Category: Art in Second Life

LEA open round six of AIR land grants

Posted on by Inara Pey

On December 1st, the Linden Endowment for the Arts committee announced the opening of the next round of land grants is now open in the Artists in Residence (AIR) programme. For artists not familiar with the LEA or the land grant process, the following is taken from the formal announcement:

The LEA Land Grant program seeks to promote and nurture the arts in Second Life, through a five-month land grant to recipients. Recipients can be individuals or groups interested in creating or curating art, or proposing cultural projects which would require/utilise a full-sim build and can be completed within the allotted time frame. The LEA is able to offer land grants through the generosity of Linden Lab.

Moving Islands [Rafts], a round 5 AIR entrant curated by Eupalinos Ugajin
Moving Islands [Rafts], a round 5 AIR entrant curated by Eupalinos Ugajin
Twenty regions, donated by Linden Lab and managed by the LEA, are generally offered under the land grant programme, and successful applicants will be given the use of one full region for a period of five months. The region may then be used on an individual or group basis for such diverse activities as:

  • Full sim exhibitions and / or immersive installations
  • Curated projects, especially those which have a connection to physical exhibitions and events (mixed reality).

Artists should take no more than 3 months to execute their build, so that they have opened to the public for at least the last 2 months of their grant. However, artists may also open their installation ahead of the three-month build deadline, and many artists in the past have used their land to have multiple exhibits. What is important is that any project accepted into the programme must be ready within 3 months from the date the land is granted, and this time-frame should be considered (and reflected) in all applications.

Musiclandia by Livio Oak Korobase
Musiclandia by Livio Oak Korobase

The announcement goes on to state:

Criteria

We feel one of the strengths of the LEA committee is that we come from different backgrounds – artists, architects, curators, historians, etc. – all of whom have different ideas on what makes virtual art great. We share a passion for this project, emboldened by differing viewpoints. What this means for the LEA Land Grant applicants is that there is no one ‘right’ project. Some committee members like immersive builds, others enjoy highly technical and scripted work, still others look for projects embracing collaborative, curatorial, or education projects. Some might wish to select those who have a history of successful exhibits in SL, while others are passionate about providing experiences to new and emerging artists. This is great news for applicants, as it means that ANYONE has a chance at getting sim, provided you show us you have an idea for a great project (even if it isn’t completely thought through, and we realise that this will most likely change in your working process).

APPLICATION TIMELINE

(Dates subject to change by LEA in the event of unforeseen circumstances.)

  • Applications open – December 1, 2013
  • Application deadline – December 30, 2013
  • Final Decision Committee Deadline – Mid-January, 2014
  • Notification period, and selection of alternates if need be – Around January 18, 2014.
  • Sim handover and public announcement – January 31, 2014
  • End of round – July 1, 2014

HOW TO APPLY?

Applicants should complete the form at the end of the LEA blog entry, taking care to provide as much information about the proposal as possible and include relevant SLurls and web links to their work (if possible) in order to help the LEA committee make an informed decision.

Speak again, bright angels: Romeo + Juliet winter season

Posted on by Inara Pey

Baz Luhrmann isn’t the only one to bring a contemporary beat to that most famous of tragic love stories of all times: Romeo and Juliet. Throughout most of 2013, The Basilique Performing Arts Company has been presenting its own unique re-imagining of Shakespeare’s tale of love, loss and tragedy.

Romeo + Juliet production poster (courtesy of Canary Beck)
Romeo + Juliet production poster (courtesy of Canary Beck)

Conceived, directed and narrated by Canary Beck, Romeo + Juliet presents the story of star-crossed lovers in an inspired mix of  renaissance-inspired sets, 1940s costumes, and contemporary music from the likes of Nat King Cole, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, Michael Buble, Jack Black, Carl Douglas, Moby, Duran Duran, The Indigo Girls, Queen and more. At two hours in length, the show is a veritable tour de force of the creative and collaborative capabilities of the Second Life platform, and sets new standard for presenting dramatic pieces within SL, combining dance, animations, voice-overs, dialogue and an unforgettable sound track.

