the first president of Senegal. Needless to say, the subway is wonderful to explore, reading and taking snapshots. Now let´s go back up to the main square,and cross the street to the first building.
1) The first shop on the street is the iconic City Mission, Arcadia´s splendid Hobo haven. It is one of her earliest builds. She created it in SL as part of a group project that was struggling with how to portray the aesthetic yin and yang of beauty and ugliness. On the Sonogno sim, they divided the builds into two parts, an elegant city, and slum. Arcadia exploded onto the slum, creating her fantastic sewers and the Mission, which distributes her packaged freebies; astonishing hobo vehicles, clothing…things I don´t even know how to describe.
1) The next building is the Slum City Hotel, part of Arcadia´s Open Source Urban Blight Project, Arcadia´s successful movement against sterility , commercialism, and just plain dumbness. You really do need your camera up close to navigate the wonderful little rooms and hallways.
1) Across the street is the Bodega Supermarket and Deli. Be sure to go inside and look around SLOWLY. The detail is freaking ethereal. I said to Arcadia” You make everything so beautiful and ugly at the same time!” She replied from her hospital bed” Just like life.”
2) This is the Pawn Shop, where you can get more of Arcadia´s superb packaged freebies; above is the Arcade. This building, the Bodega, and the City mission are sometimes referred to as the “Barrio” build. They were the first attempt inworld at “custom texturing”, not simply using the default textures in the Linden Library for builds, but importing specific textures for specific items. Ever pushing the envelope, Arcadia famously said her motivation was ” knowing that making and setting em all out as freebies would force the current crop of builders to stop using crappy default textures.” If they are mesmerizing now, imagine their impact then!
2) The Arcade room is Arcadia´s resume in the early gaming industry. Take a GOOD look around. My 14 year old son was gibbering like a chimp.
2) If you stand on the Pawnshop intersection, and look past the gas station, you will see this scene. Arcadia said it was something she saw when she lived in Spanish Harlem. The gang were called the Runettes. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THEM!!!!Behind the gang is a burning building which I suspect is the culprit, but this whole section of street has crashed me completely every single time I´ve gone anywhere near it. Instead, let´s turn left at the intersection, to …
3) This is our first ramp; they offer wonderful views, and are generally less laggy than the little alleys and tunnels.
4) Arcadia brought me to the warehouse pictured above, and simply said ” My old friend, MONSANTO” .
As you walk along the ramp, keep an eye out to your right; you can get a good look at that burning building I mentioned earlier, with none of the lag. It was pretty spectacular with the lights off.
Further on, you get your first gander at what I think of as the African Homeland part of the sim.
I am facing the wrong direction in this picture, but it is good enough for the next bit of Arcadia lore.
” Keep it simple.” is one of Arcadia´s famous slogans. By simple, she is referring to prims; where she maintains , less is a helluva lot more. Arcadia has taught a lot of people to build; in her own classrooms, as a volunteer at newbie orientation, and in spontaneous conversation with the many people who have watched her building. She has told them all that a builder should put 10% of their effort into prims, and 90% into textures. “The eye is fooled by textures, not prims.” The busted staircase next to the slogan is a good example- like so many things here it is a flat picture, but the quality is so intense, you have walk up to it to be sure. If you look closely at a lot of the” three dimensional” detail here, to me they look like ORIGAMI FOLDS, with vivid textures laid over them.
5) As you descend back to the street, you will notice to your right is a doorway with a hooded figure wandering in the yard. It is a church, and if you are a devout Catholic, I would give it a miss. In front of you is a Metro entrance, you click “sit” and wind up in Sengor Station. We are going to go past the Metro, straight down the street.
6) I think I was getting a standard tour, and that Arcadia is used to people having a hard time getting their heads around her professional credentials.Yes, this diner is another page in her resume.
She gave me this link to THE OFFICIAL GRAND THEFT AUTO WIKIA and sure enough, there was the diner. She also told me, that, among her many projects, she had led a team of twelve designers on WORLD OF WARCRAFT, worked for JAMES CAMERON, who was not exactly her favorite person, and for PIXAR.
7) This is another page, Arcadia said she worked on Antz, where she created, among other things, the Insectopia City,
…and these trash cans. Remember them from the movie? I´m sorry, I don´t remember where they are; and I´ve gone back and looked, so you´ll have to tough this one out. Anyway, there are flies buzzing around the cans,and Arcadia began telling me that they caused more death than any animal on the planet spreading disease, etc. and how many lives could be saved by eliminating them; and I kind of came down on the flies side because everything in nature serves a purpose, and for my money, humans are the most destructive animal. I don’t know if I stole her thunder or if she was agreeing with me because next…
8)… she offered me a teleport way over to the African Homeland section, in front of this tank, and she was telling me how man was the most destructive animal.
Across from the tank is this smashed up skylab. Arcadia talked for quite a while about how we exploit Africa, and all the developing nations to support our fat cat lifestyles.The tank and wreck are surrounded by oil dereks spewing toxic smoke, and in the background you can see military vehicles,and mountains of garbage.
