Still and In Stillness sit as a pair of Second Life regions (one a Full private region leveraging the available Land Capacity bonus, and the other an adjoining Homestead region) held and designed by Matchbook Monday. Together, they more than live up to their About Land description – a place to still the mind and relax.
The two regions are presented as a temperate archipelago sitting – going by the region surrounds – just off the coast. In terms of which coast, I’d guess that by the lie of the land and Matchbook’s own origins together with the abundance of Canadian flags, either the east or west coast of that nation; say, somewhere along the British Columbia coastline or maybe somewhere within the gulf of St. Lawrence.
Still, April 2024
Although that said, it could just as easily be imaginatively set within somewhere like Lake Winnipeg (and even then, a boathouse in the setting displays a map of America’s Cape Cod, further making the setting a fascinating mix of potential influences!).
But wherever it might be placed, if one were inclined to try to pin it down as a place of the imagination with a physical world foundation, there is no doubting the natural beauty of the setting. The Full region comprises three islands, two of which are quite large, the northernmost of which is home to the main landing point. heavily wooded, the island sports a small cluster of waterfront businesses at its western end.
Still, April 2024
A broad walk passes around the northern side of the island to reach a small marina, sitting almost opposite a motel sitting alongside a quay on the island’s southern side. To one side of the motel, and rather incongruously given the wild nature of the landscape and setting as a whole, there is a parking lot hosting a couple of saloon cars – not that they really have anywhere to drive easily. It is perhaps the one eccentricity within the entire estate, and offers something of a little visual twist.
The eastern end of the island is home to a campsite dotted with caravans which appear to be available for rent. This end of the island also offers views across a narrow strait of water to its southern neighbour, which almost matches it for size. However, the easiest way to reach this island is via the bridges which connect all three islands. Both the second large island as the smaller isle making up the trio are similar inasmuch as they both share the same landscaping as the first – unsurprisingly, given this is an archipelago – and they are both home to small collections of rental cabins.
Still, April 2024
This latter point does not mean either island is off-limits to exploration; there are paths and trails running through both which are open to wandering. Rather, it simply means that visitors should be aware that the cabins, like the caravans mentioned above may be occupied and deserving of privacy.
That both islands might be explored can be seen in the provision of the two jet ski rezzers available – one per island. Open to public use, these allow visitors to scoot around all of the islands in the group – particularly those scattered across the Homestead region, viewing them from the water.
Still, April 2024
Throughout all of the main islands are multiple places to sit and pass the time – camp sites, decks, outdoor eating and drinking places. Those with keen eye might also spot places to fish and also bicycle rezzers for a little fun in exploring the main islands. These all give the setting an increased since of space, joining with the selected EEP settings and landscaping to add to the ambience of the regions – something further enhanced by the moody set of the misty waters around the islands.
Rounded-out by an ambient soundscape and with birds wheeling overhead, the two regions of Still and In Stillness (which have been given the names In Stillness and Still the Mind by Matchbook), are beautiful designed and implemented, offering a lot to appreciate and explore, and plenty to do. And needless to say, the setting is highly photogenic.
NovaOwl, April 2024: Leonorah Beverly – Seen Through My Eyes
We’re fast approaching the end of April 2024, and I’m still playing catch-up on blogging (house renovations are SO much fun… or so some say!); so before the month goes *poof* in its entirety, I’m going to use this piece to squeeze three exhibitions into the one article. My apologies to the artists for doing so, as each of the three is really worthy of extended consideration in its own right, but I’m sure some readers will find the fact this article avoids my longer diatribal (if only that were an actual word…) meanderings into my subjective thoughts as to meaning and interpretation!
Fortunately, the three exhibitions I’m referencing are hoisted at the NovaOwl Gallery, operated by Uli Jansma, Ceakay Ballyhoo & Owl Dragonash, making visiting them a breeze (just accept the local Experience to hop between the gallery levels if you haven’t done so previously). They feature the work of three noted Second Life artists, Carelyna, Leonorah Beverly and Sina Sousa.
NovaOwl, April 2024: Sina Sousa – A Matter of Perspective
Located within both halves of the ground level gallery at NovaOwl is A Matter of Perspective by Sina Sousa, a collection of 12 pieces (including the small one mounted on an easel!) which – as the exhibition’s name suggests – offers a range of perspectives on life and the times in which we live.
Involved in Second Life since 2012, Sina has built a reputation for presenting works with contain both emotional subtext and relate to matter of identity – be it for the individual, group, or with society at large – whilst often mixing 3D elements in with her work when exhibiting it.
