Summer of Love 2.0: A Durational Social Media Performance by Patrick Lichty (w/Second Front, Janell Baxter, T. Burtonwood, and many others) :: July 7-12, 2009; noon - 5:00 pm (daily performances by Second Front from 2:00 - 3:00 pm) (Group Hug Panoramic Photos, July 12, 3:00 pm) (Special Events all through the week. Go to Facebook for the most up-to-date info) :: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago + Second Life.

I am performing a durational/relational piece about Social Media asking, “What is Love?” After seeing an ad campaign by Macy’s with pure-looking hippie girls selling the “Summer of Love”, and the YouTube video talking about 2.0, I’ve come to wonder about what love has become since 1967. Has it merely become a marketing tool for collectivized individuality, or can we still love one another? The concept of togetherness in the age of networked society is complex, but perhaps we can derive meaning from looking at the differences between 1967 and 2009.

For seven days, I am going to make my life transparent to the Social Nets, in the loving (?) sense of Marina Abramovic’s The House with the Ocean View or Hasan Elahi’s sousveillance work. During this time, I will try to have a channel open at all times, inviting people to have a “virtual be-in” with me, and stage small happenings in the gallery.