Day: November 9, 2019

2019 Dickens Project in Second Life announced

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Dickens Project 2018

In 2012, and to mark Dickens Bicentenary Year, Seanchai Library took their Christmas readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and created The Dickens Project, an interactive event centred on a series of readings of the book presented within an interactive environment celebrating Dickens’ life and work. Since 2012, The Dickens Project has become a Second Life tradition in the Christmas / holiday season.

Over the years, the Project has grown in size, from a small parcel to a full region, providing an immersive environment in which to enjoy what is perhaps Dickens’ most famous novel and explore his life and the era in which he lived. Now, for 2019, Seanchai Library has announced that The Dickens Project will again be opening its doors once more on December 1st, 2019.

Caledonia Skytower, Shandon Loring (centre) and Kayden Oconnell in an evocative shot of the virtual / live performance by Bear Silvershade

I’ve followed the Project throughout the last eight years, and have always appreciated the scale and depth of the event – and am not in the least surprised that it has become a staple of many residents’ holiday celebrations in Second Life. However, for those not familiar with the event, here are some highlights of what it encompasses:

  • A full region designed to reproduce the famous settings for A Christmas Carol within a larger location representative of Victorian London.
  • Over 40 hours spread through the month of December featuring live music, spoken word, dance events and performances and including dozens of performers, presenters and special guests.
  • Self-selectable interactive elements, including the Urchins in Dickens’ London role-play/game/experience, and opportunities for both RP and non-RP guests.
  • Educational and interpretive content to encourage questions like “What was Tiny Tim suffering from anyway?”
The Dickens Project 2017 Edition

This year, The Dickens Project includes a very special guest performer – Patch Linden! I understand he’ll be appearing around twice during the event.

The Dickens Project is not one single thing. It began as purely a story event, but has evolved to be much more. Our goal is to bring residents together around this important literary work and its themes. Whether their interest is historical, educational, artistic, social, recreational, active, and reflective – we work to provide opportunities to engage that are fun and meaningful. 

– The Dickens Project Director, Caledonia Skytower

I’ll have more on the 2019 Dickens Project in due course and ahead of the official opening, including the event schedule of readings and entertainment.

About the Seanchai Library

Seanchai Library (pronounced Shawn-a-kee, which means “Storyteller” in Irish Gaelic.) was founded in March of 2008 in Second Life. The programme remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to transform and inspire through live voice presentations: “We bring stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life and other virtual worlds.” Find out more by visiting their website. You can join any of their weekly readings of popular stories and works from across all genres of literature in-world – again, check their website or my weekly previews of their upcoming readings.

A Mad Masquerade of art at Ce Soir in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ce Soir Gallery – Cote de la Mer Galerie

Open through until November 23rd 2019 at Ce Soir Arts, curated and operated by Mireille and Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford, is the Mad Masquerade art exhibition, another opportunity to enjoy a wealth of art among the galleries and grounds of this Full region devoted to the arts in Second Life. I admit to getting to this review a little on the late side – the accompanying season of live and spoken word events has come to an end -, but this doesn’t lessen the value in visiting Ce Soir to enjoy the art on display.

This year’s event comprises some twenty-two 2D and 3D artists displaying their work, and if that sounds a lot to take in, then worry not; the fact that the entire region is given over to displaying art means the art is neatly split up over all of the ground-level space, offering plenty of opportunities to wander, relax and come across art quite unexpectedly within the grounds as well as the gallery buildings, so there’s never a feeling of being overwhelmed by the volume of art on offer.

Ce Soir Gallery – CybeleMoon

The featured artists at the exhibition comprise:

Cote de la Mer Gallery: Isabel Hermano, JudiLynn India, Larke Longmeadow, Xirana Oximoxi and Mathilde Vhargon.

Ivy Tower Galerie: Dolph Beornssen, Carlotta Caewlin, Paula Cloudpainter, Xanthe Firehawk, Secret Rage and Michael Romani.

Misty Glen Gallery: Carlotta Caewlin, Sophie Dunn, Mireille Jenvieve, Larke Longmeadow and Liam Saxony, together with a machinina by Terra Merhyem. Click the board outside the gallery space to obtain note card with the URL to the video on Vimeo.

Ce Soir Gallery – H0n2a-Resident

In addition, the following artists can be found throughout the grounds – just follow the paths and tracks, or go where your feet lead you: CybeleMoon, TaraAers, Terra Merhyem, H0n2a-Resident, Viktor Savior, Jojo Songlark, and Skyspinner Soulstar. As well as the featured artists, works by Bryn Oh, Russell Eponym, Garvie Garzo (and possibly others I may have missed) can be found in the region’s grounds.

Given this is an exhibition held around Halloween, some of the art offered focuses on the ghostly, with touches here and there of witches, but there is also a fabulous diversity of art from Second Life, from the physical world and from digital media that is a joy to view and experience.

Ce Soir Gallery – Skyspinner Soulstar

As well as the SLurls to the main exhibition spaces above, all of which are linked via path and track, allowing for easy exploration, a good place to start when visiting Ce Soir is the main landing point, particularly who may not have visited the region previously, and offered in the primary SLurl at the end of this piece. Details of all events at the region can be found through joining the region’s group or via the Ce Soir website.

Richly diverse, located throughout the fantasy inspired Ce Soir landscape, Mad Masquerade is a wonderful mix of art.

SLurl Details