Convivial Pursuit

You will still be here tomorrow, Though your dreams may not.

    Cat Stevens

           Back in the golden age of SL, there were so many Italian sims it would take you months to visit them all; an immensely varied galaxy of  nostalgia and extravagant architecture, vibrant communities packed with dance and drama, passion, imprecision, and boundless enthusiasm. Many of those luminous points have gone out, while those that survive cluster together for company, almost orbiting in systems, let us say solar systems, like sim Solaris, which is home to Arte Libera, Pyramid Cafe, as well as the Torno Kohime Foundation, or to put it another way Tanalois, run by  run by Aloisio Congrejo and Tani Thor.             

           Pol Jarvinen is there now, with a new show, Chasing Butterflies. No running around with delicate nets though. At first glance, you might mistake the build for a sort of zoo, or aviary. There are painted pine livestock cages at the entrance, the kind of thing they used fifty years ago when it was still okay to scoop animals out of their habitat and drag them off to some civilized country to be stared at. But these boxes don't contain lemurs or parrots. They have butterflies in them; ghostly, enormous and (thanks to the alpha bug) not entirely inside the boxes, either. Spooky.

pan european

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it

W Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I:I

Q: What's worse than having no internet connection?
A: Having partial, slow, and intermittent connection. Give me the apple-worm any day.

That being said...

Ever wondered what French people really eat? You may have always imagined that in the privacy of their homes, they dine in candlelight, possibly a deferential sommelier in the corner, a selection of wines and cheeses on the dressoir. Pâté in a venerable terrine. Possibly a fig or two.

I know I have.

So when I spotted the ad for 'You are what you eat' a photography show on the French sim A&D, I just had to go see. The photographs are by Antoine Lancaster and they represent a photo diary of his meals from the first of January to December 31 2001 a period in which Antoine was going through some stressful challenges with his new job, rushing about all over France and sometimes on trips abroad, or back in his home in Paris dealing with important business-type stuff. Taking the pictures was a sort of therapy, a bit of controllable fun in a chaotic time in his life. Yes, a year's worth of meals on planes, trains, in hotels, in restaurants of various culinary denominations, at home, at table, in front of the TV. In his note, Antoine dubs the collection a "portrait. Even though you can't see me, you can still learn a lot about me by watching these pictures." The exhibition, ably curated by Arkady Shatzkin, is arranged on 12 floors with smoked-glass walls - très chic but hard to photograph through - each floor corresponding to a month's worth of meals. You begin in January at the top of a pleasingly utilitarian skyscraper and work your way down to the carb-heavy festive season. Take the spiral ramp or TP from floor to floor. As usual I preferred to walk. There are some 1500 pictures here, touch each 'frame' to see all the pictures for that particular day or repast.

Never in the field of human consumption has so much food of such awful appearance been so thoroughly photographed. Not every platter, of course, there are some appetizing veggies and the odd cake or two that looked delicious. But the fun part is the bad part. Walking past some of these photos is like observing a terrible accident, complete with road kill, you want to look away but you just can't as your eyes try to make sense of the disaster unfolding before them.

Some of it is all too recognizable, though I had forgotten about airline food - remember when they used to feed you on planes? - but it is the restaurant food that genuinely floors. A few dishes look like extras from a sci fi film, others merely a mad mashup. Some simply defy belief that anyone would put themselves around the outside of them, willingly and for a fee. There are crimes against pasta here, serious crimes. The notecard says the exhibit can be visited in a number of ways, like looking for 'foreign' food like sushi, or guessing where Antoine might have been at a given mealtime (the times given are all European Central Time, which can be a clue when you look at the hour and the type of meal being consumed) and people with eating disorders might also be helped by seeing the show. I entirely agree.

Pick up a freebie shirt at the exit, or perhaps one of the platters so took your fancy that you'd like a framed copy - these too are available for purchase. If you do please IM me and let me know which dish - see, now I'm getting food obsessed. But in a low-fat-low-carb cholesterol free way so that's OK.

"You are what you eat" on sim A&D is a fun and refreshingly frank piece of RL in SL. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scratch your head and possibly throw up, but you have to visit. Don't forget to leave a tip.

Also in the news, I caught a wonderful band playing in SL under the auspices of the great Votslav Hax. They were on at Apfelland Airport 3. I hadn't been over to Apfelland since my newbie camping days, it was nice to be back, and the combination of English italian and german was a lot of fun. The band broadcast on Radio Apfelland and since I can't possibly beat Vot's prose about Krisalide, here, in verbatim, is the group notice:

"Krisalide Jazz Trio is a new hot group, formed by pianist Adelchi Rossini, drummer Kristine Lowey and bassist Alduccio Barbosa. They play a mix of jazz and blues standards, bossa and samba with a spice of modern songs revisited in jazz. They live and play in Rome, and are close friends in RL. Kristine is also an SL pirate from long ago, Adelchi is also a SL film director, and Alduccio is only a bassist. (lol) "

Join Symbiotic to keep track of this band and the many other brilliant artists in the group.

