Category: Reviews

Sisi, Kayly and Debbie in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Sisi Biedermann’s Gallery and Garden – Sisi Biedermann

I recently paid a further visit to Sisi Biedermann’s Gallery and Garden, which I last visited in November 2018. Since that time, the gallery has undergone a revamp, so I was curious to see the new look, and also the two exhibitions that opened at the start of August and will remain so through until the latter part of September.

The upper three floors of the gallery continue to present Sisi’s own artwork, which as I’ve noted before is the most extraordinary digital work. Produced in the physical world and then uploaded to Second Life, Sisi’s art is the very definition of crossing and re-crossing the digit divide: a physical world artist who produces the must remarkable digital pieces for upload to a digital world, allowing it to be seen and purchased by a global physical world audience.

Sisi Biedermann’s Gallery and Garden – Sisi Biedermann

Combining multiple elements – original art (digital and paintings), elements drawn from Second Life and her imagination – all brought together to form richly layered and texture pieces that combine aspects of collage and montage to produce the most stunning pieces that are utterly engaging and completely captivating. As I’ve said before, those who have not seen Sisi’s art first hand really should drop in and do so.

At the same time, visitors can also available themselves of the exhibitions by Kayly Iali and Debbie7155.

Sisi Biedermann’s Gallery and Garden – Kayly Iali

Kayly is an artist who has been broadening her portfolio of her physical world art uploaded to Second Life over the last while, and here presents a series of her abstract art, with ten 2D pieces and three free-standing items. There are – to me at least – some of the most captivating pieces in her catalogue of work.

Abstract art is potentially the hardest to grasp to the point of being simplistic by some. Kayly’s work, however demonstrates the richness of the technique, particularly with pieces like Orchestra (above), and Creation, but also through the likes of Fires Storms – which also have a particularly poignancy given the environmental situation that places like California and Siberia have so recently faced.

Sisi Biedermann’s Gallery and Garden – Debbie7155

Debbie7155 is an artist I have not previously encountered in Second Life, and her exhibition of fourteen pieces offered here are richly diverse in presenting her work as a physical world artist. All of them have there own appeal, but I found myself particularly drawn to her three watercolour paintings of animals (above), while her acrylic on canvas Moon contains a delightfully Warhol-like echo.

Sisi, Kayly and Debbie demonstrate the power Second Life offers in the presentation of physical world art to a global audience an artist might otherwise not reach, and those who appreciate this should take the opportunity to drop into Sisi’s gallery as see for themselves.

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Rain, sand, surfboards and go karts in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Totem Beach, August 2019 – click any image for full size

Totem Beach is a Homestead region designed by Tlaloc Beresford designed to give visitors a range of land and water activities for their enjoyment.

Nestled along the Pacific North West, Totem Beach awaits those enjoy the ocean and forests of the region. Surf the waves, dive the canyons, or walk through the forest and lay down some roots of your own in this beautiful region.

– The About Land description for Totem Beach

The ground level of the region is largely given over to water – a rocky bay caught in the arms of tall hills. These lie partially open the sea to the west, but curl around to the east to form a backdrop to the region’s single landmass, a range of high cliffs oriented north-to-south, overlooking a west-facing ribbon of sandy beach.

Totem Beach, August 2019

The setting embraces the Pacific North West’s  reputation for rain, which falls from the sky to the beach and the cliff top woodlands alike. Up on the cliff tops, the rain causes a ground mist to rise, which lurks around the trunks of the trees.

The woods are cut by a path that follows the western lip of the cliffs that connect various tepees, tents and cabins that are available for rent (note that those that are rented nay have parcel access control enabled, and thus blocked from public access.

Totem Beach, August 2019 – Mario Karting with power-ups!

Another path winds down to the beach, where surf boards and a jet ski rezzer await those who join the region’s group (which includes rezzing rights), allowing them to enjoy time out on the water and surfing on the region’s incoming waves.

For those who prefer quieter pursuits , there are places to sit and watch the action along the beach and up on the cliffs, while those who like their action on land can take any of the region’s teleport points up to the go kart track area hidden in the sky.

The latter offers two courses to race either against the clock or other drivers – or both. The system is based on the Mario Kart franchise, including the ability to chose one of several of that game’s Karts (I opted for Yoshi’s because – well, Yoshi  🙂 ). As it is based on Mario Kart, it also includes power-up boxes that provide weapons to take out your opponents (bursting the balloons on the back of their karts with each hit) and bonuses, allowing for something of the full measure of the game to be met.

