Category: Reviews

CTL ALT Delete: the struggle for creativity, in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Traci Ultsch – CTL ALT Delete

Four years ago to the month, Dido Haas invited me to visit a new exhibition at her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. Entitled Camouflage, it was a double first for the gallery: the first time art produced outside of Second Life had been displayed at the gallery, and it was the first Second Life exhibition by an artist known in-world as Traci Ultsch.

It was an exhibition which immediately captivated me, as I noted in Camouflage and questions in Second Life. The style of the art was visually engaging to the point of exhibiting a sense of being tactile, whilst the questions within them served to encourage us to both peel away the layers present within the images to bring forth thoughts on both the artist’s own introspections and on the relationship between our virtual and physical identities.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Traci Ultsch – CTL ALT Delete

Since that time, Traci has exhibited her work across Second Life, and I’ve frequently covered her work in these pages. I’ve continued to be fascinated by her work, both in the manner in which it has evolved, and for the depth of expression and interpretation it contains. Her art has always been deeply personal, reflecting thoughts on life, the impermanent nature of all things, and the importance of capturing of moments in time.

Traci is now back at Nitroglobus for November / December 2024, where she is exhibiting what might be her last exhibition of art in SL, CTL ALT Delete, within the gallery’s Annex. And one again it combines many of the elements noted above as it explores matters of inspiration, procrastination, fragmentation of thinking, the desire to create – and the confluence of these opposing streams which leads to the creative drive to stall, turning it from what should itself flow through a process to become a struggle to move from half-formed, shadows of ideas to what might be called a finished piece without simply cancelling it (hence CTL ALT Delete).

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Traci Ultsch – CTL ALT Delete

Framing the exhibit, Traci uses a quote by Philip Larkin, variously called England’s most miserable genius, the voice of post-war England (and more besides!):

I dreamt of a beach, of the sun in my eyes and your hands in mine. Instead I still just see these dark fucking trees.

It’s an ideal quote in terms of CTL ALT Delete, in that it both reflects the blocks that come between desire – be it in wishing for visions of love and warmth or in the desire to create – only to become mired in darker moods / feelings; and in the way we use trees to express our inability to see something clearly because the details get in the way: I can’t see the woods for the trees –  which can so often be the case when it comes to creativity, be it in art, writing, music, or whatever.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex: Traci Ultsch – CTL ALT Delete

Trees also feature in the first elements of CTL ALT Delete, which offered an enumerated passage through its images, starting to the immediate right of the entrance tunnel  connecting the Annex with the main gallery when you arrive at the landing point in The Annex. Their use, against an overcast / foggy sky serve to lead us into the ideas contained within the images, expressed through fragments of thought given as text; fragments which demonstrate how the creative process can be interrupted and distracted. These continue through the rest of the series, becoming less and less coherent as the images themselves also become less and less coherent, underscoring, as Traci notes, the essential role of both within the exhibition:

The absence of a defined subject becomes the subject itself … The images and text invite viewers to witness the act of this failing creative endeavour as a dialogue between presence and absence, construction and deconstruction … In embracing this state, the works magnify the struggle to make something out of nothing.

– Traci Ultsch

A fascinating exhibition, one I hope will not be Traci’s last in Second Life, even if there is a pause between this and the next.

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A Place Between Trailers in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
A Place Between Trailers, November 2024 – click any image for full size

A Place Between appears to be turning into something of a theme for Bella (BellaSwan Blackheart); in June I had the pleasure of visiting her A Place Between The Rocks, inspired by the house at Castel Meur, a physical world location within the department of Côtes-d’Armor, France (and about which you can read more here). More recently, and within the same Homestead region, Bella has created A Place Between Trailers, which I believe opened in late September / early October (I could be wrong in that estimate), and which I finally managed to ger to visit at the start of November 2024.

Whilst carrying forward the Place Between theme, this is a very different location to that of A Place Between the Rocks, in that appears born entirely of Bella imagination – an imagination which has given birth to multiple settings and iterations of settings (such as Bella’s Lullaby), many of which I’ve recorded in these pages.

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024

In this instance, Bella invites us to visit a a trailer park, which I’ve liked to images ins on a coastal headland somewhere, even if it is entirely surrounded by water; your own imagination may disagree, but that’s fine; life would be boring if our imaginations all ran along the same tracks.

The skies are grey, the weeds are thick and on the horizon looms decrepit trailers in the shadows. Welcome at a Place between trailers, enjoy your stay!

