Day: December 6, 2019

A Carnival of the Arts 2019 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Dirty Grid

The Dirty Grind Independent Artist community is celebrating its sixth anniversary over the weekend of Friday, December 6th through Sunday, December 8th, 2019 with a Carnival of the Arts. The weekend will be marked by live music sets throughout the three days, and an installation by artist Bryn Oh.

At The Dirty Grind, artists and patrons are family and when one visits, one is a welcomed guest in their home. Everything from the décor, landscape and building design is intentionally planned to enhance visitors’ experience. While visiting when live shows are not going, be sure to listen to the commercial-free independent radio station, Radio Grind, featuring the musicians of The Dirty Grind family. Spend some time strolling through The Hollow and enjoy the whimsically eclectic mix of Adirondack and Steampunk design and style.

The Dirty Grind Independent Artist Community has been awarded Best Unique Venue and Top 10 Live Music Venues by Showtime Magazine.

– From The Dirty Grind website

The music event kicks-off from 14:00 SLT on Friday, December 6th, and at the time from writing, the schedule looked as follows:

Time Friday 6th Saturday 7th Sunday 8th
13:00 — Wald Schridde —
14:00 Naga Flow Rosedrop Rust Zorch Boomhauer
15:00 CelticMaiden Warrior Shannon Oherlihy Ren Enberg
16:00 Lexus Melodie Suzen JueL The Matthew Show
17:00 Grace McDunnough David Csiszer Effinjay
18:00 Jed Luckless Dimivan Ludwig Twostep Spiritweaver
19:00 Jamba Losangeles Senjata Witt The Vinnie Show
20:00 Gypsy Dhrua — —

However, given that events can always undergo last-minute changes, be sure to check the Dirty Grind website for updates or changes to the schedule.

Bryn Oh: Eliose’s Dream

For the event, Bryn Oh is presenting Eloise’s Dream, featuring a scene from her 2018 installation Jane and Eloise, a story of two sisters who go fishing on Lake Superior.

Sadly, theirs is not a happy tale, as they are caught by the changing weather, their boat capsizing and Jane drowning. Afterwards, Eloise is left tortured by guilt that she survived and nightmares. You can read more about that installation in Bryn Oh: Jane and Eloise in Second Life. The inclusion of the piece is somewhat fitting, given that Jane and Eloise made its début a year ago, on Saturday, December 8th, 2019.

So, do make a point of hopping along to the Dirty Grind over the weekend to appreciate the region, the installation, the music and to wish the folks there a happy anniversary.

SLurl Details

RFL Christmas Expo 2019 in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
via slchristmasexpo.com

The annual RFL Christmas Expo opened its gates on December 5th, 2019, and will run through until December 15th. Located on eleven regions (plus 2 Linden regions) adjoining the American Cancer Society’s in-world headquarters, this year’s expo offers a wide range of shopping opportunities, entertainment and more, all presented around the theme Believe in The Magic of Christmas.

Over 170 merchants from all fields are participating in this year’s event, while the schedule of entertainment provides a day-by-day breakdown of the 100 hours of live entertainers, DJs and dance performances. which include live performers and DJs, all of which culminates in the Holidays of Hope Gala Ball.

2019 Christmas Expo

Special Events and Activities

This year’s Expo includes a number of special events and activities, including:

The Gift of Hope Mega Raffles: new for 2019 are the Gift Of Hope Mega Raffles for both Christmas Expo and Non-Expo Merchants.   These are high end, high-value raffles, located at the SL Christmas Expo Welcome Region. Winners will be drawn Sunday, December 15 starting at 18:30 SLT.

The Gift of Hope Mega Raffles

The Holiday Shopping Spree Raffle: several Expo merchants graciously donated to the Holiday Shopping Spree Raffle offering one lucky winner the opportunity to walk away with more than L$150,000 in gift certificates and prizes. Tickets are L$250 each or three for L$500, and all certificates are Transferable, so they can make great Christmas Gifts. The draw will be held on Sunday, December 15th, 2019, at 19:00 SLT at the Holly Jolly Café.

Lights of Hope: now in its second years, Lights of Hope features a number of Second Life’s home builders (and Lindens!) who have decorated the outside of one of their houses in holiday style and brought it to the Expo. Stroll the Lights of Hope neighbourhoods – the Linden region features Premium Linden homes decorated by staff and members of the LDPW – and vote for your favourites by donation to the Relay For Life kiosk in front of each home! 100% of all “votes” goes directly to the American Cancer Society.

