Day: December 14, 2021

Morlita Quan is a multi-faceted artist I’ve long admired, having written about her art and installations within Second Life on numerous occasions within this blog. So when I received a request from her recently – of which more further down in this article – I decided to take an opportunity to hop over to Eskol, her mixed-media art and events region, and spend a little time there.

The first thing to note about Eskol is that it is far from your “normal” events-style region in Second Life. Nor, in bringing together music, art and sound, is it any kind of conventional “club”; rather, it is the embodiment of Morlita’s multi-faceted talents as an artist, designer and musician. Within the region are various locations, linked via a teleport HUD (look for the little robot HUD givers, click and accept, and then add the HUD), each of which is presented as a means of exploring those various facets.

As a musician, Morlita started playing the guitar at the age of eight, and by her mid-teens had discovered the magic of mixing decks and consoles, tools that allowed her to start experimenting with music as form of artistic expression, first as a DJ, then as a recording artists working independently and the via the Naïf record label. Within Second Life, Mori’s music has led her into numerous collaborations in the realms of music and film, working with the likes of Bsukmet Stormcrow in the former and providing compositional elements for machinima by the likes of Glaz Decuir, NicoleX Moonwall, Cherry Manga and Theda Tammas.

Give this, the music spaces found within Eskol aren’t intended to be considered “clubs” or dance venues per se; traffic and avatar counts are not a driving metric. Rather, the Eskol Main Stage area and Sound Scape locations are offered as places where different, minority / lesser-known styles of music can be presented and appreciated, although the aesthetics of both locations are very music in keeping with Mori’s approach to digital art and design.

As an artist, Mori has collaborated with other Second Life artists and with various universities and galleries both in her native Spain and around the world. Like her music, her art is very much experimental / abstract , carrying within it a natural fluidity that gives it its own form of life. This is achieved by Mori mixing classical painting with post graphic design processing, while always retaining a core inspirations drawn from Nature, and most often utilising geometry as a further expressive value.

This can most clearly be see within the gallery level at Eskol, where two wings of art displays might be found. the larger, single-level wing presents a broad range of Mori’s 2D art, whilst the smaller, 2-level gallery present her more recent works.

It is art – or photography – that formed the core of Morlita’s request I mentioned at the top of this article, and which prompted my visit.

Eskol is an evolving environment, offering facilities for fun and presentation, as duly noted in part in this piece. One of the current elements to be form within the region is that of the Eskol Photo Contest, of which Morlita graciously aske me to serve on the judging panel – a request I was delighted to accept.

Eskol 2021/2022 Photo Contest

General notes:

• Prize: L$5,000 single prize to the winner, as judged by the contest jury.
• Closing date for entries: January 1st, 2022.
• Maximum number of submissions per entrant: 2.
• Method of entry: e-mail submission.

How to Enter:

• Visit the Eskol Photo Contest area.
• Use any of the 6 supplied photo booths to take up to two photographs featuring your avatar(s)
  • You may invite additional models.
  • If you are submitting 2 images, you may use a different booth for each.
• You may post-process / crop / cut your image(s) as required.
• When you are satisfied, e-mail your entries to eskolsecondlife@gmail.com, together with your avatar name.
  • Note that only images submitted to this address with be accepted; submissions to the Eskol Facebook group, or in-world to Morlita Quan or via any other medium will be rejected.

Exhibition and Prize:

• After the closing date for submissions, all entries will be exhibited at ESKOL for a period of  one month.
• During this time, the entries will be subject to judging by the jury of Morlita Quan,  Lanjran Choche and Inara Pey.
  • Judging will be on the basis of aesthetics and originality.
  • The jury will select one image at the prize winner, and the artist will be awarded the L$5,000 prize.
• The winner will be officially announced during January via the Eskol in-world group, and the Eskol Facebook group (I will also review the exhibition of entries during January, and include details of the winner).

SLurl Details

• Eskol gallery landing point (Posidone, rated Adult)
• Eskol Photo Contest landing point