Category: Reviews

2013: a year in review (2): May – August

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s once again that annual time of reflection. The winter is with us, the old year is slowing dying, the new year awaits, and it is time to look back across the highs and lows of the virtual year as seen through the pages of this blog.

This year has been even busier for me than previous years, so rather than give you a sea of text to wade through, I’ve opted to break things down into three more manageable offerings, starting with January through to April, and have tried to limit myself to bullet-points to the various links. I’ve not attempted to dot every “I” and cross every “T”; rather my aim is to highlight the main items of news for each month (or those which raised a smile), and those aspects of other VWs I had time to cover and well as a look back on some personal elements of my SL times over the year.

For those into art and SL exploration, I’ve also summarised installations and regions visited by month in the hope that doing so will stir your own memories of those events / places.

May

84 posts

Second Life and the Lab

Platform News

"Missing" prims - still an issue in May
“Missing” prims – still an issue in May

Art Reviews

Events

Pey’s Travelogue

FuriZona - LaPerla
FuriZona – LaPerla – click for full size

Personal Notes

Other Worlds

June

91 posts

Second Life and the Lab

I have a little fun with the Bear avatar, following Crap Mariner's lead
“Bear Hunting”: I have a little fun with the Bear avatar, following Crap Mariner’s lead

Platform News

Art Reviews

Events

Continue reading “2013: a year in review (2): May – August” →

Roots and War: evocative power

Posted on by Inara Pey
Roots and War
Roots and War

Early in 2013 I visited Song Bird, JadeYu Fhang’s magnificent region, and home to her store, Dark Tears. During that visit, I primarily explored the ground level area, with its brilliant and evocative settings, only taking a brief aside to visit her skyborne gallery.

Now JadeYu  has a new exhibit within the region, and it is as equally striking as the ground level design, although very, very, different in message and approach.

Roots and War offers two gigantic spheres floating in the sky and connected via a bridge of tangled, desiccated roots. Within one lays a scene of desolation.  The roots connecting it with the far sphere reach inward, almost claw-like; smoke rises in plumes from the barren rock. All around a dead wind hisses and blows (you must have local sounds on to fully appreciate the piece), and a bell tolls ominously.

Roots and War
Roots and War

This is a scene of complete devastation, where the horrors of war appear to have visited, and where Death sits overhead, astride a horse, charging what might be the last of mankind while beyond, even the angels appear to have fallen.

Symbolism here is strong; atop the object containing Death is a woman, arms raised, and what could be the very Sword of Damocles hanging over her head, black butterflies dancing around it. Beyond the clouds of the sphere itself lay two gigantic hands, one of them menacingly clawed, seeking to enfold this world in their  grasp.

Roots and War
Roots and War

Looking around this scene, I could not help but recall J. Robert Oppenheimer’s paraphrasing of the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita as he remembered the Trinity bom detonation, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” such is the evocative power here.

Across the bridge of roots, the second sphere is less ominous, although the desolation remains. The rocks are without fumaroles,  the desiccated roots fewer, the place entirely absent scenes of destruction. The only clue that this is perhaps intended to be the same place, seemingly removed somewhat in time to that of the first sphere, lay with a single, half-buried sculpture.

Roots and War
Roots and War

If all this sounds dark and depressing, it’s not. Roots and War is a very enigmatic and powerful piece, one which will doubtless influence others in ways far different to how it impacted me. As such, it is a must visit installation.

And should you visit, and you’ve not been to Song Bird before (or even if you have, quite frankly), a visit to the ground level is strongly recommended.

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Faces: where the façade reveals

Posted on by Inara Pey
Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

A new exhibit opened at Veekay Navarathna’s Art India recently. Faces is a collection of paintings by Canadian artist Liana Russwurm (Lilianna Clarity in SL), curated by Quan Lavender.

The pieces are reproductions of Liana’s real-life paintings, and as the name of the exhibition suggests, largely focuses on paintings of people’s faces. However, these are by no means “simple” portraits. The subjects are often masked, either physically or with make-up / paint; some are apparently playful, others innocently happy. All of them, however, tell a story, a story which reaches out to us through the facade of the mask, make-up, face paint or playfulness.

Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

Born into an artistic family, Liana draws from contemporary media and culture such as reality television, fashion magazines and billboards, as well as her own experiences. Her biography reveals the approach taken to the works on display at Art India, which are themselves drawn from a real life exhibition of her pieces called Façade:

Through the use of staged photo shoots, props, costumes and make-up, she aims to strip away the layers of the individual, invoking a fragmented yet authentic portrait of her subject. She is most interested in “the figure”, and capturing the essence of the model.

Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

Several of the pieces stand in strong contrast to one another, and it is worth taking the time to work your way around the paintings on the outer walls of the exhibit space in “order” – starting with the two young girls facing you from across the room, as your arrive at the teleport point. Both have the genuine innocence of childhood about them . Follow the pieces around the walls, however, and the different stories come into their own, giving us a unique window into the thoughts – perhaps the very souls – of the models,

This is an intriguing exhibit, which runs through until January 21st. For those drawn particularly strongly to any particular piece(s) – and I confess, a couple did catch my eye – they are available at L$700 each.

