tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25279919835874705382024-03-13T16:33:10.928-07:00SL® ArtsParksThirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.comBlogger281125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-3597272725355576442015-05-07T15:58:00.003-07:002023-05-31T08:16:03.430-07:00Saving Grace<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">A few minutes in the Lollygagger quarter, where art is flowing.</span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">The banning thing is like Betty's boxes. Bright and eye-catching, but after a while, it's all the same thing in a slightly different hue, you know what you're going to get.</span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Second Life is just as full of slightly sad characters as ever, and just as full of intelligent souls too.</span><br />
<a href="http://gyazo.com/6d9f22c8734f6dbade7277dd9f47e080"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><img src="http://i.gyazo.com/6d9f22c8734f6dbade7277dd9f47e080.gif" /></span></a><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">We had a little light show, to lift the soul. </span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">More than we deserved maybe, for our benefactor was limited to a few square feet of roof tile.<span><a name='more'></a></span></span><br />
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<span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">Some people get banned and turn that into a bitter meanness, some take it as a challenge, and turn it into colors, and show up when they are needed. That is SaveMe's grace.</span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">What a refreshing, amazing, re-energizing display.</span><br />
<a href="http://gyazo.com/463cee8d1d870e9777e151bbc64ae3e0"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><img src="http://i.gyazo.com/463cee8d1d870e9777e151bbc64ae3e0.gif" /></span></a><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">There's a lot of truth in what they say about quality concepts not being easy to come by. True amazing art is a rarity. Sometimes the people behind crappy art have dreadful difficulties they are facing. horrible then to mess up their 15 minutes of fame. Right? </span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">So where does one draw the line when it comes to liking or not liking? If art is about expressing yourself...</span><br />
<a href="http://gyazo.com/f57b606790c2be0cafa3ee3787a55439"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><img src="http://i.gyazo.com/f57b606790c2be0cafa3ee3787a55439.gif" /></span></a><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">... but then isn't art appreciation about the same thing? Much better to go with the flow, perhaps. To seek out new art and new civilizations, to boldly go...</span><br />
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Artwork by Saveme Oh.</span>Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-46288987045573595922014-09-07T08:58:00.003-07:002023-05-31T08:16:19.270-07:00One Man's Odyssey If you trap lightning in a bottle, is it still lightning? <b>Man Michinaga</b> would probably say no. The academic and artist <b>Patrick Lichty</b> has been researching and making art in virtual reality for over twenty years now, and is probably best known in SL for his work with the Odyssey group. They use the sim to put on performances, like this one, <i>Dido's Lament</i> but the region risks extinction later this year through lack of funding - they're paying the Lindens a whopping three hundred bucks a MONTH to stay open! (how can that make any sense when you can get a Zetamex hypergrid enabled region for three bucks? *shakes head*) Anyway, Patrick's entry to SL is an interesting and erudite variant on the common theme.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CRRfN1Y6srQ/U8twT1KOOyI/AAAAAAAAIAw/bPz2gZquFJA/s1600/man%2Bmichinaga%2Bphotos_009.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CRRfN1Y6srQ/U8twT1KOOyI/AAAAAAAAIAw/bPz2gZquFJA/s1600/man%2Bmichinaga%2Bphotos_009.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Teleported rubberneckers</td></tr></tbody></table>
<b>Patrick Lichty: </b>About 9 of us were interested in doing performance art in Second Life based on what <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramovi%C4%87" target="_blank">Marina Abramovic</a></b> did in 2005 with her <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJIVCZ8H0M0" target="_blank">Seven Easy Pieces</a></b> decontextualization of performance art into the<b><a href="http://pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org/abramovic/" target="_blank"> Guggenheim</a></b>, and then our friends'<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_and_Franco_Mattes" target="_blank"> Eva and Franco Mattes</a></b>' further decontextualization of performance by taking the flesh and blood out of it in their<b><a href="http://0100101110101101.org/synthetic-performances/" target="_blank"> Synthetic Performances in 2006</a></b>. Around then, J<b>eremy Turner</b>, <b>Doug Jarvis</b>, <b>Scott Kildall</b>, <b>Liz Solo</b> and I though all of this was a bit absurd and we formed <b><a href="http://www.secondfront.org/" target="_blank">Second Front </a></b>as I was building The BitFactory, an art center that gave rise to Odyssey.<span><a name='more'></a></span> We thought that from our previous work, this seemed like Dada performance, so let's explore the absurdity of the whole thing a bit. Jeremy also convinced me that 27,000 early adopters online at any one time was a solid audience, although a lot of my work had been anti-capitalist, and I had misgivings about SL's economic underpinnings. So, instead of just trying to restage performances here, we wanted to try to, as David Antin would put it, explore the "distinctive features of the medium".<br />
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To watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRXOmLC_mD0" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Synthetic Performance</a> on YouTube in 2014 is a chastening reminder of how, in the intensity of the virtual moment, you could stop noticing the poor animations and cheap appearance of yourself and other avatars back in the day. Is it possible Or to rediscover that level of engagement, after years of SL? Or to get beyond it? The giggling RL audience suggests maybe not. It is always tricky with Performance Art to know if 'not very good' is just a lack of talent/expertise on the part of those producing or performing the work, or if it is meant as a statement; in the case of the camera work on this machinima, I have to go with the former. The serendipity of glitches and improvisation is what makes each piece unique, but unless you subscribe to the Conspiracy of Mediocrity, you'll admit that not everything unique is worth looking at. But it was a long time ago, and must be viewed in the light of the wooden scratchy transmissions of early television, stripped by time of the thunderbolt effect of exciting novelty.<br />
<b>Patrick Lichty: </b>In 2006, logistics were a nightmare - asset server performance was a nightmare, teleports were impossible to cue, and lag was ridiculous, let alone crashing a sim pretty easily. So we relied on process and what John Cage called aleatoric principles, or chance operations. I mean, Mozart did musical experiments with dice. In short, we created a script that was the barest skeleton of a scenario, went on skype off-channel to converse while performing and watch as things often fell apart. We created a lot of "square lakes".<br />
Perhaps you're thinking: Second Front on a par with Mozart seems a bit of an overstatement. Every performer, from a dad reading a bedtime story to his child on up, occasionally has to weave unexpected interruptions into an unrepeatable entertainment. But you know what he means. And that inescapable sensation of retro about Second Front may simply be a way of paring down the externals, even the reference in <i>Dido's Lament </i>to Cicciolina, rather than <a href="http://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/people/2014/notizia/mara-carfagna-ancora-in-carica-sexy_2056660.shtml" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Mara Carfagna</a> who took over as Italy's premiere political bimbo almost a decade ago, may be a nod in the direction of North American general knowledge. Clinging to SL when so many artists have found better or at least second homes in art loving grids like Metropolis or Pgrid may simply be a case of being too busy to see how virtual worlds are opening up, and yet all of this seems to reveal Lichty's ability to get his audience to enter that hall of mirrors that is a meditaion on perception, inviting them to ponder on the layers of meaning inside the phrase 'You just had to be there.'<br />
Synthetic Performance proved a motor for the eventual creation of Second Front, and their performances have been turned into (much better quality) machinima by Lichty, who dismisses them as being made simply for archival purposes, 'derivative' and often 'not following the same plot as the original performance'.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qsIEYYGG2wQ/U8twN1zCo1I/AAAAAAAAIAg/bOUjByE4X8w/s1600/man%2Bmichinaga%2Bphotos_001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qsIEYYGG2wQ/U8twN1zCo1I/AAAAAAAAIAg/bOUjByE4X8w/s1600/man%2Bmichinaga%2Bphotos_001.png" width="640" /></a><br />
They remain, however, a link to the actual event, one that highlights the dichotomy at the heart of the performer. Does the audience matter, or for the purposes of Second Front, is the Happening an end in itself? From the start, that pool of 27k potential watchers was more like a stream of folks trickling through the virtual doors a few at a time, since they are living in different time zones around the world. Second Life has grown, and that reality has remained. A lot of performers use bots or alts of one kind or another in an attempt do reach people no matter when they are online. Is that a strategy Second Front uses?<br />
<b> Patrick Lichty: </b>No. we're all live, every time, and if people don't see it, well. IMO bots aren't a performance; they're an installation. Most of the time we don't even announce our performances. Except when you have a really special event, performing in Second Life has a lot of the tree falling in the forest quality.<br /> That tree in the forest quality has lent Patrick a reputation for being a bit of an SL curiosity. Part of you wonders why he calls himself a sim's nightmare, rather than taking a few seconds to turn his particles down to a more group friendly level, this being the author of <b><a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199826162.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199826162-e-027?rskey=CnBEFA&result=5" target="_blank">Translation of Art in Virtual Worlds</a></b> and the artist whose collection of <a href="http://www.archimuse.com/mw2010/papers/raymond/raymond.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">QR code portraits </a> delighted those of us with smart phones with a glimpse into innovative cross-media representation. People want to come and take a look at him in the flesh, as it were, rather than popping in during a durational art performance, they wanted to say hi, even stand in his car, something he graciously accepted, taking a moment to point out one of Odyssey sim's attractions, the Spindle.<br />
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<b>Patrick Lichty: </b>The actual <b><a href="http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/6557" target="_blank">Spindle</a> </b>was in Berwyn, IL where I used to live, which is why it was in Wayne's World.<br />
<a href="http://www.lizsolo.com/" target="_blank"><b>Liz Solo</b>,</a> long time collaborator and fellow Second Front member, whose mixed reality machinima "The Machine" comes out later this year, has nothing but praise for him as a friend and artist.<br />
<b>Liz Solo:</b> I’ve been working with Patrick since 2007 and look forward to many more years of collaboration. Patrick is unnaturally prolific, a total badass (not really), a shit disturber (like me), and seems to me to be continuously producing. He has introduced me to a kazillion new ideas, artists and techniques. The work we do together is usually spontaneous, timely, responsive and fun, playing with the boundaries of performance art and experimenting as artists. It is an adventure exploring virtual places with Patrick and our compadres in Second Front and other artist collectives.<br />
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And for the future? His exploration of new media and transmedia art shows no sign of slowing down. His track record of residencies, articles, activism, and machinima stands for itself.<br />
<b>Patrick Lichty:</b> I have my solo work, my Second Front work, and the Virtual Fluxus work with SF and Bibbe Hansen.<br />
They are talking about a possible move for Odyssey to <b><a href="http://macgrid.ca/" target="_blank">Macgrid,</a></b> if funding to keep the sim in SL alive does not materialize. There is <b><a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199826162.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199826162-e-027?rskey=CnBEFA&result=5" target="_blank"> Patrick's Oxford handbook now out in print.</a></b> And of course, there will be more performances.<br />
Keep watching. Who knows what will be next. Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-33668419677108386072014-07-21T09:50:00.001-07:002023-05-31T08:16:36.777-07:00Bridge Span<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was a tie dye goodbye.<br />
<b>Four Bridges</b> has been in Second Life since as long as most of us can remember, and sadly today, it is no more. The region offered a home to harmonious ideals, activism, to awareness of real life issues, both social and ecological; many fine builders have worked here, notably <b>Trill Zapatero</b>, and there have been countless ensemble art pieces, expos, poetry events and concerts. So why is it closing? The reasons are the usual ones - time and money. In a good way, really, because Four Bridges founder <b>Millay Freschi</b> is busy getting a Master's degree in RL, and also in a good way because change offers a challenge and new opportunities.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
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That doesn't make it easy to say farewell, though. Even when you have <b>Ultraviolet Alter</b> weaving her usual magical music. And sparkly particles everywhere. That's <b>Apmelina</b> in the stripey yellow dress. She has issues; don't tell her I said so.<br />
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<b>Magique:</b> I've been squatting here for 4 years, it's meant everything. This is my home, going away. I think we went through a life cycle. When we started in 2008 all things were possible and in time we found rough edges, some activists thought it perfectly acceptable to be backstabbing and nasty to other activists. <b>Juni,</b> <b>Medora, Millay, Cotton, </b>and I never found that acceptable. I called their bluff, and the leftist leaders quit SL. This is the end to that era and the beginning of something new and hopeful. SL activism shall never be the same. We are moving on to bigger and better things. RL will be a focus for a while and we might end up back here or on the New Platform, or High Fidelity or OpenSim... lots of possibilities...<br />
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Did you ever wonder, why four? Turns out they're the four core principles behind the project. <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/FourBridgesProject/info" target="_blank">Click here </a></b>to read what they are (and maybe join the group). <b><a href="http://www.fourbridgesproject.org/" target="_blank">The Four Bridges Pproject's websit</a></b>e is a lovely example of how important issues raised in Second Life can be presented to the outside world in a seamless, serious and classy way. For even more information, Millay gives a lovely explanation of her philosophy and her approach to activism and virtual worlds, in this edition of <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzvs2yRUBJw" target="_blank">Talk! with Marie</a></b> back in 2010. She has a nice voice, and some lovely ideas.<br />
<b> </b> Six years in Second Life is a pretty good run, many projects and regions can't boast similar longevity, and<b> Luna Branwen</b> has many fond memories of the place over its lifespan.<br />
<b>Luna Branwen: </b>...reading at Red's, when I was a fair noob, also more recently, spring this year I think, Magique's gathering people to rally for peace. It's a place of spirit and a place of peace but also always high energy with Magique and Medora. There is Cafe Wellstone.. and then there are many meditation places, but Four Bridges.. seems all encompassing.<br />
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By the time we got to the party last night, the poetry bit was over, the music well on its way, and LL had already removed <b>Aurakyo Insoo</b>'s Imagine Nest, here's a photo of it by Medora.<br />
<b>Medora Chevalier: </b>For more than 6 years Four Bridges has brought together people from many continents and creative areas to share their thoughts and inspirations to make the world a better place. Under the leadership of Millay Freschi it has hosted many of SL's leading musicians, artists, poets and campaigners. It has raised issues including peace, the environment, violence against women, social justice, child soldiers, poverty and human rights. None of this will be forgotten and its impact continues to ripple out in virtual and real worlds.<br />
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And on a personal note?<br />
<b>Medora Chevalier:</b> there is a grieving for a loss - for 4B but especially AuraKyo's work which has just disappeared now. But I'm determined to bring people together around these themes. First of all we must remember that 100 years ago "the war to end all wars" broke out- yet wars still rage. Time to for us all to speak up and not be equivocal about some wars being 'good'. Each one makes an enormous shadow on the future.<b> </b><br />
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Whether you're a keen activist or simply sympathetic to the general principles behind 4B, you'll be glad to know that the members of the group will not be stopping their efforts to inform, soothe, delight and enlighten any time soon. Perhaps later today, you can go to hear <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bran/48/86/2" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Jana Kyomoon's 'Moonday' concert</a><b> </b>and on August 4th at <b>Medora Chevalier </b>will be holding a <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Heckroth%201/198/52/21" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">World War I memorial event here </a> at her home on sim Heckroth.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-34867561229719829052014-07-18T04:44:00.002-07:002023-05-31T08:16:53.022-07:00FramedThey may be taking the proverbial, giving her LEA 1. Because nothing could be further from her mind than using just one prim, or even one thousand.<br />
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<b>Wizzy Gynoid:</b> let's just say there are more prims on this sim than you have seen on any sim in Second Life.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
How does she make a place like this? In InWorldz, she put up a 80k structure using a rezzer, but here the 0.7 diameter struts were all lovingly placed by hand. Or so she claims.<br />
<b>Wizzy Gynoid:</b> It's true! I did some calculating obviously.<br />
Obviously. And it's not finished.<br />
<b>Wizzy Gynoid:</b> Still have to do some work on it; I want to install elevators that you can ride up and down, and thru it.<br />
The build is called Ctrl Shift R, better known as Wireframe.<br />
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<b>Wizzy Gynoid:</b> You see the idea is that we are all made of these triangles. It's why i have the triangle tattoo on my own skin.<br />
It's not compulsory to go into Wireframe when you visit the build, but it's fun, and more than that.<br />
<b>Wizzy Gynoid:</b> It's suggestive. It's in the background. It's surrounding you, even as it underlies our virtual reality, until Philip and his whatever they're called... voxels. The idea is that he can solve the latency problems. Which I for one would welcome, as long as it is free to play.<br />
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Interestingly, Wireframe doesn't really work with Ultra graphics settings, which is what I usually walk around in. And lag is something I rarely experience, even in Ultra, with the draw distance set to 1000, as in these pictures. But of course, as Wizzy pointed out, there weren't 100 avatars present, as there will be on the day of her opening party.<br />
But that raises an interesting question. Well, maybe two, but my laptop is none of your business. The second question, what really causes lag, is more interesting. It's not entirely prims that cause lag. It's people. People who have their sim full of timer scripts, not Art wearers. Folks who don't restart their regions often enough. Idiots with overblown particles coming off their bodies. People who put a script in every prim of a 120 prim hair, for example, because they are terrified if it is Mod you're going to steal it, when anybody so inclined could just bot the thing and be done with it. Or, do what I did for open sim, take the time to construct something very similar, in which case, the hair creator lost out on the cash I was willing to pay to get a full perm copy, and (after 17 trial versions) I gained a heck of a lot of building and texturing experience.<br />
