Category: Art in Second Life

An artistic Murmuration in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
SLEA 6, February 2025, Lalie Sorbet and Chrix: Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show

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

SLEA 6, February 2025, Lalie Sorbet and Chrix: Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show

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.

SLEA 6, February 2025, Lalie Sorbet and Chrix: Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show
However, as a swarm-like behaviours – and indeed, as a part of the selfish herd theory – starling murmuration is one of many such large group behaviours found within birds, insects, and fish. And it is these dance-like behaviours celebrated within Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show, as noted in the installation’s introduction.

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.

SLEA 6, February 2025, Lalie Sorbet and Chrix: Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show

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.

SLEA 6, February 2025, Lalie Sorbet and Chrix: Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show

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.

SLEA 6, February 2025, Lalie Sorbet and Chrix: Murmuration – A Never-Ending Show

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Art and The Digital Maze at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Smartphones / mobile devices and social media – boon or bane? On the one hand there can be no doubt the ‘phone we carry in purse, pocket or holstered to hip or dangling from wrist strap can be a really positive thing to have. It allows us to stay connected – be it with each other or the world at large and the “news”; we can use it to capture precious (or embarrassing!) moment as a picture or video; it can be a life-saver and / or health aide in multiple ways, and so on.

On the other there are the ways it keeps us “connected”. All too often this means “convenient” texts rather than actual conversations, or seeking exchanges with people across town – or in a completely different town (and / or country) rather than those sitting in the same room as us; they set us on ultimately pointless hunts of “followers”, “likes”, “emojis” – even the temporary “thrill” of diving into this or that app for the rush of a vapourware “reward”, and more.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Whether we like it or not, for all the “freedom” mobile devices and social media have given us – so too have they, in so many way, enslaved us; it’s no accident the terms doomscrolling and doomsurfing have entered many a lexicon: the increasingly reality is  that, whether we’re aware of it or not, the little screens in our hands are a form of addiction; and like all addictions, can be harmful more than helpful.  Worse, they have within them the power to alter our reality, large and small.

It is these points that are explored in the February 2025 exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas. Presented as a visual essay, The Digital Maze by Christian Carter (XJustFriendX), encourages us to look anew at how we interact with our smartphones and the apps they put in front of us.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Some of the risks inherent in our digital dependence are obvious – far from opening broadening our horizons of thought, social media is increasingly a tool for limiting perspectives; we seek “like minds”, we slavish adhere to (aka “follow”) those who only express the same outlook, entrenching, rather than expanding views. Others are more subtle; just how much freedom do we have when we constantly feel the need to scroll, to tweet, to see how many “likes” our last comment generated – as if this is some kind of grand validation?

What does it say of intimacy – on all levels, from shared love through companionship to simple conversation – when rather than using the the full richness of expression found in voice, tone, expression and pause, we hide behind flat words thumb-tapped on a screen “because it’s more convenient”? What is happening to our social skills when it is considered acceptable to ignore those we are with – family at home, people at a party, friends at the restaurant dining table – in favour of those to whom we can type or because it simple allows us to escape the reality of personal engagement?

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Through this series of quite magnificent pictures, each one balancing message with considered use of colour, image, framing and focus, Christian provides food for thought on all of the above – and far more. So much more, in fact, that I’ve honestly struggled with this article, because Christian’s images resonate so deeply with me (we appear to have similar thoughts and outlooks in this matter) that it has been hard for me to keep my own subjectivity in place, and instead allow The Digital Maze the freedom to talk in its own voice.

Which is why I’ve said enough here; go and see – and listen – for yourself.

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Cica’s Dark Fairytale in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Dark Fairytale, February 2025

Cica Ghost’s installation tend to carry with them elements of fairy tale; sometimes these elements are obvious in terms of the narrative on offer, in others the fairy tale aspect is further offered by the installations title, whilst the installation itself includes touches and turns which might cause the mind to wander further than any idea of “traditional” fairy tales. But howsoever the theme might be presented, the installation itself is always engaging.

For February 2024, Cica presents Dark Fairytale, which – for me, sits within those installations Cica offers which perhaps encourage the mind to wander further than the “traditional” idea of fairy tales. Flowing into it – in very subtle ways – are a touch of Guillermo del Toro and a tickle of cosmology. As with all of Cica’s installation, use of the Share Environment is a must.