NovaOwl, April 2024: Sina Sousa – A Matter of Perspective
Such is the case with A Matter of Perspective. Here, strikingly presented as visual essays, Sina invites us to consider matter of identity in the modern world, life and the inevitability of death (and not just physical death, I would suggest, given the presentation of Memento Mori) and the times we are currently living through.
As is always the case with Sina, the images very much speak for themselves, and so I’m not going to overlay perceptions by wittering on about them further here!
NovaOwl, April 2024: Leonorah Beverly – Seen Through My Eyes
Occupying NovaOwl’s Sky 1 gallery is Seen Through My Eyes, the most extensive of the three exhibitions, comprising some 27 images by Leonorah Beverly.
Presented within a space which Leonorah has added décor reflective of her love of steampunk and the exotic, Seen Through My Eyes offers a highly personal journey through Second Life, the images framed and rendered as paintings, the majority in colour, although four are presented as quite marvellous monochrome pieces.
Throughout this collection there is a wonderful sense of that these are lavish illustrations that were produced as a part of some Second Life equivalent of a Victorian or Edwardian era of a Grand Tour, and which have now come to be exhibited in their own right. This gives the exhibition something of a classic feel to it, as well as honouring the personal nature of Leonorah’s view of SL as a place to be visited and appreciated.
NovaOwl, April 2024: Carelyna – Moonchild
Located on the lowest floor of NovaOwl’s Sky #2 gallery, Carelyna presents Moonchild, a series of six captivating images which coupled with text elements occupying the wall spaces alongside them. The latter are very much integral to the exhibition, offering as they do a cyclical poem in blank verse with no definable start or end, but rather linking the images in an unending loop. Together, words and images offer reflections on love and romance, and the role of the Moon in both.
As is always the case with Carelyna’s work, the images are hauntingly beautiful in their rendering and evocative in their narrative. They stand both on their own as paintings, whilst also being perfectly intertwined as reflections of the poem’s endless cycle as one gazes around the room. Where you start makes no difference, each image and stanza opens the door by which one can travel through the images and poem and savour her visual meditations on love and romance.
NovaOwl, April 2024: Carelyna – Moonchild
Three superb Second Life artists presenting three imaginative and evocative exhibitions all within one gallery hub – so don’t miss out and hop on over the NovaOwl before these exhibitions draw to a close.
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024 – click any image for full size
In May 2020 I visited a region design by Jade Koltai which – as with her work with the much-missed Serene Footman – was based on a real world location: the Hotel De Salto, Columbia. It was a fascinating visualisation of a place with an equally fascinating history, some of which I touched upon when writing about my 2020 visit.
Well, Jade’s Hotel De Salto is once again open to tourists to visit in Second Life, and as with the original, again sits above the gorge of the Salto del Tequendama, or Tequendama Falls. With the return of the build come some new elements I don’t recall from the first iteration – although they could be things I simply missed back in May 2020; either way, they provided an added bonus in re-visiting this eye-catching build.
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024
As I noted back in my original piece, the Hotel Del Salto is located some 30 km south-west of Bogotá, Columbia’s capital city, and within an area steeped in legend. The waterfall, for example, is believed by the indigenous Muisca people (also known as the Chibcha, also the name of their language) of the Andean plateau to have been created by Bochica, the founding hero of their civilisation, who (amongst other feats of leadership) used his staff to break the rocks of the high savannah plateaus to release the waters covering them, providing the Musica with rich and fertile lands for settlement. In fact, Tequendama, an ancient settlement close to the falls, is regarded as one of Colombia’s earliest permanent settlements.
Measuring 132 metres in their main height, the actual falls are an impressive sight, and the location of another Musica / Chibcha people’s legend, being the place where it is said that in order to escape the Spanish conquest and its violently enforced evangelization of the Americas, the indigenous people of the area would leap from the falls, becoming eagles able to fly to their freedom.
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024
The story of the hotel commenced in 1923, and became wrapped in its own semi-tragic legend. Designed and built by Carlos Arturo Tapias at the behest of the 11th President of the present-day Republic of Columbia, Pedro Nel Ospina Vázquez, the building reflected French architectural lines. Its original purpose was to be a private mansion where the elite of Bogotá could gather and celebrate their wealth and elegance in a setting of supreme beauty and breath-taking views – the building built against the very lip of the gorge carved by the nearby waterfall.
