Category: Art in Second Life

Revisiting Poetry of the Planets in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Poetry of the Planets: Uranus – The Magician

I returned to Caledonia Skytower’s Poetry of the Planets because when I first previewed it at the start of April 2017,  Jupiter and Mars had yet to open. This has now changed, with Cale recently completing both and opening them to the public, completing her “suite” of seven settings inspired by Gustav Holst’s famous suite, The Planets. Given this, and the fact that Bringer of War and Bringer of Jollity (the names of the planets were only added to the suite’s movements after their 1918 premiere) are perhaps the two most well-known pieces from the suite, a return to visit them seemed entirely appropriate.

Bringer of War, as one might expect takes us to the remnants of a campaign somewhere in the out reaches of Roman’s empire. From the landing point of the army’s camp, complete with banners and tents, visitors can follow the path down to the battlefield itself, where fires burn and the heaviness of death hangs in the air.

Poetry of the Planets: Mars, Bringer of War

It’s a setting entirely in keeping with Mars and its role as home to the Roman god of war, dark and foreboding. However, my own view of Mars is biased, being shaped by the images of Mars returned to us by the probes we’ve sent there: the winding depths of Vallis Marineris, the fractured chasms of Noctis labyrunthus, the towering peaks of the Tharsis volcanoes and the great cone of Olympus Mons. There is a grandeur to Mars as we know it today which I feel brings a new meaning to Holst’s piece; one less threatening, but more majestic than might have previously been the case. Which is not in any way to negate Cale’s vision, but rather demonstrates how our perceptions of the suite can be as much influenced by the planets as the music can influence our thinking about the planets.

Bringer of Jollity takes visitors to a marvellous crystalline maze, filled with columns reflecting and refracting light, through which a path runs, leading visitors between the columns to a set of golden steps. These in turn provide the means to climb up to a ballroom. One again, the theme of Holst’s piece is marvellously interpreted. It is not heard to image the passageways of the maze filled with the laughter of children as they chase one another up and down them, seeking whatever secrets the hallways might hide. Meanwhile, the ballroom offers a place of adult happiness among the dances – and dance itself might be said to reflect the beat and tone of the movement, with the almost eternal dance of Jupiter’s cloud system forming a backdrop.

Poetry of the Planets: Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity

Poetry of the Planets has a supporting website, and visitors to the installation are invited to submit poems, haikus and even short stories (up to a maximum of 2,000 words) inspired by one of more  of the settings, for publication on the website (authors retain the copyright on their work). Submissions can be made in-world via note card at any of the mail boxes within the installation, or directly to Cale herself.

Also, Poetry of the Panets will feature in the May 22nd instalment of Designing Worlds, and the show will be embedded in the Poetry website. The installation itself will remain open until the end of May for those wishing to visit or re-visit. As I noted in my preview, it is an inspired idea, bringing together fable, mysticism, music and words – and a wonderful means by which we can immerse ourselves in Holst’s suite.

Poetry of the Planets: Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity

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Summer’s colours and sensual moods in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
DiXmiX Gallery: Lam Erin – Colours of the Summer

Now open at DixMix Gallery are two new exhibitions which, although not in any way intentionally paired, offer studies in the two most popular forms of Second Life photography: landscapes and avatar studies. Between them, they feature the work of Lam Erin and Tintin Tuxing.

For Colours of the Summer, Lam Erin presents ten images of landscapes within Second Life, the majority of which have been tinted / enhanced with colours associated with summer – notably gold, yellow and green – but which should not be taken to be simple photographs of summer scenes. Rather, these are studied pieces, carefully processed to present a range of responses and perhaps suggest certain ideas for narratives behind them.

DiXmiX Gallery: Lam Erin – Colours of the Summer

In particular, each of the pieces is marked by a broiling, active cloudscape; a dramatic, even foreboding, cast to the skies which even in the more restful images among the ten (such as Autumn Trace and Italian Countryside) adds an edge to the picture. They serve to make us reconsider each image after we’ve first cast our eyes over them, drawing us into the narrative behind the scene presented. Sometimes this can be direct – such as the brooding sense of a rising storm in Neverfar, through to a more subtle reminder that the ship lying calmly at anchor in Bal Harbour can have a capricious mistress with the seas on which she sails.