Ctrl Shift R stands out in the LEA landscape like a cloud billowing above the LEA performance space, which is reminiscent of a tin foil hat to keep out the alien radio waves. Don't let them know what you're thinking!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aGi6S5F4zkc/U8kDA6o2TMI/AAAAAAAAIAA/fX9wYMA1PQU/s1600/wizzy_012.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aGi6S5F4zkc/U8kDA6o2TMI/AAAAAAAAIAA/fX9wYMA1PQU/s1600/wizzy_012.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Wireframe is fun, but the dance floor is best seen in normal view -it's in the heart of the building. Shockingly there was no meeroo barbecue on display. How come?<br />
<b>Wizzy Gynoid:</b> they take up too many prims.<br />
Fair enough.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ji-ZEz_CruI/U8kCac0CKPI/AAAAAAAAH_g/1_oj6UL2l70/s1600/wizzy_009.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ji-ZEz_CruI/U8kCac0CKPI/AAAAAAAAH_g/1_oj6UL2l70/s1600/wizzy_009.png" width="640" /></a>Ctrl Shift R opens on<b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA1/219/162/34" target="_blank"> LEA1</a></b> whenever Wizzy's ready.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-589773866849599382014-07-04T03:51:00.003-07:002023-05-31T08:17:13.475-07:00Adieu Le Cactus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zNMx1B8DdOg/U7Zsoe5tYCI/AAAAAAAAH0s/3QPHmBkVA5Y/s1600/cactus+goodbye_003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zNMx1B8DdOg/U7Zsoe5tYCI/AAAAAAAAH0s/3QPHmBkVA5Y/s1600/cactus+goodbye_003.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Dense. That's what it was. That's what I was, too, come to think about it, for not going back more often, for not reading all the material. Because there's always so much in a Maya Paris build.<br />
Last night was the last night of Le Cactus on SBCC after an outstanding 2 years on the sim; this morning, there's just mist and Art Blue, still falling over dead drunk on a sky platform. But last night... <b>Maya</b> and <b>Simotron Aquila</b> (shown above) were dancing when we arrived, and together with Art Blue, cautious about putting on any attachments that might mess up his hair or teeth (teeth? he has attached teeth?) we were a group of five.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xj_xXDICWBg/U7ZqgEvokYI/AAAAAAAAHzo/ig0iN5PWFeI/s1600/cactus+goodbye_016.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xj_xXDICWBg/U7ZqgEvokYI/AAAAAAAAHzo/ig0iN5PWFeI/s1600/cactus+goodbye_016.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span><a name='more'></a></span>A few IMs soon put an end to that. Without exception, everyone contacted zoomed over - the words 'Maya Paris' were enough. The build was born to be a rollicking hullabaloo, and that's just how it was as one by one friends arrived, put on a record, and went bananas.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOsn9QanQP8/U7ZqsM4PJrI/AAAAAAAAHzw/0S1YDyCbBKU/s1600/cactus+goodbye_038.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOsn9QanQP8/U7ZqsM4PJrI/AAAAAAAAHzw/0S1YDyCbBKU/s1600/cactus+goodbye_038.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Around the black vinyl dance floor were ranged a number of platforms and perches, where you could be swept up in crazy dances and particles. Among the party-goers were art wearers, like <b>Eupalinos Ugajin</b> who look his elephant for a ride on the Banana wheel....<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O8NiaUPmHOk/U7Zq9y4zRdI/AAAAAAAAH0I/JbCSJqyOpLs/s1600/cactus+goodbye_035.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O8NiaUPmHOk/U7Zq9y4zRdI/AAAAAAAAH0I/JbCSJqyOpLs/s1600/cactus+goodbye_035.png" width="640" /></a>and showed us his dinosaur...</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ixbyfeby48/U7Zq_vlF94I/AAAAAAAAH0U/M3FTidVlMx4/s1600/cactus+goodbye_079.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ixbyfeby48/U7Zq_vlF94I/AAAAAAAAH0U/M3FTidVlMx4/s1600/cactus+goodbye_079.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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...and <b>Kikas Babenco</b>, who brought a window onto the record stand</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OyaWfN4dyv8/U7ZqvdRL_7I/AAAAAAAAHz4/q08q7ZGjr5w/s1600/cactus+goodbye_052.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OyaWfN4dyv8/U7ZqvdRL_7I/AAAAAAAAHz4/q08q7ZGjr5w/s1600/cactus+goodbye_052.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In this whirling wonderland, perhaps none of us took the time to check out the HUD and watch the two fascinating documentaries on YouTube, one about <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps7m7bUHq2E" target="_blank">Josephine Baker</a> </b>and one about<b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e7ye-fiJA" target="_blank">Valaida Snow</a> </b>the two remarkable women who inspired, in part, this build. One must say 'in part', because this is a series of surreal moves that those two fantastic ladies might have loved, but surely could never have imagined. It takes a powerful leaping creativity to reach these heights, these curves, these fancies. In this Maya is surely unmatched in any art milieu for her eye for detail, and the multiple levels on which her work can be enjoyed.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ-legOm56g/U7ZqcOizW-I/AAAAAAAAHzg/JJYky60k-Jg/s1600/cactus+goodbye_029.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UQ-legOm56g/U7ZqcOizW-I/AAAAAAAAHzg/JJYky60k-Jg/s1600/cactus+goodbye_029.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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In the cold light of this morning, I returned to find that yes, Le Cactus was no more, and only <b>Art Blue</b> continued to wobble and wheel on the bare sky platform. Watching the two documentaries was like reading a book about a place where you went on holiday, or in a dream. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eCDlgpRPmys/U7Z0GTCHPKI/AAAAAAAAH1E/GntB-68_3Qk/s1600/cactus+gbye_001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eCDlgpRPmys/U7Z0GTCHPKI/AAAAAAAAH1E/GntB-68_3Qk/s1600/cactus+gbye_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Suddenly it all makes more sense, and your memories are enriched by getting a bit of the backstory. But on the night, on this last night of Le Cactus, Maya's genius was all color and movement and light. Her depths are like the ocean, we sail gleefully across the glinting surface that would not be there, were it not for the dark waters below.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tep-O2siO7w/U7Zq5F3VwMI/AAAAAAAAH0A/aP7_vvYM1Us/s1600/cactus+goodbye_058.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tep-O2siO7w/U7Zq5F3VwMI/AAAAAAAAH0A/aP7_vvYM1Us/s1600/cactus+goodbye_058.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-44726498266114569682014-06-30T07:22:00.002-07:002016-11-14T04:34:54.829-08:00The Big Country<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The bleak splendors of these remote and lonely forests rather overwhelmed him with the sense of his own littleness. That stern quality of the tangled backwoods which can only be described as merciless and terrible, rose out of these far blue woods swimming upon the horizon, and revealed itself. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: right; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Algernon Blackwood, <i>The Wendigo</i></span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMU9G7VYnPs/U7FwNmX_ewI/AAAAAAAAHws/GzE_XiSUvd0/s1600/SNAG02+Jun.+12+18.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="378" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMU9G7VYnPs/U7FwNmX_ewI/AAAAAAAAHws/GzE_XiSUvd0/s1600/SNAG02+Jun.+12+18.01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; text-indent: 1em;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In the middle years of the 1800's, Europe was revolting. Tired of the old autocratic regimes, sick of an expensive, drama-filled existence where new technology threatened their way of life, many dreamed of a life with more freedom, aut</span>onomy, and the chance to make a place of their own. As the Old World lurched from one paroxysm of uncertainty to the next, many wondered: is there a better way?</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBu0rOeupQ8/U7Fk5WXiUOI/AAAAAAAAHvs/S70JBsD6_qU/s1600/1001+nights_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BBu0rOeupQ8/U7Fk5WXiUOI/AAAAAAAAHvs/S70JBsD6_qU/s1600/1001+nights_002.png" width="640" /></a></div>
To leave home, however crowded and drama-filled it may be, is not easy. It takes courage to face the unknown, get rid of your stuff, leave behind the comfort of familiar surroundings. You have to be willing to adapt to new customs and circumstances, which may be good for the soul, but can be hard on those with a weaker constitution.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GBvDIANtSIo/U7Fk8MxbgDI/AAAAAAAAHv0/iDTir5tN3HE/s1600/Cuteulala+Park+ride_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GBvDIANtSIo/U7Fk8MxbgDI/AAAAAAAAHv0/iDTir5tN3HE/s1600/Cuteulala+Park+ride_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
And on the other side of the Atlantic, things weren't all only sweetness and light. The New World experience in Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit may be a caricature, but plenty of people made the trip, didn't like what they found, and returned to the devil they knew.<br />
But many stayed, and pushed beyond the cities by the sea and went further West, out into the big wild empty places, not quite empty, inhabited but sparsely, where what you had was mostly what you made yourself, or shared with neighbors. The path less traveled can be rough going; self determination has its price, but also levels of satisfaction with which no amount of soft living or online shopping can compare.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bv-6cnZ1VOY/U7FkrsQeHjI/AAAAAAAAHvc/aGfH-tf3YYY/s1600/hgsafari+week+4_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bv-6cnZ1VOY/U7FkrsQeHjI/AAAAAAAAHvc/aGfH-tf3YYY/s1600/hgsafari+week+4_006.png" width="640" /></a></div>
The expression 'open sim' means different things to different people. Some think of a standalone region, a sim on a stick, a boring private playground on your home computer. Others use it to mean any grid that rivals Second Life. Still others think it is the name of a specific grid, InWorldz, or ReactionGrid, or (more logically, but still wrongly) OSGrid. To those who have not been there much, or have not been there in a long while, 'open sim' means: no quality content, a lot of bugs, stability issues, and no people.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CK3ygneyXE4/U7FmQgr_RVI/AAAAAAAAHwA/6wDmlMaIBc0/s1600/jay's+disco+friday+night_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CK3ygneyXE4/U7FmQgr_RVI/AAAAAAAAHwA/6wDmlMaIBc0/s1600/jay's+disco+friday+night_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Things have changed. It's not your grandfather's open sim any more. For example, JayR Cela's recent post on the subject reveals he knows as much about open sim as he does about the correct use of apostrophes. It is not a place standing still, far from it. Jumping from grid to grid, occasionally one comes across a region frozen in time, just as you do in SL, but on the whole it is a community project, moving ahead on the strength of imaginative believers committed to improving their chosen art form.<br />
And if you were wondering, all these pictures were taken in open sim.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jWyMPfgemMk/U7FoFEgKVsI/AAAAAAAAHwM/dnwd3FkL9PE/s1600/fg+le+village+building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jWyMPfgemMk/U7FoFEgKVsI/AAAAAAAAHwM/dnwd3FkL9PE/s1600/fg+le+village+building.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Open Sim is an archipelago of independent grids, not a monolithic corporation. There are more than 300 known worlds out there; I personally have visited 86. Each grid is as different and varied in character and appearance as the Louisiana swamps are different to the Cascade Mountains. Some are commercial, like Kitely or German Grid.<br />
Most don't use money except perhaps to pay rent, at a fraction of the cost of Second Life. Most people are there because they like to build, and they 'sell' their creations without charge. The idea is that you will find something you're good at, and donate that to the common good too.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qb7keW-2m4Q/Tn7F6va147I/AAAAAAAAEWQ/7DhTtfxTmno/s1600/venice_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qb7keW-2m4Q/Tn7F6va147I/AAAAAAAAEWQ/7DhTtfxTmno/s1600/venice_005.png" width="640" /></a></div>
In the past two years, the quantity and quality of open sim content has gone through the roof, and while it doesn't have the same 'Search' feature we rely on in SL, there are plenty of people writing blogs who can point you toward shops and showrooms and interesting builds, for example <a href="http://virtualchristine.com/" target="_blank"><b>Virtual Christine</b></a>, <a href="http://minethere.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>Minethere</b></a>, and the <b><a href="http://the-hyperzette.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Hyperzette</a></b>. And every grid has several teleport 'stations' which will take you to the goodies in a single leap.<br />
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You need a completely different mindset for this place. If you're into gossip and poker and preying on naive women, you may get bored. If you want to create, it is paradise. If you can't live without constant fawning praise, you'd die here.<br />
The natives are friendly but cautious - many have been burned by SL and the wannabe crowd. The snob factor won't cut it here; don't look for committees or vendettas. The lack of commercial imperative means there is less drive to outdo other fashion houses, so if you're life's goal is to be runner-up in next year's Miss Uruguay competition, this is not the place for you, but for your average freak or geek, there's more than enough choice.<br />
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With the latest version of the open sim software, variable size regions, improved physics and many other features have come online. Not all grids use the same version; there are no rules out here about that. Grids vary in size; they may be just a few sims, rather like a farmstead on the prairie, like Jamland or Miki Kiti Tiki, or they may be Great Grids like Metropolis, Craft, Francogrid, Kitely, and the greatest of all, OSGrid. <br />
Each has its own flavor, credo, level of reliability and respectability. Some are Dodge City, some are New Harmony. Depending on your smarts and people skills you can be as lonely or as busy as you want. Just like Second Life.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t65wiAuv3lw/U7FrhqN4C1I/AAAAAAAAHwg/XZr82cjYt5Y/s1600/hg+marathon+ignis+fatuus_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t65wiAuv3lw/U7FrhqN4C1I/AAAAAAAAHwg/XZr82cjYt5Y/s1600/hg+marathon+ignis+fatuus_001.png" width="640" /></a></div>
The 'real' Open Sim is perhaps the 150 or more hypergrid enabled worlds. You can log on in one world and visit many others, picking up content, networking with new friends, visiting builds or going to concerts. Hypergridding is still hit and miss, which is why we have HG Safari, a club for hypergrid jumping. When it goes well, it's a hilarious romp, and when we can't jump, it's hilarious anyway. We of open sim are rough riders, used to a few challenges. Out in the wilds, we are free, free to make prims as big as a sim, free to make mistakes in textures without paying uploading charges, free to have as many avatars as we want, to control our creations without consulting LL's ToS, to be grown-ups and treat others as such. For those who know what they're doing, there's the delightful freedom of choosing not to upgrade if you don't want to. The latest is not always the best, despite what the iPhone lemmings believe.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lySrCalbMSY/U6LU9V1K_7I/AAAAAAAAHpU/japIWhXjGmk/s1600/safari5_026.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lySrCalbMSY/U6LU9V1K_7I/AAAAAAAAHpU/japIWhXjGmk/s1600/safari5_026.png" width="640" /></a></div>
After the everything-on-a plate existence of SL this may seem the life of the backwoods, perhaps; the exultation of pioneering, foraging, learning and making do, and moving always onwards, aware that there are places too big and too far off, out there, potent, uneasy, exciting. But between home comforts and wild adventures, it's not an either or situation. There is no Atlantic between Open Sim and the fleshpots of Second Life.<br />
Scifi maven <b>Lani Global</b> describes it as a sort of 'Second lifeboat' - a place to keep your precious OARs and objects, should LL pull the plug, a summer home to escape drama, a workshop in which to perfect for free your mesh and textures (yes, there is NO CHARGE for uploading in open sim!). Having a foot in both SL and an independent grid - or many grids - is very common, and probably one in three of the SL people you know already have at least one open sim account.<br />
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You should try it. Join us on HG Safari, perhaps. You'll find details in Facebook and Google+.<br />
<br />Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-25639013634676128232014-06-14T09:55:00.002-07:002023-05-31T08:17:35.479-07:00Dream Girl: Kiana Writer<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>...that's about levels after levels after levels of puzzles and
monsters</i></div>
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<i>Kiana Writer</i></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qqeKQBnk-ak/U5bPi9ewuHI/AAAAAAAAHig/PSzZO7E7C_M/s1600/7+kiana+pic.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qqeKQBnk-ak/U5bPi9ewuHI/AAAAAAAAHig/PSzZO7E7C_M/s1600/7+kiana+pic.png" width="320" /></a></div>
It's 2007. At La Cittadella, two newbs observe the line of people waiting to camp at the Discoteca.<br />
<b>Newb One:</b> What this place needs is something to <i>do</i>, kinda like WoW-lite, an hour-long mini quest, along the lines of a disaster movie. Like <i>The Poseidon Adventure</i>. Look at all these people queuing to camp! Suppose 10 of them paid, idk, 20L to play. They'd be the cast of the story facing hazards and obstacles; along the way, 8 of them 'die'. The two who make it out alive get 50L. They meet new friends, have fun, and we make some money.<br />
<b>Newb Two:</b> It's an idea. Do you know anyone who could script something like that? Or build it? Or find the land to do it on? Or deal with the complaints from disgruntled players?<br />
<b>Newb One:</b> Um, no, no, no and no. <br />
<b>New Two:</b> I thought not. Let's go dancing.<br />
He was right. I hadn't got any of those skills. But around the same time, across the grid and in Finland, <b>Kiana Writer</b> was taking a broadly similar notion and turning it into a dream come true. Not the Poseidon Adventure, but the Harvey Hunt.<br />
<b>Kiana Writer: </b>It took me a while to figure out this place and what was possible
here. I was a cop at a race track, then a host at Dance
Island. It used to crash nonstop and you'd have to wait a long time to
get back online but people would still do it and not whine so much. I
started writing for magazines and exploring a lot, and I wondered why there weren't things to do that I enjoy. Point and click
adventure games for example. I wanted to
try something. A friend and I brought out <i>Where the
Hell is Harvey Wayne</i> on Feb 22nd, 2008. I used the connections of the sim owners I had
written about and placed a lot of posters around.<br />
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They funded the cypher-driven hunt by charging the venues involved, so they didn't put RL money into the game at all. On the back of that success they then set up a Survivor-type game with two tribes competing for a prize. After a while, though, Kiana's partner got fed up with all the whining and quit, after ejecting all the members and flattening the land. Even that setback didn't dampen Kiana's spirit. She determined to carry on alone. Alone, up to a point. She set up a hunt by herself, but soon others were volunteering themselves and their friends to get involved. <i>The Zodiac Killer</i> was the next venture, and soon it was called<b><a href="http://madpea.blogspot.it/" target="_blank"> MadPea</a></b>, and Kiana found herself surrounded by a team, many of whom who have come to be like family. So many personalities, so many ideas. Does she have to be tough?<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
<b>Kiana Writer:</b> Well, there's only one 'Queen'! You could say I'm here for my people skills. There's no room for egos in our group, that includes mine too. We
co-exist happily and have roles; everyone has enough creative freedom
in their role that follows the concept idea. I have people coming to me
all the time with ideas, and I'm like sure great thanks, but how
would you actually make this happen? Come back when you
have something concrete. We have a never-ending chest of ideas
already.<br />
The <i>Zodiac</i> hunt was how she met builder/3D Artist/designer <b>Waghorne Truss</b><b>.</b><br />
<b>Waghorne Truss: </b>Kiana showed up at my store one day
asking to put up posters for her <i>Zodiac Killer </i>game. I was interested in what
she was doing and eventually got involved with it myself. I worked on all the original games: <i>Mad Mines</i>, <i>Swamp Hotel</i>, <i>Notes from the Voyage</i>, <i>Firefly</i>, <i>Reaction</i>,
<i>Within</i>. My favourite was <i>The Kaaos Effect</i>, mainly because its use of
"holodecks"- it was
pretty innovative at the time. Building all the different time
periods was a lot of fun. There's always the element of surprise working with talented
builders and scripters. They come up with ideas and
approaches that I would never have thought of working alone. Working as a freelance designer can be
a bit lonely sometimes; this is exciting and interesting.