By 1928, the building had become a more formalised hotel, opening its doors to visitors from around the world, a role it was to perform for around 50 years. With its spectacular views of the falls, available from both the rooms and suites on the gorge side of the hotel and – especially – from the broad dining and tea terrace extending from the rear of the hotel to the edge of the gorge, the hotel did attract many. However, not all of them were happy visitors, with the hotel gaining a reputation for attracting the broken-hearted who would – perhaps as a result of the ancient Chibcha legend of people throwing themselves from the nearby falls to escape the terror of the conquistadors – throw themselves to their deaths from the nearby cliffs. These tragedies further enhanced the Hotel’s reputation, as it was said the cries of those taking their own lives could be heard from within the hotel, leading to claims that it was also haunted.
An interior view of Hotel Del Salto taken as work to restore the building was underway in 2011. Credit: National University of Colombia
However, in the 1970s, the Hotel’s fortunes entered a decline. Bogotá has undergone expansion at a pace that far outstripped its supporting infrastructure. As a result, the river serving the Tequendama Falls and following through the gorge below the hotel has become the city’s primary sewer. This became so bad that the falls gained the dubious distinction of becoming “the largest wastewater falls in the world”, and the river regarded as one of the most contaminated in the world, with its stench rising to the level of the hotel. A dam built across the river above Bogotá further restricted the flow of water reaching the falls whilst conversely increasing the among of raw sewerage it contained, and by the 1990s, Hotel Del Salto had closed its doors and was simply left to nature and to rot.
It is in this state that Jade has again chosen to represent the Hotel: an empty, mouldering shell. Rooms lay deserted, vines and creepers scale walls and hang from rafters, the branches of bushes and trees intrude through windows that have long since lost their glazing; paint fades on walls and doorways gape slack-jawed onto balconies, their doors also long-since vanished.
However, within its empty bulk, there are still reminders of the hotel’s glorious past, together with echoes of the ancient history of the Tequendama area and of the Musica / Chibcha.
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024
For example, one of the broad terraces offers a parasol-shaded lounger from which to appreciate the full glory of Salto del Tequendama, here depicted long before any upriver dam stemmed the full spate of the the river. Directly behind the Hotel, another terrace presents an ornate cast-iron table and chairs set for tea offering, again offering a view of the falls and one down the lush gash of the gorge, humming birds and a parakeet adding to the exotic sense of indulgence.
Meanwhile, a balcony serving one of the long-since deserted suites of the hotel offers both a comfortable bed for use as a latter-day chaise lounge, a gramophone on the floor for those requiring music perhaps reflective of the hotel’s early years. Watched over by a cockatoo, this balcony carries some of the echoes of the ancient past in the form of painted skulls displayed on the parapet guarding its edge.
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024
A further suggestion of the region’s ancient heritage might be found by descending the stairs which cling to the stone walls of Jade’s built as they support the Hotel from the rocks below, offering a route down to the water’s edge facing the foot of the falls. Here Jade has taken a little artistic liberty, turning the river into an enclosed body of water, allowing her to present evidence of ancient structures which help acknowledge the rich history of Tequendama, as well as providing a further retreat for those who wish to tarry for a while within the region.
Another place in which to pass the time can be found on the steps of the north face of the gorge. This takes the form of a sturdy, if rusting tower topped by plants and places for couples and individuals to sit. Reaching it, however, does require a sense of adventure and a trip along one of Cube Republic’s excellent rope climbs!
Hotel Del Salto, April 2024
For the last 14 years, the original Hotel Del Salto has been undergoing restoration, initially as project undertaken by the National University of Colombia’s Institute of Natural Sciences. This was part of a broader (and on-going) effort “to recover the region and make it free, clean, and surrounded by a healthy ecosystem.” Initial exhibitions at the Hotel under the Institute’s umbrella commenced in 2013, with the museum officially opening to the public in 2016.
However, according to several reviews of the restored building, much of this work involved a complete abandonment of its original interior décor, settling instead for a modern, clinical white plaster finish, leaving the building’s interior a faint shadow of its former self. Similarly, much of the exterior of the building has been whitewashed, possibly in an effort to protect the stone and brickwork against the ravages of the local climate, although visitors have again critiqued this as eliminating much of the building’s splendour.