All told, a marvellously evocative set.

DiXmiX Gallery: Tintin Tuxing – Sensual Moods

In the nine images she presents for Senusual Moods, Tintin Tuxing (Alexandrea Barbosa) takes visitors in another direction entirely: towards that of the sensuous and sensual.  Beautifully presented in monochrome (for the most part), these pictures draw us into a personal world of sensuality edged with a touch of the erotic in places.

The majority of the pieces focus on a single subject, and are both evocatively titled and posed. Six of the nine powerfully convey mood through the model’s expression alone, with one using a simple splash of colour to give draw us closer to it. These are marvellous studies which captivate the eye. Of the remaining three, I confess to finding one seemingly slightly out-of-place in that it features a couple and is posed such that a bicycle in the foreground draws and hold the attention more than the scene being played out. Perhaps intentional, it did for me break the mood evoked by the rest of the pieces. In difference to it, The Lonely Cello drew me the other way; the only one of the pieces fully  – if mutedly – in colour, it is a captivating study.

DiXmiX Gallery: Tintin Tuxing – Sensual Moods

Both Colours of The Summer and Sensual Moods are Small exhibitions in turns of the number of images displayed, but each is an engrossing display. My only grumble, which is towards the gallery, not the artists, is once again, no liner notes / biographical information is provided on the artists – or a means for them to offer their own information / thoughts on the works they are presenting.  Such notes may not be vital to an appreciation of the art on display, but can help present a clearer picture of the artists, and – as I’ve mentioned before – are hardly difficult to produce / have produced for presentation to interested visitors to the gallery.

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Dathúil: Me_You – Moon Edenbaum

Posted on by Inara Pey
Moon Edenbaum, Me_You – Dathúil Gallery

Open now at Dathúil Gallery, curated and operated by Max Butoh and Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd), is Me_You, the first in a two-part exhibition by Moon Edenbaum and Hillany Scofield.

The focus of the two exhibitions is the relationship between a man and woman, whose story arc runs from initial meeting through getting to know one another and intimacy, to separation. In this part of the exhibition, Moon Edenbaum presents his / the man’s perspective on the relationship through 13 large format pieces.

Moon Edenbaum, Me_You – Dathúil Gallery

These broadly encapsulate the core elements of the story, some with obvious clarity, others are more subtle in their approach, suggesting, rather than informing. Take the two images against the ground floor wall to the left of the gallery entrance, for example. These clearly portray an early meeting between the couple towards the start of their affair. However, the image placed in front of them offers a beautifully subtle view of their eventual separation, the cropping that cuts through her face and the complete obscuring of his speaking to them being a couple unknown to one another.

To me, what is interesting in this entire tableau is the use of language within the narrative and how the is reflected in the images. Nowhere is it stated the couple actually fall in love, rather “they become lovers”. The distinction here is important, suggesting as it does their relationship is born of little more than a physical attraction. Hence, perhaps, why the more intimate moments between them are shown purely in sexual terms.

Moon Edenbaum, Me_You – Dathúil Gallery

On the one hand, this lifts the images to an almost tragic level: the unfolding story of a relationship doomed from the outset, the players within it unable to avoid their eventual fate of separation. But on the other, it brings forth questions of perception within the relationship.  This is, after all, the relationship seen through the male eyes; so could they indicate an unwillingness on his part to engage beyond the physical? But what of the image of her with another woman? Might this indicate that it is she  – regardless of who suggested / initiated the encounter –  who is less engaged as he, and this scene has served to open his eyes to this fact?

Depending on how one views things, this particular image lifts the lid on a plethora of questions which range well beyond the simple narrative given as the exposition of the exhibit. It feeds directly into how we might interpret some of the other images in the set. For example: those of her in a white jumper, apparently trying to once again attract his attention. Are they because she earnestly wants to recover whatever intimacy they once had in the hope of taking it deeper? Or is it an attempt to overcome the growing gulf between them for what he sees as her “betrayal”?

Moon Edenbaum, Me_You – Dathúil Gallery

It will be interesting to see how the lines of thinking play out when Hillany presents her take on the relationship. This will be in June, with Moon’s interpretation of the story remaining on show through until the end of May.