In questi giorni si tiene una mostra fotografica molto simpatica sul sim francese A&D e sono passata per vedere di che si trattava, dal nome "Siamo quel che mangiamo" mi intrigava moltissimo. Cosa mangiano i francesi? Sì può imparare qualcosa sui i nosti confratelli europei osservando come si nutrano? Come si fa a fotografare la prima colazione? Questa e altre domande mi hanno spinto a teleportare sul tetto del palazzetto di vetro per vedere la mostra curata da Arkady Shatzkin. Si svolge su dodici piani corrispondendo ai dodici mesi dell'anno 2001 in cui Antoine Lancaster ha fotografato ogni pasto consumato. Per Antoine, e' stato un modo per rilassarsi e divertirsi durante un anno 'di fuoco' nel quale ha avviato una nuova impresa. Viaggi in aereo, in treno, in macchina in tutta la Francia e anche all'estero, e ogni volta che vi si trovava davanti a lui un piatto, scattava una foto. In poco tempo si creo' un foto-diario gastronomico. Nel metaverso dove mangiare è uno strano rito una scelta mai una necessità, queste foto fanno ancor più effetto. Io invece sono stata colpita dalla varietà dei piatti - devo dire per la gran parte poco appetitosi - e la storia che raccontano ciascuno di loro. Non so se compatire Antoine o applaudire il suo corraggio giudicando da alcuni immagini deve avere uno stomaco di ferro. Insomma qui niente haute cuisine, ma i cibi quotidiani di un uomno d'affari. Giudicherai tu se conviene accettare un invito a cena a casa sua... e sì, quei nella foto, quello sarebbe un piatto di spaghetti.Essendomi del tutto passato l'appetito, mi sono recata ad un concerto. Il bravissimo Votslav Hax tramite un notice il gruppo Symbiotic ci ha segnalato l'esibizione sul sim tedesco Apfelland Airport 3 luogo di concerti regolari di ogni genere.
Krisalide Jazz è un gruppo nuovo nel metaverso composto da tre bravissimi musicisti: il pianista Adelchi Rossini, Kristine Lowey, suona il sassofono e anche la batteria, e il bassista Alduccio Barbosa. Abitano tutti a Roma, è stata Kristine ad interessare gli altri due, già amici di vecchia data, di suonare in SL. Suonano canzoni italiani, assieme a standard del jazz e blues. Alelchi è anche regista di machimima, mentre Kristine è pirata virtuale. Hanno suonato la loro musica tramite Radio Apfelland - la buona musica non conosce frontiere ne limiti d'idioma, ed è stato bellissimo passare un'ora insieme ad un gruppo davvero internazionale. Per seguire questo gruppo, e gli altri bravi artisti vale davvero la pena associarsi al gruppo Symbiotic. Chissà forse ci vedremo al prossimo concerto!

Day and Night

Two things to tell you about, one the Rasmuson Foundation just had their big Day - the prize-giving ceremony over at the University of Alaska Fairbanks sim. Go check out the beauty and diversity of the pictures on display, and if you'd like to see the real life artists, and photos from the cerimony, they are at Flickr.
Friend of ArtsParks Cybergrrl Oh built the gallery, as she says, "First as a 'building' - but then I cut loose! When in SL do as your imagination, not the confines of reality, dictates - this is often where galleries fall short. I do want to do more with 3-D, too, but didn't want to over-complicate things at this early stage." Iconolith Taggart also gets much credit for how good the gallery looks; the picture (courtesy of Rasmuson Foundation) gives only a hint of the loveliness. The display is perfect for flying out with your cam and getting the full effect of the art. CG has been working with the Rasmuson Foundation on internet strategy for some time, it's one of many RL organizations getting in on the virtual act, including the MacArthur Foundation which has begun offering grants for virtual world exploration.

Also of note, Lisa Gibbs of the lovely Van Gogh sim told me about their new initiative Tracing Vincent, a web-community and resource about Vincent van Gogh where you can share your thoughts and opinions, rate his paintings and learn more about his life and art, an excellent site to put you in the mood to TP over to Virtual Starry Night .