Money would be nice but I'm more interested in helping Madpea expand
to its full potential, maybe spreading to other platforms eventually.<br />
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Not every working relationship goes as smoothly as that, and as with any long-term organization, Kiana has had her share of headaches; people with serious issues who have done everything from sabotage builds, to threatening blackmail, to arguing with themselves during team meetings. There's also the sadness of bring someone on board, showing them the ropes, getting friendly only to then have that person leave SL or move on to some other group. Just like the real world, then. With one huge exception: no big money. As <b>Harter Fall, </b> Creative Director at Mad Pea, puts it, "We put more into this than we get out.
This is all about dedication and passion for me."<br />
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<b>Harter Fall: </b>Kiana and me accidentally ran into each other at a party 2 1/2 years ago. Back then my focus was
mainly on art, working on my LEA Sim. I showed Kiana my work and she
showed me hers and the rest is history. Together with Kiana I organize and plan our designers' work and much of the visual concepting. I do also a lot of 3D Modeling, 2D and Level Design, Video Editing
and Audio Engineering. The most challenging aspect for me is to
keep all we build performance and low lag. The most fun is to work
with brilliant designers and scripters from all around the
world.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Unia - still a work in progress, hence the pink prim, part of the team's construction setup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Kiana has a killer imagination. Almost all her games involve murder mysteries, and the biggest, baddest MadPea project is no exception. Called <b><i>Unia</i></b> (Finnish for 'Dream') is has been more than twelve months in the making, and promises to make every other so-called immersive installation you've ever seen seem small and shallow by comparison. In this preview there aren't going to be any plot points given away because the whole point is, it's a mystery, but a mystery on loads of levels.<br />
Even seen on the run, without grasping all the backstory, it was easy to tell that Unia is an ocean of thought-provoking adventures that will keep people coming back again and again, trying to get to the heart of the matter. Think <i>Lost</i> meets <i>Inception</i> meets <i>Twin Peaks</i> meets Stephen King. And they all run into the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. <br />
<b> Kiana Writer: </b>I'm a lucid dreamer and most of my ideas come from my nightmares.
It's like movies in my head so I thought that I will make my
nightmares into a game.<br />
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In this case, the cream of SL artists like <b>Fuschia Nightfire</b>,<b> Jaimy Hancroft</b>,<b> Bryn Oh</b> and more have been brought in to turn Kiana's dreams into magnificent and wildly varied scenes. Other scenes have been built by MadPea regulars like <b>Fae Varriale</b> and <b>RAG Randt. </b>Each one contains puzzles, dangers and clues to help you solve the overarching mystery of Unia.<br />
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Kiana kindly allowed these exclusive photos to be published, and they aren't in the windlight you'll experience when the project opens, and they also show, here and there, prims that are part of the construction process. They reflect the fact this is still a work in progress, but more, they hint at the professional level of communication between team members. The vast size and number of different scenes is literally astonishing.<br />
It's obvious this is going to be one of those build you will visit over and over, for days maybe weeks, trying to solve all the pieces, getting sucked in to the story, probably working with friends, or making new friends as you work your way around the different chapters of the story.<br />
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<b>Kiana Writer:</b> I am deep inside an optimist. I like to believe in the
good of people, yet I kill them in my games :D<br />
Another member of the team is all round artist graphic designer and Blender buff, <b>RAG Randt</b>.<br />
<b>RAG Randt:</b> I experienced a cool Madpea game a few years ago that took me to
various really cool builds. I was impressed by the quality of the
games and particularly of the builds. Fast forward a couple of years
and Harter Fall and I shared a LEA sim. I knew Harter's work and liked it very
much. as we were building, we became better acquainted and he said he
was working for Madpea. I believe he asked me if i would be
interested in working there as they needed builders for their new
homebase, Carnival. At that time I was getting into Blender and mesh
and I thought this would be a great opportunity. Harter introduced me
to Kiana and then I was hired.<br />
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His contribution to UNIA was in collaboration with Abramelin of Abranimations, and his wife Wildcat Snowpaw - the intense building experience, which included an actual RL injury! - comes through in the haunting, intriguing build. Normally, this scene alone would be considered a triumphant interactive installation that you'd be talking about for weeks - yet it's just a fraction of what Kiana and her team have in store for you at UNIA!<br />
It's a hud-driven adventure, and you're going to have to use all your ingenuity, observation and problem-solving skills. You will also have to walk. Or swim.<br />
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It's not giving anything away to say that if you're at all afraid of old people, flying bugs, burning furniture, small spaces, drowning, acid, guns, or scary rabbits, this environment is going to frighten you to bits, in the best possible way. Fae Varriale agrees. She came on board around the time of Carnival, and also helped build the INCA hunt - her fave, since she loves caves; but Unia is special. So is working together.<br />
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<b>Fae Varriale: </b>Some people think it would be a
glamorous job to work as part of the MadPea team, but it is
actually very hard work a lot of the time and real staying power is
needed to see projects through with a high level of quality. I
personally have been working on UNIA for a year, plus various other
projects alongside that. Without the amazing multi talented team we
have none of this would come together in the way it does, everybody
plays an important part, and after all the hard work the sense of
achievement when we see the finished project is amazing.<br />
She's not exaggerating, or just speaking as an interested party.<br />
This is hands down the best build you've ever seen in SL, for the size and quality of the build, the behind-the-scenes technical magic, and the deeply complex and compelling story. And it's all for a nominal fee. Unlike my newbie idea of an hour long game, you'll be able to lose yourself in Unia for weeks.<br />
<b>Kiana Writer:</b> Some come thinking that this is just fun and all we do is play and
have no idea how much work it is some of the ppl do 12 hour days here
that's clearly not expected but the workload is a lot for very little
money in return it truly takes a person to believe in the concept and
what we're doing and to understand that we're not going to be rich by
doing this... and we're not doing this for money.<br />
Beyond the cost of the HUD, you can contribute, should you wish, by leaving a donation at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Grantville/100/93/21" target="_blank">The Green Mire</a></b>. It's the least we can do. When you've seen it, you'll know what I mean. Kiana's dream - the dream to create an effective company in SL, the dream to bring people engaging entertainment, and the way she has taken bad dreams and turned them into something outstanding, while remaining a modest single mum, just goes to show what an exceptional person she is. And Unia expresses it on a philosophically metaversal scale.</div>
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<b>Kiana Writer</b>: I strongly believe that there is so much wrong in the world at the moment and
many things make people be so selfish and not give a shit about each
other nothing feels like anything anymore. Each of my games has a little lesson no matter what, they make people feel. If I can
make a person feel something during the game.. anger, hate, joy,
happiness.. then I feel that's a success. There are too many zombies
walking around without emotions to themselves or the people close to
them. In this game for example, you have to figure out would you
sacrifice someone, would you die for someone? Will you bring your
friend in to rescue you?<br />
I guess we're going to find out.<br />
Check the <a href="http://madpea.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">MadPea blog</a> and inworld group for announcements about the opening of Unia, and - see you there!Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-44920575108401283302014-05-06T05:27:00.001-07:002023-05-31T08:17:48.165-07:00Back in the rhythm: Feathers Boa It feels, she says, a little odd. Kind of like stepping back through a time portal. Nothing much has changed really; yes, there's mesh (which games have had for years) but it seems like Second Life has stood still. Kind of like seeing an old friend that never seems to age. So what has she been up to while away?<br />
<b>Feathers Boa:</b> I've been doing art and graphics for games. Everything from casual games for smart phones and tablets to console games. I am working on a game right now that is all sketches that look like a talented child drew them colored with different color torn paper and crayons. I am animating these to make sprites and it is totally unique looking. It's the most fun I've had at work in a long time. I hope to do some more of that here.<br />
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And by 'here' she means here in SL, where, after her three years' hiatus, she's jumped in with three different interventions in about as many months. She contributed some pieces for a show over at LEA, and that was something of a catalyst.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
<b>Feathers Boa:</b> I thought it would be fun to do something big and bold after so long away. I did some mesh sculpture for it, but mesh seems finicky and difficult in SL. So, I think I will be using it sparingly. The tanks looked cool though. <b>Fabilene Cortes</b> saw me online and asked if I would like to be in the newly resurrected <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Crossworlds%20Sound/195/64/4012" target="_blank">Crossworlds</a></b>, it was always one of my favorite galleries so I said yes. I will be swapping out some of my old stuff for new there in the coming weeks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C7DE9sNHDEk/U2S4yRzb2jI/AAAAAAAAHdg/Wkcc6H-mG2A/s1600/feathers+crossworld+retro_001.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C7DE9sNHDEk/U2S4yRzb2jI/AAAAAAAAHdg/Wkcc6H-mG2A/s1600/feathers+crossworld+retro_001.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feathers' current Crossworlds corner.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's something of the junkshop layout at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Crossworlds%20Sound/195/64/4012" target="_blank">Crossworlds</a></b>, all kinds of two and tree-D treasures and vintage items scattered about, reminders of past builds and shows, halfway between wistfulness and glee. It's the kind of place one can imagine Feather's alter ego, the RL Mary, enjoying to rummage through. That love of bits and bobs, shards of the past, is reflected in her brand new series of works made exclusively for her new show at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rockcliffe%20Conservatory/212/82/22" target="_blank">Studio 33</a>. </b><br />
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Feathers (nowadays 'Silky' Feathers) prefers the word 'react' rather than scripted, for the effect that she is using to engage the viewer on - quite literally - several levels. Fabricated in suc<b><span id="goog_183105347"></span></b>cession, they suggest aspects of a single notion which she has titled 'Dancing Faces', and while they work well as a group, it's easy to envisage a single canvas on the wall of a second life home, and for about the price of a reasonably good mesh dress. It's curious how much SL art these days counts on installs so big you need an empty half-sim to accommodate it, and no surprise that few artists working on that scale manage to break even on their expenses.<br />
<b>Feathers Boa: Monroe Snook</b> was one of the first people to take a chance on my artwork when I was a noob. So, it's for sentimental reasons really. If someone asked me to do a solo or big show, I am primed for it now. But this Studio 33 one was nice because it's a small crowded space. So I came up with something a little more intimate.<br />
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When left to herself, Feathers seems to take a more pragmatic, avatar-sized approach to expressing concepts, in this case, another adventure into the female face, through a veil of history, represented by found documents, one might guess stolen, or photographed on the sly - newspaper titles hinting at old news, or Bank receipts, or old crumpled letters speaking of grace and gratefulness - all this animated and masked by free flowing brushwork in pastel colors.<br />
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<b>Feathers Boa: </b>The canvas layers created a kind of rhythm. Each canvas is like step in the dance. The canvases spring to life. I like things that challenge expectations and I love trying out new techniques.To be honest, I've been doing a ton of 3D modeling and I so sick of making things look more and more hyper-realistic. So my new thing is natural materials and loose hyper-kinetic brush work. I want to more impressions than polished almost photographic work.<br />
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<b>Feathers Boa:</b> I have mixed feelings about doing art again in SL. When I was here before, the art stuff seemed to take over my life, gobbling up my free time. I have to be careful to keep it in perspective and say 'no.' But, yeah I could see doing some shows here and there just to challenge myself a bit. Test my limits and try new things hopefully. Stretch some art muscles.<br />
Check out all five canvasses over at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rockcliffe%20Conservatory/212/82/22" target="_blank">Studio 33</a></b> from this week.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-50299602147827603312014-04-27T13:40:00.003-07:002023-05-31T08:18:05.941-07:00Rush Auer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
There is one thing less appealing than Russian avant garde art, and that is being bombarded with spam about Russian avant garde art. There's something very retro, about bombarding people with notices, it's a bit like the way TV shows used to have really long intros, with a theme song and all the credits. But time and the transmission of information is on a different footing now. People have quicker sensibilities. Less has become more, and screaming for the attention of the masses will get you just, and only, that.<br />
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No time for that now. If you have been paying attention to what's going on in <b><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lollito" target="_blank">Flickr</a></b> you will know that <b>Lollito Larkham</b> has been working a great deal in Blender and related programs making interesting looking creatures and household goods and other stuff.<br />
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After seeing all his excellent photos, his event at <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/146/42/1401" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">TKF </a> on sim <b>Solaris</b> promised well. The main attraction is certainly his Little Gray, a three dimensional morality tale which deplores prejudice.<br />
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<span><a name='more'></a></span> You're instructed at the landing point to set Midnight (no specific Windlight) before viewing the tableaux, probably in an attempt to not have them clash with one another rather than to allow a story to unfold gradually, a technique used to great effect at the Singularity of Komiko, for example.<br />
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Perhaps that similarity raises expectations to unreasonably high levels, for the overall effect of the exhibits leans more toward the feeling of slightly rushed garage sale than it does thoroughly elaborated narrative. The mesh is cute, though, and a moderate amount of fun can be had in spotting pieces like the pitchfork that had their first public outing on Flickr. Perhaps its greatest virtue is that the layout feels like genuinely new work, rather than familiar old builds refurbished with Cyrillic script, which seems by all accounts to be in vogue this week.<br />
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If <b>Lollito</b>'s work on this occasion betrays an attempt to place somewhat random creations in a context homogeneous enough to be acceptable for an art show, the new installation at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/127/137/21" target="_blank">LEA</a> 15</b> by <b>Solkide Auer</b> is a complete contrast.<br />
From the giant alarm clock pictured at the beginning of this post, to the musical clefs spilling down like grains of sand on the massive metronome, Solkide captures not time itself, but its keepers in monumental forms and blazing rainbow colors.<br />
A thrilling sim-sized, skyscraping cage does its darndest to hold our oldest enemy in place with fast chains or girders, and we are invited to visit the build in a classic scripted buggy, itself a time keeper, as its hover text reminds us of how many visitors have taken a ride on board since 2013. <i>Meditate, gente</i>. And yes, those are pyjamas. That kind of a day.<br />
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It is called TimeWalker, but there's no walking, not a lot of sound except for some ticking in the distance, but that might have been my watch. The rest is silence,<b> Auer</b> declares in his brilliantly brief notecard, but it is not the silence Hamlet was referring to that we find here, the silence of a place without time, the grave. We are instead interstitial features in a great conglomeration of cogs and gears, whirling between them unscathed, miraculously close to colorful flywheels that spin free of springs and pour down from impossible heights. Here the darkness is not a merciful mask separating sections of the install, but rather the blackness of space, stretching out and becoming one with time, leaving us to wonder how much space, how much time there is out there, and in here, inside our own heart and mind.<br />
<b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA15/127/137/21" target="_blank">The TimeWalker</a></b> opens tomorrow. это очень хорошо<br />
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Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-39984724279111889892014-04-17T02:24:00.001-07:002014-04-28T07:04:09.172-07:00Mind the Gap<div>
In 975, the mind of many a Wessex nobleman was exercised by the increasing wealth and influence of the Benedictine monasteries and a quarrel between the great lords Aelfthere and Aethelwine. Civil War was in the air. St Dunstan, who had been himself a monk and later Abbot of Glastonbury and was now Archbishop of Canterbury, had allied himself closely with Edgar of Wessex and indeed it was Dunstan who devised the coronation ceremony (still essentially used to this day) full of mystical imperialism, which moved other monarchs of Britain to pledge allegiance to Edgar, King of the West Saxons. The achievement was short-lived. After only two years Edgar died, leaving his teenage son Edward (born, some say, of an illicit relationship with Aethelflaed, the 'White Duck', cloistered away in the nunnery at nearby Shaftesbury) to take the throne. </div>
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The succession was anathema to Edward's stepmother Aelfthrith who naturally favored her own boy, Ethelred, later to prove himself 'Unready' (meaning 'without good advice'). For the next three years Aelfthrith plotted Edward's downfall. And so it was that in 975 AD after a reign of little more than a thousand days, King Edward, not yet seventeen, was lured under mysterious circumstances to the castle at <b><a href="http://corfe-castle.co.uk/" target="_blank">Corfe</a></b>, a Saxon word meaning 'gap', and there met his death.<br />
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It is a place of ghosts.<br />
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The great castle was literally blown to bits by Cromwell, half a millennium later, in an actual Civil War, and thanks in part to that rock-redistribution, there is a<b><a href="http://www.castleinncorfe.com/" target="_blank"> second castle in the village</a></b>, where the smoked halibut and salmon entree sounds to die for. </div>
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More importantly, <b>Fuschia Nightfire</b> or (to put it mildly) <b>Nina Camplin</b>, has been working (in the real world) on a mural at <b><a href="http://www.castleinncorfe.com/" target="_blank">Corfe model village</a></b> where the castle has been faithfully reconstructed on a 1/20 scale. The quandary for historians is often how to interpret the visual impact of a building over the arc of its evolution. Which is the 'real' Corfe, the wreck or the reconstruction? Well, of course, both and neither. For the people who have lived here for generations, Corfe -the Saxon gap- has been a mirror of their lives, changing fortunes, growth, and mutating tradition. The picturesque ruin we see today is a far cry from the living, working castle of the past, yet they remain equally symbols of domination in the landscape which raises interrogatives about how we imagine and preserve power in the modern age. </div>
