Category: Art in Second Life

Currently open within the region of Akimitsu, held and curated by Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) and forming a part of her “Akipelago” group of regions, is The Borderless Project, a multi-element, immersive exhibition that brings together a number Second Life artists known for their work in 3D spaces, and / or in using light, sound and immersion to create engaging and interactive spaces.

In the simplest terms, the Borderless Project is inspired by the work of Japan’s TeamLab, originally founded in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, and which in 2021 marks its 20th anniversary with an immersive installation in Tokyo entitled Borderless, billed as “a world of artworks without boundaries, a museum without a map”, and which is the latest in their globe-spanning immersive experiences.

As with TeamLab, the Borderless Project team – Betty Tureaud, Delain Canucci, Gem Preiz, Thoth Jantzen, Mitsuko Kytori, Blaise Timtam and Akiko herself – have created an installation that stands as a “gallery without a map” so to speak, through which visitors can wander and explore. Each artist has at least one space, each with at least one installation within it, the majority providing multiple elements within them.

The “gallery without a map” element comes from the fact that the various installation spaces  – located at different altitudes – are all linked by a teleport portals (touch or walk through to activate), which also link to the ground-level location I’m using here as a landing point. However, none of the portals are labelled in terms of artist or destination; therefore there is no implied hierarchy or order to the installations in terms of which should be seen “first”, etc., – visitors have utterly free choice.

What is key to spending time at the Borderless Project, is that you have your viewer correctly configured.

Of the recommendations given it is crucial you have Advanced Lighting Model enabled, (Preferences → Graphics → make sure Advanced Lighting Model is checked – there is no need to also enable Shadows), together with media (the button with the movie camera on it, top right of the viewer window) turned on – and note that there are times where you will need to toggle this off / on again in order to pick-up the sounds within individual elements (keep an eye out for the in-world text requests to toggle). Less important is having draw distance set to the recommended 250m+; given the size of the individual installations and the distance at which you’re seeing things, this is frankly overkill.

The “primary” installations are by Betty, Delain, Gem, and Thoth, with Gem and Delain offering the largest by area / content, including two “secondary” displays apiece (Gem proving a hat-tip to TeamLab via two reproductions of elements from their Borderless installation, and Delain a separate “dino cave” that comes with places to sit). The garden spaces by Akiko, Blaise and Miyduko also offer places to sit and relax, and opportunities to play with EEP and more.

Each of the installations is richly diverse in terms of elements, colours and sounds (both local and via media – remember to toggle this off / on as directed), with some of the artists including interactive elements that can be walked into / over or pushed around. In respect of the local sounds, it’s important you avoid running / flying, as the scripted object can take a second or so to fire-up and call the sounds to be played in the viewer, so if you run you could easily miss hearing them – and if you fly, you won’t hear them at all!

I’m not going into great lengths about the individual installations here, as frankly, they should be experienced first-hand, and people should approach them unburdened by my own perceptions and ideas. I will say that when visited the large cubist environment Betty Tureaud has created, make sure you follow the big white arrival at the arrival point and grab + wear the teleport HUD – you might have problems finding your way inside the cubes if you don’t! Also, keep an eye out for the poses within Delain’s vignette settings – they offer multiple choices for photography.

I admit to having a couple of niggles during my visit – notably as a result of the local environment settings within Delain’s main setting, where I found it so dark I walked back through a teleport disk when trying to leave the landing point (and no, I didn’t have Shadows enabled alongside of ALM). More particularly, the low light makes it hard / impossible to read in-world guidance notes in places. As such, it might be better to either make them Full Bright (if they are not) or to add a couple of point lights to illuminate them to make them more obvious.

But niggles aside, there is no denying the depth of content to be found within the Borderless Project, and I enjoyed the several hours I spent exploring, trying and poking (including playing god and shoving the solar system around!).

SLurl Details

• Borderless Project ground level portals (Akimitsu, rated Moderate)

Since its first major event in October 2020 as a new centre for arts in Second Life (see: Unveiled: a new art experience in Second Life), Chuck Clip’s Sinful Retreat has become a genuine hub for art and artists, with continuously rotating 2D and 3D art exhibitions and permanent (or semi-permanent) displays and collections, many of which I’ve covered in these pages).

