Contesting Science, Artfully

    The next time she has a big idea like this, Marjorie Fargis has asked that she be shot - it's been a mammoth project, but looking on from outside SCIEN & ART CONTEST is a journey well worth taking. The idea (and I should throw the name of Talete Flanagan  in at this point, he's a RL physicist and SL Italy's answer to Bill Nye) came from a Science on the Road show they put on some time back called The Year of the Cosmic Rays. From that starting point, they came up with the idea of six interconnected aspects of physics research: they called them Big Bang, Atom, Cosmic Rays, String Theory, Electricity,  and Nano-technologies. Artists were invited to submit pieces that illustrated these fascinating fields, now on show in six different locations across SL.

My first stop was  UWA Winthrop where the Nano-technologies bit is on show.  Kolor Fall  has built a meditation on the rust of mortality - or is that the (im)mortality of rust? - and if you click on the glass top you can pose among the particles, lying down inside the coffin while drinking in his short, deep poem. Click on the pic to enlarge.  "We're all pools of light," Kolor commented. It's just that he's the only one that looks like a pool of light. Filthy has executed a neat bit of nano-vation by texturing a cube with one of his paintings and calling it Embracing sixfold and Betty Tureaud (may her hens never cease pecking!) gave me the lowdown on her lovely entry.

Betty Tureaud: I am interested in the danger of nanoparticles.
Thirza Ember: But your piece looks like floating toys, or Fruit Loops. kinda. It's very pretty.
Betty Tureaud: Nano is pretty - it's cool structures, complicated nature builds the micro cosmos. The nanoworld is beautiful. Take pollen for example.

She handed me a picture of pollen. It was undeniably beautiful.

Thirza Ember: So that's why you chose it for this competition instead of, say, string theory? For the beauty behind the danger?

Betty Tureaud: Yes! yes you got it right :)

There is, of course, a much better and longer notecard that explains in more depth, but you can get that for yourself. Also in the top picture Freewee Ling's piece that looks like a lab. It said Touch but I didn't want to unleash any particles so I refrained, but you touch it and tell me about it, when you visit UWA .

Don't stop there - five other galleries host the rest of the competing works, and they are all delightful in their own different ways. At the Spanish-language Biosfera 3 the Open Science Project, you'll find interpretations of the Big Bang.

 I really liked Loki Glas' piece, and look forward to going back to see artwork by Igor Ballyhoo and Selavy Oh which hadn't yet been put down. At CWS Isand there's a sort of Stonehenge where you'll find the Cosmic Rays entries. Maryva's is the prettiest (seen in the foreground, with Merlino Mayo and shellina Winkler in the background) but all are thoughtful and highly individual and well worth the time it takes to rez.

There are over fifty artists on show, I can't possibly do them all justice, but here are a few more standouts. Among the String Theory at the USMP which is a Peruvian University - howzat for exotic - there is Gleman Jun's Einstein-inspired cello player (it looks like Kolor gone green to me), and Wizzy's string thing, shown here.

Then these two gorgeous and amazingly different takes on the idea, first, this one by Abstract Baroque

... and an unnamed piece all in white by Mila Tatham, I think it should win, it elegantly portrays string theory 'explaining everything' from love to the planets. Wonderful - look in the Italian bit for the photo of it. 

No pictures of mine are going to do any of this justice, so make sure you TP to all the destinations, you can find notecards, LMs and all that jazz if you go to Second Physics HQ . Oh, and the Electric section of the show is here too. I could go on, about the Atomic Art, at the Alpine Executive Center (pol Jarvinen is a standout over there) and all the rest, there's masses to delight and inform in this exhibition - but your own adventure will be more fun.

 The show is on for about two weeks, then there'll be the prizewinning and jury-bating, and notecard passing, all the usual fun. Hats off to the organizers and galleristas, including JJ Zifanwy, Mark Helendale, Maximo Eames, Noke Yazuka, Sunset Quinell and Mexi Lane, but especially toTalete and Marjorie for giving us so much art for thought.

Inaugurata oggi, Scien & Art è un concorso dedicata alla Fisica di Talete Flanagan  e Marjorie Fargis.  Cincuanta artisti hanno partecipato a questa prima edizione, che vuole unire due grandi discipline, arte e scienza. Il concorso si divide in sei categorie, Atomo, Big Bang, Raggi Cosmici, Elettricità, Nanotecnologie e Stringhe.
Marjorie Fargis: E' nato tutto da un evento, l'anno dei raggi cosmici. Volevamo festeggiarlo in qualche modo, e da quel tema si sono sviluppati tutti gli altri - infatti le 6 categorie si collegano.

Si parte dalla sede principale di  Second Physics  e il percorso ci porta in cinque land diverse, dalla peruviana USMP dove troverai le opere ispirata alla teorie delle stringhe. C'è l'opera di Wizard Gynoid - sotto c'è un prim con alcune foto-ricordi - una dice 'I wish I could speak Italian'... davvero carina. Questa scultura nella foto invece è opera di Mila Tatham, stupenda, come quella di Abstract Baroque visibile nella parte inglese.

Alla land di MarkWD Helendale, CWS Isand, gli artisti si esprimono attraverso la loro creatività dando vita alla loro visione dei raggi cosmici, il luogo si addice all'argomento, è Stonehenge. Dalla pianura di Salisbury, alle montagne: quelle del Alpine Executive Center. La materia qui è l'Atomo, e poi si passa al stupendo sim spagnolo di Biosfera 3 dove sono esposte molte belle opere come quella di Loki Glas, e gli avatar-statue di  MosMax Hax -all'inizio della parte italiana.

L'ultima tappa, l'UWA dove sono in gara le nanologie fantasticate da alcuni artisti di rielievo quale Filthy Fluno, e Kolor Fall. Kolor ha scritto anche una poesia che accompagna la sua 'nano bara'... cliccare per entrarci, se hai il coraggio.. essendo un po' malinconica e amante della poesia, ecco una foto. Ma non è affatto tutta ruggine e mortalità, i nano sono belli, importanti, forti e essenziali alla vita e l'evoluzione del cosmo: e infine la stupenda opera di Betty Tureaud, una delle artiste più talentuose di tutta Second Life.

Non mancare a questo divertente appuntamento con l'arte e la scienza, un'avventura attraverso la conoscenza e l'estro artistico dei nostri cari amici!