Cica Ghost: Dark Fairytale, February 2025

Dark Fairytale presents a dark, somewhat parched landscape of lowlands watched over by peaks and hills around their edges, with two hills detached from the rest as if scouting inland. Caught under a cloud-rippled sky, this is a place with an otherworldly feel to it – a feeling that’s increased by the large face of planet (or moon?) hanging low above the westward horizon, its surface marked by the veins of a vast mountain complex spreading outward from its southern extreme.

The presence of this world / moon which does much to cast this place as much into the realm of far-away worlds in distant space as much as it does conjure thoughts of fairy tale lands. Yet at the same time, the eye of this planet might cause some to think of our own solar system; for those familiar with Mars, one of the splayed tendrils of light coloured mountains stretching across the world offers a faint suggestion of a mirrored Vallis Marineris and Noctis Labyrinthus so familiar to Mars. The effect is entirely coincidental rather than intended, but for those who see it, it gives a further twist to any backstory the imagination might choose to write for the installation.

Cica Ghost: Dark Fairytale, February 2025

This is a world inhabited by various kinds of dragon (one tucked away off-shore), all of whom appear to peacefully co-exist with the local humanoids, who in turn appear to live in exotic little homes.  As with all of Cica’s characters, the creatures here carry with them a sense of innocence rather than menace, with the humanoids having some technical know-how, going by the snail car in the midst of the landscape. As one would expect, there are multiple places to sit or dance scattered through the landscape, whilst the creatures offer plenty of opportunities for photography.

Given the friendliness of the locals, the “Dark” of the installation’s title would appear to relate less to any idea of the kind of tales involving a twist of fear and / or horror, and more to the fact that this world is either dimly lit or seen at night. That said, the fantastical nature of the creatures and beings here does pump the cosmological element within Dark Fairytale, as noted. In this, the quote Cica has chosen for the installation also has a role to play, coming as it does from a longer statement by the late English cosmologist and theoretical physicist, John David Barrow.

Cica Ghost: Dark Fairytale, February 2025

All told, another marvellous setting from Cica, one able to suggest all sorts of stories to the willing imagination. And the hint of Del Torro? Take a peek inside the rotor-topped house, and you might spot it!

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Raven’s Ends and New Beginnings in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Atelier des Images – Gallery Gadot, February 2025: Raven Arcana: Ends and New Beginnings

Second Life photographer-artist Raven Arcana is, in my opinion, one of the most expressive artists exhibiting her work within the platform. I’ve covered her work – both individual exhibitions and as part of ensemble exhibitions – in these pages, and always appreciate the opportunity to see her work. This being the case, it was off to Atelier des Images – Gallery Gadot, operated and curated by Aurelie Gadot Costanza, to witness Raven’s latest work.

Ends and New Beginnings is a visual essay, richly expressive and poignant in the way the individual images can trigger responses and / or suggest a story in its own right whilst remaining part of the broader narrative Raven paints.

These poetic monochromatic Landscapes take you on a Journey, from the Ending to a new Beginning. Discover Landscapes that express Loss, Solitude or even Hope. You might find your own Story within them.

– Raven Arcana, Ends and New Beginnings

Atelier des Images – Gallery Gadot, February 2025: Raven Arcana: Ends and New Beginnings

As Raven notes, these are images intended to express emotions and feelings, something reflected in their evocative names as well as their depictions – Broken; Empty Places, Growth. Each has a single focus within the scene it presents, such as a fallen lighthouse or a tree, whilst bent, standing firm against the passage of time and wind as it edges towards maturity.

Combined with their monochromic nature, the titles of these pieces cause them to resonate with the observer and draw one in, encouraging both our emotions and our imaginations. Each has its own unique voice such that I’m not going to offer interpretations here; what they have to say even much depends on how we approach them: what we’re feeling; how life is affecting us at the point in time we visit; perhaps even encouraging a contemplation of things we would rather keep hidden, and in doing so offer catharsis.

Atelier des Images – Gallery Gadot, February 2025: Raven Arcana: Ends and New Beginnings

Catharsis might be a term applied to the broader story offered through the entire collection. In this, I would suggest following the exhibition from the right-side entrance as you face it. Bordered to the left by a quote on endings and beginnings by English poet Jennifer Birchall and At the End – a piece by Raven which, among a collection of expressive pieces, I found to be particularly powerful in its imagery.

