Category: Art in Second Life

Aria Solstice (Aria1111 Skydancer) is a multi-talented creator whose time and work has spanned not only Second Life, but environments such as AltspaceVR, Horizons  and VR Chat. Her in-world store ARTSY – is one of the go-to destinations for those seeking PBR materials and / or PBR-centric décor items, furnishings, skyboxes, buildings, or EEP packs – and now immersive art.

As a creator, she has worked hard to create her brand – one I first became aware of through her PBR tutorials and which I now use regularly for my PBR materials  needs. Her dedication to her work can be seen through the fact that she moved to Second Life in 2023, then spent a year refining her brand and stock specific for Second Life prior to opening in May 2024 showcasing her skills as a 2D and 3D artist-creator.

With Arcanum, Aria presents an immersive installation comprising  – at the time it opened – eight “realms” of light, form, tone and / or colour. Each is its own unique environment I’m not about to describe here – simply because they should be experienced first-hand for both their beauty and the the questions or statements they hold.  However, before turning to them in at least some degree, a few quick notes about experiencing the installation:

• Please note that it is fully PBR: you will need a PBR-capable viewer in order to see it.
• Make sure you have local sounds enabled.
• Accept the experience to use the portals to move to / from realms (starting with the door portal at the entrance to the installation, and including the telephone booths which will take you to each of the realms).
• Remember that Arcanum is highly introspective: each realm might offer or reveal more to you about yourself the longer you spend within it in contemplation of its visual offering and – most particularly – in the question it asks.

Perhaps the best way to define the installation is through the words found on the wall of the entrance foyer, which I recommend visitor take the time to read prior to progressing through the teleport door to reach the desert and the start of a journey through the installation:

You stand at the threshold of realities that exist between thought and form, dream and substance. Arcanum is not merely a collection of spaces, but a journey through the architecture of consciousness itself. Each realm awaits your exploration – luminous geometries, flowing energies and artsy dimensions that desire your presence and contemplation. As you move through these environments, you may discover that they are not separate from you, but extensions of your own perception. The questions you encounter are invitations – gateways to insights that may reveal themselves in unexpected moments. There are no right answers here, only authentic ones. 

Some visitors my find Arcanum speaks to parts of themselves they have forgotten. Others discover new territories within their imagination. What you find here is what you bring – your curiosity, your openness, you willingness to wonder. 

Arcanum introduction

Each of the eight realms offers a unique environment, featuring light, structure, form and three questions intended to resonate and encourage consideration / self-reflection. While there is apparently no given order for visiting each of the realms, the booths are arranged from left-to-right, and so perhaps subconsciously suggest an order to viewing. By coincidence, the leftmost booth – Silent Echo – perhaps offers the most ideal place to start; the static nature of its design and the presentation of its three questions before the waiting seats helping to encourage one into a necessary state of inward thinking and self-exploration as the colours within the hall gently change.

As one moves between them, each realm might be seen as reflecting the nature and spirit of the questions asked within it. Sometimes this is clear from the outset – notably in Duality; whilst elsewhere, the relationship might be more subtle in nature (Bioluminescence, Arcanum’s Lair), and sometimes it might be felt more than seen (Aura Doodles, Field of LED). Hence why time should be spent in each, contemplating their questions and statements and the responses they evoke – and in pursuing those responses and what they might reveal about self; all the while moving through and observing the very physical environment each realm presents.

For my part, as well as giving me pause to cogitate on the questions within Arcanum – both in terms of myself and what they might reveal about Aria as a creative.  I was also fascinated by two highly personal reactions it caused in me.

The first was  the way several of the realms evoked a desire to witness them fully immersed through VR, marking the first time I’ve felt such a conscious desire where headsets are concerned. The second was in the way they resonated with me as something of an alternative manifestation of Bear’s “Country of the Mind” (Queen of Angels, 1990); his fictional VR-like psychotherapy technique used in the exploration of personality, nature, identity and self. Yes, what is described in the book in no way resembles the environments found within Arcanum, but the underlying concepts are (to me) remarkably similar.

Richly immersive and – if you give it time and rally immerse yourself within it – deeply engaging installation, Arcanum is, I gather from Aria, sent to evolve further over time. Which, when you consider the fact that it is a manifestation of introspection and reflection, is entirely natural; Aria’s creativity and thinking are not static nor single-tracked. As such, I would anticipate Arcanum growing and evolving in response to her own continued growth – and to thus remain relevant as we also grow and change and re-visit.

SLurl Details

• Arcanum ([ARTSY], rated Moderate)

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

SLurl Detail

• The Art and Life of Sofonisba Anguissola (Colonia Nova, rated Moderate)