Sunday May 4th marked the start of the ninth annual Raglan Shire Artwalk.
Running through to May 25th, the Artwalk brings together over 140 artists from across Second Life in a display of 2D and 3D art ranged across four regions of Raglan Shire, providing visitors not only with the opportunity to see photographs, artwork, and sculptures, but to also explore the Shire itself.
2D art of many kinds are exhibited along the hedgerows in the central area of Raglan Shire sim. SL sculpture works are exhibited among the trees and along the shores of the western half of Heron Forest in Heron Shire, in the park on Morning Shire and around the Athen Shire village. TP kiosks to the display locations are throughout the grounds of the festival.
The Raglan Shire Artwalk is an excellent way to see art from a broad cross-section of SL painters, sculptors, photographers and artists, some of whom otherwise rarely exhibit their work, while others may well be very well-known. At the same time, the Walk brings with it the opportunity to discover more about the Tiny community of Raglan Shire.
Raglan Shire Artwalk 2014 (shown: art by Trinity Yazimoto)
From any of the starting points, one is free to wander the footpaths and glades of the Shire, admiring the art and perhaps meeting some of the local residents. For those not that fond of walking, but who nevertheless prefer not to teleport everywhere, there is also a tour guide system available as well. Simply click on one of the green spheres at an arrival point, and let the caterpillar take you on a ride around the exhibits!
Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility Only in a world of speculation.
These words from the opening of Burnt Norton, the first of T.S Eliot’s Four Quartets, were the first to enter my head while visiting LEA15 and Solkide Auer’s The Timewalkers, an installation which encourages you to contemplate time and its meaning, as you ride a pod up through the giant clock, and upwards into the wealth of colour, pattern and light, set against the backdrop of night.
Riding the pod up through the installation, I personally found a strong resonance between the piece and Eliot’s contemplation of time. Time is the one immutable force we cannot deny. It rules every aspect of our lives, past, present and future. It surrounds each of us as we live our lives of colour and light.
When contemplating time in reference to our own lives, we so often we look back; wondering what might have been, had a different path been taken. So even as we look back, we also catch a glimpse of a future that might have been. Thus our thoughts themselves span the past, present and future, even as well continue to travel forward.
And yet, here lies a conundrum: to be conscious of time is to be apart from our understanding of time, for consciousness implies a fixed perspective while time is characterised by a transient relativity focused on a fixed point in the present. Yet at the same time, the contemplation of time is also the contemplation of the eternal, as Eliot himself noted when he wrote:
Time past and time future Allow but a little consciousness. To be conscious is not to be in time But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden, The moment in the arbour where the rain beat, The moment in the draughty church at smokefall Be remembered; involved with past and future. Only through time time is conquered.
Wherever your thoughts take you, Solikide offers a stunning display, rich in colour while deeply evocative of the passage of time itself, be it through obvious elements such as the clock, the pendulum and the metronome, or in more subtle fashion through the slowly rotating circles which suggest the never-ending cycle of time, or the slow rocking of the bell-like objects hanging below them, or the colour terrible clefts which seem to fall like dying leaves, their time of growth now done, and which also carried more of Eliot’s evocative poem to my mind.
And what then of life and death? Time is all-encompassing, and a journey through it can hardly be devoid of thoughts on where we all are destined to travel. The symbolism here also seems apparent as one ascends up through the piece, rising towards the light, passing the “bells” tolling silently (and perhaps causing an echo of another writer’s words – those of John Donne), to arrive at a place of intricate beauty.
Wherever your own thoughts take you, do make sure you spend time – no pun intended – as a Timewalker. It’s a visually stunning installation, and one that stirs the grey matter. Recommended.
This project began as a self guided spiritual learning path but quickly became an all-encompassing Journey of Ascending To A Higher Place with each individual choosing how they want to perceive the experience and to what degree of Complexity and learning they choose. Life is a continuous journey of choices, represented by the many choices provided for you at many levels.