From this entrance, one can progress around the exhibition from right through centre and then left, and in doing so, allow the individual  voices present in the pieces work to become a choir, their voices reaching a crescendo as one arrives at Raven’s images New Beginnings and Tranquillity, together with New Beginning, a poem by American poet Colleen Courtney. This form a final verse – or chapter – of the story; one filled with the promise that, for all of us, there is the promise held within the opening quote from Birchall.

Atelier des Images – Gallery Gadot, February 2025: Raven Arcana: Ends and New Beginnings

In all, Ends and New Beginnings is a beautiful collection of work, its expressive depth certain to touch all who visit. And, should you wish to keep alive the memory of the entire exhibition, the entire collection has been put together in in-world book form by Raven, offered for sale alongside the individual prints.

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The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola

Art in Second Life can cover many genres, disciplines and forms – some of which can be controversial (perhaps most notably at the time this article was being written, the use of AI tools). The platform also has the ability to bring art – both from the platform itself and from the physical world – to an audience who might not otherwise come to see or appreciate. In this regard, Second Life can be an educational force for art and the history of art.

In this latter regard, I recently visited a fascinating exhibition concerning Renaissance artist with whom I was not overly familiar. Created by Camie Rembrandt, herself a creator and visual storyteller, The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola takes the visitor on a visual and informative dive into the life and art of a highly influential Italian artist, Sofonisba Anguissola. Located within the estate of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS), the installation also touches upon the work of both some of her contemporaries (including two of her sisters), and the influence she exerted over those who followed her.

The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola

For those – like me – previously unaware of Sofonisba, she was born around 1532 in one of the more modest Lombardy noble families, and received an education which included fine arts to become one of the first women painters to be accepted for formal apprenticeships and training as a student of art. As a young woman, her talent was recognised by Michelangelo when she moved to Rome, and in around 1559, she moved to Madrid to become a lady-in-waiting and personal tutor in art to  Elizabeth of Valois, the Spanish Queen, and later an official court painter to the king, Philip II. This, coupled with her rising fame and financial independence (courtesy of two supportive husbands, the first the result of an arranged marriage on the part of Philip II, the second the result of love), allowed her to become a skilled and highly regarded artist, famous for her portraiture, willing to encourage and train younger artists.

Passing away at the astonishing age of 93, Sofonisba’s oeuvre had a lasting influence on subsequent generations of artists, influencing the likes of Rubens and Caravaggio, whilst inspiring a cadre of contemporary female artists to reach beyond the constraints placed on their education (such as not being able to study anatomy or nudity), and reach similar heights of ability and fame in painting, including Lavinia Fontana.

The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola

For her installation, Camie presents prints of some of Sofonisba’s most highly regarded works across five rooms:

  • Ground floor to the right of the landing point: family paintings by young Sofonisba, and regarded as her most attractive pieces, painted at a time when she had yet to have the formal strictures of courtly painting impressed upon her.
  • A selection of her self-portraits painted throughout her life – as Cami notes, between Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt van Rijn, Sofonisba Anguissola produced the most numerous self-portraits of any artist in that period, laving us a rich legacy of work marking her passing years.
  • A selection of paintings from her 20-year career as a royal painter for the court of Philip II.
The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola

Upstairs, and split between two rooms are paintings by other artists:

  • The first room (furnished in a style befitting Anguissola’s time) contains works by Sofonisba’s sisters Lucia (2) and Europa (1) and by contemporary Lavinia Fontana (who studied with Anguissola before going on become perhaps the first female career artist in Western Europe, relying on commissions for her income.
  • The second room presents portraits of Sofonisba which contain their own mysteries. The first is that of The Sienna Portrait, featuring Bernadino Campi, one of her teachers, painting Sofonisba. The second is a piece by Antoon van Dyck, depicting Sofonisba shortly before her death. However, I’ll allow Cami to reveal the mysteries to you when you visit the exhibition.

What is particularly engaging with this exhibition is the care with which it has been developed. All of the images presented are public domain, and Cami guides visitor through the exhibition via 5 HUDs (one for each room and obtained from the INFO signs in each room, or via vendors in the upstairs lounge area if any of the signs prove recalcitrant). Also in the lounge area, visitors can find a catalogue for the exhibition Cami has put together and which offers even more insight to Sofonisba’s life and art and the pieces included in this exhibition, together with a video version of the catalogue.

