Letter from Mar Dwi explaining the current situation and future of SLACC.

Dear current and former SLACC-artists and friends,

I write you this letter to inform you about several issues. First of all I’ll explain why the SLACC disappeared last wednesday (and when we’ll be back). Secondly I will give you an update on my search for a new owner for the SLACC.

Midday last wednesday i started receiving IMs from concerned SLACC-artists who informed me that the SLACC was gone! I had no idea what was going on and started an investigation. It turns out that my landlord, Azure islands, is updating it’s rental system. Because of this, it is not sending notifications when the tier is due or overdue. This resulted in the situation that Azure islands assumed that I had received 18 warnings about the tier not being paid wile I was unaware of the situation. Because I did not respond to the messages I didn’t receive, they decided to evict the SLACC. I hereby apologise for this inconvenience.

You’ll probably be wondering how we’ll be dealing with this situation. First of all, I’d like to tell you that even though the rental boxes are not rezzed at this moment, I still have access to the rental data and that I have saved all rental data on my hard-drive on july 14th. You are not losing a second or a L$ of rent. Secondly, I was looking for a new owner for the SL Art Community Centre and I have found one. Her name is Amythe Moonlight and I’ll introduce her in more detail elsewhere in this letter. Amythe and I are turning the unfortunate eviction of the SLACC in Optimal into an improvement of the SLACC. The last months, lag was becoming a problem in Optimal and now that we’ve been evicted and everyone has to re-install his/her exhibitions anyway, we’re moving to a new location with less lag.

The SLACC hasn’t received the attention and publicity it deserves the past months. Also we and you will need a few weeks to set up the museum at the new location. Therefore I have re-rented the land in Optimal to organise a temporary exhibition about the history of the SLACC. We will use this exhibition to inform everyone who has the “old” landmark of the SLACC about the new location. Furthermore we’d like to ask you (current and former SLACC artists) to make an artistic contribution to the exhibition. We’ve got 6000m2 of blank canvas. Let’s turn in into one huge collaborative art project!

So now about Amythe Moonlight. Once I announced that I would give away the SLACC to someone, I’ve received many responses from people who would love to take over the SLACC. I’ve interviewed all of them and already within a few minutes of conversation with Amythe I got the feeling that she might be the one. She already runs a successful museum, she is an artist herself, she has a large network (also in SL scenes where I don’t have many connections such as the music scene), she has a marketing background, has a lot more time for SL than I have and is a very amiable person. However, most of all, she is as enthusiastic and passionate about the SLACC as I am.

Many of you know how difficult it is for me to trust a business partner and you also know how much I care for the SLACC. In Amythe I have found someone to whom I trust the SLACC, my home in SL, my identity in SL. I realise that for some of you, the change of ownership of the SLACC is a big issue which you’ve been sceptical about from the beginning. I hope that, once you’ve met Amythe and have seen how well she does her as owner of the SLACC, you will give her the same trust that I have in her.

So now what? Is Mar gone and are you left with no museum, a temporary exhibition about how cool the SLACC used to be and no money? Of course not! The new SLACC will be located here . There is nothing to see there at this moment. We will need a few days to prepare the land and reconstruct the SLACC building. You can start installing your exhibitions in the second half of next week. I froze the rent on july 14th. It will continue once the SLACC is open for you to install your exhibitions. You will receive 2 weeks of rent for free on top of the rental time you had on july 14th. If you choose not to move with us to the new location, you will receive a refund of the rent you had on july 14th. The temporary exhibition can be found here: feel free to leave your mark, art, signature or anything you like. Please try to keep it low prim to enable everyone to leave something behind.

Regarding to the rental time you’ve had left on july 14th, I realise that I recorded this on a specific moment in time. Therefore I will make sure that none of you are disadvantaged. For example: if on july 14th, you had 11 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes and 44 seconds rental time remaining at the moment I saved the rental times, you had 12 days of rental time two hours before. Therefore I will complete the rental times by adding one day. For example, if your rental time was 11 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes and 44 seconds you will today have 12 days rental time. Another example: if your rental time was 4 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes and 56 seconds, your rental time today will be 5 days.

If you choose to continue your exhibition at the SLACC, you will receive 14 days rent for free. For example, if you have 12 days rent left, you will as of today will have 26 days rent left.

If you choose to leave the SLACC, you will be refunded those days. So if you rent a gallery at 150 L$ per week and have 12 days rent left, you will receive 150/7*12= 257 L$ refunded.

If you have questions, remarks, praise or complaints, IM or email Mar Dwi (mardwi@gmail.com) or Amythe Moonlight.

Yours sincerely,

Mar Dwi