So states Tansee in her opening remarks about her new exhibition at LEA16 on Sunday May 4th.
Ascension is further described as “a celebration of colour, sight, sound and spirit”, and presents a series of themes and ideals in the form of an exploratory journey. This starts at an underwater landing point, where you can take a note card on the installation (recommended). Seven tunnels, each a particular colour intended to represent a specific chakra, all lead to an undersea environment which can be explored before selecting one of seven ropes and climbing up to the Ascension island.
Here one can take one of seven further tunnels, each leading out to an encircling garden which is divided into seven areas, each representing a state / mood reflective of one’s state of self (“I Know”, “I Do”, “I Feel”, etc.). Here, different activities are presented to be shared and enjoyed, with each area having a slide show present thoughts on self and one’s being.
The circular nature of the garden, complete with path leading the way between each of the seven areas, represents the endless infinity of birth and rebirth. The areas bordering the path are intended as places where people can seek refuge, relaxation, renewal and a sense of spiritual growth.
As well as providing access to the garden, the central Ascension island offers visitors a very literal journey of ascension, flying up through a series of chakra spheres, each one offering the opportunity to learn about the chakra in question, and the emotional states associated with it. Each sphere provides a place of rest and meditation, so one’s journey need not be rushed. For those who prefer, teleport boards offer a means of moving up and down between the spheres – although I recommend flying, as it’s easy to miss things along the way when teleporting.
At the very top of the installation is a MerKaBa, a vehicle of Ascension, which it is believed can be activated by certain principles in meditation. These involve breathing changes, and mind, heart, and body changes that alter the way a person perceives the reality. A fully activated MerKaBa field enables you to turn your body into a ball of light and bring it with you as you travel between worlds on different spiritual planes.
Towards the back (north side) of the installation is the International Mountain of Peace, a place where visitors are invited to use a series of direct input boards to leave their own thoughts with the world on matters of wisdom, love, hope, peace and more, either signed or anonymously.
As well as representing a spiritual journey and an encouragement for us all to celebrate joy, compassion and understanding, and carry these ideals into the world at large, the Ascension also represents a personal journey undertaken by Tansee herself, who notes, “When I began this project in December, I was not sure what a script did, had no idea what a particle was, and did not really know how to form a group. What a Beautiful Challenge it has been! This opportunity was a facing of fears for me personally. I wanted to prove to myself that despite my personal challenges, determination and success can and will prevail if you believe in yourself.”
To mark the opening of the installation, The Ascension will be hosting a special live performance. Sky Fires, will feature the work of Particle Tom and Lexi, with music by DJ Sunshine. The event will take place at 14:00 SLT on Sunday May 4th, on the Chromatic Atmospheres particle platform.
I’ve made a number of mentions in this blog on the subject of Whiskey Monday’s remarkable imagery, which has been displayed through various galleries, has been featured in SLB celebrations and is even available in RL.
Her work is thought-provoking, intelligent, evocative, mischievous, fun, pointed, and more – and all of it is certainly some of the finest expressions of art as a medium for social and general commentary I’ve ever seen. It’s also deeply personal, much of it reflecting on Whiskey’s real life and times in a frank, honest way free from pathos while laying bare her mindset and emotions.
For some time now, Crap Mariner has hosted a collection of Whiskey’s pieces, both her art and her Tweets as Picture series, located at The Viewing Room on his region of Edloe, and which sits directly under The Listening Room. However, Whiskey herself has been absent from the virtual for some time now – her last blog post having been made in November 2013, while she ceased activity on Twitter and Plurk some time before that.
While it is hoped that Whiskey will make a return to Second Life, time does march ever onwards, and Crap has been contacting those who knew Whiskey to let us know that he’ll be closing down The Viewing Room in the very near future as a part of some redevelopment work on Edloe.
So, if you’ve not seen Whiskey’s work there in a while, or haven’t had the chance to see her work up close, now is very much the time for making sure you hop over to The Viewing Room before it is too late.
