Fuyuko Amano (Wintergeist) is perhaps best known for hosting exhibitions at her Club LA and Gallery, where she also displays her own images, which I’ve personally felt deserving a wider in-world audience. So it was with delight that I received an invitation to see the first public exhibition of her work hosted by another gallery – and hopped over ahead of the official preview to take a look.
Wintergeist: Pieces of aWhole opens at 13:00 SLT on Sunday, July 2nd and is a fascinating tour of Fuyuko’s art – digital world and physical world. Taking place at the InterstellART Artist in Residence Gallery, it presents eighteen primary images, together with a small collage of images in the gallery entrance space.
The exhibition mixes images captured in Second Life with those from Fuyuko’s physical world photography, with all of them interspersed with quotes from artists and writers which serve to help illustrate the nature of inspiration in the artist’s life. This makes for a fascinating display, ranging from landscapes from within Second Life through to beautiful macro-level shots of water droplets on leaves and the stamen on flowers. Between them are images that may have you guessing – were they taken in Second Life, of in the physical world? Even abstract work is represented, adding to the mix.
What is also attractive in this exhibition is the range of formats presented, with images in colour and monochrome, or presented as a photograph or post-processed to resemble art, the considered us of filters – even the ratio of individual images.
All of this further speaks to the art and craft of a gifted photographer and artist. Thus we have, through subject and presentation, individual images that come together as pieces of a whole – not only presenting us with insight into the artistry of a photographer, but the vision and thoughts of the photographer herself.
As noted, a special preview opening for Wintergeist: Pieces of a Whole will be held at 13:00 SLT on Sunday, July 2nd. Whether or not you can make that, however, this is an exhibition well worth visiting.
It’s time to kick-off another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
[Independence Day] will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival … It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
John Adams
John Adams, lawyer, diplomat, statesman, political theorist, and a leader of the movement for American independence, served as the country’s first Vice President (two terms) and second President. Regarded as “the father of the American Navy” due to his strong views on defence, his Presidency was dogged by internal conflicts with both Republicans and Federalists alike, despite being one of the foremost influences on early American political theory.
If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women. The world perhaps would laugh at me, and accuse me of vanity, but you I know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the Sentiment. If much depends as is allowed upon the early Education of youth and the first principals which are instill’d take the deepest root, great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women.
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams, his wife, confidant and advisor, is sometimes considered to have been a Founder of the United States, such was her forward thinking and the level of trust her husband placed in her. While neither term existed at the time, she is now designated as the first Second Lady and second First Lady of the United States – and in both roles is one of the most documented in history, due in part to the prolific letter writing she shared with her husband.
In support of Kultivate Magazine’s Homes for Our Troops, Caledonia Skytower and Kayden Oconnell read selections from the couple’s letters from their courtship in 1762, through to July 3rd, 1776.
19:00: A Boy Ten Feet Tall
Originally published in 1961 under the title Sammy Going South, and then later Find the Boy, W.H. Canaway’s novel is often referred to a “The Huckleberry Finn of Africa.” It became the basis for a 1963 British film Sammy Going South, starring Edward G. Robinson, which was released in the United States as A Boy Ten Feet Tall – hence the revised title for the book.
Born in the Suez region of Egypt, where he is orphaned, Sammy learns he has an aunt living in Durban, South Africa, and is determined to travel south to be with her.
Already distrustful of adults – he was told immunisation shots he was given at a young age would not hurt, when of course they did – Sammy sets out on foot uncertain of how he will complete the journey, but determined that he will. Along the way his distrust of adults is reinforced thanks to encounters with those who seek to profit from him and due to his witnessing the cruelty humans can inflict upon one another.
But also along the way there are those who do seek nothing more than to help him. One of these is a poacher and diamond trader – the kind of person you’d believe only to willing to take advantage of a young boy alone in the world. But it is compassion that rules this man’s heart (played in the film by Edward G. Robinson), and he takes the boy under his wing, helping him to heal from his emotional wounds …
Tuesday, July 4th
No events as Seanchai staff and volunteers mark July 4th with their families and loved ones.