The ACS Ebbe Linden bear, designed by Magic Mole, in a golfing pose and available through the special Ebbe Linden Bear ACS kiosks (shown inset) for L$250 – all proceeds to RFL of SL / ACS

The ACS Ebbe Linden Bear: designed by Magic Mole and presented playing one of Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg’s favourite pastimes and complete with his ACS Gold Together cap, is the ACS Ebbe Linden bear. Available from kiosks at L$250 (all proceeds to ACS), you can also find the little fellow about to tee-off at a snow-covered ninth hole at the Bear Creek golf course at the Expo, so you can see him up close!

Breedable Auctions: There will be a number of Breedable auctions throughout the Expo, including a One of a Kind auction and a Limited Edition auction.

Linden Homes 4th Theme Reveal: an opportunity to preview the Victorian Theme of Premium Linden Homes that will be available in the Linden Homes continent of Bellisseria in the near future  – and have the chance to win one and a 6-month Premium subscription / extension to your existing Premium subscription. You can read more about the theme and the styles of houses it offers in The “Victorian” Linden homes theme and a chance to win one.

Linden Reveal and the 4th new Linden Home theme at the SL Christmas Expo

By taking part in these events, and in the Expo as a whole, Second Life users can help provide funding for VR Headsets for childhood cancer patients.  Along with Linden Lab, the ACS partner for the event, and the Expo’s sponsors and participants, ACS and RFL of SL are working to reach a goal of US $20,000 to help fund the Society’s Virtual Reality Programme for Paediatric Cancer Patients undergoing cancer treatment. You can read more on this work here, or by watching the video below.

There is a huge amount to see and do at the Expo, so be sure to check out the official website for more information.

SLurls and Links

All regions rated Moderate.

2Lei 2019: Black Label Exhibition Corner in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
BLEC: Cherry Manga – 2Lei 10th Edition

2019 marks the 10th Edition of 2Lei’s annual campaign to raise awareness of the plight of women the world over who face violence – physical, sexual and psychological – on a daily basis. The event, mixing art, music and talks, runs through November and December each year. I’ve already provided an introduction to this year’s Edition (see: No Violence! the 2Lei 10th edition in Second Life), and wanted to take a little time to focus down on the largest collection of art within the event, which can be found at the Black Label Exhibition Corner and urban city.

Some fifty artists are involved in No Violence! this year, with 20 of them presenting a rich mix of 2D and 3D art at BLEC and the neighbouring urban city. They are: Alpha Auer, Bamboo Barnes, Rebeca Bashly, Mavi Beck, Monique Beebe, Mona Byte, Cica Ghost, Storie’s Helendale, Livio Korobase, Kimeu Korg, Cherry Manga, Paola Mills, Meilo Minataur, Frenchy25, Pixelbeing, Natalia Seranade, Theda Tammas, Sunset Theas, Nino Vichan and Ciottolina Xue. Which, however you look at it, is an impressive list!

BLEC: Natalia Seranade – 2Lei 10th Edition

The art is equally impressive – and more importantly, evocative of the subject at hand.  With the exhibition spaces, the 2D art can be found within gallery-style buildings and mounted on street fences within the urban city area, where the artists are able to present multiple image, with 3D artists similarly presenting installations throughout the city and amidst its more open areas.

As getting around everything can be confusing given the volume of art on offer, teleport boards are available allowing visitors  to hop to specific installations – but I really do recommend exploring the gallery spaces and streets of the city on foot in order to gain full exposure of the sheer richness of art and narrative present here; particularly given the way the decaying condition of the urban city setting perhaps stands as a metaphor for the physical and mental decay suffered when subjected to repeated bouts of abuse.

BLEC: Mavi Beck – 2Lei 10th Edition

Such is the power of the art offered here, that offering a blow-by-blow review of the installations with BLEC is really meaningless: this is art that really should be seen first hand.

However, I couldn’t help but feel that were a single image to be used to encapsulate the purpose of No Violence! and the 2Lei collective within the art gathered at BLEC, Mavi Beck’s All’improvviso c’e’ tanto freddo (“Suddenly there’s so much cold”) would perhaps be it.

There is a haunting simplicity of message within this piece, seen on the right, from the faint indentations on an upper lips suggestive of nervous biting, to the single open wound on the raise palm that shields half of a face, to the depth of feeling that is conveyed through the one visible eye staring outward from behind that protective hand.

The 2Lei 10th Edition runs through until the end of December 2019, and I thoroughly recommend taking the time to visit BLEC to appreciate the installations there. I also recommend visiting the other locations across the grid that are supporting the event. You can pick up a teleport HUD containing all the No Violence! exhibitions from the information kiosks alongside the landing point listed in this article.

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