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Cica’s Fade Away in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost – Fade Away

Fade Away is the name of Cica Ghost’s latest region-wide installation, which opened on May 5th, 2017. The title is drawn from a quote by Bob Dylan, “Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it’s like they didn’t fade away at all.” It’s a quote from his 2004 memoirs, Chronicles 1,  which ostensibly looks back on his arrival in New York and immersion into Greenwich Village life.

It’s a quote which has tended to be used as a reflection of mortality, the passage of time and / or the sometimes transient nature of relationships. It is a fitting foundation for this installation, which is a deeply personal piece for Cica, for reasons those who know her are aware, and which I’m not about to reveal here without her permission. Suffice it to say, the meaning behind it is something with which we all identify at certain points in our lives.

Cica Ghost – Fade Away

Within a ghostly, misted landscape sits a bedroom, part of an old house, where a gaunt figure has apparently just risen from bed. An alarm clock states the time is some ten minutes before six. As we watch another version of the figure fades into view, apparently departing the room, looking over his shoulder, and down along a path, more versions of the figure fade in and out of view, copies of the alarm clock still frozen at ten before six sit close by, until the figure reaches a pair of wooden gates set within a rickety fence.

Nor is this all; outside of the house, and along part of the route, ghoulish creatures appear to watch and mock the figure’s progress, while he also passes through groups of cloaked figures, apparently caught in their own world. One more of these hooded figures sits apart from the rest, before a table, two cats providing him with company. Another alarm clock sits close by, also showing the same time.

Cica Ghost – Fade Away

Symbolism here is heavy – but what does it all mean? Perhaps the answer lies with a lone figure of a woman standing to one side of these various tableaux. She stands separated from them by the rickety fence the lone figure appears to be making his way without ever actually arriving, watching his progress.

Is the fence perhaps a metaphor, the dividing like between the woman’s physical presence in the world, and her memories of someone no longer in her life? If so, this perhaps makes the various tableaux across the rest of the region memories of that loved one, and his passage through (her) life. If so, might the hooded figures perhaps be more distant remembrances of time spent with him, echoes from deep within memory? As Dylan also said, “I’ll let you be in my dreams, if I can be in yours.”

Cica Ghost – Fade Away

Life is transient; however we feel about ourselves and those around us, we – and they – are only mortal. This would seem to be the message within the ghoulish characters gathered around the house. But at the same time, there is more to each of us than our physical presence, although that is often the most missed.  Through memories, we can hold on to those dear to us, however they have moved on from their physical presence in our lives so that, to one again use Dylan’s words, “when they are truly gone, it’s like they didn’t fade away at all.”

Fade Away is a poignant, heartfelt piece, rich in symbolism and deep in personal meaning, deserving to be seen and contemplated.

Cica Ghost – Fade Away

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Kultivate Spring Sensuality exhibition

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kultivate Spring Sensuality exhibition

The Kultivate Magazine 2017 Spring Sensuality Exhibition officially opens on Friday, May 5th at 08:00 SLT (note that any SLurls to the event will not before the opening).

The magazine’s first Adult-rated event (in which images should be considered NSFW), will run through until Sunday, May 7th inclusive in a specially constructed event area in the sky over the Kultivate home region of Water Haven.

Over 30 artists are participating in the exhibition, which will also include several entertainment events as well. The artists taking part are:

Artandsoul Constantine, Beatrice Serendipity, Booyakashaka Resident, Bri Graycloud, ByrneDarkly Cazalet, captainofmysoul, Catalina Staheli, Glitterprincess Destiny, Greg Paslong, Honey Bender Laperrier-Auer, Isis Desmoulins, JolieElle Parfort, Kacey Macbeth, Lanne Wise, Lucia Tophat, lulyboop, Lyekahgood Nighbor, Marcus Lefevre & Hikaru Enimo, Miele Tarantal, Myra Wildmist, Paradox Messmer, Pipit Peacedream, Ramsa Luv, Ricco Saenz, Slatan Dryke, Talligurl Resident, Timaaj Resident , Tintin Tuxing, Tisephone, Tiszo Cioc, Umshlanga Barbosa, Veruca Tammas, and wintergeist.