Wednesday, July 5th 19:00: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Caledonia Skytower reads Kelly Barnhill’s 2017 Newbery Medal winner.
Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian.
Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own.
To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule–but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her–even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.
Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Thursday, July 6th 19:00: Moby-Dick Part 2
“Call me Ishmael.” So begins one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history, Herman Melville’s magnificent Moby-Dick or, The Whale.
As Ishmael is drawn into Captain Ahab’s obsessive quest to slay the white whale Moby-Dick, he finds himself engaged in a metaphysical struggle between good and evil. More than just a novel of adventure, more than a paean to whaling lore and legend, this is a haunting social commentary populated by some of the most enduring characters in literature.
The crew of the Pequod, from stern, Quaker First Mate Starbuck, to the tattooed Polynesian harpooner Queequeg, are a vision of the world in microcosm, the pinnacle of Melville’s lifelong meditation on America.
Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is a profound, poetic inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. Join Shandon Loring as he continues reading this magnificent tale.
Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/108/609/1528).
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
The featured charity for May through July is Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, raising awareness of childhood cancer causes and funds for research into new treatments and cures.
Update July 30th: Stony Hill appears to have closed.
We were drawn to Ezra Locke’s Stony Hill Vineyard after catching it in the Destination Guide Highlights for Friday, June 30th. A homestead region, Stony Hill Vineyard offers a pleasing Mediterranean summer feel – or as Ezra puts it, “Spanish and Italian influences with a little hodgepodge” – a description as charming as the region.
Surrounded by lush green hills, the region sits as within a verdant valley, a rural setting crossed by dirt tracks which wind over and around the low-set hills and escarpments which sit around the region edges and which offer – from a eye-level vantage point – the suggestion that this land and most of the hills beyond are one.
A large villa set back into some of these uplands dominates the north-east side of the region, large terraces stepping down from it to the lands to the west, their red brick flooring contrasting with whitewashed walls. To the west and south, guarding the villa and terraces, are ranks of grape-laden vines, some of which have already been harvested. These can be pressed and stomped under the partial shade of a wooden trellis close to the landing point – just please do remove footwear beforehand!
A windmill and equestrian centre sit at the foot of the slopes which fall gently southwards from the villa, while west and north across the region three modest single-storey villas still atop grassy slopes and bluff-faced escarpments. Presented as furnished holiday homes, these are available for rent to visitors wishing to extend their stay at Stony Hill – so if any of them do appear occupied, please respect the occupant’s privacy. The villas are available at L$285 per day (L$1995 per week), with a minimum 3-day stay.
Weddings can also be held within the region, as can private parties. However, these are by arrangement only, and those interested should contact Ezra. Should you wish to rez props for photography, you can do so by joining the local group for a fee of L$250. Additional information on the region – including the local weather and the wine of the month from the villa’s cellars! – can be obtained from the Stony Hill Vineyard website.
Stony Hill Vineyard is an elegant region design which effectively suggests a feeling of the Mediterranean and gives a sense of space whilst still fitting a lot in – the main villa, the rental villas, the equestrian area and even a little waterside market spot (neatly sitting between the villa and high rocky shoulders, giving the impression that the waters beyond are a river flowing between the vineyard and the more distant hills). There are plenty of opportunities for photography, while the villa’s upper terrace offers places to sit and relax – and enjoy the local wine.
The July exhibition at Sorcha Tyles’ Artful Expressions gallery opens on Saturday July 1st, and in keeping with the gallery’s recent expansion, features three guest artists exhibiting their work: Rose Hanry Jarom (RoseHanry), Lawrence D. Pryce and Cecilia Nansen Mode (Cecilia Nansen). All three present displays focused on avatar studies, each presenting an individual style and approach to their work.
Artful Expressions marks Cecilia’s debut exhibition, and on the strength of the images she’s selected, this will not be her last. As a tangential coincidence, her partner, Jes Mode, is exhibiting at DixMix gallery in his first public outing with his photography (see my recent review in these pages). Having now seen their respective work, I’d love to see them exhibit together – and may see if I can arrange that for Holly Kai Park!
