Category: Art in Second Life

{Lost} in a garden of sounds

Posted on by Inara Pey
The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)
The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)

According to myths, the Ancients discovered a botanical species; a kind of reed that was capable of resonating a sound frequency when touched. The Ancients harvested these reeds and created a meditative and spiritual garden.

Quite by accident, the Ancients also discovered a symbiotic creature to the reeds; which they named the Pentapuss. The Pentapuss has the same form and biological structure as the reeds, and fed off the soundwaves made by the reeds. In doing so, their movements amongst the reeds nurtured the growth of the reeds to maturity.

The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)
The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)

So opens the first chapter of The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari, which is also the name of the first part of Xineohp Guisse’s interactive environment, located at LEA13, and part of the 6th round of Artist In Residence installations for the first half of 2014. The story goes on:

The Ancients built BioPods and BioSpheres; to nurture these reeds and the young, juvenile pentapussies. They built contemplative Elemental pods at the Chamber of the Ancients, to observe these creatures and plants. They built a music chamber, where they can physically interact with the reeds……

The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)
The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)

In time, the garden grew to become a beautiful space – to contemplate and be as one with the beings that surrounds them.

As you might expect, given the story, this is a place where you’ll need to have sound on – though not media enabled – in order to fully experience this city-like garden with its tall structures and musical chambers. The music, produced by Xineohp plucking the strings of a cello, can initially sound random and tonal (and at times faintly memorable of a guzheng); however, when walking through the interactive chamber, it is possible to produce something more melodic and soothing.

The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)
The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)

This is only the first chapter in what promises to be an unfolding story (and environment) which will be added to each month. As such, it is doubtless one you’ll want to return to as it progresses. I know I will.

Oh, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of the book at the arrival chamber.

The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)
The {Lost} Garden of Sundarya Lahari (click for full size)

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Visiting the Visitors

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Visitors
The Visitors

The Lost Town – La Città Perduta – has some new temporary residents waiting to meet you. The Visitors is a new piece  by Cica Ghost which features some twenty-ish of her popular cartoon-like stick figures scattered around the streets, alleys and buildings of the town.

This time in colour, the figures are a pretty happy bunch, despite the rain, all going about their lives under the guardianship (for the most part, at least) of umbrellas held over their heads. Couples stand hand-in-hand or kiss, individuals are walking their dogs – and perhaps use the walks as an excuse to meet – or stand as if waiting for a friend or loved one.

The Visitors
The Visitors

Finding all of these quirky characters may take a little time; not all are out on the streets, but may be watching from windows or standing on balconies, while one determinedly rides his bicycle into the wind and rain, scarf flapping behind him.

There’s an innocence about these creations which is both charming and somewhat at odds with their surroundings with its old buildings, some in a bad state of repair, and its crashed and overturned vehicles. It’s a creative juxtaposition of moods, in which Cica notes her characters, “with their colorful energy, and open the windows of the Lost Town La Città Perduta on the sensitive and poetic vision of their creator.”

The Visitors
The Visitors

When visiting, do be aware that it can take a handful of seconds for the characters to render. There’s a lot going on in the region (including the rain!), so do give these charming people a little extra time to show you their smiles.

The Visitors officially opens at 13:00 SLT on Friday, February 7th.

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Paradise lost: the third trailer – the first sin

Posted on by Inara Pey

A little while ago, I was invited by Canary Beck and Harvey Crabsticks, the creative team behind the The Basilique Performing Arts Company, to witness three scenes from their upcoming production of Paradise Lost: The story of Adam and Eve’s original sin, which will premiere this Spring (see the comments at the end of my review of the Company’s Romeo + Juliet).

Now the company has released the third trailer for the production. It features elements of the scenes the cast enacted on my behalf in January, comprising Adam and Eve’s sin and consequent banishment from Eden. Accompanying the trailer on Canary’s blog is a passage from the Ninth Book of Milton’s epic poem, which I offer here as well, in both the original and modern forms, as Adam laments what has come to pass.

O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
To that false Worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfeit Man’s voice—true in our fall,
False in our promised rising; since our eyes
Opened we find indeed, and find we know
Both good and evil, good lost and evil got		 Oh Eve, it was an evil hour when you listened
To that false worm, taught by somebody
To imitate the voice of Man, truthful in saying we would fall,
Lying about our promised rise; since our eyes
Have opened we have indeed discovered that we know
Both good and evil; good lost and evil found.

Paradise Lost: The story of Adam and Eve’s original sin has been specially choreographed and set to the fourteen movements of Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D minor. It promises to be a tremendous production. I’ll be bringing you more news as it is announced.

Enter the Dragon Curves

Posted on by Inara Pey
Dragon Curves
Dragon Curves

In January I visited a Cathedral Dreamer, Gem Preiz’s Full Sim Art  installation at the LEA featuring images of his amazing fractal art. At the time, I commented to Honour McMillan that I’d love to see something like his work translated into in-world, real-time constructs which could be explored. Little did I know that Mac Kanashimi would be on-hand from February through June to provide something very close to what I’d been musing about!

Dragon Curves is Mac’s installation as a part of the LEA’s round 6 AIR selection. Despite the fact the regions were only handed over to the artists at the start of February, it is already open to the public. Don’t let the quick opening deceive you – there’s some six months of work gone into the piece – and it is simply stunning, particularly if you’re of a mathematical bent.

Dragon Curves
Dragon Curves

Mac says of the 1216-metre high piece, floating over LEA 26: “The Dragon Curves exhibit showcases sim-wide variations of dragon curve art. The spectacular script-controlled dragon curve landscape changes continuously.”