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It's a pretty problem and, if you have the energy to walk all the way up the real-life Dorset hill, one that will become more compelling with every step. As will your need for ice cream. But until you can drag your sorry butt away from the computer, there's an alternative, one of the most simply clever builds in SL at the moment. </div>
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<b>Fuschia Nightfire's</b> <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ITALIAN%20SQUARE/163/65/2029" target="_blank">Ghost Castle</a></b>, in the sky above<b> Italian Square - the New Generation</b>. It's an exhibition curated by <b>Tani Thor</b> and <b>Aloisio Congrejo</b> of <b><a href="http://tanalois.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Tanalois</a></b>.</div>
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These days, SL tends to promote expectations of gorgeous but detail-heavy builds. </div>
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With <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ITALIAN%20SQUARE/163/65/2029" target="_blank">Ghost Castle</a>,</b> <b>Fuschia</b> has escaped from all that overload, distilling her concept to its archaeological essentials, and leaving the rest to her audience, to color as they will. </div>
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The opening party was yesterday and there were horses.</div>
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A lot of horses. Also a cow. </div>
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Sorry about that.</div>
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The castle came alive with neighing and braying, and <b>SaveMe Oh</b> added some alarming and hilarious special effects. </div>
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Death and suffering, fire and destruction, some horse poop, a lot of fart jokes, and confirmation (if such were needed) that there are no circumstances under which an Italian man will not stare at a female butt, given the opportunity.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solkide Auer takes an interest in the ... guillotine</td></tr>
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Bring your own stallion. <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ITALIAN%20SQUARE/163/65/2029" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Ghost Castle</a> will be at Italian Square for the next couple of weeks.</div>
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Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-14292061921309500872014-03-26T14:07:00.005-07:002023-05-31T08:18:33.683-07:00The Excellent I<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What, then, shall we do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">John Cage</span></div>
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What, then, does Machinima in Second Life do?<br />
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<b>Iono Allen</b> makes machinima. He gained fame as a noob, with <b><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YftouEm3CT4" target="_blank">A Question Of Honour</a></i></b>, in which long-time friend and colleague <b>Larkworthy Antfarm</b> also appears. It was shortlisted for an exhibition at MOMA, no less. The cinematic power of the film's unspoken story is even more remarkable since Allen had never made machinima before coming into Second Life. You will find 44 original uploads on his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Ionoallen" target="_blank"><b>YouTube channel</b></a>, with his latest short, <a href="http://vimeo.com/85606264" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Passion</a>, notably available in full only on Vimeo, but more of that later.<br />
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Second Life Machinima is not fan-mod or art-mod, to borrow <b>Rebecca Cannon</b>'s terms; it doesn't sit with the taxonomy of mainstream machinima with its professionally built sets and scripted or meta-scripted quests. It's quite easy to make a slick looking short when you have a game like Halo as a backdrop, and quite another thing with the homegrown props and lag of Second Life.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
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A lot of the film shot here is frankly dreadful, as you'll know if you've ever looked at the entries to the big machinima competitions, and it's dreadful because quality machinima is hard to make.<br />
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It's hard to make because it requires good content, good equipment and the ability of the film maker to manipulate both with an excellent eye. And good help.<br />
<b>Larkworthy Antfarm:</b> Iono and I go back to the early days of machinima. Practicing at Burning Life. Entering contests. The thing we did for MOMA was pretty spectacular as they projected us on the outside of the building. We were one of 25 chosen out of 100,000's of entries, I was just the actress. He is good, very very good. That French film maker's eye. Expressionistic. Conveys emotions so well. He avoids the Hollywood classical narrative style. We try to make of machinima a new art form. Poetic. Of course Hollywood is wonderful or has been at times. <b>Peter Greenaway</b> says it is a passe way of telling stories. We have done it all in this narrative form and we machinima makers should try for a different effect. Iono understands this. He also exhibited amazing patience as I ran across a bridge and repeatedly fell off for 50 takes.<br />
Perhaps Cannon's terminology should not be rejected too soon, for (setting aside his promo work) Iono's films can be divided into categories, 'documentary' or 'fan mod'; and original work, or 'art mod'. The documentary work involves filming large installations by some of SL's best known artists, including <b>Maya Paris</b>, <b>Adam Ramona</b>, <b>Betty Tureaud</b> and <b>Artistidee Despres</b>. He shows a sensitivity and an eye for detail that expands and expounds upon the themes set out by the artist.<br />
Let's be clear, we're not talking about a narrated walk-through with labored explanations.<br />
From <b><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaaQzut4Jio" target="_blank">Fusion</a>,</i></b> set in <b>Bryn Oh</b>'s Rabbicorn build of 2010/2011, to <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJB4OYb_p58" target="_blank"><i>Nine Steps to Heaven</i></a></b>, a <b>Betty Tureaud </b>install, he has the good sense to keep quiet and allow the environment to sing its own stylistic song, sometimes quite literally, as in the case of <b>Misprint Thursday</b>'s <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyVXEArXxW0" target="_blank"><i>Digital Glove</i></a></b>. It's a clever move, because the flaws, where they exist, appear to belong to the builds rather than the film maker. And while his technique has undoubtedly evolved and improved over the years, the overall impression is one of a nostalgic snapshot not of his abilities but rather of the SL scene as a whole. From his very earliest works, filming <b>Adam Ramona</b>'s <i>A Prim's Happiness</i>, the viewer is struck by his sensitivity to the sound, not just the look of a build, and this is particularly effective when the artist conveys half their message via that medium, as is increasingly the case in sophisticated installations.<br />
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In his film of <b>Maya Paris</b>' <b><i>Celebrity Blow Your Tits Off </i></b> build, he captures the interactivity without comment or bias, but as pure participant, a clean lens through which the fun shines unalloyed. <b>Maya Paris</b> is easily the most talented story-teller in the SL art scene, but people are often having too much fun to notice. The first-person experience of a specific installation will often be fragmented and disrupted by IMs, lag, and poor graphics settings. Having the valuable second sight of a well-made machinima gives the viewer a chance to digest their own recollection in context and are inspired to go back and see the build again and again. The same applies to his visit to <b>Miso Susanowa</b>'s <b><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQDRmmzywDg" target="_blank">State of Mind</a>,</i> </b>a build so packed with irony, imagery, and information that it was overwhelming, and it requires more than your average mind to analyse the build and present a cogent, flowing survey of its elements.<br />
Call it a sort of intellectual helicopter ride over the grand canyon of ideas, if you like. <br />
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Allen's ability to get under the skin of the builds he records is particularly striking when one compares the three machinima filmed in installations by <b>Arteé Despres</b>. While <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QwwuodvWBw" target="_blank"><i>Did you ever go to Fukushima</i></a></b> (with <b>Lollito Larkham</b>) and <a href="http://all%20is%20for%20the%20best%20in%20the%20best%20of%20all%20possible%20worlds/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><i>All is the for the best in the best of all possible worlds</i></a><b> </b>faithfully capture their sense of middle-class angst at pollution and recession, it is the third film, <b><i>Photography is a way of life</i></b>, that captures a part of who Arteé is in a way that is deeper, more intimate, and infinitely more worth telling, slicing below what we think we should care about to what we really care about, in this case the sublime serenity of the captured image.<br />
Sublime, too, his delicate lens caressing the metaboat in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G99t_0TLDPg" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This is not a boat</a>, a build by <b>Eupalinos Ugajin</b>. From the same artist we have the materia prima for <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsXdt6FtA24" target="_blank"><i>Kou Dada</i></a>,</b> one of Allen's best machinima, in which he cleverly lifts and separates Eupalino's nonsense with a reading by <b>John Cage</b>, <b><a href="http://books.google.it/books?id=iaN4IPj9C20C&pg=PT295&lpg=PT295&dq=nonsense+madrigals+texts&source=bl&ots=EdPPCnUJGb&sig=bCt_VDUNvu3pmeX9dUgpm4hon64&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YNUyU6OCHcmGywO9yIGICQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=nonsense%20madrigals%20texts&f=false" target="_blank">Ligeti's madrigals</a></b>, and some exquisite camera angles.<br />
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It is with <b>Rose</b> <b>Borchovski</b> that Allen comes to a peak in his enjoyment of speaking aloud other people's stories. Alongside the legendary curator and festival organizer <b>White Lebed</b>, UWA guru <b>JayJay Zifanwe</b>, and friend and colleague <b>Larkworthy Antfarm</b>, Allen cites <b>Rose</b> (<b>Saskia Boddeke</b>) as his greatest influence.<br />
His four machinima <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJdVCqG3bZs" target="_blank"><b>The Story of Susa Bubble,</b></a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByIIVpTvX38" target="_blank"><b>Fears</b>,</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RKHD9DX3Y" target="_blank"><b>Falling</b>,</a></i> and<b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHzGe5KwulY" target="_blank"><i>The Arrival</i></a> </b>chart the current chapters of the Susa story in cinematographic brilliance; <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Inevitability of Fate </i>remembers the intimate and terrible impact of the Shoah.<br />
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<b>Iono Allen:</b> I owe thanks to the person who created these incredible characters in such an imaginative world, in which I felt like a fish in the sea: my great friend Rose Borchovski. She just gave me the opportunity to film her world, to film it again, and again... I am totally addicted to her art.<br />
What does machinima do? Remember, record, rename? As we have seen, machinima often share a name with the builds they document; are they appropriating art, just as Duchamps' name eclipses Mutt? Certainly, Allen is not turning any of these installs on their side, as it were, rather, he embraces their core with the sensitivity of a storyteller. No surprise, then, that alongside the fan-mod machinima, we find art-mod, Allen's art, his own stories. He has followed the early success of <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YftouEm3CT4" target="_blank">A Question Of Honour</a> </i>with a number of machinima expressing tropes of love, loss, and identity, avatar style. Of particular interest is <i style="font-weight: bold;">Self Reflections</i>, because it is one of the easiest of his films to overlook, a series of images of <b>SaveMe Oh</b> walking through different light effects. It asks the viewer to meditate on their perceptions of identity taken to the max: SaveMe, heroine or troll, viewed as bad or good, black or white, a love or hate totem, yet carrying a colorful kaleidoscope of chaos in her wake, none of it real, perceived through that thick lens which is the wall of blind prejudice the virtual world throws up between our viewer and the next person's, placing us all in a false light into which we do well not to trust our hearts (or our tempers) too much.<br />
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Love and identity, or rather the identity of love, lies at the heart of his latest film, the explicit short <a href="http://vimeo.com/85606264" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Passion</a>, and there will be more original machinima, as the days of filming other people's builds (with the exception of Susa chapters) have probably drawn to a close. And why not. What shall machinima do, if not offer the choice of what we see and remember? What we appropriate, in terms of recollection and allegiance? Indeed Allen has more to say as he develops the theme of self, memory and love in a variety of ways, with a stronger verbal element in <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQOT3kcIow" target="_blank"><i>Birth</i></a>,</b> and <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4Tke--niOQ" target="_blank"><i>True Life</i></a></b>, and more delicately in the extremely effective<br />
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<b><i>Virtual Love </i></b>in which, with help from brilliant puppeteer <b>Josiane Sorciere</b>, and not a single word, he revisits the oldest story ever told. With accordion music. Excellent.<br />
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<b><i></i></b>Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-62348697754996106352014-03-25T06:00:00.002-07:002014-04-11T04:18:38.009-07:00Role PLEA Maybe this is what we need. No more raging against the absurdity of institutions and form-filling-in in a virtual world. Maybe we should all just step away from competitions and workshops and discussions. And by we I mean you, naturally, because that's the kind of crap you get caught up in while the rest of us are building the future in open sim where you don't have to compose a proposal and send it to a committee just to get a few paltry prims to play with for free.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YO0BlcKI3_Y/UzDBapUlY6I/AAAAAAAAHUA/8gjWfe5y5z8/s1600/viking+thirza_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YO0BlcKI3_Y/UzDBapUlY6I/AAAAAAAAHUA/8gjWfe5y5z8/s1600/viking+thirza_001.png" height="346" width="640" /></a></div>
Anyway, no point in pointing this out, you guys are trapped inside your own egos and won't be helped, and it's fun to visit the mad house once in a while though god knows I'd never want to live there again.<br />
Surely of all the screwed up activities SL has to offer, role playing is pretty high up there, whether it's playing traffic warden or pretending to be Scandinavian. So naturally, when a RP sim is thrust in your face as<br />
<a name='more'></a> a Destination Choice, it's irresistible, isn't it? <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gale%20Winds/250/13/23" target="_blank">Grimmrfell</a> </b>is a Norse Roleplay and nothing stirs your latent Norse blood like the idea of having to listen to people describe what they are doing:<br />
Bernt Limpwicket: smiles in welcome at the beautiful stranger<i> </i><br />
Bernt Limpwicket: "hello Thirza"<br />
Thirza Ember: no ingliss sorry<br />
If you want to smile, use a smile gesture. It's not 2005. Or don't smile. Or don't talk about whether you're smiling or not. Or at least learn to put /me in front of what you're saying to turn it into third person dialogue. Because the alternative is <i>incredibly lame. </i><br />
Eir: feels a spiritual zing from wearing the magical huldra's throwaway<br />
tahnee (tahnee5): feels the soft bump of the boat hitting land<br />
tahnee (tahnee5): "nice work aldo"<br />
...how is that supposed to create an ambiance? I won't even start on the whole '4 people got in there ahead of you and you still went with tahnee' issue. And since when were there Vikings called Aldo.<br />
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TP here, and you'll find yourself penned in on a little stone platform where you're expected to read all the instructions and put on the appropriate clothing. Turns out, with a little bit of cam work into a nearby dwelling, it was easy enough to tp out of there without putting on freebie clothes or being depressed by the backstory and rules. Not because rules aren't good, but because when it comes to historical re-enactment, SL always takes the Midwestern Renaissance Fayre approach, and it seemed a huge shame to ruin the effect of this astounding build by reading something mediocre. But maybe we should take a quick peep at the Notecard? Maybe it's not that bad? I have three words for you: "Adult Viking Narnia". In local chat they were discussing the relative dimensions of ravens. Time to move on.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PmWxStj7E3E/UzDBu8uuA1I/AAAAAAAAHUY/HvMgRITAeTg/s1600/viking+thirza_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PmWxStj7E3E/UzDBu8uuA1I/AAAAAAAAHUY/HvMgRITAeTg/s1600/viking+thirza_005.png" height="347" width="640" /></a></div>
There is an army - not not here on the sim, in SL in general. An army of volunteers, who do not have enough health or youth or money or work to get much done in the real world, so they throw themselves into the virtual, and it's a great thing, a good thing, for we all need second chances to be more than our first life allowed. LL has shrewdly exploited this will to live, and willingness to be involved in loads of festivals and events, and nobody can blame them for what amounts to a shepherding of free resources to their advantage. They are a business, after all.<br />
When the LEA started, it seemed such a bad idea, for four reasons. It happened around the time land prices went up and discounts for educational sims were slashed; LEA was supposed to be in part a sort of concession to Virtual Art, in recognition of all the good press it had generated SL. In reality, it merely squeezed out independent galleries, financially and morally. Many of those galleristas have gone for good, and they were people who took a chance on new artists and dangerous topics, and the weight of innovation, imagination, crappiness and art cliques was spread out across the whole grid, not shunted into a ghetto, however large and well organized it may be.<br />
To a great extent, it shifted the balance of power from dozens of individual voices expressing an equal number of different cultures and backgrounds to a relative handful of 'deciders', in the dwindling number of art spaces left. It created a role that is damaging, dangerous, for art but also for the person who fills it - the aesthetic policeman, or art-sitter, if you prefer.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQZGZ3uIGeA/UzDCJgzekdI/AAAAAAAAHU4/v4VRltej4xo/s1600/norse_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XQZGZ3uIGeA/UzDCJgzekdI/AAAAAAAAHU4/v4VRltej4xo/s1600/norse_001.png" height="346" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing says Viking more than 7 Seas Fishing</td></tr>
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And even worse than that, LEA spawned one of real life's least attractive beasts - the committee. It seems inconceivable that there are people who haven't been on enough BS committees in their professional life that they would choose to sit on one in SL. Maybe it speaks to some failed RL careers, or an unsatisfactory home life. There are so many better ways to not feel lonely! But of course, someone has to run things, and this is not an attack on people like <b>Oberon Onmura</b>, whose reputation as a person and as an artist speaks for itself. It's not even an attack on people like poor old <b>DC</b>, whose art is horrible and who must be amazingly annoying to have to deal with on a regular basis. It's the institutionalization of virtual art that is the problem. The idea that you have to submit a proposal, that everything is regulated -<i> this belongs to real life! we were supposed to be more than that, different, more free, more fluid... remember?</i><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qb4h7ZbzUvg/UzDCAF6lNzI/AAAAAAAAHUo/XRhjm1b8ldU/s1600/norse_003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qb4h7ZbzUvg/UzDCAF6lNzI/AAAAAAAAHUo/XRhjm1b8ldU/s1600/norse_003.png" height="346" width="640" /></a></div>
We were going to sail away to a freer society, we were going to escape this nonsense of politics and squabbling and selfish rivalry... and now we have artists who consider themselves liberal, boho, punk, counter-cultural, reaching out to the limits of absurdity - while all the time gratefully defending an institution, whispering their protests so as not to get banned or muddied by contact with nay-sayers, and generally kow-towing to 'the committee' as a concept, if not to specific individuals.<br />