Faces at Art India
Faces at Art India

Related Links

2013: a year in review (1)

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s once again that annual time of reflection. The winter is with us, the old year is slowing dying, the new year awaits, and it is time to look back across the highs and lows of the virtual year as seen through the pages of this blog.

This year has been even busier for me than previous years, so rather than give you a sea of text to wade through, I’ve opted to break things down into three more manageable offerings, starting with January through to April, and have tried to limit myself to bullet-points to the various links. I’ve not attempted to dot every “I” and cross every “T”; rather my aim is to highlight the main items of news for each month (or those which raised a smile), and those aspects of other VWs I had time to cover and well as a look back on some personal elements of my SL times over the year.

For those into art and SL exploration, I’ve also summarised installations and regions visited by month in the hope that doing so will stir your own memories of those events / places.

January

51 posts

Second Life and the Lab

Platform News

Art Reviews

Events

Pey’s Travelogue

Rosemist Isle
Rosemist Isle, January 2013

 Personal Notes

Other Worlds

February

57 posts

Second Life and the Lab

Linden Lab start to introduce external advertising to their web properties in February
Linden Lab start to introduce external advertising to their web properties in February

Platform News

Art Reviews

Events

Pey’s Travelogues

Hazardous
Hazardous, February 2013

Personal Notes

Continue reading “2013: a year in review (1)” →

Connecting with Plankton

Posted on by Inara Pey
Plankton
Plankton

In the late 1990s, I caught a series on Discovery (or possibly TLC before it got rebranded by Discovery UK), called Connections 2. It was the follow-up to a series originally made and broadcast by the BBC back in the ’70s or ’80s and called (oddly enough) Connections back in the ’70s or ’80s. In it, commentator, broadcaster and journalist James Burke demonstrated how various discoveries, scientific achievements, and historical world events were built from one another successively in an interconnected way to bring about particular aspects of modern technology.

I bring this up because I was put in mind of how that series drew connections between people, events and so on to present a narrative on how we arrived at a modern aspect of technology and / or thinking, while touring Takni Miklos’ Plankton, which is open through until the end of December as a Part of the LEA’s Full Sim Art series.

Like the television series, Plankton is about making connections. There are very strong cultural / historical elements here, rooted in particular in astronomy, leading to something of a theme of continuity running through some elements of the installation which connect the past right through to our lives. But unlike the TV series, there is no actual narrative, per se; one is very much left to draw one’s own through the process of exploration.

Plankton
Plankton

The connections in Plankton take several forms and are as much about how we connect with the installation as they are with themes or ideas. There are a number of ways in which to move around: “taxi” teleporters, point-to-pint teleports, elevators, walkways – you can even use your “inner pig” (presented to you on arrival) to reach other avatars in the region, thus offering the means to connect with them.

All of this means that any two experiences within the installation and the connections made when travelling through it are likely to be same. How you proceed, the choices you make in your explorations, lead to discoveries and connections which are not necessarily linear; making this a complex and involved place to explore.

Plankton
Plankton

Aspects of the installation extend from the ground, up through multiple platforms and spheres reaching high up into the sky. Not all of them are linked to the cultural / astronomy theme, so may even appear frivolous or confusing. But it is worthwhile taking your time in exploring and moving around.

One thing you can be sure of is that this is a lively space, with almost everything within it interacting with the visitor in some way, either responding to direct touch or to the nearby presence of any avatar. Even the landscape at ground level is in places changing, where objects will freely interact with one another as well as to the presence of visitors.

In all, I’m not sure words really suffice in describing it – better you go and see for yourself!

Related Links

Plankton
Plankton

Calas in winter

Posted on by Inara Pey

Calas Galadhon Parklands, December 2013
Calas Galadhon parklands – click for full size image

It’s no secret that I love the parklands of Calas Galadhon; I think Ty and Truck do an amazing job with the park, providing it for all to enjoy, changing it to match the seasons, offering a wide range of activities, seasonal or otherwise, throughout the year and presenting a host of entertainments throughout.

Not only that, but they also manage a special theme region, SilverMyst, currently the setting for this year’s One Christmas Night,  which I was able to visit just before Truck and Ty were about to open it to the public, and which also hosts their Halloween delights.

When writing about One Christmas Night, I promised a visit to Calas itself to try to capture some of the winter magic there. However, plans change; Saffia Widdershins contacted me and asked if I could expand upon the One Christmas Night piece to provide an article on both it and Calas Galadhon in winter for the next issue of Prim Perfect magazine. Of course, I was happy to oblige.

So, rather than spoil that article by writing about Calas here, I’ll simply say Prim Perfect should be out at the end of this week, making it ideal reading for Christmas with or without my wibblings :). You can find it at any of the in-world Prim Perfect vendors, or grab it on-line from the Prim Perfect website.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with a poem by Robert Frost that came to mind as I explored the Calas winter regions on horseback, together with a few paintings I hope will whet your appetites for a visit there yourselves if you’ve not already done so!

Calas Galadhon Parklands, December 2013
Calas Galadhon parklands – click for full size image

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

Calas Galadhon Parklands, December 2013
Calas Galadhon parklands – click for full size image

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost

Calas Galadhon Parklands, December 2013
Calas Galadhon parklands – click for full size image

Related Links