For those unfamiliar with the concept of the dragon curve, the concept grew from the Harter–Heighway dragon first investigated by NASA physicists John Heighway, Bruce Banks, and William Harter, and documented in 1967 in Scientific American. Essentially, it is any member of a family of self-similar fractal curves, as depicted by Heighway, Banks and Hartner.

When seen from above, this pattern of self-similar curves is visible throughout this remarkable, ever-evolving piece in which the landscape within the three levels constantly changes as elements rise and fall and change colour (their colour being derived by height), and even resize themselves.

Dragon Curves
Dragon Curves

It is possible to find your way down from the arrival point at the top of the build to the lower platforms by way of the “dragon stair”, an 8 kilometre long, 1024m high stairway, itself a dragon curve, while each of the levels within the build comprise 10 dragon curves apiece and individual objects within the build comprise 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 or 48 prims.

It really is an amazing and dramatic piece, a companion to Mac’s Mandelbrot Art, which was featured on an LEA region in early 2013. When visiting, set your draw distance to around 500 metres, if possible, in order to see the installation more fully. Also note that there are six safe junctions (including the landing point) where you can stand as the landscape on each level changes. Mac also notes that there is an “Emergency button to derez the dragon curves in case of crises”(!).

Dragon Curves
Dragon Curves from the inside as I descend

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Addendum, April 4th: Teno Theriac sent me a machinima of Dragon Curves he’s made of Dragon Curves:

The Miniature Goal

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Miniature Goal
The Miniature Goal

“What if our physical world shrunk in proportion to the resources we drain from it?”

That’s the question Haveit Neox posits in The Miniature Goal, which opens at 14:00 SLT at the Art India Galley on Saturday February 1st.

It’s an intriguing question; one that results in an intriguing installation. Within the walled space, sits a Venice-like city in miniature, through which boats pass along the waterways; but this is far from the romance of Venice.

The Miniature Goal
The Miniature Goal

On the horizon marches a series of gigantic oil derricks, beyond which a strange weather pattern turns ominously. There is tension here between the city, the oil derricks and even Mother nature herself as a closer look at the city reveals that it is not build around canals and waterways, it is in fact slowly drowning in what appears to be a rising sea. Then there are the giants, wading through the water or perched atop some of the buildings at the edge of the city – how do they fit into this series of juxtaposed images?

“We deplete resources all across the globe,” Haveit warns us, “yet in our homes we may feel few repercussions. Though we don’t actually visit the oil spills, the cleared forests, or the mines, let’s imagine how it would appear, were our everyday life reflected proportionately to the current depletion. If our bedroom walls were to shrink at the same percentage as the forests or the extinction of species for instance, how high exactly would our walls become?”

The Miniature Goal
The Miniature Goal

And thus the truth of the piece is revealed. The city is wracked by the consequences of an ecosystem knocked completely off-kilter by our global activities, and the “giants” are in fact those who have found  their homes have shrunk as a result.

It’s a dark scenario but one with a visual impact which underlines the further questions Haveit poses about the future we may face if we don’t learn to control our appetites when it comes to the resources the world has to offer and we continue to ravage the ecosystem without pause. The various elements in the installation are each captivating in their own right, whilst flowing together as a whole.

The Miniature Goal will formally open at 14:00 SLT on Saturday February 1st, as mentioned, and will remain open through to March. The opening will feature music by Nnoiz Papp, which might feature tracks from his new album, Orientopolis – which has more than likely found its way onto my “things to purchase” list…

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Project Homeless: short film challenge, L$2.28M in prizes

Posted on by Inara Pey

Jayjay Zifanwe of the University of Western Australia brings word of a new film and machinima challenge

Project Homeless 2014 is a Challenge run by Screen My Shorts Incorporated and the University of Western Australia in partnership with, and sponsored by the Parramatta City Council.

Film-makers of all ages cultures and ability are invited to submit original creative digital content (conventional film and / or machinima) and win a share of the $10,000 Aus (L$2.28 Million) cash and prizes (with at least $700 Aus  reserved for Machinima), and have their works exposed on the international stage. Films may be individual or team efforts.

HomelessEntrants are asked to indicate two themes from the 22 listed by the competition, on which they would like to base their film. The organisers will then allocate one the selected options. Entrants then have full freedom to explore and interpret the allocated theme and create a completed film within 30 days. All entrants are asked to  be as creative as possible in interpreting their nominated theme.

All registrations should be received no later than Friday April 11th, 2014, which is the date on which entrants will be informed of their allocated film theme.

Completed films must be submitted by Sunday May 11th, 2014.

How to Register

  1. The preferred method is to register via the competition website– note that entry fees for machinima style film are being sponsored by the University of Western Australia.
  2. Send an email (or a NC in-world) with the following details to jay.jay@uwa.edu.au:
        • Second Life name
        • Team name (if applicable)
        • Email address
        • City & country
        • 2 preferred themes as the subject of the entry, in order of preference.

Essential Rules

  1. Only G or PG rated films will be accepted.
  2. Entry length to be between 3 to 10 minutes.
  3. Registration is essential.
  4. All entries are to be made specifically for the Project Homeless Competition.
  5. Register before the 11th of April & must nominate two of the listed themes.
  6. $10,000 Aus in prizes available with at least $700 Aus reserved for machinima.
  7. The full official rules should also be read, together with the 10 Step Guide.

Prizes

Please refer to the UWA website for a full list of prizes.

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