It's not their fault. SL is an elbow society so it's no surprise to see, among the members of the LEA committee past and present, names of people whose main credential seems to be their ability to jostle to the front. The concept of artists managing land in a sort of a co-op in conjunction with other artists doesn't appear to have taken off. Where once you had experienced curators, now there are mere bloggers calling the shots. Such a shame, but it was inevitable perhaps. Committees draw that kind of politicking dross to them. On the upside, I do have a LM to give those who are determined to beat their own drum whatever the cost.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qhky9PfffQg/UzF3XpkoN0I/AAAAAAAAHVg/U7xmBQjqkgA/s1600/norse+drums_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qhky9PfffQg/UzF3XpkoN0I/AAAAAAAAHVg/U7xmBQjqkgA/s1600/norse+drums_001.png" height="346" width="640" /></a></div>
All good sims come to an end, even this one, and inevitably, too, LL will shut LEA down. Oh, you say, that won't happen, it can't happen, but of course they can do what they want, it's their grid and eventually (having backed up all your innumerable brilliant OARs) they may simply decide it's not worth the server space, and point to the bickering, and close it down. These things have happened before.<br />
Luckily, you can still eat, drink and be merry at <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gale%20Winds/250/13/23" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Grimmrfell</a>. <b>Erein Dragonash</b> was there, maintaining a level of grundfellichness that you rarely see this side of Fyllarloekr.<br />
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Thirza Ember: what made you come here<br />
Erein Dragonash: it was advertised on the start screen before I logged on earlier...got a free outfit - hence the furs<br />
Erein Dragonash: and I always wanted to pillage and ravage like a viking<br />
Thirza Ember: i like an honest pillager<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCLtcC6wxb0/UzDB8z5iS1I/AAAAAAAAHUg/eaEv9sMFSmk/s1600/viking+thirza_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCLtcC6wxb0/UzDB8z5iS1I/AAAAAAAAHUg/eaEv9sMFSmk/s1600/viking+thirza_006.png" height="346" width="640" /></a></div>
Erein Dragonash: so I am looking for something to pillage<br />
Erein Dragonash: know any good pillaging spots?<br />
Inventory item offered<br />
Thirza Ember: i got a free dance, you can pillage that<br />
Erein Dragonash: I need to get my wode on (need it to pillage)<br />
Thirza Ember: yeah you're not looking nearly blue enough<br />
Erein Dragonash: I am just slightly depressed<br />
Thirza Ember: why slightly?<br />
Erein Dragonash: not completely blue<br />
Sometimes this place is the best.<br />
<br />Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-50182408207045530142014-03-13T13:38:00.000-07:002014-03-25T15:41:13.595-07:00Head Cases: Cherry Manga's Insanity<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">...the fatality of the big Clock playing with our lives</span></i></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"> Cherry Manga</span></div>
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For those of us who have had to deal with problems of the mind, from depression, to brain tumors, to senility, questions of what is real or unreal, what constitutes the real self are deep and substantial questions.<br />
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It is a shame that discussion in SL about what shapes and what truly represents the self has been largely hijacked by vapid women and pervy men (often with matching <a href="http://www.bigboobiebabes.com/p/what-boobs-do-i-get.html" target="_blank"><b>Lolas Tangas</b></a>). For those of us who deal on a daily basis with mental problems from depression to cancer to alzheimer's via a host of other conditions, physical and psychic, such piffle is annoying, unhelpful. Yet the need to communicate these howlingly large questions remain. What are we, if not our memories? Which of our many states of mind is the true one? Does such a thing exist? </div>
<a name='more'></a>Watching the fragmentation of someone's mind (let alone one's own) is a painful process, and perhaps C<b>herry Manga</b>'s build <i>Insanity, </i> <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MetaLES/235/219/25" target="_blank">opening tomorrow at <b>MetaLES</b></a>, comes the closest to exploring the pieces of thought that make up a damaged mind.<br />
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There photos were taken, not in SL, but on Cherry's version of the build in <b><a href="http://www.francogrid.org/" target="_blank">Francogrid</a></b>, which is one of the best open sim grids out there; if you don't know it, and are a bit shy to get started in open sim, send an IM, and we will fix that. The Windlight in these pictures (Places Eugene 2) may differ from Cherry's choice in SL, but it seemed appropriately stormy. Here's the video teaser by the artist.</div>
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<b>Cherry Manga: </b>I am questioning myself, and the visitors of the installation, to think about what psychiatry is now, what medical point of view can be, and how it must be to be considered mentally ill and be locked, physically and mentally in a close and little space. </div>
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What unbearable tempests torment the mind, under a curving cortex sky! What voices haunt this build. Sitting among a despair of lines, cutting, joining, linking, separating thought from thought and moment from moment are figures not entirely here but entirely desperate, exhausted by their feelings, ghosts in a world that surrounds yet cannot truly touch them... these are mountains of madness. Do not fear them, they are not the unknown.<br />
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For Cherry, the build represents not only the personal experience of the <span style="text-align: center;">person at odds with their own mind, but also the institutions of society, the stigma and methods of containment, often crude and cruel, that are imposed on the insane.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><b>Cherry Manga:</b> </span>Probably everyone of us had a person or more around in psychological difficulties. And above that, the evolution of the values, the science, the perception of what is mental illness fascinate me, as evolution in general fascinates me.</div>
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Can that feeling of being trapped inside our own heads, that tiny circle of tight idea-strewn rooms ever be subverted or escaped from? Flights of fancy and moments of euphoria, is that what we live for? Those moments when we are blissfully unaware of our condition, our fate. </div>
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<b>Cherry Manga:</b> The limits of our vocabulary to define the understandable.</div>
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Through the magic of serotonin we may open our eyes, even a third eye, perhaps, to the possibilities of life. A life leaping from synapse to synapse, like so many lianas on the surface of our consciousness. </div>
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What do we reach for? A cure? Is there a way to fix the mind, and if eventually a therapy give some relief, can it ever give back those lost years? The unknowableness of fate runs through the installation; chains of thought fail to hold down flying stones lifting in the wind, fleeing a nest of endless threads. </div>
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<b>Cherry Manga: </b>The installation is like a "paysage" of images she has in mind and as we can see, everything isn't so creepy, it also have a kind of poetry, touching sensibility that's good. You have to walk in her mind to see why her thoughts are so 'mad'. Then maybe you no longer think it is insanity...</div>
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<i>Insanity</i> opens tomorrow March 14th on <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MetaLES/235/219/25" target="_blank">sim MetaLES</a>. Hope to see you there...</div>
Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-24774513445900494642014-03-11T06:13:00.000-07:002014-03-12T00:42:29.150-07:00Singularity<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/115/116/23" target="_blank"><b>This post was written and photographed entirely on location at Immersiva</b></a></i></div>
What viewer do you use?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hSP4oV6SbfA/Ux7-p-4O4eI/AAAAAAAAHN8/WuvTNrsuw9g/s1600/bryn%2527s+build_017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hSP4oV6SbfA/Ux7-p-4O4eI/AAAAAAAAHN8/WuvTNrsuw9g/s1600/bryn%2527s+build_017.png" height="328" width="640" /></a></div>
This laptop has LL3, Exodus, Kokua, Cool, Phoenix, Imprudence, and Singularity. Imprudence was such a great viewer for visiting open sim, very stable, comfortingly familiar UI, but of course like Phoenix, it can't see mesh. Anyone who loved Imprudence naturally gravitated to Kokua, but that bloody UI is exhausting.<br />
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Most irritatingly in Kokua, if you want to just briefly modify windlight for picture taking purposes, as opposed to creating an actual new setting, the only way seems to be by editing a preset, and then leaving the edit window open or minimized - if you close it, you go back to the Windlight you were in, before you made all your meticulous changes to the sun angle and time of day and gamma and such... much swearing ensues. There probably is a 'proper' way to do it, but the Kokua ship has sailed, and it's Singularity all the way, baby.That neat little box in the bottom right corner that lets you manage all the graphic settings is the bomb. Plus you don't have to waste time removing the horrid little tabs taking you to Destinations and Facebook, as you do in LL3 and friends.<br />
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Scottius: I am in Singularity. it has less bloat than Firestorm<br />
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Scottius: Ghost Rabbit.<br />
Scottius: Rabbit of Unbridled Fury<br />
Scottius: Rabbit of Wonder and Light<br />
Thirza Ember: there are a lot of rabbits in the build<br />
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Thirza Ember: and more shopping carts than you can shake a stick at<br />
Scottius: more sticks than you can shake a shopping cart at<br />
Thirza Ember: there's an incredibly creepy child too<br />
Thirza Ember: ...wanna see?<br />
Scottius: can't think of anything I'd rather see!<br />
Thirza Ember. Let's go. I can't actually remember the way...<br />
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Scottius: skeeters<br />
Kumiko whispers: Day Fourteen<br />
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Thirza Ember: so you never use the official viewer?<br />
Scottius: Oh I do<br />
Scottius: whenever I'm having severe lag I switch from viewer to viewer, which is often. Something changed about sl where there are times when it is unusable for me<br />
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Death is the final exit.<br />
Anyway, to go back to the whole 'which viewer' thing, after the keep it simple stupid approach of Imprudence, the range of Windlight options in Singularity is breathtaking. LL3 is crap when it comes to Windlight options. The other viewers have similar skies available, but they don't appear to let you toggle through your options with crossfading, showing you each ambient light combo in its full evening, night and morning glory.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Improper windlight</td></tr>
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Thirza Ember: try not to become roadkill<br />
Scottius: are you seeing what looks like flickery christmas lights on that bike?<br />
Thirza Ember: there's a lot of weirdness here.<br />
Manji's Ise-Tan v 2.01 (White): You are not allowed to drive this vehicle...<br />
Scottius: I'm not allowed to drive<br />
Thirza Ember: just as well<br />
Thirza Ember: you're an otter<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">proper windlight</td></tr>
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Scottius: what I need<br />
Scottius: is an ottermobile<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proper Windlight, and Bryn</td></tr>
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Bryn recently made the point that when you visit a build - especially if you're reviewing it - you should use the Windlight the artist intended, and to that effect she has giant explanation posters in the Foyer at Immersiva. It's a lot to take in, but was worth getting the settings right. Even more joy to discover on a second visit that there was no need to fiddle with settings, just check the 'Enable WL Settings' box and voila, darkness falls over viewer and sim. But that may be because I keep my graphics at Ultra all the time now. Before Singularity, that would have been an eyewatering lagfest. Now it's a shadowy delight.<br />
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Scottius: I really want to sit on one of these lightbulbs<br />
Scottius: but can't<br />
Thirza Ember: i know!! very frustrating<br />
Scottius: oh I did!<br />
Scottius: look at me!<br />
Thirza Ember: woohoo!<br />
Scottius: sitting on a lightbulb at 4:51 am<br />
Thirza Ember: we've all been there<br />
Scottius: have to come to grips with it<br />
Thirza Ember: acceptance... then serenity<br />
Scottius: and then luminance <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oeHvdIf_nFI/Ux8Ci14cViI/AAAAAAAAHPY/DxOXJKm1CgI/s1600/scott+at+bryn%2527s_031.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oeHvdIf_nFI/Ux8Ci14cViI/AAAAAAAAHPY/DxOXJKm1CgI/s1600/scott+at+bryn%2527s_031.png" height="328" width="640" /></a><br />
There was a time when swapping between viewers meant finding yourself wearing three pairs of shoes and several skirts, but they seem to have fixed that now. One worry less for those of us who forget to TP home at the end of the day, and who have only just come to terms with the concept of 'Adding to Worn' not 'Wearing' additional alpha layers that go with mesh clothes.<br />
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Or the concept of doors.<br />
Thirza Ember: I can rarely if ever manage to open doors. This one beats me. I try Touching it and Sitting on it, but it just won't open for me... the other day I had to cam into the build and click on a pose inside a car, just to get inside.<br />
Scottius Polke: Say 'open' in chat<br />
Thirza Ember: open<br />
Thirza Ember: now i feel like a complete idiot ... I bet there was a big sign telling me to "say open", wasn't there? Sigh. And another thing, how is it I have never been able to walk in a straight line, from the start of SL?<br />
Scottius: you're drunk? "the keyboard has been drinking...not me"<br />
Thirza Ember: I press on the arrow key, and Thirza goes off at a tangent. I press the side arrow keys to compensate, and that triggers this terrible fishtail effect. Like I hit the bottle. There are fighting bees in this one.<br />
Scottius: sending out an SOS<br />
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Scottius: giraffeswing<br />
Thirza Ember: he's a 60's throwback. I am pretty sure you're not supposed to sit here<br />
Scottius: Watch out for pose cops<br />
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The most important part of any build are the poses. Hands down. Don't give me prose, gimme a pose, for prose is often pretty bad, but poses never are. Hurrah for the groundsit override! Am I right? Which brings us to the built-in viewer A/O. They are great, lower lag, and if you hypergrid at all, will preserve your dignity. Only downside is if you swap around from Singularity to Kokua etc, you'll have to set up the A/O separately for each viewer.<br />
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Thirza Ember: Or here... waitin' for the phone to ring<br />
Thirza Ember: ok now the creepy kid<br />
Scottius: yes the moment we've been waiting for<br />
Thirza Ember: It's all phantom but if you work hard, you ware rewarded with a place to sit. Voila! Well if you can't see the creepy face now...<br />
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Scottius: I see it better now, though I found catnip woman pretty creepy too, and she has a catnip ball in her mouth<br />
Thirza Ember: It would probably seem less creepy if I wasn't blotting out the story. What is it about having a narrative thrust onto an immersive work that makes me fight tooth and nail not to pay attention? I love stories. Just not in SL. The catnip woman was bad yes. I had not seen her before. I always travel hopefully, but rarely in the right direction.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bocRH3VbHCU/Ux8Crzg5EFI/AAAAAAAAHPo/4_qag_YFQic/s1600/scott+at+bryn%2527s_038.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bocRH3VbHCU/Ux8Crzg5EFI/AAAAAAAAHPo/4_qag_YFQic/s1600/scott+at+bryn%2527s_038.png" height="328" width="640" /></a>Thirza Ember: i think i hate komiko. Not the build, just the girl. she has rabid rabbit issues.<br />
Scottius: well she uses singularity<br />
Thirza Ember: that is her saving graceThirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-11074022099713617022014-03-08T10:26:00.000-08:002014-03-25T15:47:23.645-07:00Big WiznessIf you haven't seen a hoodron, try going over to <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/CLIVE/90/40/28" target="_blank">sim Clive</a> </b>it's the SL home from home of the Great Geometrist <b><a href="http://imaginary.org/gallery/wizard-gynoids-virtual-e8-polytope" target="_blank">Wizard Gynoid</a></b>.<br />
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Today, she was trying to figure out how to lip-sync in a movie. Turns out, lip sync-ing works just fine in opensim, also, by the way, Wiz, OSGrid's <b>dan banner </b>confirmed it, so probably it's just fine on InWorldz too. The details of Wizzy's lip syncing adventure will emerge soon. Neat, to see her in SL. The SL her has USB hair and an inability to use the letter 'f'.<br />
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She is also sporting some mesh boobs. Trust me, they're really detailed, even up close.<br />
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If you come to <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/CLIVE/90/40/28" target="_blank">sim Clive</a></b>, we can't guarantee you this level of intimacy, but you can certainly see a<br />
cool piece of sacred geometry, heck, you can even sit on it. (More wizardry is available for your admiration on sim <b><a href="http://places.inworldz.com/Wizzy's%20Workshop/125/128/501" target="_blank">Wizzy's Workshop</a></b>, in IWz, definitely worth making an avie for that world, if you haven't got one yet.)<br />
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<br />
I call them hoodrons, because they always have impossible names, which may or may not be real. Only a braniac would know.<br />
<b>Wizzy Gynoid: </b>This is a combination of a merkabah and a cuboctahedron, only it is tensegrity. I'm planning to make this in real life, plan to have it at Burning Man. It will be twenty feet across, made of aluminum irrigation pipe.<br />
Just imagine that... and stop thinking about mmmmeshboobs.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-89410470659936395892014-02-28T16:00:00.001-08:002021-11-16T23:42:04.948-08:00Nine Lives: Coppelia's first year The art group <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Coppelia/128/128/23" target="_blank">Coppelia</a></b> turns one this week, and they are celebrating the anniversary with an art show from 6-8pm SLT on Friday 28th February.<br />
Art groups are quite fascinating. Not the big message-board ones, but the guild type, where everyone's an artist. Some are free-for alls, with a mix of genuine innovators and wannabes whose talent is mostly for gallery politics. Then there are the B-List cooperatives where nobody is very good but nobody minds, because dancing and gossip are regularly available. At odds with the B-list are the pretentious collectives for 'premier artists', the kind of elitist BS that third rate academics love. You can see where they are coming from - all of us want to escape from mediocrity, but as the Anglo-Saxon proverb says, 'He that <br />
<a name='more'></a>thinketh himself hot shit shall discover himself verily a cold turde warmed over.' Groups suffer from maladies: infighting or lack of funds, the one or two dogsbodies who eventually get tired of doing all the admin, people drift back to real life, an art bully like that dreadful one over on InWorldz ruins the atmosphere. At least it appears so from the outside. I'm unclubbable.<br />
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Coppelia seems a little different. Spread across the planet, these three Australians, three Europeans, two Americans and <b><a href="http://stelarc.org/%E2%80%8E" target="_blank">Stelarc</a> </b>who defies most definitions (and needs no introduction), have come together to form something rather like a time share. There is a preponderance of scriptophiles, but they all pull in different directions, which means that their Anniversary show is bound to offer a lot of variety. Performance art and the human body, minimalism, abstraction of our morphing planet and societies, poems in sounds and sight and, occasionally, words, are the norm with the Coppelia group. And another thing - mutual respect. Not just that they admire the talent of their comrades, but that they also clean up after themselves. What's not to love.<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/oberononmura" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Oberon Onmura</a> explains in practical terms how it works.<br />
<b>Oberon Onmura:</b> The members don't interact that much on a daily basis. Occasionally we'll bump into each other and have a chat, but the understanding is that it's a working space, and all of us there are usually pretty intense about making stuff. Members can set up shows if they want, of <br />
course, but that's something we like to discuss beforehand as a group just so everyone knows what happening. We created a "guest" status in the main group for outside artists to use if they need to rez something on the sim for shows, collaborations with a members, etc. If a guest is going to be around for a while, the understanding is they will be expected to share the cost eventually. (It's all a little loose.)<br />
Over Coppelia's first year, what have been the biggest ups and downs?<br />