History has a tendency to be a little ironic at times. Thirteen months ago, the United Kingdom and Russia issued a joint declaration that 2014 would be the bi-lateral UK-Russia Year of Culture. At the time they sat down to sign that agreement, little did Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and William Hague, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, would be facing one another across a quite different table and under less convivial circumstances in April 2014.
Not that the one should in any way negate or cancel the other. Rather the reverse, in fact. In the face of mounting political tensions, one would hope that the events staged in both the UK and in Russia as a part of the bi-lateral UK-Russia Year of Culture would stand as a reminder of each side’s humanity and the benefits of people of different nationalities looking beyond superficial national boundaries and collaborating with one another.
Bryn Oh / Vladimir Tatlin: Monument to the Third International, The Golden Age of the Russian Avant-Garde, LEA8
And collaboration is very much the focal-point of one of the pieces selected by the British Council for display in Russia, and it is one that crosses not only the political divide, but also the digital divide as well.
The Golden Age of Russian Avant-Garde is a large-scale exhibition project, created especially for the main exhibition hall of Moscow’s Manege Museum by Peter Greenaway (UK) and Saskia Boddeke (Holland) supported by the British Council. The primary part of this exhibition opened in Moscow on April 15th, and will run through until May 18th, 2014, in an exhibition space totalling some 5,000 square metres – which is enormous by any standards. This multimedia installation will feature, in the words of the British Council:
Polyscreen installations made with the help of the most up-to-date projection, light and sound equipment. It will represent a new approach to the history of art, creating new visuals and new possibilities for learning about the world around us through images. Using polyscreens as an artistic method not only allows us to explore new aspects in paintings or sculptures: synchronised images, bound together by a single idea, create new architectonics, bringing another dimension to the exhibition. Combining film and painting, animation and 3D technology helps create a unified atmospheric work, drawing the viewer into the space of Russian avant-garde.
But this is more than a real-world exhibition. A major element of the piece exists not in the real-world, but in Second Life, at LEA8, to be precise.
It is here that Saskia Boddeke, perhaps better known to many of us as artist Rose Borchovski has brought together seven artists from around the world, each with the task of recreating a famous element of the Russian avant-garde movement, also known as Constructivism, in-world (and some in the real world as well), and which forms a part of the overall exhibition space, real and virtual.
The SL exhibits are placed on multiple, interactive levels within a pseudo-industrial setting. Here direct re-interpretations of famous elements from the Constructivist movement – such as Bryn Oh’s representation of the never-built (at least in full size) Monument to the Third International by Tatlin (and also known as “Tatlin’s Tower” and regarded as a key work of the movement) and Popova’s stage design for theatrical director / actor Vsevolod Meyerhold, recreated by Nessuno Myoo through to broader pieces drawn from within and beyond the Constructivist movement and presented in both 2D and 3D installations.
A further cross-cultural element is evident in the SL installation. When exploring, you might come across avatars named AvanteGarde001 through AvanteGarde004. These are in fact controlled by visitors to the Manege Museum in Moscow, who are invited to extend their visit to the real-world pieces there into the realm of the virtual – and have been able to do so since the real-world exhibition opened.
Exploration of the SL exhibit space requires a reasonable amount of time – there is a lot to see; even the environment itself, designed by Bryn, makes a powerful statement. Not only does it frame the pieces on display and provides the means by which they can be explored, it also reflects the form and context of the Constructivist movement and the age they represented.
In terms of the pieces on display, each offers a unique view on the movement and / or the era. In this, I found Eupalinos Ugajin’s interpretation of We, Yevgeny Zamiatine’s dystopian novel particularly interesting, given its historical context. While the Constructivist movement celebrated and promoted the ideals of the socialist state, Zamiatine’s novel painted a far more negative image of socialism: that of a repressive police state. In doing so, it became the first work to be banned by the Soviet censorship board shortly after its publication. The inclusion of a piece reflective of We is given greater depth when one considers the manner in which Constructivism itself was to be suppressed (and some of its proponents forced into exile or murdered) following Stalin’s rise to power and repressive leadership of the state machine.