Working in both colour and black-and-white, Cecilia’s pieces are exquisite, and I particularly like the fact that within the nine pieces, she has presented three sets of three, each offering a narrative flow or thematic continuance between the images in each set.
Lawrence D Pryce says of himself, “I’m just a hermit who took up photography as a means to encourage my introverted personality.” Introverted he may well feel, but his art speaks volumes. We’re perhaps all used to seeing studies from in world which are carefully posed and framed to tell a particularly story, but while these are all clearly posed, each is so natural in setting and tone, there is not a single story to be told. Instead, each offers a host of tales in the making – and, perhaps, each offers a glimpse into the artist’s thoughts and his embrace of being alone.
Rose is not only a photographer, but a designer of poses for her work as well, noting that she likes to bring setting, windlight and pose together when taking photos. The result is some of the most natural images I’ve seen for a while. Carefully crafted again they may well be, but so to are they natural – and expressive of a story. I freely admit to being entranced by the lifelike depth present in Dream dreams no one else can see (below).
Once again, Sorcha has selected three outstanding artists who come together to present an exhibition linked by a central theme of avatar studies, whilst each offers unique perspectives and a unique approach to their work. The exhibition officially opens at 14:00 SLT, with music by DJ Julianna. Don’t forget when visiting the gallery, you can also enjoy Sorcha’s own photography.
The CastAR dream: a slimline, lightweight set of glasses capable of projecting interactive 3D images onto a retro-reflective surface. Credit: Technical Illusions / CastAR
Augmented reality headset maker, CastAR (formerly Technical Illusions), and which I’ve been following and reporting on in this blog, has apparently closed its doors.
The company first came to prominence when the system – designed to use a glasses-like headset to project holographic images onto a retro-reflective surface users could then interact with via a hand-held controller – was shown at the 2013 Maker Faire in New York.
At that time, the idea was very much fledgling and more spirit gum, soldering, tape and wires than it was a commercial venture – but that was enough to convince the pair behind the system, Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson they had a potential product on their hands, so they went ahead with a Kickstarter campaign to raise US $400,000 to start development in earnest – and ended up raising over a million.
The Head Crab – Jeri Ellworths’ initial approach to what became CastAR. Image courtesy of Jeri Ellsworth
The system, called CastAR due to its primary function of projecting images onto that retro-reflective surface, actually came about by accident. In 2012, Ellsworth was working on another project at Gabe Newall’s Valve when she accidentally found she could create holographic-like images on the surface.
The potential of the idea excited her and (then) fellow co-worker Johnson, so they started delving into the idea. Then, in February 2013, they were among a group of staff let go by the company – and in a generous move, Newall allowed them to take the IP for the CastAR system with them, even though almost the entire development up to that point had been made on Valve’s time and with Valve’s resources.
The Development Kit / Kickstarter version of the CastAR headset. Credit: CastAR
From here, the story does suffer the hiccups. The Kickstarter raised US $1 million, enough to fund development of an initial headset system, but it was not entirely what Ellsworth and Johnson were hoping it would be. There were delays, funding seemed (from the outside) to be slow in coming in and delivery dates for the initial Kickstarter headset got pushed back, although there was sufficient for the company to establish operations, hire a CEO (initially David Henkel-Wallace), refine the headset design, develop games to run on it.
But the company kept doing the rounds of VR / AR shows and the like, garnering publicity, generating interest and towards the end 2015, secured US $15 million in funding. The majority of this came from Playground Global, co-founded by Andy Rubin of Android Inc. fame, and Rubin persuaded Ellsworth and Johnson to back to basics and design the system they wanted.