The venue covers two regions – Sinful Retreat itself and the neighbouring Artists Retreat – to offer a multi-level experience from the main galleries on the elevated level, complete with the airship Dionysus offering an event space, to the open-air 3D ground-level displays through to the additional 2D galleries both on the ground and higher in the air, all the way to the the UWA-like challenge space which is currently home to Sinners and Saints, which you can also read about here.

From the main landing point it is possible to directly visit the Janus I and Janus II galleries, the 3D sculpture by Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost, and Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer) entitled The Exquisite Corpse and the studio spaces in between, or use the numerous teleports to reach the open-air exhibitions of 3D art to be found across the two regions – which is the element of the setting I wish to focus on here.

Within Sinful Retreat it is possible to visit areas featuring the work of (at the time of writing – names may vary over time) Aequitas, Cica Ghost, Ciottolina Xue, Ilyra Chardin, Kraven Klees, London Junkers, Mariposa Upshaw, Melio Minotaur, Phenix Rexen, Pixels Sideways, and Toysoldier Thor.

Meanwhile, Angel’s Rest features the work of Alchemelic, ArtemisGrecce, Havit Neox, Sharni Alazee, Suzanne Graves, Thoth Jantzen and DB Bailey and Venus Adored, together with a display by region holder and Sinful Retreat owner / curator, Chuck Clip. Between all of these are various displayed of art that Chuck is displaying from his own collection, whilst two further sky galleries were, at the time of my re-visit, presenting exhibitions by Leo Bhalti (photography entitled Second Lives) and Wolfgang Ginka (poems and photography entitled Remembering Blue). 

In terms of the ground-level 3D art displays, I’d recommend picking one that grabs you and then when on the ground, using your pedal extremities to explore those across the rest of the two regions. This is because the sheer richness of the art on offer unfolds quite naturally, and it is possible to find yourself being call onwards from location to location on what becomes a voyage of discovery.

These include several blasts from the past – such as Ciottolina Xue’s exquisite Little Paradise in Second Life and Covfefe! The New World Disorder by Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen), both of which appeared at SL15B (with the latter forming a part of the larger Moments of Immertia).

Also to be found within Angel’s Rest is Sharni Aalzee’s Never Say Never 2, a recreation of her 2014 UWA  Grand Prize winner in the 2014 Grand Art and MachinimUWA Challenge, Never Say Never – Love Transcends Borders. This sits on a plateau that forms both an art display area and a memorial garden that includes a remembrance to Ebbe Altberg and with candles lit to those whom Second Life has lost.

Such is the richness of the art on display – from Greenies getting up to mischief to giant lava dragons and parring by way of glittering cathedrals, little towns, figurines, robots at play, magical gardens and more – Sinful Retreat and Angels Rest are well worth taking an hour or two to explore. And should you feel in the mood for more art, there’s also Roxkstudio across the bridge to the west of Sinful Retreat – but I’ll save that for another day.

SLurl Details

• Sinful Retreat main landing (Sinful Retreat, rated Adult)

I recently had cause to drop into Vibes Art Gallery to witness a new exhibition of art featuring a trio of artists – Matt Thomson (MTH63), Zia Sophia (Zia Branner) and Wan (Wan Laryukov), entitled Vibes of Painting.

Curated by Eviana Raider (eviana Robbiani), as well as being a centre for exhibiting art, the gallery is also something of a statement of purpose in its own right. In developing it, Eviana has intentionally utilised industrial elements to create a space suggestive of a warehouse facility – three storage buildings with loading / unloading bays and areas, etc., – that has been repurposed  rather than invoking the carbon-costly process of demolition, clearing and replacing. As such, the setting is something of an immersive environment for art displays.

As the name of the exhibition – which opened on July 14th, 2021 – suggests, Vibes of Painting focuses on physical world art the three artists have produced. I was attracted to it for both this reason – I do appreciate the opportunity to witness art from the physical world in Second Life – and because one of the three artists is a name new to me, whilst another is someone who is perhaps more usually associated with Second Life photography, rather than painting.

