Currently open at SLEA 6, and created by Lalie Sorbet and Chrix (chrixbed) is Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show, an immersive, semi-interactive, engaging – almost hypnotic in the way it constantly evolves and changes – environment in which to relax and enjoy on your own or in the company of another.
Murmuration—named after the mesmerising patterns formed by flocks of birds and swarms of insects—is the latest creation by Lalie Sorbet and Chrix. This immersive and organic experience continually reinvents itself. Nothing is static: dancing particles, animated textures, and random animeshes emerge to form ever-changing compositions. Each glance is unique, and each visit reveals a new facet of this evolving display.
– The Artists’ statement on the installation
Perhaps the most famous murmuration (at least in the UK and Europe) is those of the common starling. They take place from November through February, occurring about 45 minutes to an hour ahead of sunset, and when witnessed can be one of the most memorable sights nature can offer: literally hundreds of thousands of starlings coming together to fly, sometimes so close together they are like a dark cloud roiling over the land, other times spreading broadly apart before coming back together, soaring high and then diving down towards the ground, the cloud they form rippling and changing, folding and unfolding as if alive.
The murmuration of starlings are a unique form of swam-like behaviour; no-one is quite sure as to why the birds do it, and theories range from what scientists call the selfish herd theory through to some form of complex dance intended to offer an invitation for the birds to come together in groups to roost.
For the installation, Chrix has combined animated elements which feature Lalie’s natural photography, scripted particles, and Animesh creatures, into which is suspended a single island with a lone tree, the surrounding water surface spreading to the limits of an enclosing sphere as it projects an ever-changing backdrop of day and night skies and more.
The result is an environment where tunnels of light swirl and change, fantastical creatures – winged whales and spiders, fae folk and giant dragonflies – appear and rise and fall, and clouds of leaves, butterflies and flower bulbs rise, rotate, and shimmering whirlpools of light tendrils descend, anemone-like trees reach high overhead, the patterns and what is seen constantly shifting and changing organically such that what is seen appears to never repeat in quite the same way.
Clinging to the island’s tree are three rightly coloured beetles, two paired and one solo. The latter beetle offers a solo poseball and the pair a set of poseballs for couples / friends. Right-clicking on these (obviously, two people required for the Duo set!) will allow you to join the ever-changing display from within, flying and floating around the sky (several poses available). It’s a further and – using the camera control to rotate your camera around you – immersive way to appreciate the installation.
In this, I would also suggest that using CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-4 (Advanced → Rendering Types → Avatar) to derender your own (and all avatars), offers a further way to immerse yourself in the environment (just don’t forget to re-enable avatar rendering the same way afterwards!).
Those who prefer can apparently take a boat out over the water to witness the displays, offering a further unique perspective on what is an engaging visual display, one which can be further enhanced by enabling the local audio stream.
SLurl Details
- Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show (SLEA 6, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 