– A Place Between Trailers About Land description

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024
This is a setting pretty much centred in the region’s low-lying grassland, taking the form of the above-mentioned trailer park; a place which has perhaps seen better days as it runs south-to-north through the land, surrounded by a smattering of trees too loosely spread to be called a woodland, but also perhaps too large and too mature a group to comfortably be called a copse. The landing point sits at the southern end of the park, where what appears to be a site office and entrance spans the main track through the place – although admittedly, the sign on the roof suggests the trailer park is in fact on the waterside of the building, rather than on the inland side!

There’s a lot to see here even before setting out to explore; the office is furnished – if basically so – and evidences someone connected with the park has been in receipt of postcards from abroad, suggesting they have well-travelled friends. Outside, a magazine stand offers puzzle and entertainment magazines to help pass the time, together with – amusingly for me, the London edition of Time Out, celebrating the city where that publication started its long life.

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024

This magazine stand will also provide a notecard for visitors on being touched. Among other things, this provides guidelines on behaviour in the region and also notes on joining the local group for rezzing props for photography. It concludes with a firm but fair warning from Bella:

If you just follow these simple guidelines, I’m sure we will all get along just fine and if not, I’m sending you home without further notice 😀

So, make sure you familiarise yourself with the rules!

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024

Further into the park stands what appears to be a washhouse of dubious hygiene. Facing this is a large trailer home packed with details that help bring it to life both indoors and out; touches which help give clues about whoever his living there – and their sense of humour! Further along the track still is the local general store whilst further caravans and trailers mark the northern extent of the park.

This is a place which has seen better days, to be sure; but it also carries hints of modern living; microwave transmitters sit at the top of a mast, suggesting the place has good cellular reception; computers hint as Internet connectivity, and someone is attempting to go green with a PV panel – even if it does appear to be purely for powering their television, itself turned to an interesting choice of channels…

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024

The latter sits in one of the elevated parts of the setting and alongside a greenhouse of industrial size that has clearly seen better days. Curiously, and despite being elevated, it has also been subject to flooding at some point, with the floor still an inch or two under water which has apparently spawned the growth of surface weeds.

Quite what caused this to happen is unclear; perhaps the sprinkler system once used to water whatever was grown here malfunctioned, leading to to the greenhouse being abandoned, the water left within it too shallow to reach over sills and drain away. However, the place looks like it might well have been converted to use as an entertainment hall, so perhaps it was simply abandoned through lack of use, and the rain as been steadily finding its way inside. Either way, the greenhouse is now the home of a worn armchair and sofa, rubber ducks and the bloodied “corpse” of a video surveillance  teddy bear floating in the water, hinting at a mystery here.

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024

Beyond this, the setting lies open to exploration, the trees scatter far enough apart so as to not required paths through them as they stand like sentinels around the park, the coastline sloping gently down to the surrounding waters. Several places to sit and pass the time can also be found throughout, but one of the things I particularly enjoy about the location is the local wildlife and animals, all of which bring further life to the setting throughout.

In all, another superb location from Bella.

A Place Between Trailers, November 2024

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Art and Mortal Engines in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tractionist World, November 2024 – click any image for full size

I dropped into SLEA 6 recently to visit a quite stunning installation / environment, mixing art, film and literature and events, all brought together by Asah (AsahelVerne Absinthe).

Entitled Tractionist World, it offers a visualisation / recreation of a pivotal scene from both the first volume of Philip Reeves’ quartet of novels, collectively known as the Mortal Engines Quartet (the first volume being Mortal Engines) and – more particularly  – the 2018 film Mortal Engines, produced by The Lord of the Rings trio of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and based on their screenplay adaptation of the first book in the series.

Tractionist World, November 2024
Whilst the film received a mixed audience and critical response, there is no doubting the strength of its visual effects – notably in the presentation of the mighty city of London, the undisputed king of the “traction cities” rumbling around the Great Hunting Plains of Europe and Central Europe, as it chases down lesser cities in a cycle of “municipal Darwinism”.

And it is London, complete with its pair of massive bronze lions resembling the (much smaller) Landseer Lions of Trafalgar Square, topped by the gleaming beauty of St. Paul’s Cathedral and fronted by its massive union flag doors, which forms one of the focal points of Tractionist World.

Tractionist World, November 2024

The scale of London is impressive, despite the limitations of scale and size imposed on it by a Second Life region; throughout Asah has fully captures the multi-level nature of London, crowned by the cathedral and its hidden menace, neatly surrounded by gardens and footpaths, with streets and buildings stacked one above the other from the bulk of the great engine room at its base, where captured lesser cities are ingested for materials and power.

