Last week I was able to see Tyrehl Byk’s Catharsis (more than once in fact, it is so good). It is an amazing tour-de-force in the use of music, particles and images within second Life. This weekend I’ve been fortunate enough to witness the show that started it all, Particle Phantasmagoria – and it is a wonderful feast for both eyes and ears.
More abstract and free-form than Catharsis (although with a very subtle subtext to the images accompanying It’s the End of the World As We Know it), Particle Phantasmagoria is a fabulous ride marrying stunning particle effects and images with an inspired selection of music in a trippy rollercoaster of a ride that will not only have you watching in awe and whooping in delight, but also quiet probably seat dancing along to the soundtrack.
The show is running at LEA6, alongside Tyr’s Not -a-Knot, and shares the Event Horizon theatre with presentations of Catharsis. Words cannot really do the show justice – nor can still images; this is something that really has to be seen.
The University of Western Australia is running two art competitions at the moment, and is requesting all Second Life Residents participate in both – with the chance to win some great prizes for doing so.
3D OPEN ART CHALLENGE
The UWA’s 3D Open Art Challenge draws to a close following the monthly rounds, with a Grand Finale which features a People’s Choice vote for both the Overall Prize category and the Non-scripted Prize category of art pieces.
There’s an impressive line-up of finalists in both categories, and the prizes are equally impressive:
Overall Prizes: L$100,000 (1st), L$75,000 (2nd), L$50,000 (3rd), L$20,000 (4th), L$10,000 (5th) and L$5,000 each for 6th – 10th.
Non-Scripted Prizes: L$15,000 (1st), L$10,000 (2nd), L$5,000 (3rd), L$3,000 (4th), L$2,000 (5th) and L$1,000 each for 6th – 10th.
Those voting in the People’s Choice categories could themselves win a prize. Three lucky voters will receive an award of L$5,000, L$3,000 and L$2,000 respectively, together with RL UWA packages.
How to Vote
To participate in the People’s Choice voting and a chance to win one of the three voters’ prizes:
List your top 10 preferences for each category in order of rating (so 1st = 1st prize, etc.) on a Notecard
Rename the card PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD UWA (YOUR NAME)
Send your entry to both Jayjay Zifanwe and FreeWee Ling by Midnight SLT 30th November 2011.
Voting is open to all SL residents, however, note that if you, your alts or your partners work is part of the Grand Finale, you may still vote, but you cannot list your own work or that of your alt / partner in your top 10.
MACHINIMUWA IV: ART OF THE ARTISTS
With a total of 81 entrants from around the world, Machinmuwa IV represents a stunning range of machinima, with more than L$350,000 on offer in prizes.
The Audience Participant Prize
L$20,000 has been set aside for an “audience participation event”, to be split between three prize winners (L$10,000, L$6,000 and L$4,000 respectively), together with special RL UWA packages which include a copy of 100 Treasure from UWA. Additionally, the first prize winner will be invited to join the judging panel for MachinimUWA V.
How to Enter
Visit the UWA blog for MachinimUWA IV, where you’ll find a complete list of entrants with links to the videos
Watch all the entries and list your top ten in order of preference, listing them either in an e-mail or a notecard (rename the notecard MACHINIMUWA IV (YOUR NAME)
Entries must be sent no later than Midnight SLT 30th November 2011
Prizes will be awarded to the three participants whose order comes closest to the final order decided by the judging panel for the MachinimUWA IV competition.
Further information is available on the UWA SL blog.
GALA EVENT
UWA, their partners and sponsors will be hosting a Gala Event on Sunday December 11th, 2011 for both the 3D Open Art Challenge and MachinimUWA IV, during which the prize winners for each and for the competitions will be announced.
The Gala will be held at the UWA – BOSL Grand Amphitheatre (Entrance 1, Entrance 2), and will kick off with The Phoenix Embers Showcats with “Gothica”. Further details on the event will be made available through the UWA SL blog.
Until the LEA Full Sim Art series, I confess (and to my lasting shame) I’d never heard of Tyrehl Byk. Now I can’t get his work out of my head.