Kultivate Spring Sensuality exhibition

Schedule of Events

All times SLT, and correct at the time of going to press

  • Friday, May 5th, 2017:
    • 08:00 – exhibition opens
    • 16:00 – Parker Static, live (1 hour)
  • Saturday, May 6th, 2017:
    • 14:00 – Lark Bowen, live (1 hour)
  • Sunday, May 7th, 2017:
    • 12:00 noon – Sunday Sensuality Ball (2 hours)
    • 23:59 – exhibition closes

Please not that dress code through is casual with the exception of the Sunday Sensuality ball, at which formal attire is requested, with masquerade mask or blindfold. A free party pack will be presented to all guests.

About Kultivate Magazine and Brand

Kultivate Magazine is a publication about the cultural aspects of Second Life. The goal of the magazine is to support art, culture, photography, music, and fashion. The brand includes: the magazine, The Edge and The Edge Gallery, The Windlight Art Gallery,  The Red Gallery,  The Kultivate Bailywick Gallery, The Kultivate Select Gallery, Ristorante Ivanna, & The Tribute and Crown Pub.

In addition, Kultivate Magazine is proud to be the media partner and primary sponsor of Team Diabetes of Second Life, an official and authorised fund-raising team for The American Diabetes Association.

Links and SLurl

UWA’s Transformations in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Image courtesy of UWA

In February, I relayed news on what is to be the final mixed-media art exhibition at the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) presence in Second Life,  which is currently scheduled to be scaled back from the end of July 2017.

Held in the tradition of the UWA’s Grand Challenges albeit it on a non-juried basis and as an exhibition rather than a contest with prizes, Transformations ceased accepting entries at the end of April 2017, and all of the submissions received prior to the closing date are now on display at the UWA’s skyborne gallery space.

Transformations: Noke Yuitza – Transcendence Despite Falling Rain

“Our final show is about beginnings, endings, transitions, change,” UWA’s art curator FreeWee Ling said in the original announcement for the exhibition. “The theme is deliberately vague in order to allow for the broadest possible interpretation. It is intended to highlight the technologies of SL as a medium for creative expression. We especially want work that reflects on the past in SL and/or imagines the future of virtual art.”

In all, just under 30 artists from across Second Life responded to the call, producing both 2D and 3D art pieces, and short machinima pieces encompassing the theme, with some offering artists submitting works in more than one medium. As always with a UWA event, the finished pieces are extraordinary in the richness of creativity shown, and the manner in which that acknowledged broad theme has been interpreted.

Transformations: Thoth Jantzen – Transfabulous

3D art makes up the larger part of the exhibition, occupying most of the floorspace. 2D art can be found within a horseshoe display area on one side of the exhibition hall relative to the landing point, and the machinima entries in the opposite direction, against the wall separating Transformations from a display of works from past UWA challenges and exhibitions.

All of the pieces are provided with an artist’s name plate which, which touched, may furnish you with information on the artists and on the piece itself. In a small departure from previous exhibitions, the machinima is provided for in-world playback – touch the associated screen to start a video. Those who prefer, or have a viewer that doesn’t support CEF can still touch the artist’s name tag and receive a link to video on YouTube or Vimeo, where they can watch it.

Transformations: ErikoLeo – A Virtual Wander In Two Dimensions And A Half

Given the breadth of work on display in Transformations, offering a review of individual pieces is not easy – but I did find myself draw to a number of pieces, such as Grow, a stunning time-lapse video by Glaz Decuir in which we witness Silas Merlin taking s raw idea and transforming it into a finished 3D piece – and it is a truly fascinating study. Then there is Noke Yuitza’s Transcendence Despite Falling Rain, depicting the transformation and transcendence which grow from a failed relationship, beautifully and evocatively presented.

Alongside of Noke’s work is  ErikoLeo’s marvellous A Virtual Wander In Two Dimensions And A Half, which uses 2D panoramic images within a 3D model to offer transformative views of Second Life past and present – complete with and interactive element that puts you in to the scenes (take the anywhere door, then touch the arrows and go to mouselook in each sphere). Thoth Jantzen provides a dimensional defying Transubfabulous – be sure to teleport up from the part of the installation in the main gallery.

SLurl Details

Given the number of entries, this is an exhibition which requires time to appreciate – and you can find a full list of the artists involved on the UWA in SL blog across three posts starting here. One thing I would recommend when visiting – set your viewer to midnight; it removes much of the distraction of surrounding spaces and skyboxes.