Outside of area such as the control centre, the engine room, and the Cathedral, the buildings within the city are mostly empty – but with good reason: not only is London a representation of the the machine city from the world of Mortal Engines, it also provides gallery spaces for art exhibitions.

Tractionist World, November 2024 – the Steampunk Goddesses exhibition

At the time of my visit, the city was hosting two such exhibitions – although Asah informed me more are in the planning stage and will be appearing soon. The one of these exhibitions is hosted – appropriately enough – in the city’s Museum, a place where artefacts of the “old tech” are revered and studied. Entitled Steampunk Goddesses, it features AI art by TaccaExotic and Princess Soobania (Soobania).

Above this, and in the room behind the city’s control room, is an further exhibition of AI generated art, this one by Lalie Sorbet. Entitled Anima, it presents – in Lalie’s own words – an exploration of “the expression of the passionate relationship between humans and animals through time.”

Tractionist World, November 2024 – the Anima Exhibition

Also located within the city’s engine room is a stage for hosting music events (with a further such space up in one of the airships overhead). In terms of getting around London, there are a number of stairways and walks linking various levels, but by far the easiest route down (and up!) is the elevator at the back of the control centre.

The city is part of a larger scene making up region, one depicting the climatic show-down between it and the Shield Wall of Batmunkh Gompa, as it protects the anti-tractionists of Shan Guo – a place Thaddeus Valentine is determined to over-run – with the great airship station of Airhaven floating above. It is within Batmunkh Gompa that the main landing point for the setting resides, complete with teleporters to carry visitors around (simply walk onto a teleport disk to activate it and right-click the beams).

Tractionist World, November 2024

There are a number of points of interest within the Shield Wall to explore – and the opportunity to find a little air car rezzer available to scoot around in. Beyond the wall, meanwhile, is the beauty and peace of Shan Gao, together with floating islands of rock, such as the Lighthouse. The best way to visit the latter, Shan Gao, and Airhaven is, as noted, the teleports at the landing point.

As both a place to visit, and an art / events venue, Tractionist World is an absorbing and engaging visit.

Tractionist World, November 2024

SLurl Details

SLEA is rated Moderate

Of Milk Wood and Writers in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Milk Wood, October 2024 – Click any image for full size

With November on the horizon and the start of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo – or NAN-oh-RY-moh) I received an invitation from long-time acquaintance in Second Life, Lizzie Gudkov, to pop over to Milk Wood, the home of Virtual Writers, as they gear-up for their new event for November each year, Moxie Madness.

Virtual Writers is an on-line community of writers, originally founded in 2007. The group is committed to showcasing both experienced and emerging writers in a range of interactive and immersive environments around the globe. Milk Wood provides a focal point for the group’s activities, offering an environment which writers can come together to share in the writing experience, socialise, have fun together and – if they wish – find a virtual home.

We offer a space for all writers at all stages, within a digital medium. This unique place allows the user to more fully develop their characters and settings, meet other likeminded individuals, share experiences, and learn and grow as writers.
We know the challenges writers face because we’ve each had similar roadblocks. Many of us have had expert help along the way and want to pay it forward. We learn from each other and share our expertise gladly. Whether you’re an experienced writer or just starting out, there’s a place for you at Virtual Writers.

– from virtualwriters.org

Milk Wood – The Stone Circle, October 2024

Occupying a Full private region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus, Milk Wood has been crafted by Harriet Gausman to provide a gorgeous setting in which to stir the creative juices whilst escaping the distractions of the physical world. It is a place Inspired by the BBC-commissioned radio drama Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas, a play itself deeply interwoven with Dylan’s short life, and his passing away in 1953 whilst on a tour of the United States with the play (which he was still revising at the time,  having roots reaching back into the early 1930s and the very start of his writing career whilst still in his late teens.

Within the region is a mix of public and private spaces – the latter being a range of rental cottages, beachfront cabin, houses and the like – stirred together without obvious boundaries in places, which can make exploration a little difficult for the casual visitor. So if you are visiting out of curiosity, then please bear this in mind as regards wandering into someone’s personal space.

Milk Wood, October 2024

That said, the blending of both public and private fits the region well, given its primary intent to bring writers together to allow them to share time and experiences, engage in a shared experience of writing and reading – and as noted, provide a home for those wishing to rent one.

Milkwood Activities and Events

Events within the region include (all times SLT):

500 Word Snatch

The 500 word snatch is a popular way of breaking down a large writing project – such as a novel – into much small, easily-digested bites by scheduling a specific time each day to write 500 words. Nor does the snatch have to be related to a single work; the challenge can be used for many different writing forms, such as outlining ideas, drafting a blog post, writing poetry, producing a short story, and so on.

