Reviews – Page 538 – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

The art of philosophy

Posted on March 31, 2014March 31, 2014 by Inara Pey

The Philosopher's Stone: Pixels Sideways — The Philosopher’s Stone: Pixels Sideways

Sunday March 31st saw the opening of The Philosopher’s Stone, a further entry in the round 6 Artist In Residence series run by the Linden Endowment for the Arts.

Curated by Pixels Sideways and Georg Janick, the installation is a collaborative piece featuring the work of 16 artists, including Pixels. The installation grew out of an on-line article Pixels had read about in which a teacher asked a group of young pupils to draw what they thought a philosopher looked like. Forwarding the article to Georg, in real life Gary Zabel, Professor of Philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Pixels mentioned the idea of doing an art piece on the subject of philosophy.

The Philosopher's Stone: Freewee Ling - Nietzsche — The Philosopher’s Stone: Freewee Ling – Nietzsche

The result is 15 artists paired at random with 15 philosophers selected by Georg, and charged with the task of interpreting the latter through art. The artists and the selected philosophers being: Aequitas – Plato; Ama Avro – Descartes; Artistide Despres – Deleuze; Barry Richez – Heidegger; Bibi Rives – Wittgenstein; Feathers Boa – Marx; Freewee Ling – Nietzsche; Leoa Piek – Hegel; Lollito Larkham – Kant; Misprint Thursday – Leibniz; Robin Moore – Aristotle; Scottius Polke – Hume; Stardove Spirt – Epicurus; Ub Yifu -Spinoza; Winter Nightfire – Arendt.

These works are displayed on a series of islands above the region, and reached by clicking on the urn located at the arrival point. Urns also form teleport points for moving between the islands (or you can fly). Note that some of the pieces are interactive as well, and some contain local windlights – check for notes / warnings if your viewer doesn’t automatically change windlight setting – and streaming audio.

The Philosopher's Stone: Barry Richez - Heidegger — The Philosopher’s Stone: Barry Richez – Heidegger

In addition, Pixels has set-up a series of pieces at ground level which explore a number of ideas: the Philosophy of Love, the Philosophy of Struggle, the Philosophy of Media and Politics, etc. These can be interactive in nature, and require careful exploration if you are to fully uncover their secrets. This ground level area also includes an amphitheatre for special events – SaveMe Oh featured during the opening – and displays of 2D art by the participating artists.

Given the nature of the installation and the broad range of participants, this is something of an eclectic mix, which may have a mixed response depending on your familiarity with the subject matter presented in each of the pieces – although there is enough here to encourage those wishing to understand more to go out and learn (Wikipedia can be your friend in this).

The Philosopher's Stone: Winter Nightfire - Arendt — The Philosopher’s Stone: Winter Nightfire – Arendt

There are also some delightful twists of humour to be found throughout – either visually or within some of the texts accompanying the pieces (Pixel’s write-up for the Philosophy of Struggle should raise a smile or two, for example).

While on the ground, I did experience a couple of issues with audio streaming clashing with local sounds, so remember to toggle media on / off when moving between pieces, and having a listen to the ambient sounds as well, just in case you’re missing something.

The Philosopher's Stone: Lollito Larkham - Kant — The Philosopher’s Stone: Lollito Larkham – Kant

The Philosopher’s Stone is likely to have additional events occurring during its time on LEA13 – which should be through until the end of April / early May. I understand Pixels is considering an additional exhibit on the region prior to the LEA round 6 drawing to a close at the end of June.

Addendum: I’ve swapped-out some of the images from this review in favour of others since first published, as I subsequently discovered that Ziki Questi had selected the same pieces for her coverage of the Philosopher’s Stone, and we’d opted to use similar angles for our respective shots. I do apologise to her for retaining the opening shot in this article – again the same as Ziki has used, and she published ahead of me – but Galileo’s words do serve as a perfect frame for a review.

Insanity: inside the Country of the Mind

Posted on March 29, 2014October 8, 2024 by Inara Pey

In his novel Queen of Angels, set at the close of 2047, Greg Bear explores the concept of what he calls, “the Country of the Mind”. This, Bear postulates, is the “ground” for all our thoughts. A kind of virtual reality landscape within us where our “big and little selves” – the personality routines which make up the conscious self, and all of the partial personalities and talents which operate alongside and within our primary personality – reside. It is a place that can be shaped and refined by those different aspects of our personality as they variously work together or come into dominance – or conflict with one another.

Where the mind is healthy, and the personalities and talents are integrated, the Country of the Mind can be a place of beauty; but where there is illness or damage, and personalities and talents are in flux or chaos, the Country can be altogether different, the landscape less harmonious, the scenes and images within it more discordant.