Catharsis is one of two pieces that have taken over at LEA6 from Rebeca Bashly’s stunning and evocative Inferno (the other being Quadrapop Lane’s Retrospective Highlights of 4 Years in SL).
In many respects, trying to review this piece is counter-productive because no amount of words is ever going to achieve the wonder of actually going along and experiencing a performance. Indeed, saying too much may actually serve to spoil things – so I make no apology if the rest of this review is light on details – although the images should hopefully speak volumes and serve to whet appetites.
Catharsis commences in a wonderfully scripted theatre that is very mindful of a planetarium. It’s best to go as lightly scripted as possible in order to reduce the server-side load: there is an awful lot going on throughout the show. Once seated – and in case you don’t get the notecard – set your draw distance to 250 metres, set particle count to maximum, sun to midnight, close all on-screen floaters and then tap ESC a couple of times to free-up your camera controls.
This last item is important, as it allows Tyrehl to take control of your camera and move you through various settings in order to witness the piece. I’d also add that if you can, watch the presentation in a darkened room; the effects are magnificent.
“Catharsis” itself is a term used in dramatic art to describe an emotional cleansing. In essence, it refers to an extreme change in emotion brought about through the experience of strong feelings and / or responses – fear, pity and sorrow being the most common forms, although it can equally come through laughter as a result of comedy.
As an immersive experience, Catharsis uses an eclectic mix of music and images to create an amazing visual and aural ride carefully and cleverly balanced – not that you are aware of it at the time – designed to guide you to a certain emotional point. Through the first half we are treated to images that inspire awe and which, with their irreverent pokes, also incite the audience to have a little laugh or two.
However it is in the latter half of the show that one is completely blown away. It is here that the clever deception – if I can use that term – comes to light. There is no warning of the coming change in emotional focus and context; as a result, the impact and the response it generates are both that much deeper. Here is the reason for the title of the piece, and I will only say that it is a perfect mix of images coupled with an inspired choice of Hans Zimmer’s most evocative soundtrack. They are brought together in a manner that left me – and others in the audience – in tears.
As the performance finished, so it also left many of us feeling intensely aware, alive, renewed.
Catharsis – emotional, cleansing and utterly superb. See it.
On Sunday October 30th, the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) will be holding a land rush.
This is for two sims that will form a part of the LEA Land Grant, which will see a total of 20 sims made available through the LEA for art projects for a period of 12 months.
Those wishing to participate in either part of the rush must join the LEA Special Events Group in order to receive the announcement of when each part of the rush commences
Both sims will remain closed until the commencement of each part of land rush
At the start of each part, an announcement will be made stating the region is open. Participants should then:
Make sure they are wearing the Special Events Group tag
Teleport to the region open for the rush
Locate one of the big red buttons and press it
Successful participants will receive a notifcation that there claim is successful and once the rush is over, they’ll be invited to join the LEA group and will be able to start building.
The land rush will be repeted every two months throughout the year the programme runs, so anyone failing to make a successful claim will be able to try their luck again at the next land rush.
Travel to Originalia is the newest art exhibit on Amase Levasseur’s Originalia sim. It features three new works, Postcards Home by Callipygian Christensen, Adapt or Perish by Cherry Mangaand and Gateway to Hell by Fuschia Nightfire, together with a chance to once more enjoy Scottius Polke’s acclaimed The Docks.
The exhibit itself opens this coming weekend, but I was lucky enough to be invited to preview the installations ahead of the formal opening.
Teleporting to Originalia brings you to a small arrivals area, with the ominous title Adapt or Perish.From here lay a series of wooden or stone paths leading to the different exhibits in the installation, three of which are visible without excessive camera-panning, two under their own respective domes, while the third appears to be a quite rural English Post Office of yesteryear.
There is no specific order in which you should view the exhibits; however, as I am English, I naturally felt drawn towards the Post Office, which also seemed to have a small welcome area in front of it. So that is where this preview starts.