<b>Oberon Onmura:</b> The best part of this experience so far is having a place to work with others who are also serious about their art. I mean, that context is the basis of the whole project, and it's a good feeling to know that the people who are sharing the sim all have that same respect for the process of working on art. The worst part was buying the sim, getting it renamed and replaced, and setting up the finances. All of that fell on Jo! She has been very good natured about it all, and I don't see how this could all happen without her dedication to keeping it all going.<br />
So what do the others think...<br />
<b>Pol Jarvinen:</b> I use a platform at Coppelia to work or just find some ideas to resource. I avoid to look at others the difficulty in art is to make new things I need time to find new ideas and I need a lot of quiet moments to think it over in a way you may say I'm lazy! Jo asked me to join some months ago and I seized the opportunity to get a platform. I have a lot of respect for the resident artists there, they are very humble people. I hate snobby artists - what we do are just pixels. We must keep that in mind, but it's nice if we can make people dream a little.<br />
<b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QwwuodvWBw" target="_blank">Artistide Despres</a> </b>is another of the European cohort. Very busy creating in real life in this period, her builds reflect her intense interest in society, and that's reflected in her choice to join the group.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--77MRTY3VFI/Uw7-tEqlG0I/AAAAAAAAHFc/GiNurEhK_hE/s1600/artistidee_005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="348" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--77MRTY3VFI/Uw7-tEqlG0I/AAAAAAAAHFc/GiNurEhK_hE/s1600/artistidee_005.png" width="640" /></a><br />
<b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WohPjIP1Xw" target="_blank">Artée</a></b>: It is true I do not use Coppelia very much, because I have some other possibilities at the moment. Without our presence it will be harder for the other member to keep the sim. I know that when the time will come for me to make a bigger presentation of my work, there will be a possibility there. This is what we can call an investisment. Permitting the other to continue. In RL iIam a photographer, and photographers generally have a small concept, which they test (trial error),(meeting randomness) and gradually the concept gets more weight. my ideas grow the same way on SL Then - let me tell you the secret: mixing the possibilities, scripting, texturing, etc.... increase the effects, or i should say the immersion of the viewer.so i am not a specialist mix particules, with animated textures and video, and you will get much more than just video and it is more fun to play with then all.<br />
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<b><a href="http://d-oo-b.ch/blipTV.php?id=AYHwg3AC" target="_blank">Eifachfilm Vacirca</a> </b>'call me Eifa'<b> </b>has a real life history in journalism and in Theater design - that's how he found out about SL in fact. Here, he makes machinima, art and does DJ-ing. and enjoys the freedom. how did he get on board?<br />
<b>Eifachfilm Vacirca: </b>I did not join in in the beginning, I was still teaching myself. Freewee sent around messages in group, they looking for new people. Well, many of the people here I know already. We don't have limits here, everyone can do what ever he/she wants and we talk if there are conflicts as everyone is respectful here. I never have conflicts - NO DRAMA lol! I don't think that skill is mandatory to be an artist, its like a role play and I think artist should not consider themselves as something better they just do something else I would say I see myself as an artist who has the freedom to make stuff and waste his time without caring about money and success. The people here are bright, and we inspire each other and I could imagine Coppelia can grow very interesting over the years. Here in Coppelia as we pay our own thing. I think the people here have learned their lesson and want to try a different way and experiment how we can have a successful group that is stable over years. I think Coppelia has the chance to succeed.<br />
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<b> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/glyphgraves" target="_blank">Glyph Graves</a> </b>is asking his public to question realities on a mind-bending scale. 'What is an avatar' is a theme that runs through much of his work. Imagine an avatar that's not a person, but a whole continent; think of stock exchanges making sweet music, dancing in each other's arms; think of change and form on a higher level - and a more elemental one, that's his bag, and he has made use of the Coppelia sim to explore these ideas and the complex scripts that illustrate them. Here he is close to his Somnolent Repose build, right on sim Coppelia. <br />
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Here is <b>Serra Quendra</b> in her 'work clothes' - they help her concentrate, as she deconstructs umbrellas and that kind of thing, at ground level on Coppelia. But the cute avie is more than just a good way to avoid having to worry about appearances.<br />
<b>Serra Quendra: </b>The Junkbot avatar I have recently started wearing fulltime represents the idea that one can be ‘self-assembling’ within the matrix of our society. Having Web Gearbox’s backstory as my profile “identity” reveals my attraction to the cute and the punk nature of fringe life growing its own.<br />
She's a solitary soul when creating, but she likes the semi-public workspace - she was at Lollygagger Lane, and then had a studio close to Split Screen, which must have been inspiring. <br />
<b>Serra Quendra </b>That was just great, and it has been a perfect progression to move into the co-operative studio spaces here at Coppelia. However, I do feel like I have jumped into a deep end of SL art and whilst that can be a bit nerve-wracking, it is a healthy and inspiring challenge.For me, the big challenge is to be more public with my art, to have feedback from others in my creative loop. I am equally interested in poetics as technical "mastery".<br />
There is toast to be had.<br />
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The gorgeous <b>FreeWee Ling</b> is a busy lady. She's still curating over at UWA, but Coppelia is for her own work. She comes from a background in publishing and of course who can forget her wonderful <b><a href="http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/p/uwa-siva.html" target="_blank">catalogues for UWA</a></b>, but Coppelia offers other possibilities.<br />
<b style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://freeweeling.com/" target="_blank">FreeWee Ling</a>:</b><b> </b>After Artemisia closed I heard some people I knew were opening a coop sim. It was a great opportunity to be part of something with a lot of people I greatly admire. It's a good situation, since we can use whatever space and prims we need for projects, and just share the costs equally. I think I'm by far the heaviest user of prims here. Except when one of Oberon's projects goes crazy.. I've been busy pretty much nonstop since I got here. We had a group show early on.<br />
Then I seem to work of projects without a particular goal in mind. I was working on some very large scenes with complex effects when I had the opportunity to use a whole LEA sim in January.<br />
So I hauled a lot of the stuff over there and made a pretty cool environment with space aliens and black helicopters flying around and so on. Much of my own work is about creating scenes for photography. Then I'm trying to create stories around the images, which I hope to publish online. So now we're near the final phase of the Freedom Project at UWA. It's a show for art by people with disabilities or chronic illness. It's turned into quite an impressive exhibition.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">In and out of SL, <a href="http://vimeo.com/user7094628" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Jo Ellsmere</a><b> </b></span>makes things happen. Bright, witty, wonderful experiments that need the minimum of explanation to get you thinking about the way we view bodies, motion, interaction, and shape. Her work in SL is leading to opportunities in real world art. Together with <b>Pyewacket Kazyanenko</b> and <b>Fau Ferdinand</b>, she collaborated on a project that was presented at London's Tate Modern two years ago. In December she assisted <b>Stelarc</b> in a presentation in Pittsburgh, and she has been invited to participate in the Greenaway/Boddeke Russian Avant Garde project. All this good stuff takes time, and that perhaps is one of the greatest advantages of Coppelia.<br />
<b>Jo Ellsmere:</b> It's very difficult for me, these days, to work up much enthusiasm at all for most SL 'art'. I still feel, though, that as a pure medium, there is great potential, but one needs to think beyond making SL art *for SL*, as it were - that's what I find crushingly boring. I love Coppelia because I enjoy associating with like-minded people who respect their own and other's time and work in SL. We basically keep out of each other's hair, so to speak. Everyone's time is precious and limited. we each have limited resources to spend, money, of course, but more importantly *time*. I'd say that in these regards we're all quite compatible in this group, and that's not to be taken lightly.<br />
<b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Coppelia/128/128/23" target="_blank">Coppelia</a></b>'s anniversary celebration begins in about two hours from now. Best wishes for many more!<br />
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<br />Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-6932122994471796682014-02-27T03:03:00.001-08:002014-03-12T00:40:29.878-07:00The Art of Blogging ... ArtWriting about art in Second Life can be a lot of fun. You get to have proper conversations with interesting. passionate people... also quite a few twits, but you knew that already. What makes for a better blog, when it comes to blogging art in Second Life? Here are the reactions of a handful of people who know a bit about it, from different perspectives.<br />
<b><a href="http://apmel.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apmel</a> </b>posts notices, reviews, and (what he probably would hate to see called) understated social comment. His blog is regularly updated, sometimes several times a day, often in Swedish, never without purpose. What would be his philosophy on blogging about art - well, not just the art but the people who make it, buy it, and blether about it? Appropriately, his answer was<b> <a href="http://apmel.blogspot.se/2014/02/not-art-blog.html" target="_blank">a link to his blog.</a></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RTEVcsqKrrw/UwzU-hOg6qI/AAAAAAAAHDQ/JD9O8NvbyhU/s1600/ze+moo%2527s+party_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RTEVcsqKrrw/UwzU-hOg6qI/AAAAAAAAHDQ/JD9O8NvbyhU/s1600/ze+moo%2527s+party_002.png" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apmel: his blog is scary good.</td></tr>
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Let's get this out of the way before we go any further: the 'Dear Diary' style: "I got an IM, and..." "I always think...", "I was invited by my good friend Kewlkid Namedrop..." I, I, I....unless you're describing your illness or your solo trek up Everest, mentioning yourself 10 times in the first paragraph makes you sound like a raging egomaniac, not a hip young thing, or the voice of authority. We know that you were IM'd/invited/present at an event, and heck, we kind of guessed that your blog contains things you think and opine. Be warm and personal, but get straight down to the bit we care about, the art and the events.<br />
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But how often to post? It's not necessary to keep pace with Apmel. Professional artist and regular blogger <b><a href="http://brynoh.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bryn Oh</a></b> takes a different approach.<br />
<b><a href="http://brynoh.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bryn Oh</a></b>: Determine if you are an every day poster or better a few times a week (or once every few weeks like me). <br />
Treesmith and artist <b><a href="http://sorornishi.is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">soror Nishi</a></b> is a bit of an SL escapee and her blog reflects this with updates on her adventures in real world sculpting and woodworking. She also advocates the occasional approach.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This just in: soror is working on a new build at LEA. </td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://sorornishi.is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">soror Nishi</a></b>: Never blog 'because you should', only blog when you really want to. Mix it up, blog about different stuff, rant very occasionally and get political annually. Religion, I never touch. Don't use your site for advertising, the revenue is tiny and it looks terrible.<br />
If your opinion were humble, you wouldn't have a blog, so avoid that trite expression. That doesn't mean you should be sententious, though. Bring the goods to back up your views. <b><a href="http://dividni.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dividni Shostakovich</a>,</b> curator of the legendary <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beleza/6/250/22" target="_blank">Split Screen Installation Space</a></b>, has a blog that is part notices, part thoughtful conversation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Although not actively showing new builds, <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beleza/6/250/22" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Split Screen is still here</a></b>, and full of treasures worth visiting.</td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://dividni.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dividni Shostakovich</a></b>: Unless your blog's sole purpose is posting announcements, give some idea of what you liked about the work. "Oh the pictures are so beautiful!" isn't good enough. What did you like: something about the technique? the theme? the emotional content? And of course not all good art is beautiful. If you're ambitious, write a full-scale commentary. You aren't required to like everything: if something doesn't work for you, go ahead and say so.<br />
<b><a href="http://brynoh.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bryn Oh</a></b>: If you wish to be an art blogger then it is always nice if you can talk about the artworks greater place within virtual world art history. Make connections to past artists or try to see schools, styles or movements that the work might be connected to. What is unique about virtual art when compared to other mediums like painting and cinema? For example, Virtual worlds are open ended 3d environments where the viewer has great freedom to do as they wish. Is the artwork trying to force the viewer into a passive observer role similar to cinema where we have to follow the camera wherever it goes while we sit passively being told a story? Is the artwork breaking any new ground or is it interchangeable to another artists work from years ago?<br />
<b><a href="http://sorornishi.is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">soror Nishi</a> </b>It better to 'speak' in a realistic, natural manner than try for too much philosophy or Art Crap Speak. Don't be a pratt.<br />
Vernissages and openings are fun to blog about, but only as social events. The artist and curator generally fob you off with notecards, there's too much lag to really appreciate the exhibits, and it's more fun to mess about than to be serious about the art. 'Blogging with the pack' - covering some big event everyone's talking about - is an exercise in repetition. Discover someone who's just getting started, or a build off the beaten track, from time to time. Exploration and serendipity are the cornerstones of creative writing. Copy-pasted press releases are for bots. If you're given the rare priviledge of a preview, be careful not to reveal the whole build, but make your post a mysterious invitation. Write for yourself and for the artist. If someone else reads your words, that's a plus. Don't feel you have to meet the artist to blog about their stuff; many artists can ruin their work for you by turning out to be conceited jerks, like Gleman Jun, or socially inept, like ... well, the list is too long. Never change what people said to suit yourself, and keep notes. It pays off.<br />
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Artsparks was dormant for more than a year, but that didn't stop visitors mining the archive to the tune of a thousand hits a month. Should that matter? *stat angst...sob*<br />
<b><a href="http://sorornishi.is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">soror Nishi</a></b>: I used to count visitors and aim for High Traffic, but that was when I was a beginner... much better just to accept that you have a limited and faithful group of people who read your stuff occasionally. Write stuff that will be OK to read in 6 months time as people often read your old stuff.<br />
<b><a href="http://brynoh.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bryn Oh</a></b>: Don't let the desire for "hits" dictate how often you post. I like when people leave something up two or three days so I have time to notice and read it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bryn Oh at <i><b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/115/116/23" target="_blank">The Singularity of Komiko</a></b>. </i></td></tr>
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OK but what about photos? Take your own! (Not mine!)<br />
<b><a href="http://sorornishi.is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">soror Nishi</a>: </b>I'd much rather see one good photo than 5 mediocre ones.<br />
<b><a href="http://dividni.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dividni Shostakovich</a>: </b>Forget the selfies! Once in a while you may need a photo with you in it so you can indicate scale or to show outfits/avs that the artist offers. Otherwise, stay out of it. I also don't see much point in photos of the artist. The exceptions are interviews and, occasionally, artists with unusual avatars.<br />
<b><a href="http://brynoh.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bryn Oh</a>: </b>Use pictures and video that are of high quality and represent what the artist aesthetically intended. If you are promoting or commenting on an artists work then show what they created rather than using a neon green windlight sky you like. Take those pictures later, but initially stick with what they have done if you are giving a review to people who have not seen the work yet.<br />
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And then there are Notecards.<br />
Artists, the Notecard is to an installation what a voice-over narration is to a film: something of a defeat to your chosen medium. Of course, there may be things your public should know before viewing your art (your special windlight or nifty script), but the Notecard, filling half the screen with ugly font, is not the way to do it. The more you write, the less we will read! Trust your audience and your art, and make peace with the fact some people won't get the message you intended. A poster is worth a thousand notecards. Bryn Oh has the audience prep down to a fine art, as you can see in this picture of the landing point at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/115/116/23" target="_blank">Immersiva</a></b>. Don't have room to do something this big? You're a 'creative'...come up with something.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgpNvf3KT2E/Uw2feqsiURI/AAAAAAAAHEM/4mmGAMnwFsY/s1600/bryn%2527s+notices_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgpNvf3KT2E/Uw2feqsiURI/AAAAAAAAHEM/4mmGAMnwFsY/s1600/bryn%2527s+notices_001.png" height="348" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His tag read 'I surf Nude' so thank your stars this isn't a beach build.</td></tr>
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It is your blog, but you do owe some consideration to the people you involve in that blog, like getting their names and SLURLs right, if for no other reason than you'll be deluged with complaints if you don't. Divini advocates correcting the English of foreigners, just as a courtesy, and IM-speak makes people look footling in the long term, unless it's a humorous piece, so trim that down too. But do you always have to play nice?<br />
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<b><a href="http://brynoh.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bryn Oh</a>: </b>If you are a critic or keyboard warrior then back up your comments with something thought out and explained so that people can evaluate your position. Just saying you don't like something is boring. I like bloggers who add their own perspective or opinion to their posts. If an artwork is commenting on Euthanasia for example, then give your opinion too so that a dialogue is opened. Be unbiased, if you dislike Euthanasia then you don't automatically have to dislike the artwork. </div>
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<b><a href="http://sorornishi.is/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">soror Nishi</a>: </b>I think if you have nothing nice to say about someone else then you should shut up. I will 'attack' a philosophy of art or anything pretentious, but will avoid being plain nasty or personal.</div>
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If you do decide to be harsh, brace yourself for some in-world backlash. The smaller the real life, the longer the memory. Sometimes it's not the individual you criticized, but their crazed groupies who go after you. That needn't stop you, some people are really asking for it, but remember that circumlocution is your friend, and for the foreign mockee there's nothing like idiom for throwing google translate for a loop. Try to stay out of trouble.<br />