Poem-a-Day (PAD)

  • April, 08:00 daily

To coincide with National Poetry Month. Write a poem every day for the month of April.

Milk Wood – Forest Coffee Bar, October 2024

Moxie Madness

  • November (all 30 days)

The group’s  new challenge in respect of NaNoWriMo: write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. As a part of this Moxie (standing for Month of Xtra Inspiration & Effort) provide a wealth of support for those participating in NaNoWriMo with daily write-ins, resources, and a selection of workshops/seminars from successful authors.

Details of sessions, workshops and events associated with Moxie Madness are available via the Moxie Madness information boards (such as found at the Forest Coffee Bar).

Milk Wood, October 2024

Camp Moxie

A more relaxed version of the November novel writing event. Sessions are held in both April and July, with writing challenges with word-counts of between 5,000 and 25,000 for any type of writing project. The time can also be used to edit your Moxie manuscript from November, plan for coming Moxie Madness or delve into research.

I’ve attended Milk Wood poetry readings, daily dashes, and the intense annual NaNoWriMo event in November. Milk Wood provides a forum for interacting with other writers, both newbies and published professionals, and a place to promote books and literary events. It’s possible to join a writing circle and set your avatar to work at a computer while you type away on a real world project. There’s always someone to offer encouragement, sympathy or advice when you hit a snag or need a break

Poet and author Patricia Averbach (via virtualwriters.org)

Milk Wood – Camp Site, October 2024

It’s fair to say (having sat-in on a 500 Word Snatch – even if this blog post did run to more than that as I was writing it at the time!) events at Milk Wood are well-attended and the folk are friendly and easy-going. Therefore if you are a writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a blogger or diarist, and so on, and haven’t dropped into Milk Wood, I would genuinely recommend doing so.

In terms of exploration, the majority – but not all – of the rentals are located around the region’s coastline, with most of the public spaces – the Forest Coffee Bar, the Boho Bean Coffee Shack, the Fiesta Bar and Dance Floor, the Milk Wood Camp Site, and the Milk Wood Drive-In – located within the western half of the region, and reachable one to the next on foot without fear of colliding with someone’s home; only the Stone Circle, on the north side of the region is very close to any rentals. To ease getting around, there in an in-region teleport system, together with a local Experience to help with hopping around.

Milk Wood, October 2024

Whilst not primarily intended for the purposes of photography, the region is nevertheless beautifully designed and landscapes and offers a relaxing environment with some public spaces in which to sit and pass the time  / think about what to write next in addition to the group’s various events.

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Ashemi revisited in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ashemi, October 2024 – click any image for full size

Ashemi is a setting which, like the tide, ebbs and flows in and out of Second Life. The work of SL partners Ian Ventori (Jayshamime) and Ime Poplin (Jayshamime), and has been featured in this blog numerous times since 2016.  This is because Jay and Ime (sometimes with help from friends) always put together settings which carry within them certain motifs and themes which can be found in previous designs, allowing each version of Ashemi to stand both in its own right whilst also sharing threads of ideas which flow through all of them like a familiar musical refrain.

The last time I visited an Ashemi build, it took the form of a repurposed oil or natural gas platform sitting out in blue waters somewhere, its derricks and drilling and recovery equipment all gone, replaced by the living spaces and businesses of a tiny community, thus making it an island of life in a broad sea. Something of this theme is continued in the 2024 build, but in a very different manner.

Ashemi, October 2024

The region sits as an island, a semi-industrialised place looking like part of a much larger conurbation, but which seems to have fallen on hard times. A single tall smokestack exhales a white plume into the sky as it surpasses the local buildings in its height as it does so. These other buildings rise as factory blocks, apartment buildings with places of business below, and a single, strange structure rising on four stout legs to become a luxury apartment overlooking its downtrodden neighbours and offering shelter to the autumnal trees growing beneath it.

There is little other greenery to be found within the walls formed by the island’s buildings, save for an attempt by someone to make a garden around their trailer home. Here, grass has been planted together with shrubs and rhubarb is being forced under glass. Whoever lives here values their privacy: the trailer home is surrounded by a tall chain link fence topped by razor wire. Outside of this, lanterns hang prettily, suggesting a welcome might yet be found in the trailer whilst adding their illumination to that of the neon signs and hoardings of the surrounding buildings. However, whom they might attract to their businesses is anyone’s guess; even the local swimming pool is looking a tad sad, whilst a once pristine fairground rides have most certainly aged beyond their prime, leaving only the local café as possibly deserving custom within its well-kept interior.

