Second Livestock Full Presentation from Austin Stewart on Vimeo.
secondlivestock.com Second Livestock, a virtual reality world for battery-farmed chickens, draws parallels between how we treat animals and how we treat ourselves.Through a straight-faced parody of Second Life (a virtual reality world for humans) the project attracts non-traditional art audiences to a conversation about the reasons behind and consequences of people choosing to spend more of their lives in virtual spaces. The work exists as a website and performance. The performance consists of a presentation, an interactive demonstration of Second Livestock, and an open discussion. The vocabulary of the presentation and visual language of all related media mocks the marketing devices and hype of technology firms introducing new, “disruptive” technologies. The artist performs the presentation in the persona of the CEO of Second Livestock. After the presentation the audience is invited to participate in an open discussion and experience the VR world through a “prototype” of the CCI (Chicken-Computer Interface). This prototype consists of the Oculus Rift VR Headset and a custom omni-directional treadmill. An assistant helps audience members to use the CCI and supplies the CEO with technical details.