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Which brings us to this: When it comes to art and blogs, one stands alone. Inseparable from the inworld antics it chronicles, <b><a href="http://savemeoh.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SaveMe Oh</a>'</b>s transgressive, provocative blog is revolting to and against respectability. Now into its seventh year, it is probably the longest continuous performance in a virtual world, a portrait of the artist, the <b><a href="http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/rembrandt_self_portraits.htm" target="_blank">Rembrandt</a></b> of Second Life blogs. Via <b><a href="http://joshualightshow.com/" target="_blank">Joshua White</a></b> and <b><a href="http://www.paulfryer.net/" target="_blank">Paul Fryer</a></b>.</div>
Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-44695773199666802792014-02-20T01:48:00.001-08:002014-03-12T00:40:52.198-07:00Method and MadnessKenya's <b><a href="http://feed-a-smile.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">Feed A Smile</a></b> is a great charity and <b>Kiana</b> the maddest pea of them all is trying to raise money for them in Second Life. The <b>MadPea</b> crew have set up a charity auction in a park at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Da%20Vinci%20Isle/109/132/33" target="_blank">Mad City</a> </b>among the wildly beautiful New York sims. The auction starts February 15th and runs through February 23rd.<br />
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The idea is that you bid on people offering goods or services or, in the case of the celebs, maybe just 'to spend time' with them. And there are some pretty well-known names up there, all the way from <b>Bryn Oh</b> to <b>Drax</b>. (OK you're expecting some comment like :"I would pay good money to have Drax pass 24 hours without spamming about himself and that bloody Fluffee", right? You're out of luck. This is 'don't mention the Drax' week. Thank God it's Thursday.)<br />
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What could you get for the money? Well, you have to click on the boards to get a notecard where the celeb tells you a little about themselves and what they'll do for / with / to you. What you read here is just a general flavor of what's up for grabs - find out all the details by <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Da%20Vinci%20Isle/109/132/33" target="_blank">going to the auction at Mad City</a> !</b><br />
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<b>Harter Fall</b> who, it turns out, has a gorgeous German accent, is offering to "show you how we work at MadPeas or give you a short tutorial about 3d modeling, graphic design or mongolian throatsinging."<br />
<b>Strawberry Singh</b> will do you 'one single photograph', <b>KatRose Serendipity </b>who sings and plays fancy guitars will give you a 30 minute concert, and builder <b>Jaimy Hancroft </b>will take you to see some new mesh sims, and give you some limited edition freebies, and possibly also a painted profile pic. Probably the best deal is <b>Saffia Widdershins </b>who<b> </b>will give you a write-up in<b><a href="http://www.primperfect.net/" target="_blank"> Prim Perfect </a> </b>to help promote yourself or your business.<br />
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<b>Cold Frog</b> has a bizarre offer for you... no, not saying, you'll have to <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Da%20Vinci%20Isle/109/132/33" target="_blank">TP</a></b> in there and see for yourself.<br />
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<b>Betty Tureaud, Maya Paris, Eupalinos, Scottius</b> and other art chums are there offering some goodies of an artistic persuasion, plus tours of their installs, and time to chat about art.<b></b><br />
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<b>Fuschia Nightfire</b> will do you a 2D picture, or even make you a short film! Heck, <b>Iono Allen </b>will teach you how to make machinima!<br />
<b>Bryn</b>'s board is already at about 35000 Linden. Hmm, wonder why so much? Check out the notecard. Under "6. Is there something you would absolutely NOT do with your winner?" she put "I don't think so." Now that's dedication to charity.<br />
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<b>Kiana</b>'s board is already up to 50k, and delighted to see how the Lindens are pouring in, but remember, their target is 1 200 000L - that’s enough to feed 400 children for one month! so keep the Linden Love coming... <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Da%20Vinci%20Isle/109/132/33" target="_blank">here's that TP</a></b> again. Everyone at MadPea is really nice, very helpful and professional, it's an impressive operation.<br />
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Here's my board - offering a trip into open sim, complete with help to set up your avatar, a hypergridding tutorial and a safari to see some nice places that are out of this SL world. The current bid is L 666.<br />
Mission accomplished.<br />
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<br />Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-17515113489280953062014-02-19T02:32:00.000-08:002014-03-25T15:48:02.977-07:00Convivial Pursuit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
You will still be here tomorrow, Though your dreams may not.</div>
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<i> Cat Stevens</i></div>
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<i> </i>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 <b><a href="http://slartsparks.blogspot.it/2014/02/yokesdream.html" target="_blank">Arte Libera</a></b>, Pyramid Cafe, as well as the <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/97/56/22" target="_blank">Torno Kohime Foundation</a></b>, or to put it another way<b> <a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/97/56/22" target="_blank">Tanalois</a></b>, run by run by <b>Aloisio Congrejo</b> and <b>Tani Thor</b>. <br />
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<b>Pol Jarvinen</b> is there now, with a new show, <i>Chasing Butterflies</i>. 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.</div>
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Beyond the boxes an avenue of cages opens up; no, not cages, but enclosures. Wander in, and you can hear Pol's words echoing among the phantom bars.</div>
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<b>Pol Jarvinen:</b> <i>maybe you can feel the feelings of a boxed butterfly now</i> </div>
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He's right. A sensation of cramped wings fluttering, fine lines slicing. Cold steel shot through with moving, organic forms, a mere bubbling of moments in the darkness. And the mind turns to the chrysalis, and ancient metaphors for the soul and spirit, and we, ourselves, our virtual selves, somehow trapped between dull thudding fingertips and a digital hereafter.</div>
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A maze of forms creep out of the darkness, constructed of light and lines scratching at the surface of Pol's imagination, and your own. No two viewers see just the same thing, and that's just what he intends. That is the secret. You are as much a metamorph as the next bug, stumbling through the shadows. Stay close.<br />
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How then chasing? Surely that part is done; the shutters are down, and we, like <b><a href="http://rainer-maria-rilke.de/080027panther.html" target="_blank">Rilke's panther</a></b>, can do no more than pace - and sometimes pierce phantom boundaries and stare up at the quiet waiting forms that might, at a pinch, turn into further butterflies. Perhaps this is the chase Pol means, a mad race through interiors, principally our own world of locked room puzzles. Where, again that question, where are we going? And more, with whom? Like so many of Jarvinen's builds, the illusion collapses if seen alone. It is the intersection of person - persons - and space and form that breathes life into the install.<br />
And the out, out into the light, not an afterword so much as an afterward to confirm this thesis, a set of avatar-sensitive sculptures await, anatomizing the elements that made up the labyrinth you just experienced.<br />
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There is jeopardy here, too though. You're out of the woods, but here be monsters ready to exterminate you with their crushing, needling beauty.<br />
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Where it leads depends on you. Take a friend.<br />
<b>Pol Jarvinen</b>'s install <i>Chasing Butterflies</i> opens soon at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/170/54/1401" target="_blank">Tanalois</a> ,</b> 1:30 pm, SLT.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-579997190106288212014-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:002014-03-12T00:42:46.192-07:00Life is but a Dream<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Row, row, row your boat</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Gently down the stream</span></div>
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<i>Traditional </i> </div>
<b> Noke Yuitza</b> had some good news. Even in IM, her merry enthusiasm was infectious. It was the perfect melding of SL and real life. The birth of a new life.<br />
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<b>Noke Yuitza:</b> It is a very beautiful story, let me tell you it because it is attached in a certain way to this installation. They met in one of my classes some years ago here in SL; they are from different countries, Germany and Sweden, and I introduced them. I met them in RL too. They started to going out in RL and now they are together and with a baby!!<br />
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She broke the news at <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/230/193/3693" target="_blank">Arte Libera</a></b> where her new install, <i><b>Dreams</b></i>, opens on <b>Monday, February 17 at 1.30pm SLT</b>. It's a beautiful composition with a great, dreamy, moon-like face looking down on two slumbering forms. Are they parts of the same psyche or is it the concrete in search, among the shadows of the subconscious, of the ephemeral? A fantasy of undergrowth invites further meditation, searching, grasping, reaching for the moon. Why shouldn't you? You deserve it, and some, as we have seen, have found it. The build hints at a warning, too. How beautiful the slumberers, if more than one they be. Could this be a fate we risk submitting to, an endless dive into an impossible reality, only touched by nebulous forms that must needs vanish when we awake?<br />
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<b>Noke Yuitza: </b>Their love story is attached in certain way to this installation because <i>Dream</i> talks about the necessity of love and be loved of the human beings. That hole that we have that we try to fill with the other person. So we Dream with our need to feel love and to give love and we feel the absence of the other.<br />
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<b>Noke Yuitza: </b> Arte Libera means a lot for me, especially the job Simba does. We have known each other since 2009 and she has become much more that just a gallerista - although she's a good one! Simba and also other members of Arte Libera (as Wiz, Storm, Grazie, Gatta, Moki,...) they has become also part of my art pieces. quite literally. One example was Tears in the Rain installation, but before that was the SandMan and also in my first installation. Simba posed for one of my grid pictures. How many people do that? She was the one I came back to in SL after a year of not being in Second Life, when I exhibited 'Tears'. Arte Libera is a very great community because it's a collaborative one.<br />
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<b>simba Schumann:</b> It's great to cooperate with people who have the same feelings. I met Noke many years ago. She has done many shows for Arte Libera, and we work together in perfect harmony. I fell in love with her creativity that I have seen her grow over time. A few months ago she told me that she had not been successful in getting a LEA sim. It seemed a shame, because she has always avant garde ideas. So I thought it would be good to have her at Arte Libera, which has be underutilized recently. I gave her carte blanche, I knew she would come up with something good. And here it is!<br />
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It's nice to be back in the familiar <i>hortus conclusus</i> of Arte Libera. Even the gate is the same. So many artists have exhibited on this platform over the past - what, five years? - it feels like an island of sanity among the craziness of SL. <b>Noke</b> talks about a trinity imagery, but the build suggests far older pagan imagery; the henge and the altar; the tree connecting life, the overworld and the underworld and all the dreams in the world, and time in which to dream them. Hands lurk in the undergrowth, are they sown there, like tares, or are they the true grain, or a grain of truth? Reaching, hoping, searching for something to hold on to, a whole in this world of half realities.<br />
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There had been some talk of Arte Libera disappearing for good, and we're all glad that hasn't happened, not least of all because of the importance of non-LEA venues for artists. But hey, it's also very nice to come back to a familiar place after years. Kudos to the folks of <b>Solaris</b> for giving it some space. So much of SL is transient, the familiar pillars at Arte Libera are a reminder that some things don't change, whatever may happen in real life. We ought to appreciate that more, because consistency doesn't happen by chance. there's a lot of effort behind the running of a venue. (I think it's OK to stare at Noke, her mermaidish a/o is mesmerizing.)<br />
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<b>Noke Yuitza: </b>Yeah. Not all people see how hard it is, doing stuff here. It demands time, right Simba?<br />
<b>simba Schumann:</b> Yes, and willpower; this is a period in my life that my energies are in my RL job, but SL teaches me a lot.<br />
Real life comes first! for there it is that so many of the dreamlike creations of SecondLife are first half imagined. But of course it's a balance, a rhythm, a cycle. And a lot of rapid eye movement.<br />
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<b>Noke Yuitza:</b> It must be that way or SL eats you! I use Second Life mainly for RL purposes: 2008- 2010 for a RL project of science dissemination and since 2009 I've used some art stuff here for work at in college. But Simba is one of the few people here that has done a hobby like a real passion. Not too many projects survive the effect of time.<br />
<b>simba Schumann:</b> When you work in SL, you do it for passion, you can do only what you like, and you have to do well what you love, so... perhaps it's a way to fill the same hole of Noke's dream. There will be passion!<br />
<i>Dream </i> by <b>Noke Yuitza</b> is at <b>simba Schumann</b>'s <b><a href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solaris%20Island/230/193/3693" target="_blank">Arte Libera</a></b> on sim Solaris, starting tomorrow.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-8214189925725217982014-02-09T15:36:00.000-08:002014-03-12T00:43:13.130-07:00Wear it well: Kikas Babenco<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here's<b> Kikas Babenco</b>, coming to you from sunny Portugal, with impeccable English, learnt 'with the Beatles' and via many, many books. She teaches graphic arts and introduction to multimedia in real life.<br />
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In Second Life you'll most likely know her from the joint performances – or better 'Adventures' - with her RL and SL partner <b>Marmaduke Arado</b>. For <b>Kikas</b>, art is about questioning the world around us, but from a positive point of view. She's all about hope, and good companionship, and... well, let her tell you.<br />
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>I was told of SL some years before entering, when I attended a virtual reality workshop but SL was not for Macs at that time then my daughter told me about it and I decided to try to "see" me what would I be in a different environment without knowing anyone. I tried some art places but did not feel very comfortable. I found some laggy museums, they were very well done but a bit boring. I tried building, but I needed someone who understood what I wanted and someone I trusted.</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>The first art I saw in SL did not seem very interesting, too many fractals and digitized paintings. I did not search well. I know now that I spent too much time partying and looking for freebies. But I loved to build, although it was difficult to do it at public sandboxes. And I discovered a magic thing called scripting.<br />
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The artistic epiphany for Kikas was Virtual Arles where, as I'm sure you remember, there was a 3D reproduction of Van Gogh's work. A second big event was the arrival in SL of her husband, <b>Marmaduke Arado.</b></div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b> When Marmaduke entered things got a lot better. Marma is much more focused than me, and has great weird ideas! Marma entered SL a few months after me and I think in the first week he was already making things to wear! Our art projects really got started one day when Marma wanted to show some pictures to a friend a decided to wear them.</div>
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They often did that at Chouchou sim, a place with many fond memories for Kikas, and where we took most of these pictures.</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>Our collaboration started when we met in RL centuries ago. I love wearing our adventures. Working together is greatly rewarding even when we do not agree. It's great to join our minds and efforts and do something that people enjoy. FUN is a way to not let the evil forces of boredom get us. And laughing makes us not take ourselves and the others too seriously.<br />
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>My first performance in SL was to dive into a volcano. Now I see it as a performance at that time it was a challenge I made to myself ! <b> </b>We were at Burn using our stuff and Sledge Roffo loved what we did and some months later he invited us to the opening of his gallery I was so nervous! And there was Rose that later invited us too … and Dekka invited us too and gave us some objects like this scissors</div>
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Their friend and fellow SL artist, the brilliant <b>Penumbra Carter</b>, captured a recent performance on Youtube, here it is.</div>
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The SL experience is not one she directly shares with her students, mostly because they are adolescents - too young for the grid. But it has made her want to help her students to make wearable art, and it keeps Kikas up-to-date with contemporary artistic trends.</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>As a wearer, the idea of owning a sim, a territory, does not make sense for us, it's a bit feudal. Thank god some people don't think like us and make great sims! We create our work where we live, at a residential sim with great landlords. Our house is our sandbox and the neighbors never complained. Sometimes friends lend us space to work, but we do it mostly at home, except when we go to Aire Mille Flux, in Open Sim. As wearers for our performances we don't need to rezz prims, or sometimes just a few. We perform mainly when we are invited or when we are inspired by a place (sometimes our best performances don't have an audience!).<br />
Another aspect of wearable art is that it can often be huge - to great effect at times (look at <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji7FxN1dXKc">Fuschia Nightfire's birthday bash</a></b>, where <b>SaveMe's </b>onboard environments made the day). But it can also be intrusive and inappropriate when worn at other people's events. Do Kikas and Marma worry about that?</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco:</b> Yes, we do. It's their place, their art and we try to respect that. Although sometimes we did not behave very well... If we are invited to perform we don't have limits, but if we just want to participate we use smaller things. Art is Art, be it RL or SL, so is the artist world, with the same dramas, egos and pettiness. But in SL you don't have the physical limitations of RL so you can create magic! </div>
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The thing that seems hardest about it is not building the props but getting the poses to work right. Anyone who's ever tried to position a pose on a chair knows how time consuming it can be to get right. That difficulty in making wearable art look good when there is a lot of movement has led to a majority of static poses, but that's far from a disadvantage; they convey the ironic, iconic graphic-art look to perfection. NO wonder she lists among their influences Tintin, Mel Brooks, BD, Jacques Tati, Frank Zappa, the Sparks, and John Cleese. </div>
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Getting two-handed performances to gel, where the art worn by each party is in the correct position is work that requires a lot of fussing over, and it's just another way that being in the same physical space helps – they can sneak a look at each others' computers!</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>I'd like our poses to be moving poses but they are more difficult to make. we only have two or three scenes with moving poses but I'm trying to make some dancing poses just for fun. First we bought poses but then we began to make them so they could be perfectly adjusted. Scripting is more Marmaduke's job, he already did it in RL, with flash and Director; I can script very little. I make the graphic textures, and others we buy or Marma makes them – he is very picky! Right now I am working on some non-realistic skins.</div>