That person is Matt Thomson (MTH63). whose work I’ve appreciated through a number of SL exhibitions, and whose sense of humour I’ve enjoyed through reading and re-reading his biography at each of his exhibitions. Here, in one of the two smaller (and linked) warehouse units, he presents a selection of vibrant abstract expressionist pieces worthy of Jackson Pollock or Jean-Paul Riopelle without being in any way derivative. Far from it, in fact, given that Matt is himself an experienced abstract artist. As such, these are pieces that can be fully appreciated as being works by an established abstract art and for the statements they make (mostly in reflection of Matt’s sense of humour and self-deprecating manner).

In the neighbouring hall, Zia Sophia offers a selection of her always layered art. Working mostly with acrylics with accents in oil crayons and in, and to which she often adds materials such as paste, gel, sand, glue, bandages and paper to give her work a tactile sense before finishes with a layer of varnish to act as a binder, Zia produces pieces that have their own unique sense of life.

Embracing a range of techniques and subjects, Zia here presents a selection of pieces that include the purely abstract to a study of a flower in bloom (and which is quite marvellously attractive) and with a slight focus on pieces that feature water and / or coastal scenes. These combine to offer an engaging cross-section of Zia’s art that perfectly sits within the exhibition’s theme and compliments Matt’s abstract pieces, just as his compliment Zia’s.

Occupying the largest of the three display space, Wan Laryukov offers both 2D and 3D work that is richly evocative and oft provocative in theme and content, and which covers multiple styles and genres. Expressionism, allegorical art, symbolism art, figurative art and more are to be found in the selection offered across the floor and on the walls of the hall.

Presented in colour and black-and white, the 2D art is fascinating in content, with the strongest lean perhaps being towards expressionism, whilst the 3D pieces perhaps lean more towards symbolism in their themes. Both 2D and 3D work make for an engaging display which, when taken as a whole, also offers a stitching of oneirology that brings all of the pieces together as it offers a central point of appreciation.

SLurl Details

• Vibes Art Gallery (Isola Del Giglio, rated Moderate)

I’ve forgotten how long I’ve been wandering. In-world is infinitely large, disappearing and reappearing, and the roads are endless. My work is simple. I face with contemporary art in real life, but my work in SL is much simpler. I’ve always wanted to do that kind of work; all I have to do is walk around and click the shutter on “something”, a “moment” that resonates with me. Yes, it’s that easy and everyone does it.

I edit these photos, not to create another story, but to extract “something” from that “moment”. If you can relate to the “something” of my “moment”, then my wandering will not be lonely, and I hope you will enjoy that wandering with me. 

With these words, Nekonuko Nakamori introduces her exhibition at Onceagain Gallery, curated by Onceagain (manoji Yachvili). As is suggested by Nekonuko’s words, this is another selection of her travels through the the endless world of Second Life in a collection that comes to just shy of two dozen images presented across the two floors of the gallery.

I was first introduced to Nekonuko’s art around four years ago through a couple of exhibitions in 2017. I’m not sure if it is because she exhibits sparsely, or just that I’ve managed to somehow miss any exhibitions of her work between then and now, but I confess I was surprised that is has been so long since I’ve had the opportunity to write about her art, as it really is quite captivating.

Eschewing the more usual rectangular format of images that tends to dominate the SL photographic community, Nekonuko utilises a 1:1 ratio for her art. This alone sets her work aside from that of other landscape artists; but what makes it completely special is the manner in which she selects the focus of each piece, seeking out, as she says, a view that sets each image as a moment in time, made completely personal through the presence of her avatar.

A specialist in conceptual art in the physical world, Nekonuko’s skills as an artist are very much in evidence through these pieces. Her selection of angle, composition – off-centre views of skylines, fire escapes, tunnels and bridges, the gently brushed touch of post-processing that offers skies of dappled colour, hazy horizons and soft lines – may not per se tell a complete story, like all great works of art, they combine to capture attention and offer a hint of a tale, making the moment that that caught into something deeper.

Also folded within her images are hints of more classical art forms, notably impressionism and realism – the latter particularly evident in her broader landscape pieces. This does much to further capture the eye and imagination, again drawing the observer into each piece.

An altogether engaging exhibition from an artist who reminds us of both the ever-changing vastness of Second Life (a vastness that far exceeds either the physical size of the grid or the constraints imposed by the world map) and the broad uniqueness of this digital realm we regard as home.

SLurl Details

• Onceagain Gallery (Peaceful Mountains, rated Adult)