If it wasn’t for the very obvious domes raising from behind and one side of it, one could almost imagine the Post Office is part of a set awaiting the arrival of Miss Marple and a BBC film crew. It’s a charming place, with a fountain out front and places to sit. There is also a poster for the exhibit, which provides an introductory notecard and a series of landmarks (which actually all resolve to the same arrivals point).
The Post Office
Inside are the orderly roped counter queue areas (we English so love our queues), a familiar counter and, on the walls, Callipygian Christensen’s images which form Postcards Home. Each, as the name of the exhibit suggests, features an image captured from somewhere within SL displayed as a postcard, complete with the “reverse” side tucked in behind it, some of the text just visible.
Callipygian Christensen’s “Postcards” – clever and evocative
It’s a clever approach; the images themselves can be evocative – there is one of AM Radio’s work which causes a slight pang given his sims are now sadly gone from SL. The partially viewed messages from the “backs”of the postcards give each one added depth, as we catch a small glimpse into the life and thoughts of the person who sent the cards.
This is something of a cautionary tale about our need to remain in harmony with nature or risk destroying it – and ourselves.
Cheery Manga: Adapt or Perish
Entering the dome, you enter a fantastical landscape, rich with flora, with fairies, fawns, centaurs. This is not a single tableau, however. Rather, it is as series of visual vignettes, all of them interlinked and accompanied by a short verse, which all build together into the overall piece and the story it tells.
Stone paths over the water lead you deeper into the piece, past those who have learned to adapt and accept what Nature has to offer, taking no more than what is needed, sharing, making nature their home and giving thanks for all that they have.
But as one moves deeper, so things grow darker. The grass dies. The leaves wither from branches overhead. The trees themselves become bare-branched, misshapen grotesques. So to, does the music change, a haunting, deadly voice slowly filling the air the further one continues.
Here is the realm of those out of harmony with nature; those, we are warned, who steal and kill, who always want more. Their footprint is that of desolation where a dank mist covers the ground and nothing but fungi flourish. The air is filled with the sound of leaden, warning drums and a deathly chanting, and the path leads us inevitably to chaos and death.
It is a sobering message, one only too clear in its meaning – and it is also one beautifully rendered, although I must admit that I wish something other than a refrain from the soundtrack of Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut had been used for the more menacing element of the background music; this tended to allow images from the film slip into my mind, spoiling my focus on the piece in front of me.
Gateway to Hell in some ways continues the theme of death and damnation as it presents us with burning image of the entrance to hell, the air heavy with ravens, a fire pit heaving and pulsating beneath, the tentacles of unknown creatures writhing up through the fiery rock. As lava flows down from the walls, so to become visible the spirits of the damned as they are pulled down through the pit into hell itself, few willing to go without a struggle.
The Docks
Scottious Polke’s The Docks won acclaim when first presented in SL, and became a popular subject for Machinima makers across the grid. Now it makes a welcome return to its original home. It is a haunting place to visit, one that is perhaps best summed up in What isn’t Underneath by Textcavation.
Opinion
Travel to Originalia is an interesting mix of exhibits, each with its own context and meaning, yet three of them – The Docks, Gateway to Hell and Adapt or Perish carrying, for me at least, a common subtext. I enjoyed all four pieces – The Docks perhaps slightly more than the others, as I had missed it the first time around, and have only had machinima to allow me to see it; so having the opportunity to visit it in person gave me a sense of anticipation the other pieces, being original items, couldn’t match.
Which is not to say they are not worthwhile seeing. Rather then reverse, in fact. Whether see as a whole, and in a single visit, or as individual displays, each visited independently, they are well worth the trip. Should you visit all three together, I would recommend you do so in the order I used: start with the Post Office and Postcards Home, then go to Gateway to Hell via Adapt or Perish.
The exquisite corpse is the theme of a new full sim LEA exhibit called The Path, opening today in Second Life, which features the work of no fewer than eight of SL’s most talented artists.
Surrealists
The term “exquisite corpse” (also referred to as the exquisite cadaver) is a means by which a collection of words or images is assembled, with each collaborator in the piece adding to the composition in turn, either by keeping to a specified rule, or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed. If you think of it akin to the game of Consequences, in which each player contributes a line of a story then folding it to conceal part of the writing before passing the paper to the next player to continue, you’ll have the general idea.