The show is now into its winter season, and if you haven’t seen it yet, now is the time to set a date in your diary and make sure you get along to the Basilique Playhouse to see this extraordinary show for yourself.

Upcoming dates are as follows – all times SLT:

December 2013:

  • Sunday December 8th 12:00 noon
  • Saturday December 14th: 13:00

January 2014:

  • Sunday January 4th: 12:00 noon
  • Saturday January 11th: 13:00
  • Sunday January  19th: 13:00
  • Saturday January 25th: 12:00 noon

February 2014:

  • Saturday February 1st: 13:00
  • Saturday February 8th: 13:00
  • Friday February 14th: 13:00
The cast at a curtain-call (image courtesy of Strawberry Singh / Canary Besk)
The cast at a curtain-call (image courtesy of Strawberry Singh / Canary Besk)

Notes on Attending a Performance

Do note that the Basilique Playhouse is located on an Adult-rated region, and that age verification is required in order to teleport there. The show itself does not feature sex or nudity, although one scene does suggest sexual relations. All performances are free, but gratuities to the cast and crew are always appreciated.

In order to enjoy the performance to the fullest, it is recommended that audience members:

  • Remove unnecessary scripted attachments (hair, accessories, and shoes tend to be the worst offenders)
  • Turn off nametags and Look-ats
  • Wear mesh if possible
  • Keep local chatter and gestures between scenes only
  • Set the following in their viewers:

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What makes us human? A UWA 3D challenge with a L$268K prize pool

Posted on by Inara Pey

What Makes-1The University of Western Australia has launched its latest art challenge, with a total prize pool of L$268,750 on offer to prize winners.

The challenge is open to everyone, not just artists, and the challenge is to create a model, animation or simulation which reflects what make makes us human at the cellular, organ or system level.

Sponsored by the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology as well as the School of Physics at UWA, the challenge seeks to encourage entrants to create fairly accurate or representative creations or models that can be used for teaching, with the overall aim of enabling others to learn anatomical, histological, developmental and/or physiological concepts about the human body from the submitted work.

The UWA blog post announcing the challenge offers-up a few suggestions entrants might consider:

Histology (convey the microscopic structure of human tissues)

  • Nervous System: What are the various representations of different types of neurons?
  • Muscular System: Examine structural differences and/or similarities between skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle cells.

Anatomy (convey the gross structure of human body parts) & Histology

  • Embryology & Foetology: What are various stages of embryonic and foetal development?
  • Perhaps look at the transformation from embryo to foetus.

Anatomy

  • Skeletal System: What are the components of the human skeleton?
  • Present the anatomy of various types of joints.

Physiology (convey the processes that enable the human body and its components to function):

  • Nervous System: What are some of the neural pathways that enable us to perform day-to-day cognitive and motor functions?
  • Circulatory System: How does blood circulate through our body to meet the metabolic needs and maintain the normal function of cells/organs/and bodily systems.

Anatomy & Physiology

  • Circulatory System: How does the heart operate, and what are its different chambers and valves?

Histology, anatomy, and physiology are disciplines that go hand in hand. It is only natural that entrants may construct submissions that draw on more than one of these disciplines in order to facilitate the learning of concepts. Entrants are also encouraged to “think outside the box”, and portray/convey such aspects as the difference between normal features and functioning, and the abnormal or dysfunctional.

Other topics seen as relevant to the challenge include representations of anatomy, physiology and histology pertaining to the following systems: digestive, endocrine, exocrine, immune, lymphatic, reproductive, respiratory, urinary, and visual.

What Makes-2Prizes

There are five main prizes and three special prizes:

  • 1st prize: L$81,250
  • 2nd prize: L$62,500
  • 3rd prize: L$37,500
  • 4th prize: L$18,750
  • 5th prize: L$12,500

The three special prizes are for L$18,750 each, and will be awarded under the headings of Anatomy, Histology and Physiology Special Prizes.

How to Enter

Entries are being accepted from now through until 28th February 28th, 2014.

