Category: Art in Second Life

Now open for viewing at the new temporary home for Dividni Shostakovich’s Split Screen, is a pair if installations by JadeYu Fhang and Krystali Rabeni, which can each be reached from the main landing point, or via one another from their respective landing points.

EveryWhere and NoWhere, by JadeYu, forms a ground level installation, and is the more extensive of the two. It offers a complex environment of scenes and platforms, forming a unique world of geometric shapes and inhabited by strange, female forms.

In the first – which acts as the landing point – the figures are enmeshed in a delicate framework somewhat resembling a bird’s nest. Ladders rise from the platform at various angles, each offering a number of poses for visitors. Beyond this lie processions of doorway-like boxes march and undulate through the sky, or rise vertically upwards, apparently tended by beings with dragonfly like wings as streams of light pulse and roll around them. Two structures sit within the rising tower of squares, each a miniature tableau in its own right.

Other platforms float close by, occupied by more beings, while the ground below flows in curlicues, some of which rise to surround two central figures. Further away, on two sides of the region, the land rises, patterned geometry tattooing its surface. More shapes, almost origami-like in form, hover delicate in the sky over the slopes of the landscape.

An intricate landscape, the setting is a reflection of its title. Fascinating, complex, with a range of facets and potential interpretations,  EveryWhere and NoWhere should be visited with local sounds enabled in order to hear the accompanying sound scape. This, with its metronomic chimes and plaintive voice, gives the entire space added depth.

The Games We Play offers visitors a games of chess of a most unusual kind. Far from being the traditional chequered board, this playing surface is uneven, individual squares set at different levels relative to their neighbours – and then extend up the walls surround the space before closing overhead. Pieces in gold and silver are ranged across the horizontal area of play, and occupy the some of the wall spaces as well.

The pieces themselves further reveal the unusual nature of this game – or games: the gold pieces comprise more than the normal single queen or pair of knights, for example. Meanwhile, winged pawns fly overhead, imbued with a power not to be found in a normal game of chess. It’s a complex setting the nature of the game suggesting that – like life – there is more to this game than meets the eye.

Neither artist offers an explanation for their respective works, preferring to leave interpretations to visitors. However, each piece offers enough clues – including their titles, for opinions, ideas and narratives to be formed. As such, both offer an intriguing and interesting visit, and will remain in place until the end of September 2017.

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• Split Screen (LEA 15, rated: Moderate)

“Ever wanted to take a journey through the human brain? No, not really? Eew? Well too bad because I am going to make you!” Isa Messioptra says of her new exhibition at Dathúil Gallery, which opened on August 6th, 2017. She describes Welcome to My Brain as being unlike anything else she has worked on before – and it is certainly quite unlike any previous exhibition held at Dathúil.

For it, the usual gallery space has been converted into a series of rooms across two levels, all of which need to be explored. However, before doing so, visitors are asked to ensure their viewer is correctly set. Information on requirements are provided in the foyer space, just inside the gallery entrance – albeit for Firestorm / Phototools only. If you’re not using Firestorm, ensure you have Advanced Lighting Model enabled (via Preferences > Graphics), local lighting is enabled and you have windlight set to Phototools – No Light (if installed) or a similar very dark environment. Once you’ve set your environment, proceed through the entrance to the exhibition proper.

“[This] but is intended to be an immersive experience,” Isa says of the installation. “As you walk through the exhibit you travel through different chambers of the subconscious each completely different from the next much like a Fun House. In this exhibit I use light projection, reflective surfaces, mesh builds, photography, video, physics, animated textures…”

The result is a fascinating jumble of images, lyrics, scenes and lighting which offers an extraordinary trip through the subconscious – or a dream state where the mind is trying to re-order events and experiences – complete with a political comment.

Passage through the various rooms is via stair, door and teleport; the dark windlight setting can made finding your way difficult, the journey is worthwhile. Commenting on the various scenes is not that easy, representative as they are of the subconscious; the best way to appreciate them is via a visit and tour through the rooms, and seeing how they speak and or reflect your own subconscious.

