UWA Art of the Artists machinima challenge winners

On March 26th, 2018, the winners of the UWA Art of Artists machinima challenge, launched in July 2017, were announced. Initially sponsored by LaPiscean Liberty of SLArtist and Singh Albatros and The Writers Centre, Singapore, the challenge opened with a prize pool of L$350,00 which, thanks to additional sponsors such as Pooky Amsterdam of Pookymedia, topped-out at L$430,000 by the time the challenge closed to entries on December 31st, 2017.

Challenge entrants were asked to produce a machinima film focused on any of the art exhibits located on the UWA regions in Second Life. They were allowed to choose individual pieces of art or a collection around which to weave a story. However, the art had to be a relatively significant part of the story, and not merely something glimpsed in passing, and films to be considered for any of the prizes could not exceed 8 minutes in length (although longer films could be submitted if desired.

The award ceremony was held at the historic Winthrop Hall in the UWA virtual campus in Second Life. As well as a celebration of the competition and its winners, the event also marked an end of an era. “It’s a farewell from me,” Jayjay Zifanwe, who has been the powerhouse behind the UWA’s presence in Second Life and its patronage of digital arts, informed me ahead of the ceremony.

He continued, “Farewell in a sense that it’s the last of my major events, and the last speech in will do within SL.” During his opening address at the awards ceremony, Jayjay took time to thank all of those – especially Freewee Ling, curator of the UWA’s art exhibits, and to all those who have done so much to make the UWA’s presence in SL so rewarding for him. In doing so, he also paid tribute to artist Alizarin Goldflake, who passed away recently after a long illness.

The Awards

All of the entries can be viewed on the Slartist website.

Art of the Artists Awards

Sponsored by LaPiscean Liberty and Slartist.

Award	Awarded To	Film title / link
1st – L$75,000	Glasz Decuir	Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) and Intrusion Detection System(IDS)
2nd – L$50,000	Tutsy Navarathna	Serendipity
3rd – L$40,000	Natascha Randt & Karmia Hoisan	The River of Forgetting
4th –  L$30,000	Isabelle Cheren	Before the World was Made
5th – Award L$20,000	Bryn Oh	Cerulean
Craft Awards (L$7,000 each)	Suzie Anderton; Amelie Marcoud; Diana Rose; Elle Thorkveld; Tantra Sangha & M1nn0taur; Veyot; Gerhard Helmut & Lila~R; Iono Allen; Joseph Nussbaum; Secret Rage; Lampithaler

 

The Pookymedia Awards

Sponsored by Pooky Amsterdam and Pookymedia.

Award	Awarded To	Film title / link
1st – L$25,000	Bryn Oh	Cerulean
2nd –  L$15,000	Tutsy Navarathna	Serendipity
3rd –  L$10,000	Suzie Anderton	Never Say Never
Honourable Mentions (L$1,000 each)	Amelie Marcoud; Iono Allen; Lampithaler; Isabelle Cheren; Chic Aeon

 

UWA Art of the Artists Special Awards

Totalling L$51,000, awarded by Jayjay Zifanwe on behalf of the University of Western Australia.

Award	Awarded To	Film title / link
L$17,000	Amelie Marcoud	For Love and Art
L$17,000	Suzie Anderton	Never Say Never
L$17,000	Chic Aeon	The Amalgamation of Objects

The Merlion Special Prizes

Awarded by Singh Albatros and Kaylee West on behalf of The Writer’s Centre, Singapore to the films which best represent the The Merlion,  the national personification of Singapore, and featured at the Merlion Portal in Second Life.

Award	Awarded To	Film title / link
L$16,666	Amelie Marcoud	For Love and Art
L$16,666	Suzie Anderton	Art and Transformation – a dialogue at intervals
L$17,000	Diana Rose	A Journey From the Past: Singapore

 

 

Congratulations to all those who received an award, and thanks to Jayjay, FreeWee and all those involved in this challenge.