Cherry Manga’s Insanity, now open at Per4mance MetaLES may, for some, be an uncomfortable subject. It is an attempt to study the inner workings of a damaged mind; how or why it is damaged – by illness, age, drugs or whatever – isn’t important. The focus is on what occurs within it: the conflicts, confusion, moments of clarity, frustration, and the sense of being somehow broken.

As such it is an intense, sometimes disquieting installation; but it is also deeply compelling, emotive and, at times, quite beautiful.

Set against a bleak, rolling landscape and under a rolling sky, sit a series of vignettes, each striking in its content and message. Some are static, others feature motion while yet others have sections that appear and disappear like shattered – or perhaps unwanted – thoughts. All have their own story to convey – the meaning of which is down to the visitor to interpret. Symbolism is strong here, emotions seep through the landscape and through the pieces (do be sure to have local sounds enabled when visiting).

To me, Insanity is a powerful visualisation of Bear’s Country of the Mind as it might be manifested by a mind in conflict with itself, and as a visitor, I am cast into the role of therapist, seeking to explore and understand – and, eventually, to help. The various scenes and images presented here seem very much to be the “little selves”, the partial personalities and talents, in disarray, each seeking expression or perhaps the comfort of the control of a primary self. a place where amidst the chaos there is still the memory – or hope – of compassion and love.

Insanity is an evocative piece, haunting and moving at one and the same time. As mentioned towards the top of this piece, it may not sit easy with some – but that doesn’t detract from the fact it is well worth a visit.

A nostalgic Invasion

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Inara Pey

Sniper Siemens kindly allowed me an advanced look at her LEA Artist in Residence (AIR) installation, which opens at 15:00 SLT on Friday March 28th and will remain open through until the end of June. Like Da Vinci’s World, her installation from the fourth round of AIR works, this is another historic piece – but one of a very different nature!

Invasion – A Tribute to the Greenies Homeis just that: a loving tribute to the world of the Greenies, the tiny green aliens created by Rezzable, who were trying to get to grips with a slight matter of scale during a visit to Earth in the 1950s. Prior to their departure to Rezzable’s own OpenSim grid, they were pretty much a staple part of SL’s “must see” locations.

As with the original, the visitor is placed on the scale of the mischievous aliens, who have found their way into a home somewhere on Earth, and who are both exploring it, and setting-up residence in part of it. While the original was set in the 1950s, the home here has been considerably updated: there are DVDs, a boom box, flat-screen TV, CCTV and so on.

The aliens, too have changed somewhat. The original Greenies were / are the property of Rezzable, and in respect of that, Sniper has – for the most part – used her own M&M-like aliens. However, explore long enough, and you’ll find that the little green chaps are to be found in a special tribute space on their own, as the images topping and tailing this piece show.

In terms of exploring, there is a lot to see and discover, through big and little doors. Visitors can walk or fly or ride bikes or, again in a touch of nostalgia, race karts (which can take a bit of handling!) around a course, and more. There are also some darker elements to discover as well, particularly through some of the doorways …

When you’re done on the ground, there is a teleport up to the aliens’ ship where some odd goings-on are evident. Are these attempts by the aliens to transmorgify themselves into humans? If so, they’re choosing some interesting subjects in two cases; although one appears to have been supplanted (in a clever touch of irony) by a naked young female out of the Boris Vallejo school of modelling. Look out, as well, to a small nod to Sniper’s previous AIR installation from May 2013.

For those who remember the original Greenies, a visit to Invasion is going to be something of a trip down memory lane. For those who arrived in SL after the Greenies departed, the installation offer a glimpse into why their world was so admired. Either way, there’s more than enough here to keep people smiling and engaged during their visit, and Sniper skillfully avoids falling into the trap of trying to re-create the original in every nuance and look, offering something that rightly stands as a tribute, and on its own.

Well worth a visit. As noted, Invasion – A Tribute to the Greenie’s Home will be open from 15:00 SLT on Friday March 28th, 2014 through until the end of June 2014.

A pilgrim’s progress

Posted on March 26, 2014April 9, 2021 by Inara Pey

The Pilgrim’s Dawn, Banana Island, March 2014 – click for full size

In September 2013, I (among many others!) visited Bowie Zeplin’s home region of Banana Island. At that time it was called Pangloss, a beautifully surreal landscape of vivid colours and striking scenes.

Now, with the changing of seasons much in evident across the grid, Bowie has remodelled the region, and while this pilgrim opted to wait until after the initial rush had passed, a note was made to retrace her footsteps and see what new delights await a re-visit. The effort proved more than worthwhile.