That said, this is a skilfully executed exhibition richly demonstrates what can be done with Second Life lighting, reflections, materials, and more – and the hall presenting images apparently behind walls of water or liquid really should be seen to be appreciated. All told, it’s a beautifully immersive installation.

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• Dathúil Gallery (Floris, rated: Adult)

Now open at the Black label Exhibition Corner is Ballet of the Little Liars by Storie’s Helendale (GlitterPrincess Destiny), with the support of Terrygold, who designed and built the installation. This is an interactive art exhibition with a story attached to it – and something of a mystery to solve.

Core information on the installation – including viewer settings – are provided at the landing point. In short, once in the main exhibition spaces, left-click / Touch the images and images your find on the walls and around you. Some will provide feedback in local chat. Environment-wise, the most important setting at to have the local windlight active – or set your viewer to midnight – and to have Advanced Lighting Model enabled (Preferences > Graphics) in order to benefit from the projected lights of the installation.

On reaching the main installation via the teleport sphere, look for the newspaper close by, which references a report of a kidnapped ballerina. Your task – in part – is to follow the clues (again by touching images and objects) and find your way to a letter, which reveals the story of what has happened as seen by the artist. You can then offer your own story or feedback to Stories via note card.

The chat extracts providing by touching objects and images  – remember that not all respond, so you’ll need to take your time – don’t necessarily offer the story in a linear fashion (or at least, didn’t seem to for Caitlyn and I), so again, this may encourage you to build a different narrative around events. I also found the lighting to be a little problematic: the default environment setting was far too dark to navigate by, so I switched over to using midnight – and Caitlyn confirmed doing the same.

What is beyond a doubt is the art from Stories which is, as usual quite extraordinary. The text / poems accompanying those pieces set to be interactive add to their depth even further and quite independently of the wider story.  Once you have completed the first level (the route indicated by a combination of arrows and knives on the floor), take the stairs up to “ground level” to complete your tour through woodland scattered with bunkers containing more images, and a trip up inside a lighthouse. Again, keep touching things as you go, and be aware that there are some red herrings along the way (there’s more than one letter and more than one trunk to be found, for example).

An immersive installation, Ballet of the Little Liars is an interesting exhibit which piques the curiosity as one visits and explores, although patience is recommended. As noted, piecing things together can take time, as can finding your way around; as well as the lower level perhaps being too dark on the recommended settings, a clearer set of in-world directions on proceeding around the woodland / lighthouse might help some visitors. Those wishing to level a story or feedback can do so via the post box to be found to one side of the woods.

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• Ballet of the Little Liars (Eternal Possession, rated: Moderate)

Sunday, July 30th marked the opening of the Kultivate Bailywick Gallery’s August exhibition at Water Haven.

The gallery specialises in black-and-white images, and artists are invited to submit pictures in keeping with this theme for each exhibition. The venue is a village hall style of building with two storeys and presented in a yacht club style of environment; as such it is ideal for smaller, more intimate exhibitions, and the August event features the work for four artists: GlitterPrincess Destiny, KodyMeyers Resident, Lulyboop Resident and Solana Python.

I’m very familiar with the work of both GlitterPrincess and KodyMeyers, although this is the first time I’ve seen them both present purely black and white images in an exhibition. Both offer a mix of avatar and landscape studies which carry the major hallmarks of their colour work, something which immediately has my eye gravitating towards their pieces, as both have a style to their work I greatly admire.

Located on the upper floor of the gallery,  Lulyboop Resident and Solana Python are artists I’ve not previously encountered. I have to admit to being particularly drawn to Solana’s images from the physical world – her WhiteLake Trypich (above) in particular holding my attention in the way it present three very different images of a location which together form a natural whole. Lulyboop, meanwhile, presents a set of five avatar studies which beautifully catch a moment in time from the lives of avatars and which deserve careful studio in order to catch the nuances within each.

I believe the exhibition runs through until the end of August 2017.

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• The Bailywick Gallery (Bailywick, rated: Moderate)