The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola – one of the exhibition HUDs

A magnificent endeavour, rich in art and history, the The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola should be visited by anyone with an interest in art and its history.

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Insomnia: art and being in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Artsville, February 2025: Filipa Emor – Insomnia

Insomnia, or sleeplessness, is a terms which might all have some familiarity with, although its definition covers a broad range of conditions and circumstances in which a person has trouble sleeping. In fact, the conditions under which insomnia can occur are so broad, analysis of the problem through study either by randomised controlled trials or via systematic review can lead to very different outcomes and even biased in findings.

Very broadly speaking, insomnia might be split into insomnia disorder (ID), which might de defined as protracted difficulties in sleeping and obtaining rest which might be tied to specific health / lifestyle / psychological issues, and insomnia symptoms, which refers more to shorter (but equally intense) periods where our sleep is disrupted due to briefer onsets of one or more of the symptoms of insomnia. The latter may run from simply eating a large meal too late in to evening and being unable to sleep while the digestive system continues to chug away through to the more recognised symptoms of insomnia such as a rise in anxiety or fear, and similar emotional condition or when we “can’t turn our brains off” as a result of something that occurred during the waking hours.

Whatever form it takes, between 10% and 30% of all adults can be suffering from insomnia at any given time, and around half of all adults will experience insomnia symptoms of one form or another during the course of a year – with up to 6% of them dipping into ID lasting more than a month.

Artsville, February 2025: Filipa Emor – Insomnia

It is these latter aspects of insomnia which are examined within the individual pieces making up Insomnia, an immersive installation by Bee (Filipa Emor) within a sky Gallery at Artsville. In doing to, the pieces come together to offer a broader perspective on Insomnia Disorder as a whole; one that is perhaps very personal to the artist – but through its individual parts, will doubtless hold meaning for each of us who visit.

Insomnia reminds us that the night is not just for dreams, but also for confronting our deepest thoughts … Each image is a fragment of my sleepless nights, shared to resonate with those who have also stared at the ceiling, chasing sleep.

– Bee (Filipa Emor)

Insomnia is also a genuine tour-de-force of artistic exploration and exposition; the arts and the space within which it is displayed – and designed by the inimitable Konrad (Kaiju Kohime) – combine to present an installation seeped in meaning and metaphor, inviting exploration and provoking contemplation. When visiting, you must have local sounds enabled to fully experience the installation and make sure you are using the Shared Environment; both are essential to this visual and physical journey.

Artsville, February 2025: Filipa Emor – Insomnia

Both the art and the environment are presented in monochrome tones of white and black – appropriate, given the subject – which combine to give sense of chiaroscuro which spreads from the individual pieces of art to encompass the entire installation, increasing the sense of being caught within that strange space and state where we hover listlessly between sleep and wakefulness; a space prowled by thoughts and inner demons intent on preventing us from passing peacefully from the former to the latter as the night hours pass.

Each piece here portrays a different facet of sleeplessness: the longing, the struggle, and the strange beauty of being awake while the world dreams. Insomnia reminds us that the night is not just for dreams, but also for confronting our deepest thoughts.

– Bee (Filipa Emor)

I don’t want to offer my interpretations of the images Bee presents; I have little doubt they will resonate in a personal, intimate way for anyone seeing them. What I will say about them is that they are designed to be touched, fading and brightening in a portrayal of the struggle to find sleep and thought roil within. They also have an order to them, as indicated by the clock display under each one, marking the passage of the night as they progress from the far side of the information board at the landing point, and progress counter-clockwise around the installation’s lower level.

Artsville, February 2025: Filipa Emor – Insomnia

Accompanying the images are quotes on the nature of sleep, restlessness, insomnia and the soul. Some of these also brighten and dim on being touched, in reflection of the flux of being they each represent. Located higher up within the installation, they are reached by stairways and walkways  – as does a bed in one corner. Together these two climbs present metaphors: one for our rising desire to find the sanctuary of sleep as the heartbeat ticking of passing time torment us, and the other the physical act of climbing the stairs to find our bed – possibly accompanied by thoughts of whether it will be to sleep – or to lie trapped in thought.

Beautifully expressive and presented, Insomnia should not be missed.

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