Friday, November 7, 2008

Virtual Studio Archive

Virtual Studio Archive

This section will post items within the IMS Virtual Studio that are in the process of being moved over to the IMS Producing Partners.


Items logged here are subjects of importance that have been brought up and were posted in the main page for the Virtual Studio. 
 
3/10  The most recent occurrence regarding the Spiritual Retreat/Theatrical Development Centre is that I accidentally washed my notebook with the designs in it and it has disintegrated into pulp. Therefore I will need to reconstitute the drawings and designs onto more practical medium and I intend, as I always had, to construct a model of the community. 

Wednesday 8/19/8 (edited) ;

I've begun work to re-construct The Virtual Studio.

To do this, I am currently using space provided by
ISPs for external operations. At some point we will introduce a server for internal operations. The expectation is that partners in Image of the Mind Studios, both creative and logistical, will have access to that server.

I will need to locate an IT person who can manage that aspect of things and I hope that we might be able to set up the server as an
ISP for the creative community associated with Image of the Mind Studios and The Alpha & Omega Society and the Creative Archive. Certainly, I invite (direct) dialogue in this regard, via email.

Clearly if
The Virtual Studio is to be manifested as an ISP, expansion of facilities, equipment, and personnel are required.

The studio activities
fluctuate according to my resources. This is a situation that I need to stabilize in order bring about a sustained degree of consistency and growth. Growth that is carefully projected at a manageable rate. It is difficult to avoid the sudden increase in overhead when the principle element in this growth is a large increase in the elements defined above, which is exactly what is needed at this point. Some of those issues are discussed under the heading "Facilities".

One advantage of The Virtual Studio, is the theory that operation can be conceptualized, departmentalized and
implemented without the immediate need for expanded facilities. To a degree this has proven to be true, but the "concept" needs to move "to form and beyond" at this point.

The material presented in
The Virtual Studio has been oriented for application into a number of arenas simultaneously, most particularly The Theatrical Development Centre, which represents a primary component in The Studio Compound. Recent occurrences are beginning to reshape that overall concept and discussions on that subject will be posted at some point.

The thoughts below are an abstract of some of the elements effecting the larger goal, but are not necessarily a part of the immediate objectives which are the recipients of current resources.

It is my expectation to structure a rational operating system that can- (meet the needs of others, have growth potential, and checks & balances inherent in it, and...) be applied to the Theatrical Development Centre concept of an Artist's Community & Spiritual Retreat. Much of this is already sketched out, but as time marches on, circumstances change and previous theory becomes inapplicable. So when The Virtual Studio can be maintained in-house and have secure access to the more sensitive elements, a more active effort will be made to finilaze and present these concepts. At the very least, it will be a presentation that can remain for future generations, because it seems unlikely that the massive amount of resources required for this will be available for me to work with.

There is also a degree of political theory at work here, I recognize the reality of applying political action to the management & control of a living and working environment, which is what the Theatrical Development Centre is intended to be. Such an environment must be designed to allow for a wide assortment of lifestyles and it is so designed. Various elements of the plans for such a compound are drawn up, albeit (mostly) in my handwritten notes and there are a few variations of this. Obviously, one purpose of The Virtual Studio is to put forth these designs as a way of implementing the manifestation of the concept. The simple magnitude of the plan is such that, I expect it to be "all I can do" to package it clearly , possibly publish it and hope for the circumstance to come about which will allow for implementation. In the expectation that I will likely expire before I achieve that goal, I am using the
Internet as the forum by which I will transmit as many of those ideas as I can manage to put down. AG



Opinion: 

  America today is or has been taken over , by developers, exploitation mongers, and local governing bodies who inadvertently (I'd like to think) have effectively deleted any lifestyle but those which serve their limited perspective of how people should live, which is predominately, I have to say, a result of greed. This is clear by the out of control capitalism and selfishness that has resulted from the freedom to act as one chooses. Unfortunately, in America today a large contingent of people have chosen to act in ways that do not consider the larger community good unless it serves their own personal gain. Such behavior is destructive to society and serves as a corrosive agent, eating away at the very fabric of social harmony and balance. We are caught in the dichotomy of freedom to act from ignorance, the results of which can be corrected, and the freedom to act from volition, which may come from the destructive nature of selfishness imposing itself into systems that are meant to serve the whole and not the individual or the corporate (as in community not business) citizen. The result of these acts of volition when founded in greed & selfishness are that the freedom to do so also imposes the consequences of this action onto those who truly do act for the good of society and seek harmony & balance, as well as those who are ignorant of their surroundings because of apathy. One would like to think that the balance could be maintained, but this is not the case. The corrosive nature of such behavior is causing the very foundation of the larger society to crumble. We see this in our economic collapse.

This is (in essence) the point of establishing the Artist Community & Spiritual Retreat. To reformulate the social relationships that make-up a functional society, to establish
parameters by which a smaller social unit can function and to identify those individuals who choose to live together, in harmony, because they have a like mind and share the same kinds of loves, different as they all are.

It is my hope that I can offer an alternative social design which will serve the artistic mentality as the primary core and other services, talents and crafts as
peripheral to that.

The
Virtual Studio is the greenhouse for nurturing this concept and the means to that end. AG