Day: May 9, 2024

Alpha’s Quiet in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Quiet, Alpha Auer, May 2024 - click any image for full size
Quiet, Alpha Auer, May 2024 – click any image for full size

I made a return trip to Alpha Auer’s Alphatribe Island recently, after tripping over its latest entry in the Destination Guide. The last time a visited – just over a year ago, the region was hosting Alpha’s Mythologies, “a curation of cultural artefacts that were found on a vast 3D resource called Sketchfab”, which you can read about here.

Quiet – the name of the installation which drew me back to Alphatribe – sees a return of Alpha’s own expressiveness as a visual artist and content creator. In all, it spans a total of four levels, including the ground-level area, with three platforms sitting overhead (along with Alpha’s store), all connected to the ground by a tall scaffold tower. Fortunately, climbing the tower isn’t necessary to reach these upper levels, as a teleport system connects all of them together, and be found at the base of the tower.

Quiet, Alpha Auer, May 2024

As is common with Alpha’s style, the setting and levels are both enigmatic in interpretation and captivating to view. No explanation is offered – although local instructions are – and so interpretation is left entirely up to the individual, although some clues might be had from the names of the sky platforms as listed on the teleport menu.

In terms of the region viewing instructions, these are essentially to have shadows enabled – as this is a sunset style of environment, where the shadows are part and parcel of the whole thing (purely for illustrative reasons here, I did jockey with the position of the Sun when taking photos, to help illuminate details), and to enable the region’s media stream (the movie camera icon, top right of the viewer window).

Quiet, Alpha Auer, May 2024

The ground level area comprises a series of vignettes, all easily reached on foot from the landing point and existing on a sandy island with high dunes. The architecture throughout is in Alpha’s familiar use of geometric forms and structures – with some Oriental influence as well. A question might be asked as to whether we are on Earth or not; the locals appear humanoid, but also faintly alien in the manner in which they dress and decorate their bodies.

This is a place where technology appears to be common, if a little aged or at least mixed. There are both Steampunk and Dieselpunk vibes to be found throughout, whilst machines and tools (such as a very human hand drill) stand as sculptures supports on spindly scaffolds. to one side a huge generator appears to be providing power to an equally huge projector, whilst further afield, another machine appears to have been raised over a rotunda and wedding couple.

Quiet – Bestiary – Alpha Auer, May 2024

The sky platforms, meanwhile, offer more individual vignettes we might attempt to form into stories of their own. To take them in the order presented by the ground-level teleport, the first is called the Bestiary, and is – unsurprisingly, given the name – home to a celebration of the most exotic animals, the majority offered in 2D illustrations beautifully rendered as if forming the illuminations of an ancient and revered manuscript.

Below this, and within a garden, some of the body-painted locals are engaged in a game of chess. But are they actually living people or are they automatons? I have no idea – but their style of body and facial painting makes for an interesting cogitation of the question.

Quiet – Chess – Alpha Auer, May 2024

The last and highest platform is Hands, a series of sculptures of the human hand, once again – and as well Bestiary – placed within an environment formed of and divided by, geometric shapes. However, this installation stands slightly apart from the rest, as Alpha explains at the teleport landing point on the platform:

Hands was made for the artist Lampithaler, who resides on the OpenSim on the Pangea Grid. Although I am the artist who made it, it is her property, and she very graciously gave me permission to rez it here in SL. 

The plaque on which this information is provided includes details on how to reach the original version as seen on Pangea (for those who have or wish to create a suitable OpenSim account.

Quiet – Hands – Alpha Auer, May 2024

All told, another fascinating installation from Alpha, one worth taking the time to see and appreciate – and for lovers of exotic avatars or those who wish to obtain a copy of a scene and / or any characters displayed within Quiet or from some of Alpha’s past installations, do be sure to drop by the store.

SLurl Details

  • Quiet (Alphatribe Island, rated Moderate)

Women’s World: art and perspectives in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Black Tulip Gallery, May 2024

Black Tulip Gallery is a small art venue operated by Zoey Rhodan (ElizabethZoey); one which I admit to not having come across before. Offering a boutique-style approach to selected art, Black Tulip is currently (as at the time of writing) hosting Women’s World, a sublime collection of work by some of Second Life’s most gifted female photographers and artists, each of whom has offered between one or two pieces from their portfolios for display.

Neatly split into three rooms in which the art can be easily viewed and appreciated, Women’s World features work by (and on the lower level) AmandaT Tamatzui (1 piece); Tallulah Winterwolf  (2 pieces); Monqiue Beebe (1); Bamboo Barnes (1); Louvre (1); Maghda (2); Joanne D’arc (BrazilianGirl49) (1); and Jullyane (Jullyane Python) (1). The exhibition continues on the level floor, reached via the external stairway, with: Rita Glad (Sanem Albatros) (1); Scylla Rhiadra (2); Raven Arcana (2); and Manoji Yachvili (1).

Black Tulip – Women’s World, May 2024: Jullyane (l); Maghda (r)

The art is richly engaging with all of the pieces framed, cropped and finished in a manner that underscores the talent of the artist behind each of them, allowing all of the pieces to be enjoyed in their own right. However, and given the overall title of the exhibition, they all perhaps – directly and indirectly – offer reflections on what it is to be a woman – both in terms of self and in terms of societal expectations. This latter point is, I admit, entirely subjective on my part; as regulars to these pages will be aware, it is my wont (correctly or otherwise) to attempt to peel back the layers of possible interpretation within some art and exhibitions.

For example, there is sufficient evocative power within Maghda’s The Void for it to be fully appreciated without having to look beyond its innate beauty and elegance – but through the application of measured depth of field, it also does perhaps convey the idea that all too often, a woman is looked upon purely in terms of her facial beauty, with the soft focus blurring suggesting what goes on within the head and mind behind that face is all too often overlooked.

Black Tulip – Women’s World, May 2024 – Syclla Rhiadra (l +c); Rita Glad (r)

Meanwhile, facing it through the arch connecting the two lower floor rooms are The Untemptation of AdamAnt by Tallulah and Moni’s Desire. Both are exquisite and unique in approach and execution, offering visually striking pieces; at the same time, one also perhaps raises thoughts / questions on the nature of beauty and what makes a woman desirable to herself or through the eyes of others; whilst the other perhaps a rightful rebuttal to patriarchal Christianity’s view that Eve (woman) led Man (the male) to “sin”, thus casting her more fully into the role of subservience.

Upstairs, we are perhaps more fully encouraged to cogitate the potential for subtext and narrative within the images offered, potentially because of the presence of Scylla Rhiadra’s work. Scylla is an artist who can challenge perceptions and present ideas with the most beautifully composed and presented pieces, encouraging us to look deeper, to pause and consider what her images are communicating. As such, for those who – like me – do enjoy stepping back and looking at the broader canvas (so to speak) of possible commentary, this might also cause the eye and mind to look towards Raven’s Heading Down and Laundry Day also as both as perfectly composed images captured from within Second Life and perhaps as comments on both the role of a woman as a mother and how (for too long) a woman’s role was constrained in terms of house and home.

Black Tulip – Women’s World, May 2024: Raven Arcana (l); Manoji Yachvili (r)

In this, I could go on; but as I’ve noted, these are subjective and personal reactions on my part to the pieces. What should not be overlooked here is that Women’s World brings together some extraordinary digital artists, presenting their work in a manner than both emphasises the rich diversity of art and expression available through and because of Second Life, and does so – thanks to the galley’s size and general ambience – in a manner that encourages a level of intimacy with the art which might have been lost within a larger, more formal environment.