For those looking for a public region that offers things to do that aren’t too taxing, Totem Beach offers an easy-going diversion that can be fun when visited with one or more friends.

Totem Beach, August 2019

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Linden Endowment for the Arts: update

Posted on by Inara Pey
Storm Septimus, Untitled – LEA 28, March 2018

As I blogged in mid-July, the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) as we currently know it is due to close at the end of August (see: Linden Endowment for the Arts to officially close). Following that news, I further blogged about a move to try and save – or replace – the LEA (see: LEA: more on the closure, and a move to save it).

Obviously, any move to save / replace the LEA would require the (preferably active) involvement of Linden Lab. In the meantime, Tansee Resident and Riannah Avora, the two artists who formed the in-world group to try to save the LEA have been collecting ideas and feedback from artists and those supportive of LEA, which have been supplied to them via note cards. On August 7th, Tansee contacted me to let me know of the current situation:

I will share with you that we have 33 note cards and I would say 90% of all the ideas presented are all the same, so we know that we are moving forward in the right direction.

One of the note cards received came via Scylla Rhiadra, who took up my request to collate comments put forward in the forum thread also on the subject – so I’d like to pass on my thanks to Scylla for doing that!

The Eternal Suspense, Giovanna Cerise - LEA 21
Giovanna Cerise, The Eternal Suspense – LEA 21, May 2015

Tansee also confirmed – as per comments made through the “LEA 2.0” group, that contact has been made with Derrick and Patch Linden, and a meeting has been set-up to discuss what the group has been doing and the ideas that have been gathered.

In the meantime, people have also contacted the Lab directly on the subject, which has prompted the following general reply:

Thank you for your expressed interest in the Linden Endowment of the Arts (LEA) program. As this program comes to an end we are considering our options to move forward with Arts Program support. Once a decision is made on how best to support the amazing talents within the Second Life community we will post a public blog so that everyone will have an equal opportunity for involvement.

Thank you for your support of The Arts in Second Life,

Linden Lab™

Tansee has dropped a line to Izzy Linden, from whose account the above was sent, to confirm the planned meeting is still going ahead and to ask if input from the group is still required / welcomed.

None of this means that the LEA will be “saved” of course, but it is encouraging that the Lab is considering matters internally, and is willing to hear from residents in the matter. As such, I’ll endeavour to provide further updates as and when possible / appropriate.

Paper folding and letters in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Sim Quarterly: Orizuru

The Sim Quarterly is a new artistic endeavour by Electric Monday. This homestead region is intended to offer artists a three month period in which to display their work.

Art and the virtual world, Second Life© are very similar —you are able to both find yourself and immerse yourself (and maybe even lose yourself) in something totally unlike what you already know. The experiences you gain help you grow and form new opinions about the world. That is what I hope this sim can provide over time. I am very excited to bring to you a quarterly art project by way of The Sim Quarterly.

– Electric Monday, describing The Sim Quarterly

The Sim Quarterly: Orizuru

For the first installation Electric presents Orizuru (“folded crane” or “paper crane”) by Kaiju Kohime with Electric Monday. With a focus on origami that plays into the use of paper as a writing surface and its use in  artistic expression, this is the story of two people who communicate entirely by letter and in the hope of meeting.

The landing point for the installation is in the sky, where an introduction can be found, together with a teleport down to the installation proper.  Here the story begins at a little pair of houses and an ice cream van, where two figures stand back-to-back, symbolising the story’s protagonists, Elise and Henri. Sheets of paper drop from the hands of the male figure, pointing the way to the water where the first two letters between the couple can be found.

The Sim Quarterly: Orizuru

Follow the stepping stones to the nearby island, and further pairs of letters between Elise and Henri can be found, their story unfolding on the written pages. Colours beneath the water tehn lead visitors onwards to more of the story as it unfolds across the installation.

Will Henri and Elise meet? That’s for those who visit to decide.  The landscape, meanwhile, with its folded cranes, origami birds and paper rocks and trees, with paper clouds floating overhead, presents a visually attractive setting in which to follow the story.