  • Entries should have no more than 300 prims
  • Mod / Copy entries are preferred to allow models to be displayed in temp rezzers
  • Entries must be accompanied by a Creator’s Notecard form (available from the contest entry receiver (see below), or by a note card bearing the title of the entry, a short description and the name of the creator. This may optionally include a brief biography and RL location information
  • Models  must be deposited in the contest entry receiver at the UWA Gallery – hold the CTRL key and drag the model from inventory onto the receiver’s billboard prim, which will turn red. Release the mouse button to deliver your item. Repeat for the accompanying note card.

If any problems are experienced with the receiver, please pass your model and note card to either FreeWee Ling (UWA Curator of Arts) or Jayjay Zifanwe (Jay Jay Jegathesan: UWA in Second Life Founder & Lead).

For all rules associated with the challenge and details on the judging panel and additional information, please refer to the UWA blog post.

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Red Shoes: bringing the spirit and intent of Zapatos Rojos to Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Red Shoes image by Mexi Lane
Red Shoes image by Mexi Lane

There’s a new art exhibit opening at MIC Imagin@rium at 14:00 SLT on Monday December 2nd. it is a unique collaborative venture featuring works by 25 SL artists, and which involves the exhibition in a real-life cross-over with the Il Margutta Gallery, Rome.

Elina Cahuvet at the 2012 El Paso, Texas,
Elina Chauvet

Red Shoes builds on the work of Mexican visual artist Elina Chauvet, who created Zapatos Rojos,  a display of red shoes and boots of all  designs and sizes, used to commemorate the high number of women and girls killed in the city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

The piece came about as a result of Chauvet becoming increasingly aware of the high numbers of women and girls who were dying or simply vanishing within the city, a place where violence had at one time escalated to the point where the Mexican military were asked to intervene, a move which actually exacerbated matters. “In my visits downtown I was alarmed to see how many posters for missing girls were stuck to the telephone poles,” Chauvet explained to Canadian broadcaster and journalist Joyce Janvier in an interview about the origins of the project. “That’s when I realized that the women in Juarez were dying or disappearing. Then and there I began to ask questions but did not find answers. Stories of women went under-reported.”

She selected shoes as the focus for the display for two reasons. Firstly, as she had previously used shoes and a metaphor in the past, she felt they were a means by which she could give expression to her concern for the missing or dead women. Secondly, in researching the disappearances herself, she discovered that many of those who had vanished either worked in shoe stores, had been buying shoes at the time of their disappearance or were seeking work in a shoe shop.

Initially, the exhibit started with 33 pairs of red shoes donated by the women of Ciudad Juárez, arranged in a silent line, representing the missing women walking along the city’s Benito Juárez Street, which leads to the town’s oldest border crossing bridge into the United States.  Since that time, the piece has grown to over 200 pairs of shoes and boots and has become viral in nature, having been exhibited in cities in both the United States and Europe, and coming to represent broader aspects of violence many woman around the globe suffer in their daily lives. In May 2013, Zapatos Rojos returned to Ciudad Juárez.

Zapatos Rojos, Piazza Vecchia, Ciudad Juárez, May 2013
Zapatos Rojos, Piazza Vecchia, Ciudad Juárez, May 2013 (image courtesy of Alice Peretti, You + Me Equals)

The Second Life exhibition opens on December 2nd, 2014 and continues through until midnight on January 7th, 2014. It features individual installations by twenty-five SL artists, all of whom have taken their lead from a pair of red mesh shoes created for the project by Rumegusc Altamura, and the exhibits are displayed in an ultra-modern space designed by Colpo Wexler which sits atop the waters of the region, with a magnificent Romanesque backdrop also created by Rumegusc Altamura. The participating artists are: Swina Allen, Alpha Auer, Solkide Auer , La Baroque, Lookatmy Back, Giovanna Cerise, Cica Ghost, Viviana Houston , Kicca Igaly, Violetta Inglewood, Giorgio Mayo, Merlino Mayo, Myyns Mayo, Rubin Mayo, Paola Mills, Daniele Daco Monday, Nessuno Myoo, Sniper Seimens,  Mitaki Slade, Mila Tatham, Nexuno Thespian, Blue Tsuki, Maddomxc Umino, Nino Vichan, and MIC Imagin@rium’s own Mexi Lane.