The Pilgrim’s Dawn, Banana Island, March 2014 – click for full size

Where Pangloss was surreal and vivid, The Pilgrim’s Dawn, as the region is now known, is beautifully rural and scenic. On arriving, it instantly put me in mind of what might be called “Middle Zealand”, as it seems to form a combination of the scenes and landscapes gathered from around New Zealand to create Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle Earth. There are high mountains, tree-lined slopes, broad rivers, and in the midst of it all, a rural / rustic scene which, while sans Hobbit holes and the like, wouldn’t look amiss with a group of Hobbits passing through on their way to Bree…

The Pilgrim’s Dawn, Banana Island, March 2014 – click for full size

Even without the Tolkien references, Pilgrim’s Dawn is simply breathtaking in the way it blends surrounding scenery and region into a whole, presenting a landscape in which one is instantly immersed. It’s very easy to imagine walking out onto the deck behind the house on a morning, mug of coffee in hand, and deciding that today would be a good day to climb the nearest peak and then just sit and paint or photograph the surrounding lands.

The Pilgrim’s Dawn, Banana Island, March 2014 – click for full size

This is an environment which really lends itself to wide photographs of the landscape, something which the default windlight only enhances – but there is also a wealth of detail here as well which makes careful exploration a must. There are tracks to follow across the region, running down from the house to the pastures of the headland, or around from the beach, along the side of the river and up into the hills where sheep graze contentedly. Across the river sits a wooded headland where deer roam, and above it, overlooking the broad stretch of water separating lowlands from mountains, sits an old mine, awaiting intrepid explorers.

The Pilgrim’s Dawn, Banana Island, March 2014 – click for full size

It’s been whispered to me that Pilgrim’s Dawn is a commissioned build, and that as such it may well be vanishing in the near future. If so, that’s something of a shame, because it is very much a place where this pilgrim definitely wanted to call her progress to a halt and simply rest, soaking up the scenery and environment.

Do be sure not to miss it.

The Pilgrim’s Dawn, Banana Island, March 2014 – click for full size

A second take with machinima and photography

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Inara Pey

Cinema! Take II, by Mary Wickentower, is an extension of her LEA interim piece, The Wonderful World of Particles, originally located at LEA13. Now a part of the LEA’s Full Sim Art series, it has relocated to LEA6 and shifted focus more towards machinima and photography.

Those who visited The Wonderful World of Particles, will find Cinema! Take II somewhat familiar, as it utilises the same large centre-piece movie theatre and drive-in movie space, complete with interlinking roads and tall palm trees. The observant may even note the greeter welcomes them to former, rather than Cinema! Take II!

However, this isn’t merely a relocation of the interim project. As noted, the focus is very much on machinima and photography. In terms of the former, the movie house, the Empire Movie Palace, is showing Princess Ambrosia’s Sakoku: Chained Country (which includes some adult-oriented themes), and also includes photo exhibition spaces, used to display entries into a number of photohunts and other photography-related activities being held throughout the month of March (the next being on Wednesday March 26, see below for details).

Outside, at the drive-in one can watch a veritable plethora of machinima by artists and film-makers from around the world. You’ll need media enabled for this (top right corner of the viewer). Click on the movie screen itself to start things, and use the media controls displayed above it to focus your camera or watch movies in a browser tab, etc. A complete list of film-makers can be obtained in a dialogue box by clicking the frame of the movie screen. Click on the button corresponding to a name to display a list of their available films. To select a film, again click on the number in the dialogue box corresponding to the film, then click on the screen itself if the film doesn’t start automatically after a few seconds.

I confess that I had some issues with the drive-in when using either Firestorm or the SL viewer. Often a movie would start, but either have no audio, or feature the audio of a preceding video. Stopping and re-starting media from the viewer’s controls (top right of the viewer window) generally resolved this.

Also included in the region are Danya’s Garden by Danya Sadofsky, a place of peace & quiet, the Swing Jim Dinner, which is the setting for sock hops and dances, the Gallery of Art featuring fine SL sculpture and Dr. Petrol’s Gas Station featuring a classic collection of pin-up posters.
Special events have been a part of the installation’s month-long run, and coming up next are a photohunt and a Visionaire Institute of Photography field trip.

The photohunt will take place at 18:00 SLT on Wednesday March 26th. Participants will be given a theme or landmark by the moderator, and will have 60 minutes to take a snapshot that best embodies that theme / landmark, with absolutely no external photo manipulation allowed. Finished entries will displayed in one of the Empire Movie Palace exhibition spaces.
On Thursday March 27th at 15:00 SLT, students from the Visionaire Institute of Photography will visit the region to photograph Cinema! Take II, with their work also displayed in one of the Empire Movie Palace exhibition spaces.

Cinema! Take II is open until the end of March.