At this point she and I went underground, but for clarity´s sake, I think it would be best to finish my tour of the surface.
9) North of the scarred industrial area, you will see some wildlife and an african village. Stand in the village a while and watch the women- they appear to be the average static cut out, but will move at intervals, as though being blown by the wind. You just have to wait for it.The effect is very Arcadia, mindbendingly simple, yet incredibly realistic.
10) This is a very small patch of pristine rainforest, with the smokestacks and buildings of the urban jungle looming menacingly in the background. On the map, and on the ground, it looks as if you can walk farther north. I kept trying , and then this happened-
I kind of got jammed way way up between sims. At least that is what my map said,that I was sort of just hanging over on an invalid location. Awesome view, isn´t it? I was trying to go up the big green jungle hill in the direction of the city, when it happened. The hill and the last buildings of the city are impassable it seems.(Do you see the big ramp that goes through the city, way up onto the mountain top? That is our next destination. ) I couldn´t see my avatar or move, but I had some camera control.
So I messed around up here for a while. Do you see the big island on the right of the picture? The one connectedto the by the railway bridge. That is impassable too; you can´t get past the surf, so don´t crash yourself trying. In the end I was able to jump home to Craft without crashing, and then hopped on back to the 1) Slum City Main Square, which is where I want you to go now.
At the Main Square, cross over to the City Mission, and walk past it to the left, past the burning cars, to that small opening in the brick wall, under my camera controls.
11) You will come out here! Across the canal is a Brazilian beach; behind the little railway car, the track goes over the water to the impassable mountain which is a mine, it carries a cart of blood diamonds to the city. We will go to the beach later, for now let´s walk up the ascending railway. The little train doesn´t send you home if you sit in it, but it also doesn´t go anywhere!
The views are spectacular, with no real lag. Directly ahead of me, you can see the hillside slums, and to my left, nestled between two taller buildings, the red capped entrance to Chinatown. We´ll be there soon enough! But for now, when you leave the city limits…
12) You are in Hells. As you can see, I couldn´t resist wearing the Hobo bike I picked up at the City Mission! The mountain is a volcano with demons and billowing flame and smoke, with lightening crashing all around. Then the railway ends, and you have to fly or fall down.
13) When you come down from hells, you will see a long wooden bridge.Like the mine, and the jungle mountain, this bridge section, and very cool cyber Buddha thing, are impassable.
13) But the rest of the bridge works just fine. It will take you to the Slum City Docks.
14) The docks are one of my favorite places to relax. The Lord Buddha floats serenely, just outside of the frame is a cool floating eyeball sculpture, and this chair is 100% safe to sit in. Next we´ll head to the beach, walk up past the truck and you will see that you are next to the 1) Slum City Main Square. Go past the City Mission, to the 11) Hell railway. Fly over the canal to the Slum City beach.
15) This gypsy wagon is at the end of the beach,and I think it is the best thing there.
15) How does she make the colors so vibrant? You can spend a lot much time in one of Arcadia´s little rooms, zooming and reading.. anyway, getting back on track, past the marvelous little wagon is….
16)… the base of the hillside slums. Walk up the hill..
16).. to the top!
This slum´s proximity to the beach and hillside location makes me think this is a representation of the infamous ROCHINHA FAVELA , Rio de Janiero´s massive shanty town- gone- partially- urban slum. But I could be wrong; I am sure there are a depressing number of places that fit this description.
And now it is time to head for the sewers. And a spoiler alert! If you enjoy mazes and puzzles, this next section will tank that for you. If you are like me, with limited patience and a large collection of walkthroughs and cheats, following Arcadia´s tour will be exactly your cup of tea!
The easiest way to the sewer entrance is through the main entrance of Chinatown. It is opposite the 4) Monsanto warehouse.
Just walk up a bit past the sushi barrel and take the first right. You will be in an alley, with a manhole cover.
This is where Arcadia brought me in. Touching the manhole cover will open it, and you can jump down.
At this point you have to change your camera view and angles. These worked best for me.
You will land in front of this ladder. If the sewer refuses to materialize, fly up a bit, and slam back down. This has worked for me twice.We are going to head down the canal behind me in a sec, but first you may want to have a peek into the large room I am facing.
This steampunk fly sputters around the room with whirling cogs and yellow poops. Lovely!
Now go back past the laddder; follow the canal around the bend, until you see a trash can on the right, and a wooden chest on the left. Just past the chest is our tunnel entrance!
Fly upward sightly to enter the tunnel. When you are inside, you will be at a junction. If you go to the right, you will arrive…
…in Arcadia´s home when she was a girl rat!
To the left is a room with a descending stairwell; take it down to the next room, then go down the curved tunnel until you come to the next junction. Here you can go straight ahead, or to the right. Go straight ahead, down to the double grill doors. Touch the doors to open them.
