Category: Art in Second Life

In February 2017 I wrote about The Photo Game, an intimate exhibition of art hosted at Boudicca Amat’s An Uncertain Destiny (which you can read about here). It formed the in-world continuation of an idea Boudicca and fellow artist Ricco Saenz started on Flickr in the latter part of 2016, where they would each choose two on one another’s compositions and comment on them.

In-world, The Photo Game has expanded to three images apiece for each pair of invited artists, and for the inaugural February event, Bou and Ricco took to the stage. For March / April, the spotlight has shifted to two more artist / photographers, one of whom has the last name of “Pey” …

To be honest I was thrilled, surprised and apprehensive about things when the invitation arrived – and apprehension turned to a feeling akin to panic when Bou revealed I have been paired with Proph (burningprophets); a man with a talent for weaving a tale with his images, and an eye for composition and framing which far surpasses my own.

I was instantly drawn to the three pieces I’ve selected from Proph’s portfolio both because I was instantly attracted to them and because they all encapsulate his skills so beautifully. The three are: Never Hide Your Heart, Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful and If You Miss the Train I’m On. I’m not going to comment further on them here, as I have already written a fair essay on each, but all three are genuinely remarkable pieces, and well worth contemplating – so I do encourage you to go along as see them for yourself.

Speaking as someone still finding my way with images, photographs and illustrations – I see my work far more as illustrations for this blog than as being in any way “art” – I’d like to thank Proph for his feedback on the pieces he chose; hearing another frame one’s own work in words and  reflect the few nuances within a piece that were intentional, was reassuring and a boost to confidence that I’m actually starting to understand the medium I’m dabbling in.

My thank, as well to Bou and Ricco for the invitation to participate so early on in the Game, I loom forward to reading thoughts and feeling from other on all six of the pieces on display at An Uncertain Destiny.

SLurl Details

• The Photo Game (An Uncertain Destiny, rated: Adult – run as PG)

Wild Lost Line, now open at MetaLES, curated by Ux Hax and Romy Nayar, is a new art / sound installation by artist and musician Morlita Quan, a physical world artist hailing from Spain and working under the name. Her artistic expression covers 2D and 3D art and music, and all three are very much reflected in her Second Life presence.

The installation should be be viewed with the viewer’s Advanced Lighting Model enabled and local sounds turned on, with local time set to midnight. There is a recommendation to set Shadows to Sun/Moon + Projectors, but given the time-of-day setting and the fact that Shadows can result in a sizeable performance hit for some, I would suggest this isn’t so vital a requirement. I would, however, recommend using headphones to get the full stereo effect of the aural environment. Once you are set-up, touch the teleport board at the MetaLES landing point to jump to the installation.

This comprises a path through a series of halls and rooms in which Mori’s art is displayed, the route through them indicated by black or white arrows on floors and walls. The art itself is offered on a huge scale, from drape-like hangings you must walk through, to pieces forming floors and ceilings, as well a those hanging on walls. They are, perhaps, a little too huge – but I’ll come back to that.

The final part of the exhibit takes you along the top of the walls separating the various rooms, allowing you another view of the art on display. at the end of this, a teleport drops you to a 3D element, a flower-like structure surrounded by floating cubes. Touch a white cube at the base of “stem” of this, and you’ll be seated within the “petals”, where touching the surrounding ring  of coloured triangles and the small spheres below them will allow you to play various notes and tones. From here, a ramp leads you back into the installation while a teleport board takes you back the MetaLES landing point.

Quantifying Wild Lost Line is difficult. I find Mori’s work to be its most captivating when a piece can be seen in its entirety. This allows one to fully appreciate its complex beauty, the use of line, colour, shade and pattern to present something deeply organic yet also clearly geometrically defined. Such is the overwhelming size of the pieces present in Wild Lost Line, my deeper appreciation born of this appreciation of complexity and form was lost amidst the technicalities of camera juggling and an inability to easily encompass all of a single piece comfortably in my view. Thus, I found myself conflicted in touring the installation.

However, you may see things differently – so why not pay a visit?

SLurl Details

• MetaLES landing point (MetaLES, rated: Moderate)

Now open at Split Screen, curated by Dividni Shostakovich, is Bleeding Books, an installation by Haveit Neox which offers a commentary on how language and information can be both abused and overwhelming.

Three huge platforms float in the sky; one is the landing point where information on the installation and Split Screen can be obtained. The remaining two, one reached via a walk through a tornado of golden letter and the other by flying down to it, offer huge columned but roofless halls. The floors of each resemble printed pages from which stone letters partially rise, draped with human figures who appear to be merging with them. Over both, giant books spill a black torrent of letters.

 

Beneath all three, at ground level (fly down to reach it) is an enormous fortress, slowly decaying,  the roof gone, the floors pitted and broken, the walls collapsing. Throughout its bulk can be found the essence of words: letters can be seen parts of the walls or hang like broken chains from columns, printed pages form the lumps and undulations of the floor. More letters are locked within great cells, or have fallen into the pitted floor.

“It is a story in my ongoing series on abuse as seen through the lens of language,” Haveit says of the piece. “What happens when knowledge is so disrespected that it is freely contaminated with doses of falsehood? There are avenues to properly sort facts in this information age, yet we easily turn a blind eye to certain evidence if it goes counter to our beliefs – even when our choices may cause immeasurable harm.”

In truth, words and literacy have always been seen as a focus of power (such as the withholding of literacy from the masses in times long past) and as a means of conducting war (be it hot or cold, political or ideological, through the use of propaganda and misinformation). What makes Bleeding Books perhaps particularly relevant is that today, we collectively have access to so many channels of communication and alongside them, so much data and information, that the ability to freely contaminate what we read, see and hear is becoming a significant issue.

Worse still, facts and counter-facts are increasingly forced to vie with so-called “alternative facts” and outright misinformation, that it is often far easier for us to retreat into our own bias and seek only the information which fits that bias, no matter how damaging it might be politically, ideologically, ecologically or personally in our health and daily lives.

Thus the metaphor is clear: such is the flood of information flowing around, over and even through us, that the power of words to define truth, objectivity, reason, understanding  – their very ability to present reality to us – is being eroded and broken, both intentionally by others and through our own unwillingness to set aside our own biased outlook, no matter what the consequences.

Bleeding Books is not necessarily an easy piece to understand, nor may it sit easy on the conscience. But neither of these points mean it should be avoided. Rather, it is a piece that the longer you spend within it, the more clearly it speaks to you.

SLurl Details

Bleeding Books, Split Screen (Amra, rated: Moderate)