Due cose da raccontarvi oggi: festa alla sim della University of Alaska Fairbanks per i vincitori dei premi fondazione Rasmuson per l'arte in Alaska. L'arte è bella e molto diversa, e se vuoi vedere i vincitori real, ci sono tutte le immagini a Flickr.
L'ha costruita la galleria l'amica di ArtsParks Cybergrrl Oh : Ha contribuito molto anche Iconolith Taggart per il look della galleria. La disposizione delle immagini invita ad usare la cam per un'effetto panoramico. Cybergrrl lavora con la Rasmuson da circa due anni scoprendo modi in cui l'internet può servire enti non a scopo di lucro: ci sono sempre più fondazioni real che offrono sovvenzioni a favore dell'esplorazione dei mondi virtuali.
Molto interessante anche la notizia che mi ha dato Liza Gibbs della bellissima sim di Van Gogh. Hanno una nuova iniziativa Tracing Vincent un sito web tutto van Gogh. Ci sono informazioni sui quadri e musei, puoi condividere le tue opinioni e idee, votare per il quadro più bello, imparare qualcosa sulla vita del pittore, è un'ottima risorsa che ti farà tornare la voglia di visitare Virtual Starry Night.

Art and Sasun Steinbeck

I had an *ahem* Personal Avatar Problem (you'll have to IM me for the embarassing details) and TP'd over to Help Island Public last week to get it sorted, and somehow in the cloud of newbies asking 'how do I fly?' I ended up in a quiet corner - surrounded by ART! Fabulous, diverse and fascinating. Go down there and check it out!
The brains behind it? Highly slskilled Sasun Steinbeck! I caught up with her and asked - why art in SL?

Sasun: SL is full of amazing examples of creative expression: the fashion, the architecture, the gadgets and the sim builds that surround us. SL gives artists unique exposure to a new public, different palettes and modes of expression. 3D tools and scripting makes artistic expression available to everyone. I think art gives people in SL something deeper and more meaningful to spend time enjoying with their friends. Art is community, binding together creative people who want to share their artistic expression.
Sasun told me she's the 'world's laziest artist' (nah! go check out her Morphing Sculpture) but it's vital we help more artists understand and explore the medium of the virtual world. For this reason she developed a set of Gallery-tour HUDs that is available on Help Island. It's a wonder of technical and community skills an essential aid to visiting galleries all over the grid. Click here to see her art blog.

All galleries in her Kiosk.net system are included in a constantly updated database - so if you have a gallery, you should join! The HUD has many features, my fave is the "Tour Bus". When enabled, a new gallery location pops up every 5 minutes. The fun thing is that everyone else wearing the HUD has the SAME location pop up at the same time, so it becomes sort of a spontaneous group tour. The names of your fellow "bus riders" are listed above your HUD - what a great way to make new friends!

ArtsParks promotes literary parks to authors: I asked, Who would Sasun Steinbeck like to see represented? Why, John Steinbeck of course! She loves his books ... maybe her next project will be a park in his honor... who would you choose?

Avevo un *problemino* con mio avatar l'altro giorno - no, non te lo dico - e sono passata a Help Island Public per risolverlo, e non so come in mezzo a tanta gente che voleva sapere come si fa a volare ho trovato un angolo tranquillo pieno di...ARTE! Favolosa, diversa, bellissima. Vai anche tu a vederla!

Chi l'ha organizzato? La splendida Sasun Steinbeck! Le ho chiesto: perché l'arte in SL?

Sasun: SL è piena di espressioni artistici straordinari: la moda l'architettura i congegni che adoperiamo le land che visitiamo. Offre nuovi incontri tra artisti e il pubblico, nuove tavolozze, nuovi modi di fare arte. Credo che l'arte ci dà qualcosa di più significativo di fare assieme agli amici. Arte è anche comunità: chi vuole può condividere la sua creatività con tutti.

Sasun si autodefinisce 'l'artista più pigra del mondo' (non è vero, vai a vedere la sua Morphing Sculpture) ma vuole aiutare altri artisti a capire ed esplorare le possibilità del metaverso. Per questo motivo ha creato un HUD per le gallerie d'arte di SL, disponibile su Help Island. Si tratta di un attrezzo geniale che permette un'approfondita conoscenza dell'arte virtuale. Clicca qui per vedere il suo blog.

Tutte le gallerie aderenti al suo sistema Kiosk.net saranno inclusi nel HUD, quindi se hai una mostra d'arte, converrebbe unirti al suo gruppo! Il HUD ha varie funzionalità, la mia preferita è il "Tour Bus". Attivato, i coordinati di una nuova galleria appaiono ogni 5 minuti. Il bello è che tutti coloro che hanno il HUD attivato ricevono gli stessi coordinati allo stesso tempo, diventando una specie di gita organizzata. I nomi dei tuoi compagni di viaggio appariranno sullo schermo - che bel modo di fare nuove amicizie! ArtsParks pruomuove anche i parchi letterari. Ho chiesto a Sasun Steinbeck quale autore vorrebbe vedere rappresentato qui in SL; ha risposto ... John Steinbeck, naturalmente! Ama tutti i suoi libri ...chissà, forse Sasun farà un parco al suo onore... e tu, chi sceglieresti?