Playing a projected game using CastAR (simulation). Credit: Technical Illusions / CastAR
As a result, in 2016, the company announced a significant change in direction. The US $1 million raised via the Kickstarter was refunded, together with a promise all backers would receive a “consumer” version of the headset, CastAR hired talent to open its own mixed reality studio in Salt Lake City and acquired entire Eat Sleep Play development team, responsible for the Twisted Metal series and God of War. All of this was done with the aim of developing a complete consumer package – headset, controllers, game surfaces and games – which would be low-cost and playable “right out of the box”. 2016 saw LucasArts chief Darrell Rodriguez take over as CEO, with former Disney executive Steve Parkis as its president and chief operating officer.
Now, according to an article appearing in Polygon on Monday, June 26th, and since widely circulated in the tech media, CastAR has closed its doors with up to 70 people being laid off. There has been no official statement on the matter from either CastAR – the corporate website continues to reference a consumer product launch in 2017, although it doesn’t appear to have been updated since around the start of the year – nor Playground Global, despite attempts by a number of outlets to secure a comment. However, the Polygon piece suggests the reason for the closure is Playground Global’s refusal to provide further funding for the venture after CastAR failed to obtain investment from other sources.
The CastAR headset and “wand” hand controller as they looked in November 2016. Credit: CastAR
Following the story breaking, Polygon later updated their article to reflect sources stating that a small team has been retained by CastAR to oversee attempts to sell the company’s IP. But again, there has yet to be an official statement from CastAR.
This might be seen as a blow to the fortunes of AR. However, as innovative as CastAR was (and as much as I found their approach fascinating), the system took a markedly different approach to AR / MR than is the case with the likes of Qualcomm (see here) and others, simply by its reliance on a retro-reflective surface. While the latter is well suited to gaming, and the company tried to suggest it could have practical applications through their promotional videos, it still might have been seen as a limiting factor in the system’s broader appeal.
UWA: Winthrop Clocktower and the Reflection Pond, with the SLeducate area on the right (which you can read about here) all now set to remain in Second Life for the next two years
On Friday, June 30th, Jayjay Zifanwe contacted me with some excellent news: the University of Western Australia (UWA) is to retain a presence in Second Life for a further two years – albeit on a reduced scale.
UWA has enjoyed a long presence here in Second Life, operating multiple regions and becoming a stalwart supporter of virtual arts through its grand challenges and other competitions and opportunities offered to artists to present their work, as well a through support of machinima in physical world film challenges, such as those run by Screen My Shorts.
However, in September 2016, it was announced that due to changes within the UWA, its digital presence was to be largely shut down, with all but one of the five regions being removed from the grid at the start of October 2016, and the last given a stay of execution for at least a year.
Then, in October 2016 came word that one of the regions would transfer to the management of Sonicity Fitzroy (aka Dr Phylis Johnson) of the San Jose State University (and is now called SJSU Virlantis), while the four remaining regions – University of WA, UWA, UWA Winthrop and WASP Land would remain in place in-world until July 2017 before finally vanishing into the night.
Noke Yuitza: Transcendence Despite Falling Rain – an entry in the last UWA Grand Challenge style of art competitions, Transformations. You can see all the Transformations entries at the UWA Gallery
Now, two of the regions will be continuing for at least two years, as a jubilant Jayjay informed me via IM:
“I’m pleased to be able to tell you that thanks to the ‘UWA Community Partnerships Programme’, the University of WA and UWA regions will now be remaining in Second Life for the next two years,” he said. “This is absolutely wonderful news, and I’d like to thank everyone who have believed in and participated in all we have done and achieved over the years.”
Nor is that all. As noted above, one of the things UWA is famous for in it patronage of the arts, is its series of grand challenges involving 2D and 3D art and machinima – and there is good news here as well.
“A benefactor has donated L$300,000 for a machinima challenge,” Jayjay went on. “So we will be running one with art as the theme. Participants will be asked to select one or a number of artworks on display at UWA and weave a story around it or them.”
Full details on the news about the extension to the two regions, and detailed information on the machinima challenge will be made available via the UWA of SL blog in due course. In the meantime a hint of the coming news can be found on the blog.
For now, congratulations to Jayjay, FreeWee Ling and everyone involved in making this happen.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 