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With her art background, that's not a huge surprise. When she went to art school she chose to major in painting rather than the other two options available at the beginning – architecture and sculpture. However, when the graphic art option became available, she jumped at the chance, and has been able to turn her love of publishing and typography into a real life job.</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>This is one of my favorites. Marma made it after we saw some of <b>Yips</b> things about Magritte, and the apples and the hat are from <b>Four Yip</b>, while the bucket and mop are from <b>Tooter Claxon</b>.</div>
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There's no place like home; would SL be the same for her if Marma had never take the decision to come inworld? (Now's the opportunity for spousal brownie points, Kikas, go for it!!)</div>
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<b>Kikas Babenco: </b>No, I don't think so, because then I could not spend enough time with Marma in RL! SL is great because we can do so many interesting things together. Philosophically speaking, Second Life is our Real Life mirror. Speaking of reality/unreality, we are inspired by a quote of the filmmaker <b>Peter Greenaway:</b> "We don't want virtual reality. We want virtual unreality". In RL sometimes it's boring, traffic, too many zombies too many money to spend... and we have really interesting friends in SL!</div>
Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-11164224690500504002012-10-07T14:07:00.002-07:002014-03-25T15:43:03.063-07:00The MissingWhat makes <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hopper" target="_blank"><b>Hopper</b></a> an enduring and endearing figure in 20th century art has been hacked to death by writers, almost from his first encounter with fame, age 40, when his soon-to-be-wife, Jo Nivison, convinced him to show some watercolours at the Brooklyn Museum.<br />
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What makes <b><a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Solace%20Island/166/38/21" target="_blank">Hop On Hop Oh</a>,</b> the installation at Solace Island, so interesting is that the builder, <b>Saveme Oh</b>, is in every way the opposite of what we have been taught to think of, when we think of Edward Hopper: flamboyant, to Hopper's repression; anti-establishment, to Hopper's conservatism; manically social, to Hopper's sense of solitude.</div>
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Hopper's early life resonates with the typical Second Life; it is one of lopsided aspirations, fragmented advantage, finally glued together by glorious good luck. His talent was obvious from a young age, and was encouraged by his parents who set him up with trips abroad, and the kind of solid education in the field that most aspiring artists would be delighted to receive.<br />
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But all that promise seemed to boil down to a ho-hum career in commercial art, the safe-ish option. Nothing that was going to bring in the big money or fame, but nothing that might shock or embarrass his straitlaced family. A creative life going nowhere. Yet, finally, he did stick his neck out, and become somebody; and while his pictures were not always understood nor appreciated, his perseverance won the day. Perseverance, in the sense that his particular version of realism never wavered. Critics and opinion makers might dress up his psyche in any number of avatars - 'dour', 'tense', or 'alienated', but he was, like any of us, merely and always himself, no matter what others chose to perceive. </div>
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And so it is through the lens of Hopper's 'appearances' that one must read the installation <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Solace%20Island/166/38/21" target="_blank"><b>Hop On Hop Oh</b></a>. With two exceptions, '<i>Gas</i>' at the bottom and '<i>Nighthawks</i>' at the top, all the paintings reproduced here are interiors, those quiet interiors made even more lonely and tense in this incarnation, by the absence of the figures present in the original. </div>
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It's impossible not to think of Saveme Oh's protests on other sims about 'freedom' - whatever that means - in making and viewing art, while visiting this build, which feels like a progression through theatrical flats. They are made to be viewed through the fourth wall, what we might term 'Hopper's proscenium', the strict and static angle of the original painting. If you approach the installs from any other direction, using the kind of free camming we all have come to accept as a right, you're brought up sharply against unfinished-looking prims protruding through walls, or sketched elements only meant to be glimpsed through windows.<br />
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Saveme, like Hopper, is concerned with form, not texture; and light, above all, light. On the other hand, Oh has added paintings to the interiors; paintings which in turn have the artist's face, or whole avatar, intruding into group scenes. In becoming part of the decor, it's an assertion of self in a manner less ethereal than the pose balls, which allow the visitor to participate in the pictures. </div>
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Participation is possible, it's true, yet the inherent lacking remains. It's as if Hopper resists this further attempt to rewrite him. We cannot immerse ourselves in his work here. The silence remains. It's a pretty paradox to observe on the part of one of the most noisy - and often noisome - members of the Second Life art scene.</div>
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What takes this paradox even further are the references to two of SaveMe's more notable nemeses. Oh is almost synonymous for griefing, or (depending on your point of view) 'enlivening' events at galleries and installations by acts of spontaneous rezzing; acts often accompanied by blog entries that chart the aggravation or absurdity that these interventions leave in their wake. It is a deeply social and performative act, which has here become embalmed, absorbed, re-written in a way that suggests an attachment much deeper than an act of witty deflating spite. </div>
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Yet, their very presence here, in this place of absence, of solitude, suggests an anxiety, an awareness that no amount of nervous energy can trap our pixellated playthings in amber, and the consistency of an in-joke is no thicker than a layer in Gimp. The virtual grasp is as tenuous as the beam of light that delineates a wall; a temporary permanence, at (its) best.</div>
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<a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Solace%20Island/166/38/21" target="_blank"><b>Hop on Hop Oh</b></a> will be there for a while. Take a look.</div>
Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-4001745154546630322012-10-01T14:55:00.002-07:002014-03-25T15:53:21.539-07:00Pictures of TaniThe autumn has arrived here, and as the evenings draw in, so returns the desire to be somewhere warm, in every sense. What could be better then, than an attractive photo show, surrounded by kind and witty people, on a beautiful romantic parcel, <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chefchaouen/126/128/44" target="_blank"><b>Sorrento</b></a> on sim Chefchaouen. <br />
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Tani Thor's photos are a great mixture of gentle landscapes and lively abstracts, I particularly loved this one, Altalena, and 'Tempio', taken on <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Kansai/58/5/23" target="_blank"><b>Japan Kansai</b></a>.<br />
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Tani mixes it up with different techniques; photography has always been a passion, and perhaps even more than that, reworking her pictures to bring an even stronger element of real life to Second Life places.<br />
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Showing art is just part of her commitment to the cultural side of SL, she's also an accomplished gallerista and builder, something she's had plenty of practice at recently, since her venue, <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Whispering%20Angels/160/192/2" target="_blank"><b>Tanalois,and the Torno Kohime Foundation</b></a> recently changed sims. The new place - a mixture of orthodox Mediterranean style squares, and sky galleries - is stunning you should visit.<br />
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Here, though, we are min a slice of Sorrento, the home of <b>RASK Alter</b> and <b>Molli Roi</b>. They've captured something of the Southern Italian town, in the Saracen Tower and the generally romantic feel to the place. Check out Tani's art, up for the next week or so, and don't miss the quaint corners of the build, especially if you're with someone special.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-85435876034648876402012-09-23T08:20:00.003-07:002014-03-25T15:25:34.861-07:00Double Tour<a href="http://tournicoton-art-gallery.blogspot.fr/"><b>Tournicoton</b></a>, the French art Gallery on <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Metaversel/165/193/1207" target="_blank"><b>sim Metaversel</b></a>, is closing this week, closing its doors for good. It's just too expensive, says <b>Mariaka Nishi</b>, who cofounded the artistic venue back in 2007 alongside her RL partner, <b>Naastik Rau</b>. To mark the end of an era, and to let people know that she's still fervently involved in VW art, she has organized one last show, <b><i>Welcoming Woman</i></b>, set for this Tuesday evening, French time (that's <b>12.30 SLT</b> on <b>September 25th</b>). It's going to be a double event, held in Voice, held on both SL and Francogrid - the sims have the same name, Metaversel. Here's Mariaka, FG version, busy preparing the Francogrid side of the double show.<br />
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Why this departure from Second Life? It's just too expensive, in that it's about 290 euros a month to run a sim, so that even with a bit of help from others, it's just not worth it, especially as now they get less and less use out of it, as they spend more and more time on the beautiful, stable, and vibrant <a href="http://francogrid.org/" target="_blank"><b>Francogrid</b></a>. She has also allowed her son Louka free range, on an adjoining sim, <br />
<a name='more'></a>Metaversel Junior. Imagine being able to afford to give your kid a whole sim to play with.<br />
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If you've never been to FG, you have to try it, the people there are classy, intelligent and unfailingly helpful. Oo la la. (Already got an opensim avie, but don't know how to get to Francogrid? <a href="http://pingsfromtheafterlife.blogspot.it/p/how-to-hypergrid.html" target="_blank"><b>Check out this page.</b></a>)<br />
<b>Mariaka</b>'s SL experience has been one of collaboration, and she's clearly a very community-minded person. Their first show was a multi-handed show called <a href="http://tournicoton-art-gallery.blogspot.fr/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2007-11-06T07:06:00-08:00&max-results=41&start=22&by-date=false" target="_blank"><b>Annelies in Wonderland/ Real Virtuality</b></a>; the second, <b>Quantum Man</b>, crystallized the general concept of truth through fusion that has been at the heart of Tournicoton. It's been a haven for many, a launching pad for a few, and its loss will be felt.<br />
The acronym LEA is always wheeled out when there's talk of artists leaving SL, like it's the cure for all uncomfortable sim-ptoms.<br />
<b>Mariaka Nishi: </b>I expect there are artists who have benefited. but not me. I am aware it exists, but nothing more, I do not know if the LEA really helps artists. I feel that LL lets many content creators leave regions by their lack of power to continue funding. In any case, I've never felt helped by LL.<br />
Capitalists have a word for that: <i>laissez-faire</i>, I believe. It's been a blast, a source of intense pleasure and intense work, to run the gallery, to put on shows, and generally being involved in the Second Life art scene.<br />
<b>Mariaka Nishi: </b>Exhibiting in virtual worlds is, above all, a personal freedom. For the first time, I longer needed to pay attention to what contemporary art stated, I could freely choose how I was going to develop an exhibition and its content, etc. It was a huge release, and I quickly realized that it led to real communication and feedback with the public. I spent a lot of time looking at shows but especially talking, and exchanging views. A virtual gallery allows both physical and financial freedom of design and construction impossible in RL, and you get worldwide exposure It's a unique and unforgettable experience.<br />
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<b>Mariaka Nishi:</b> I joined Francogrid at the end of last year, at the request of <b>Lorenzo Soccavo</b>, an SL contact, via the Francophone Library, who had seen my work. I got involved with his MetaLectures exhibition / conference in February 2012. I liked the fact that it's a smaller, Francophone grid . I would not have done before, but when it was done, I was ready to give up the grandiosity of SL for more understated performances working with a different team of project leaders, rather than artists. FG is an evolving grid and it is managed by a French group, not an American company. I feel a sense of true partnership with the grid owners, which is absolutely not the case with SL and LL. I do not mean to be an artist or writer FG, any more than I have wanted to be with SL. My virtual projects have to find resonance in the real world, and I find myself increasingly wanting to develop ideas in RL - in fact, we're working on publishing a book based on my latest (and last SL show at Tournicoton). It's called Welcoming Woman, and is about welcoming children into the world. We hope it will come out in October.<br />
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It's a very personal exhibition; some might say a little too near the knuckle in the whole "I don't want potentially freaky strangers ogling my child at any cost" front. If SL is synonymous for self-indulgence disguised as self expression, it partly comes under that heading too, perhaps; the skybox with its slightly irridescent walls has the wicked look of one of those flip-open photo wallets that coworkers, lurking by the watercooler, are liable to pull out, should the phrase 'how are the kids?' careless cross your lips.<br />
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Tournicoton may be done for, but that doesn't mean Mariaka will never be back in SL. She still has dozens of friends and colleagues here; a good friend, <b>Yann Minh</b>, still runs a sim here, on which possible future collaborations may take place. Her list of 'favourite artists and influences' is long and varied, all the way from the obligatory nod to <b>Bryn Oh</b>, through such names of note as the wonderful <b>Moya</b>, <b>Artistide Despres</b>, <b>Frao Ra</b>, and <b>Sabine Stonebender</b>, and <b>Vroum Short</b>, whose fantastic <i>Planet Vegetal</i> is dreamily captured here in her mini gallery on Metaversel.<br />
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There is also much praise for <b>Typote Beck</b>, whose metaversel gallery is shown below.<br />
<b>Mariaka Nishi:</b> I love his work and his being. We don't have a lot of visible stuff to show from our collaboration, but we had a lot of really good conversations.<br />
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She recalls the now departed <b>Mitou Waco,</b> not strictly a virtual creator, but a lot of fun to be with, and the ever-present <b>Anathaniel Gausman</b>, who was not an 'artist' when they met, but thanks to the fellowship of Second Life, got involved and has become an established artist. Good photographic eye, that's for sure.<br />
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She is also full of praise for the folks at the <a href="http://www.bibliotheque-francophone.org/" target="_blank"><b>Bibliotheque Francophone du Metavers</b></a>, for their professionalism and friendship. Like all of us, she's experienced that quicksilver phenomenon of virtual lives touching - some have become firm friends from a distance, some have become real world contacts, while others have disappeared just as they came. Of these last, perhaps her biggest regret from an artistic point of view is <b>Nessy Lupino</b>, who had Fond du Lac in SL, and never quite recovered from its loss when the sim went dark. She was present for a short time in Francogrid, but has since disappeared even from there.<br />
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It's quite clear that whatever the future brings, Mariaka, her art and her expression, will not be disappearing any time soon. Make a point of visiting her in Francogrid, and you will certainly not be disappointed.Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2527991983587470538.post-43287166935549095082012-09-16T16:52:00.001-07:002014-04-11T04:23:00.045-07:00Fair PlayIn an hour or so, there's fun and dancing at the State Fair - wait, no, no pigs or pies competing, not this time, it's the <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/26/169/25" target="_blank"><b>Virtual State Fair Art Gallery</b></a> run by <b>Thynka Little</b> and, in a lesser, none-of-my-business kind of a way, <b>DFox Spitteler</b>. Going by the IMs. <b>Voting ends at 8 pm SLT tonight.</b><br />
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The competition is interesting, not so much by the standard of the art on show, which is nice - the theme is weather in SL, most people have gone with rain, or tornadoes - wow - but even more so for the fact that the organizers actively encourage, in the Notecard, the use of the dreaded Friend's Vote (though they draw the line at bots and groups).<br />
It may seem a bit naughty, getting your friends over, but it's a nice way of meeting new people, and being hit <br />
<a name='more'></a>on in brand new ways. OK, I may have exaggerated the newness of the pickup lines. But it is a ncie way to get people to come look at art.<br />
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<b>Asmita Duranjaya </b>put in an entry, it's the blue one on the right in this photo. There were plenty of people around, long before party time officially commenced, which is always nice to see.<b> Asmita</b>'s plan is to spend any prize money ($L3000 for the first prize, $L2000 and 1000 the runners up) on the upkeep of her <a _blank="_blank" href="http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Space%204%20Art/46/111/21Space4Art'%20target_'%20target="><b>Space4Art</b></a> sim. But there was more to it than that.<br />
<b>Asmita Duranjaya:</b> This competition is so exciting! It is good to experience it from the perspective of a participant from time to time, then I know what the people feel during the voting time of contests!<br />
While I was in the gallery, cunningly built by <b>DFox</b>, the lovely <b>Sia Oh</b> was welcoming a bunch of pals, and fairly new pals. She was enthusiastic about the event, and not surprisingly, was also well ahead with the votes.<br />
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<b> Sia Oh:</b> I've left SL for 1 year, and I've just came back. I made my photo to participate in this conquest. I discovered this one at the last hour before it was closed. I love to take picture of "paysages" in SL, playing with effects on the weather because we've got a lot of possibilities wth theme of the the sky or of the water the sea I'm searching the term of settings in SL, for the sky. My goal is to rent a place to have my own studio. <br />
<b>Silene Christen</b> has a haunting image I also loved, and judging by the folks stopped in front of it, I was not alone in my admiration. What inspired her?<br />
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<b>Silene Christen:</b> When I read the rules for the contest I thought of rain. Rain in SL is special. The place where I took the photo is a place that first time I went, it was raining. It is a place that its atmosphere is for raining and sad days. I had to work the position, the umbrella position and search for a nice place and the best point of view for the pick. I think a photo has to be of quality, and it means to follow the rules of composition, different spaces, and so on - so for one pick, I made at least 30. With Photoshop, I arranged the rain in a first stage a little and made a little soft the hair textures.<br />
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Another delight is by <b>Betty Tureaud, </b>who popped by with girlfriend <b>McKenzie. </b>Why would <b>Betty</b>, best known for her giant installs both in SL and Inworldz, take time to be a part of this competition?<br />
<b>Betty Tureaud:</b> Oh a good friend of me invited me, she knows I love to take photos It's not for the money, really, I just want to participate :) and I think the subject was well chosen.<br />
Rain is a great subject, it's such an exotic element of SL, like Betty who is part Japanese. Which explains the setting of her photo.<br />
<b>Betty Tureaud:</b> This is a pic of my own place on my island. I make this littel teahoues to drink tea with my friends. Japan is a part of me, my mother is from Japan, so I am a mix person - and I am good to make rain!<br />
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<b>Fawn Rexen</b> chose the subtheme 'Ray of Hope'.<br />
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<b>Fawn Rexen:</b> As I took this pic, I thought of the many people that do have difficulty in RL and SL at times, SL is a safe haven for so many to find calm and peace away from their troubles. There are storms, but always a ray of hope.<br />
Speaking of hope, there's that upcoming prize-giving ceremony...<br />
<b>Fawn Rexen:</b> If I win, I'd spend the money on more photography props etc. I have a studio and photography business in SL. And I'd buy Don a present ! He is my business partner also, he's very supportive he's the person that encourages me every day.<br />
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Don't miss the show, and the party - which, look at the time! is about to start! I'm off to bed. lemme know how it all turns out.<br />
<br />Thirza Emberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07006507920335990874noreply@blogger.com1