Red Shoes: Rubin Mayo
Red Shoes: Rubin Mayo

Previewing the installation, I found that Coplo Wexler’s minimalist approach to the actual exhibition sets to be highly effective, allowing the observer to focus directly on each piece in turn with little or no visual distractions. Some of those on the “outer” ring of exhibit spaces are featured in their own three-dimensional “frames”, providing further focus on their subject matter, while others are open to the far horizon, blending with it to create great depth of experience – such as with Alpha Auer’s evocative piece. I mentioned earlier that the installation also has a unique real-life cross-over. This is because on December 10th, 2013, the Il Margutta Gallery in Rome will be inaugurating a new exhibition entitled, “Woman in Rock & Red Shoes”, and a machinima of the Red Shoes exhibit at MIC Imagin@rium will be screened at the gallery as a part of the inaugural activities.

Red Shoes: Alpha Auer
Red Shoes: Alpha Auer

Red Shoes is a powerful installation; I’ve no idea if Elina Chauvet is aware of it – if not, I hope someone does contact her concerning it. I’ve little doubt she would admire and appreciate the way her message is being carried forward in an immersive manner to again reach a global audience.

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Red Shoes: Giorgio Mayo
Red Shoes: Giorgio Mayo

Seeking Invisible People

Posted on by Inara Pey
Invisible People
Invisible People

I’ve mentioned previously in this blog that I’m an unashamed fan of Rebeca Bashly, so when I found out via Ziki Questi that Rebeca has a new exhibit in Second Life, time had to be set aside to visit it.

Invisible People is a stunning piece which pokes at the social conscience within us. It is simple enough in explanation, but as with all things, simplicity hides a complex structure.

Scattered around La Citta Perduta (the Lost City) on the region Land of Glory are twenty-one little vignettes. Each features a character or two, sometimes three, engaged in various activities. Some are lounging on or against railings, some are seated, some are shuffling along or engaged in various activities from feeding or scaring pigeons to spraying graffiti on walls. All have one thing in common: they are textured such that if you align your camera correctly, they fade into the background of the scene behind them.

Invisible People
Invisible People

This takes a little practice, and aligning things comes easier with some of the sculptures than with others. It’s also fair to say the finished effect can also rely on your choice of lighting, windlight-wise, so you might what to have a little play when you visit – the region’s default lighting isn’t always the best. Also, depending on the steadiness of your hand, the impact of lag (and either end of the connection) and the vagaries of working with the camera and camera controls, you might also want to turn off basic shaders while fine-tuning the position of your camera on a given character and then re-enable them before snapping your shots. However, the finished result is worth the effort, not just because of the sense of achievement you get when things are lined-up, but because the very act of trying to align things draws you into each scene, and  – for me at least – results in seeing it from an entirely different perspective.

Invisible People
Invisible People

“This is a story, presented thru camouflage body art,” Rebeca tells us through the introductory notecard. “About all those people that you pass by on the streets every day and never notice them…” And this is where, perhaps, our social conscience is pricked.

“Invisible people” is a term which is often used to describe those is society we so often “don’t see” (or prefer not to see) or contemplate. The infirm, the elderly, the disabled, the homeless, the underpaid. As well as presenting a unique and engaging piece of visual trickery through the careful application of textures, this is a piece which actually underlines the way in which we do so often, individually and collectively, turn a blind eye to those is society we might prefer not to think about.

Each of the little vignettes raises questions as to what it is we’re actually seeing. Some appear to be straightforward, such as the couple kissing on the steps or the young boy rushing to startle the pigeons in the square. Others, however, carry perhaps something of a different message.  Is the man curled on the bench resting, or is he lying there for want of nowhere else to sleep at night? And what of the man with his head inside the dumpster? Is is dumping something or looking for something? Then there’s the young girl leaning against an alleyway wall and beneath a lamp, is she merely awaiting a friend or a client? Is the old woman carrying her shopping in her oversized bag, or her entire life?

Invisible People
Invisible People

These possible subtexts gives Invisible People a powerful voice which, for me at least, reaches beyond the visual appeal of the pieces. indeed, it might be said that the latter is simply a means of drawing the observer into each of the scenes, opening our minds as to what each actually might represent or how it might be interpreted.