Arcadia has a complicated relationship with Philip Rosedale; at one time I think they must have been very close. When I finally had to log off, I told her again I was a blogger, and asked my usual closing question, if there was anything she didn´t want me to write. She seemed a bit taken aback,( I had suspected she hadn´t taken in that I was there researching a blog) . She had some private things she didn´t want published, and she told me to remeber that without Philip Rosedale, there would be no metaverse, and to please respect that.
Now leave the room, and go left at the junction; up, up, up the windy tunnel( by the way, if you haven´t changed your camera view, you are totally screwed.) This will take you to another sewer level. Go right and follow the canal around the curve. Take the second left .
You should now see this. In a minute we will take the first tunnel on the right.There is something I want to show you first. I thought it was kind of neat when I walked into the big room at the end.
Liquid sky. If you fly straight up again, you will return to the big room without crashing.
Now let´s go into the tunnel, it will begin to ascend, keep going up, ignoring the junction, until you arrive at the ladder. Fly up the ladder, and click the cover. Then you can fly out.
Ta da! You will wind up here, in Sengor Station.
And now my dears, I am unsure how to end this post, so I´ll do a little question and answer, a form that always seems to unstick me.
Q. There have been alot of “Arcadia” sightings since she left SL. There are people in SL claiming to be her. How do you know this is actually Arcadia Asylum?
A. Well, the people in SL claiming to be Arcadia have been exposed by her old friends there. It is easy to create an avatar and a name, but a personality someone has known for years can´t be faked.There is only one Arcadia Asylum in OpenSim, and her many old friends from the SL days, who also packed up and went to the OS Grid, all confirm that this is in fact, her. I cannot think why so many people, a few of whom I know and respect, would all agree to lie for this person.
Q. Why is she one of those creepy child avatars? Is she into some kinky sex thing?
A. No.There were quite a few”waifs” around the Hobo camps, when Arcadia came on the scene. These people used non sexually mature avatars because they thought people wouldn´t hit on them (ha!)- Arcadia was famous for not wanting anything to do with online sex in any form. They were also into children´s literature, such as Pippi, and the German” BLACK BROTHERS “books, which were about children who were sold into labor as chimney sweeps,formed a band, and managed to escape and return home to Sonogno Village.Remember Sonogno Sim? VICTORIAN LITERATURE is littered with resourceful, rebellious, intelligent street urchins,which seems to have struck a chord in this steampunk oriented subculture.
Q. What didn´t she want you to print? What is she hiding?
A. Nothing. Like a lot of people, Arcadia´s persona has always been a part of her art. Her private details were a tapestry of late 20th century suffering and oppression, but her special rage was for the victimization and exploitation of children. It could all be literally true, but in my mind, if it isn´t, that doesn´t make her a lair, or hiding something. I mean, I don´t think she really has giant orange pigtails either .
Q. I am not interested in the whole trash and urban grunge thing. I have seen a lot of these buildings anyway around SL and OpenSim. Why should I go to the African Slums?
A. I hear you. I would have never gone to the African Slums for exactly the same reasons. I went because it was on Hylee´s list. But after spending time in the slums, even before the great lady made her appearence, I had realized that pigeonholing Arcadia´s work as simply”grunge” or “trash” is like listing FRIDA KAHLO as an important artist´s gimpy little wife.Was EMMA GOLDMAN just some flower obsessed dingbat who kept losing her passport? Was MARY HARRIS JONES simply a dressmaker? Was VIRGINIA just Leonard Woolf´s mentally ill spouse? Seeing one of these buildings alone in God knows what tepid setting, is different than seeing them all together in a setting designed by the artist. It is an extremely powerful experience. It will change the way you percieve the metaverse.
Q. What should I do if I meet her?
A. I had thought of calling this post,” shut up and listen”. Let her talk. Enjoy .You don´t often meet someone who is operating on this level. It is very intense, she can´t help it. Arcadia must be used to being the most intelligent person in the conversation, so don´t worry about sounding stupid. Of course you do. She was really nice, teleporting me around, laughing at my jokes, answering my questions.
Q. So who is Arcadia Asylum?
A. Arcadia Asylum is a visionary. And to my mind, of all the people who were invoved in creating and shaping the metaverse, Arcadia is the only one who seemed to have percieved it as having a soul. She has fought and continues to fight with every last ounce of her strength for that vision .
And now my beloved readers, I have to got to get some sleep!!! Thank you Hylee for sending me to the African Slums, thank you Arcadia, for everything!! And thank you my beloved readers, for joining me on my small adventures! Your company means so much to me! The sweetest of dreams and the brightest of days to you all!! Until next time, Adieu
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This is the most detailed and nicest tribute to Arcadia Asylum I’ve seen. I’ve chatted with her a few times in OSGrid, she is a very nice and real person. I have explored African Slums but never came close to seeing it all. I hope she is doing OK and hope she comes back to OSGrid!
Thank you key, I really hope she comes back too! Rightnow she is on the Blake Sea Diego region, working on a Pirate build. I am trying to track her down for part 2 of the interview!