The Sim Quarterly: Orizuru

Those wishing to keep up-to-date with events at The Sim Quarterly can do so via the website and photographs can be submitted to the region’s Flickr group, which is also hosting a photo contest – details available in-world at the region’s landing zone.

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Images of Heaven is Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Heaven

Heaven by Oema and Van Loopen is not a new exhibition, having been open since May 2019 – but it is one that will be closing at the end of August 2019, and I’ve been meaning to write about for a while. It is a multi-media installation involving hand-drawn images, mobile sculptures, music and an ethereal setting, which Oema describes as follows:

Heaven was born from the idea of bringing together some of my drawings depicting female faces. At first, Van Loopen and I had no idea how to create an original structure that could accommodate drawings … In addition to the church and the drawings, we thought of creating special media effects to be placed so that the visitor, enabling multimedia, could be fascinated by the lights, movements, shapes, colours, and sounds in sync.

Heaven

Placed against the nave walls towards one end of the ruined cathedral, Oema’s drawings are presented in monochrome, each one very much a focus on an emotion and / or a response. They sit framed within evocative titles, the words of which – assuming they are read by visitors via a right-click edit – add to their depth and potential interpretation by the observer.

The images face in towards the central isle of the nave, where sculptures by Noke Yuitza are animated to turn slowly amidst a gentle blizzard of light and shapes that dance as if given life by the music to which the installation is set – music and lyrics specifically chosen to form an active part of the installation, and which should be enabled and listened to.

Heaven

It’s an immersive, engaging installation. The visitor, after following the instructions close to the landing point, is undeniably drawn into the piece, particularly if the titles of the drawings are viewed. But at the same time, so little is actually revealed about the subjects themselves; on whom are the images based? Avatars? People from the physical world? Friends? Family? Entirely from the imagination? No clue is given, heightening our involvement with the images and the installation as whole.

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  • Heaven (LEA 1, rated: Moderate)

Drune IV: an Aftermath in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019 – click any image for full size

In January 2019 we visited 2019-XS by zee9. At the time, I noted:

The region has an adult edge to the role-play, and is intended as an extension to her previous (and now departed) build Drune. I’ve not seen that design, but will say that while compact, 2019-XS has a certain ambience that is hard to define, but has seen me make three visits to it in order to fully appreciate the ambience and setting.

Well, we’ve recently had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in Drune design, as zee9 2019-XS has been remodelled into the fourth chapter in the series, Drune IV: Aftermath.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

Maintaining much of the look and feel of 2019-XS (and previous Drune builds) in terms of general layout, Drune IV Aftermath presents an environment in which it is clear that, as the region name suggests, some form of cataclysm has befallen the city.

The once pristine roads, neon-lit by business signs, cleaned by robots and home to electric vehicles, now lie broken and slowly being overcome by plant life. Power cables hang and lie in disarray, and the once bright buildings are slowly being overcome by vines and creepers.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

Exactly what has come to pass is hard to say: is the disaster man-made or natural? Did the city bring it upon itself, or has some external factor played a role? These are the questions that roll through the mind in exploring the elevated walkways, the roads and the alleyways.

But it is clear that human life has not entirely abandoned the city. Some of the street lights still work, and free-standing floodlights illuminate stairways and other areas, drawing their power from generators that must have some form of fuel supply or means to be recharged, even as more light is shed from many of the windows peppering the tall towers.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

More signs of habitation can be found along the shadowed streets, where makeshift stalls have been set-up by people trying to eke out a living. Some of these are lit by neon signs, again suggesting an operating power source, while others rely on lamps suspended from the beams of the elevated road sections.

The lifestyle of those who remain has perhaps taken a turn towards post-apocalyptic hedonism, going  by some of the market stalls, while a nightclub similar to that found within 2019-XS appears to still be in use. It sits at street level almost in reflection of another dance space sitting atop the tallest of the city’s towers. Elsewhere, follow the faint sounds of a piano playing and you may eventually be led to the entrance of what might once have been a plush club, but which now sits behind broken doors, squatting in its own gathering mould.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

The region used to be open to free-form role-play, and while I’ve no idea if this is still the case but the region certainly still captures elements of a range of sci-fi / cyberpunk films, including the likes of Blade Runner, Neuromancer, and Strange Days and even, despite its presentation of nature victorious, the Fifth Element. And even without the role-play, Drune remains an engaging visit.

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