Certainly, in my case,  and as I explored the streets of the lost City, discovering each of the little vignettes in turn, I found myself thinking more and more of one song in particular.

Invisible People is open now, and for those who can photograph all 21 of the sculptures as they are intended to be seen, Rebeca is offering a personal gift. It’s a wonderful, thought-provoking piece and well worth taking time to visit. Recommended.

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Oceania Planetary Park: a voyage through the solar system

Posted on by Inara Pey
Trton, the largest moon of Neptune, with its parent planet in the backgroun, part of the Oceania Planetary Park
Trton, the largest moon of Neptune, with its parent planet in the background, part of the Oceania Planetary Park

Opening on Saturday November 16th as a part of the Linden Endowment for the Arts Artist In Residence series, Oceania Planetary Park is the work of Kimika Ying.

Designed as an educational and informative piece, the installation provides visitors with a journey through the solar system – and more. The basic concept is simple to grasp, but actually hides a wealth of detail; as such, the visitor needs to have a little patience, a good hand for moving the camera around and a good eye for spotting things.

You arrive more-or-less at the centre of the region, which has been landscaped as a park surrounded by hills. You’re actually standing on a disc representing the Sun, and a path winding away from it leads you through the parkland and past each of the planets in the solar system in their order of distance from the Sun, winding slowly up towards an observatory sitting up in the hills.

Mars, Oceania Planetary Park
Mars, Oceania Planetary Park

While the distances between the planets are not to scale, the models of the planets most certainly are, allowing the visitor to grasp the huge scale of the outer gas giants of the solar system when compared to the rocky inner worlds. The rotation of the planets is also to scale as well, with one minute of real-time representing 24 hours. This makes it possible to compare the familiar rotation of the Earth with the heady rotation of massive Jupiter, which spins on its axis every 9.9 hours, giving rise to the huge banded weather systems and turbulence visible in its dense atmosphere.

A further sense of scale can be obtained by keeping an eye out for the various moons of the planets which have been included, and which are also orbiting to a scale time of 1 minute to 24 hours. To see some, you have to carefully zoom out and pan around. In the case of Mars, however, you’ll have to zoom-in to the planet relatively closely to see tiny, tiny Phobos and Deimos, both likely captured asteroids, zipping around the planet, little more than dots compared to the bulk of the planet.

Phobos, the innermost of the two, is just some 9,377 kilometres above Mars, and zips around the planet in a little of seven and a half hours. So fast is Phobos’ orbit that, contrary to what logic might seem to dictate, it is slowly falling towards Mars as the result of gravitational tidal forces. At some point, Phobos will reach the Roche limit and well break up, showering the surface of Mars with its remains. Deimos, on the other hand, is further away from Mars (around 23,460 km) and orbiting more slowly than the planet is rotating. This mean tidal forces are having the opposite effect, slowly boosting Deimos away from Mars so that it will eventually break free of the planet’s hold on it.

The far side of the Moon (often wrongly referred to as the "dark side" of the Moon) and below, the Earth
The far side of the Moon (often wrongly referred to as the “dark side” of the Moon) and below, the Earth

As the distances between moons and their “parent” planets are to scale, you’ll have to look a little further afield in order to see some of them, as noted above. Such is the case with our own moon, pictured above, and with Neptune’s Triton, seen in the picture at the top of this piece, which is nique among the large moons of the solar system as it is in a retrograde orbit about its parent. As you approach Jupiter, keep an eye out for Io, the most volcanically active place in the solar system, and the closest of the Galilean moons to their parent planet.  When you do find a moon, try clicking on it; a link to additional information may be offered to you.

Jupiter: Oceania Planetary Park
Jupiter: Oceania Planetary Park

There are further touches here not to be missed. Each planet has its own information board which will give you a wealth of information on each planet, complete with links to external resources. The gravity well of each planet is neatly represented by a depression in the ground under it, making for a further means of comparison. As you  pass the planets, you may also note that texturing may appear to be missing on parts of them. It isn’t. Blank areas denote those parts which remain unseen by human and / or robotic eyes in our explorations of the solar system.

The path ends at the doors of the observatory. Just outside of this sit tiny Pluto and Charon, the largest of its five known companions.

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