However, perhaps the most remarkable piece in the installation is Jo Ellsmere’s representation of V. Meyerhold’s biomechanics, a system he developed for training actors. This uses five beautifully scripted avatars moving in a series of synchronised movements which sees them move both as an individual unit, and as five unique elements of the whole, a slight syncopation to their movements giving them a time-lapsed grace which cannot easily be captured in still images and really has to be seen to be appreciated. There is much here that reaches beyond the immediacy of the installation and offers a lot of potential for synchronised movement in art and dance.
As one might expect, a piece of this magnitude, whether real or virtual, takes a huge amount of effort to bring together, and I am for one very glad that RL events didn’t result in either the real or the virtual aspects of this remarkable celebration from being derailed. This is not an exhibition to be missed and if you are fortunate enough to be able to see the real-world elements at the Manege, I envy you.
Definitely one for the books – and kudos to all those involved. When visiting the LEA installation, don’t forget you can also pick-up one of several (or all, if you like), avatars near the arrival point and make yourself a part of the exhibits offered for your delight and consideration. For my part, the LEA installation only presents one problem; such are the pieces on display here, that they each really deserve an individual review / exploration.
Most people in SL are familiar with the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) at least in name, if not in purpose.
The LEA is a collaborative venture between Linden Lab and the arts community, established to help create a center of arts activity in Second Life. It is committed to providing access to engaging experiences in the arts for the SL community, through exhibitions, programmes and events, all helping to foster awareness of artists’ contributions to our virtual world and encouraging others to get involved or to be inspired.
While the regions used by the LEA (some 29 in total) are provided by Linden Lab, the LEA itself is run by a committee of SL artists and residents, supported by an advisory board. However, given the LEA does have 29 regions, all playing host to a range of art installations (some permanent fixtures, others representing the LEA’s Artist In Residence programme or other dedicated activities), finding one’s way around all the regions and knowing what is going on at any given time isn’t always easy.
One of the art pieces (by Maya Paris) at the new LEA gateway
True, there is the LEA blog, with notifications of upcoming openings and events, and there’s the LEA website, for information on the various LEA programmes, and the regions almost always offer visitors the opportunity to grab a HUD to help them navigate their way around all the exhibits. However, there has never really been anything resembling a central gateway, a place where visitors can go to and find out what is going on and where, ask questions, and have the means to teleport to anything that interests them, and then back again should they wish to continue their explorations.
LEA Committee member Honour McMillian recently blogged on behalf of the LEA that LEA3 is being re-purposed as a gateway / hub for the LEA regions. The work is being carried out by LEA committee members and volunteers (of which more in a moment), and while it has yet to be completed, much is already in place.
Central to the gateway is a map to all 29 LEA regions, complete with teleport links, while nearby is an event board listing all upcoming events and activities. A short walk from this is a set of information givers which provide note cards on the various installations within the LEA. Around these areas is a mixed land / water park wherein a number of pieces from various SL artists are displayed and open to be explored. The selected items will change over time, helping to reflect the diverse range of art on offer within the LEA regions.
The welcome area will be staffed, as time an availability, by the LEA Volunteers, overseen by Honour herself. Although there are over 40 volunteers already, they undertake a variety of tasks, including providing guided tours of the regions, assisting the artists using the regions, helping with opening events and other activities, and so on. As such, new recruits are always being sought; so if you’re of a mind to volunteer your time, contact Honour in-world, and she’ll get you into the group and onto the training and orientation course.
As noted above, there’s still more work to be done at the gateway, but it as now open, so if you’re thinking of exploring the LEA regions, there’s now an even easier way to get yourself started!
Sunday May 4th marked the start of the ninth annual Raglan Shire Artwalk.