As a form of art, the process was developed as a game by some of the leading Surrealist artists of the early 20th Century, including André Breton, Jacques Prévert, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy and Pierre Reverdy.
For The Path, the contributors of the piece are (in the order their work appears in the installation): Bryn Oh, Colin Fizgig, Marcus Inkpen, Desdemona Enfield / Douglas Story, Maya Paris, Claudia222 Jewell, Scottius Polke and Rose Borchovski. Bryn Oh explains how the order was decided upon:
” [The] Eight artists were invited to stand upon one of eight different coloured boxes I had set up. Once all had chosen a box to stand on, a chart was rezzed whichlisted the order of colours which would dictate the sequence of artists to compose scenes for the narrative. So if red was first on the chart, then the artist standingon the red cube would begin the narrative. If blue were next then the artist on the blue cube would continue the story.”
It’s an intriguing approach to building a collaborative piece of art – and one I’ve been itching to journey through since first learning about it while interviewing Claudia222 Jewell in September.
The Landmark / SLurl for The Path delivers you to a darkened room together with a request for the region to control your Windlight settings – for the best visual impact, you should allow it to do so.
To your left are eight plinths introducing the eight artists who participated in The Path – clicking on these will give you a short biographical notecard and (in some case) a Landmark where you can see more of their work. There are also two large stone-like tablets introducing you to the concept of The Path and which give you some advice on how to enjoy things – such as making sure you have sound available, as the installation is an aural, as well as visual, experience.
Getting A Head
It’s all in his head
A head, resembling a young Salvador Dali, watches you from the bottom of one of these tablets – clicking on it will carry you to the start of The Path proper, and Bryn Oh’s work. Note, as well, that the head is your main clue as to how to proceed through the rest of the work.
Taking the teleport delivers you to a white room. A strange engine-like thrumming fills the air, together with soft piano music. On the floor lies a single, plaintive butterfly, while before you lies a black wall…a hole…beckoning you through.
Walking through the “hole” leads to another white room wherein the music and the thrumming are joined by a lonely wind and the sound of water drip-drip-dripping…another hole beckons. Passing through this brings you to a third room….
The lab – and the start of a journey
It’s a room of curios and oddities, partially flooded – hence the dripping previously heard, planks providing walkways over the water. This is the inventor’s lab. There is much to see here – and one or two things to touch; find them and you will be treated to a side-story that accompanies the installation, told through YouTube – and which you might witness for yourself in part, should you find yourself in the field beyond the laboratory.
The inventor. Guide and … protagonist?
As you explore the lab, the inventor himself will materialise. You might recognise him – it was his head you clicked when commencing your journey, and thus you have a further clue as to how you must proceed. As he appears, a narrative beings, telling you about the inventor, his flooded lab and the portal he slipped through one day. Take it as your invitation to follow him.
Beyond the laboratory lies a misty, flooded field, water lapping around the trunks of trees. Here you can find the conclusion of Cerulean, the curio-accessed tale told via YouTube. Be warned, however, that if you step out into the field, you will not be able to return to the laboratory; instead you must find another way of continuing your journey along The Path. The only clue I’ll give you is not to wander too far from the walls of the laboratory itself…
Curiouser and Curiouser
With the inventor as your guide you will arrive at the second part of the story, created by Colin Fizgig. This is a hole-y place, with windows looking out on different scenes, different places – with some looking inward at you from the other side. As the narration resumes, it is through one of these windows – these holes – that the inventor flew, and you must follow him as he dives towards one…
Windows onto worlds – which one is yours?
Marcus Inkpen provides the third part of the installation. Here stands the Overseer and his stout companion, conversing at the junction of several strange, door-lined hallways. Do you take one – and if so, which one? And what’s that about a key being in your pocket? Does it mean something… or…?
Your doorway awaits
Tonal sounds here give the place a brooding air, and if you wander the hallways, you’ll hear stranger sounds of life from the other sides of the many doors. But which door do you take…and what lies beyond?