Ashemi, October 2024

Which is also not to stay nature has entirely given up here; trees grow along the southern shoreline, whilst to the southwest the land opens up into s park-like headland where Sakura blossom and other trees offer shade and places to sit might be found (as they can indeed be found elsewhere in the setting). It is from here that visitors can get a good view of the outlying elements of the setting and add to the mystery of its possible backstory.

Two block-like islands sit just off the region’s boundaries. They carry on them squat apartment blocks hunched over their ground-floor business, the lights within them and on their advertising hoards bright and warm, feed by the overhead powerlines following the grid patterns of streets where vehicles and people might be seen.

Ashemi, October 2024

Given their regular shapes, these islands appear entirely artificial – but were they built over the waters around them, or were they once both part of the same landmass, perhaps even joined to Ashemi’s near-deserted form, only to become regularly-shaped bastions of town life as sea levels rose and cut them asunder from one another, whilst also encroaching on their heartland to form it into the island of Ashemi?

A third blocky island rises from the sea on the other side of Ashemi in relation to its park-like headland. It is crowned by massive structures dwarfing anything else to be found, with huge clusters of cables draped in the deep canyons between them. Industrial-looking, dark and almost foreboding, it stands in stark contrast to anything else to be seen, adding a further twist to any story one might try to conjure for the setting’s history.

Ashemi, October 2024

That this is place potential somewhere in the near-future can perhaps most clearly be seen in the design of that third off-region island. However, another clue can be found in the fact that air cars and moving back and forth in the sky, together with what look like automated cargo carriers. The air cars look to be for travel between the town-like islands and between them and the more futuristic island with its towers and cable and dishes. In this, they almost completely ignore the little island of Ashemi and its various attractions, perhaps living it to be visited only by boat.

Rich in detail and with multiple places to sit, this iteration of Ashemi again offers many opportunities for the imagine to wonder about its origins and for the taking of photographs. My thanks to Jay for the personal invite to pay a visit.

Ashemi, October 2024

SLurl Details

  • Ashemi (Goldenland, rated Moderate)

Six for a third at the Kondor Art Museum in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kondor Art Museum, October 2024: Thus Yootz

The third exhibition at the Kondor Art Museum, a part of Hermes Kondor’s Kondor Art Centre, features a total of six artists exhibiting theough the gallery’s halls. They comprise: Mareea Farrasco, Sina Souza, Ilyra Chardin, Zia Branner and Thus Yootz, with Hermes himself rounding out the six. Some of these artists art among my personal favourites for their depth of expression and presentation, so this has been an exhibition I’ve been wanting to drop into since it opened on October 17th, 2024.

As with the first exhibition at the the Museum in April 2024, Ilyra Chandin’s 3D pieces occupying the foyer of the gallery building, as well as at the entrance and on the roof.

Kondor Art Museum, October 2024: Zia Branner

To the left of the entrance, the first hall in the museum houses a selection of pieces by Thus Yootz, someone who is, in my opinion, one of the most expressive and at times artistically experimental artists in Second Life. Here she presents 10 pieces that very much demonstrate these facts, with landscape pieces in monochrome and colour mixing with gorgeous and expressive line and wireframe styles.

Following Thus, and occupying the rear hall of the museum’s lower level, together with the hall to which it leads, is a two-stage exhibition by Sina Souza, another highly expressive artist I admire. The first part of this selection is a series focused on the colour red, some of which carry something of a social commentary. Beyond this is the right-side hall, containing seven colour / monochrome pieces, all equally evocative.

Kondor Art Museum, October 2024: Mareea Farrasco

Upstairs, the two halls feature a selection of Mareea Farrasco’s always-engaging Second Life landscapes and avatar studies, and across the landing, Zia Branner’s abstract paintings. Again, both of these artists have a unique approach to their work, and I never fail to be drawn into their images and art.

Rounding-out the exhibition, again in the front hall to the right of the entrance, is more of Hermes’ own quite superb photography from the physically world as he takes us on a further visit to Lisbon’s Reservatorio da Patriarcal, also known as the Water Museum. Captured in a black and white, these are quite studding photos in terms of their focus, angle and contrasts of shadow and light which bring the walls and walkways of the museum to life in an almost tactile way; one can literally sense the smooth hardness of the metal railings and steps and the soft roughness of the stone.

Kondor Art Museum, October 2024: Sina Souza

In all, an engaging series of art displays from six equally engaging artists

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