Follow the key – carefully
Find the door, and you’ll discover the contribution from Desdemona Enfield and Douglas Story. It starts in a white room, just like the start of The Path itself. Here stand the Overseer and his companion once more, together with an apparently simple and innocent suggestion that you follow the key. But as with so many things, appearances can be deceptive, and following the key may lead to things not quite so simple and direct.
Maya Paris provides an altogether different landscape – are those the shadows of ladders, or the shadows cast by some bizarre web? Is something lurking in the apparent calmness of this place? Climb the ladder and find out; although I hope your eyesight is in good order – and not just for finding the inventor!
The eyes have it in Maya Paris’ piece
Feast
It is moving on to the sixth part of the installation that I confess to becoming a tad biased. This is because the sixth element features the vivid and beautiful imagination of one of my favourite artists in Second Life – that of Claudia222 Jewell.
Claudia222 Jewell on The Path – amazing
This is truly a visual feast and (as always with Claudia) a tour de force of what can be achieved in Second Life. Her City of Lost Souls is amazing in its complexity and beauty. Without detracting at all from the other works in The Path, one cannot help but feel this is another of her pieces that should be preserved and displayed for everyone to enjoy.
City of Lost Souls – will you be lost in Claudia’s contribution?
If I have one complaint here, it is simply this: Claudia’s work is too enticing. I wandered it for over 40 minutes drinking-in the detail and unwilling to leave. Perhaps that is why her city is inhabited by lost souls – many more may have visited and been unwilling to leave…
But leave one must – and this requires finding a head once more – but not necessarily the head of the inventor; although finding the right one will lead you to him.
Scottius Polke returns to the theme of the laboratory with his contribution to The Path, and on a grand scale. Here you must keep an eye out for the direction you should take, negotiating giant rulers, coiled pipes and other obstacles. This actually needs some care – the route you must take climbing some of the items is very narrow, and lag here and there can easily have you stepping off into thin air if you press a key for too long – as I found out. And while you climb, be aware your every move is being watched from above, as the inventor himself gazes down upon you; but it is not his big head that will help you out of here.
It’s a big world
The final part of The Path is by Rose Borchovski, and you might say it is an eye-opener. It’s also slightly unsettling for ways not easy to discern; it’s not the eyes that stare and follow you; or those heaped pyramid-like, eternally watching. It is more the child’s voice whispering forlornly and the strange circle of beds, each one an echo of the places you have seen and visited while journeying The Path, the occupants (or parts of them in some cases) pinned to them like items in a collection. Be careful with the beds in particular; you might find yourself going on an unexpected trip into the past….
Rose Borchovski gives me an admirer
Overall, The Path is an amazing piece – one that requires a good deal of time to experience fully. Each element of the installation has been carefully considered, and the themes linking them are clear, een when the verbal narrative stops. Each of the sections of the installation is distinctive in both style and approach, while all come together to form a story that can be followed as you roam. Kudos to all those who participated in the installation, and to Bryn Oh for conceiving the idea.
You need to give the exhibit a fair amount of time; even with my joyful distractions in Claudia222 Jewell’s part of the installation, I still spent the better part of four hours roaming, poking, listening, prodding and generally losing myself (once quite literally) in walking The Path. But it was four hours I feel were well-spent. So why not take a walk along it for yourself?
The Path officially opens today for a 3-month period. My thanks to Bryn Oh for the preview opportunity.
More abstract and free-form than Catharsis (although with a very subtle subtext to the images accompanying It’s the End of the World As We Know it), Particle Phantasmagoria is a fabulous ride marrying stunning particle effects and images with an inspired selection of music in a trippy rollercoaster of a ride that will not only have you watching in awe and whooping in delight, but also quiet probably seat dancing along to the soundtrack.
The show is running at LEA6, alongside Tyr’s Not -a-Knot, and shares the Event Horizon theatre with presentations of Catharsis. Words cannot really do the show justice – nor can still images; this is something that really has to be seen.
Show Details
The UWA’s 
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 