The Hotel Del Salto in 2023 with its whitewashed frontage overlooking the Tequendama Falls. Credit: El Espectador
But however one might find the original Hotel Del Salto – should one opt to visit Columbia! – there can be little doubt that Jade’s interpretation is a welcome returnee to Second Life, and represents a vision of what might actually be the most evocative era of the real Hotel’s history, and does so in a manner that both pays homage to the broader historical context of the Tequendama area whilst perfectly fitting the constraints of a Second Life region.
Grauland – Last Trees, April 2024 – click any image for full size
Jim Garand never fails to intrigue / please with his periodic re-designs of Grauland, his Homestead region. Since 2019 he has consistently offered environments for people to visit which have mixed themes and ideas in multiple ways – landscapes, art, architecture, history, mystery, science fiction, and so on.
As such, it is always a pleasure to drop in and witness what he has most recently created for people to enjoy. And for me, this is particularly true of the April 2024 edition of the region, which he has called Grauland – Last Trees, as it reminds me of one of my favourite – and potentially one of the most underrated classics of of the genre – science-fiction film, Silent Running.
Grauland – Last Trees, April 2024
The region does this in two ways. The first is that – like the film – it appears to offer a commentary on the environment and the damage being done to it by the human species. In this, the setting also perhaps echoes Waterworld, given it appears to be a lone outpost rising from an unending sea; but I’m sticking with Silent Running simply because of the two great biodomes sitting to the north and south of the outpost. If you’re familiar with the film, then it’s hard not to see these two massive geodesic structures of glass and steel and not think of Valley Forge and the precious cargo she and her sister ships carried in the home of one day replanting Earth.
Here, however, the domes do not protect woodlands or the fields of plants and all the insects and smaller animals vital to a healthy biosphere as seen in the film. Instead, each dome is home to a single giant oak rising from a sea of grass and spreading their boughs in defiance of the glowering sky outside of the gentle lights (and warmth, perhaps?) of the domes. But as with Silent Running, it would appear that this outpost, anchored to the bed of the shallow surrounding sea, is dedicated to the preservation of these two great trees and also to the renewal of plant-life to some degree, given the hydroponics farm located in the lower level of one of the great domes.
Grauland – Last Trees, April 2024
Whilst not out in the void of space near Saturn, Grauland’s outpost is crewed by people clearly trying to make the best of things – as were the crew of the Valley Forge. Part of the station is devoted to living quarters offering creature comforts and sitting over floating docks where jet skis and RHIBs are available for recreational enjoyment on the water (and yes, you can ride the jet skis), while lidos and floats bob on the water, suggesting swimming is also to be had. In this, the jet skis – for me – offered a further indirect link to the film, standing-in for the four-wheeled buggies Freeman Lowell and his colleagues used to let off steam as they raced around their cargo ship.
Sadly, Huey, Dewey and Louie are absent from Jim’s design – probably because the similarity to Silent Running is entirely of my own making -, but there are three android-like heads and upper bodies awaiting discovery instead. Quite what their purpose might be is for anyone visiting to guess. Perhaps, within their I, Robot-ish looks, they are the brains monitoring the station. You decide.
Grauland – Last Trees, April 2024
A series of landing pads, four of them occupied by hopper shuttles, suggest that flight is required to get to the station from elsewhere (wherever that might be), with two of the craft apparently for rescue / evacuation use. However, given a wheeled amphibious truck is hauling itself out of the water onto an elevator platform, there is also the suggestion that land of some kind might not actually be too far away.
If land is relatively close by, then the question must be asked what has happened to require a station such as this, dedicated as it seems to be, to the preservation of the two great oak trees and the growing of new plants (or trees)? Indeed, is this base actually on Earth at all – or are we perhaps somewhere else in the cosmos, a place sufficiently like Earth so as to support Earth-based animal (i.e. human) and plant life? In all of this Jim offers no clues, instead leaving the door of the imagination wide open to allow us to formulate our own ideas and stories about this place.
Grauland – Last Trees, April 2024
What is clear is that while the waters here might be shallow, they would appear to be wracked at times by storms of a sufficient enough violence to warrant sitting the majority of the base atop massive girder-like legs, presumably to lift the buildings, landing pads and so out wall out of the reach of ravaging waves and spray. It’s also clear that there is much to explore here as well – stairwells climb between levels, catwalks, ramps and gantries connect different areas, elevators offer ease of access to the water up to higher sections of the outpost for those who don’t fancy counting steps, and the crew quarters offer their own curiosities.
All told, another expressive and imaginative build by Jim, and one well worth visiting and exploring.
Selen’s Gallery, April 2024: Gem Preiz – Do You Like Gold?
It has been a couple of years since I had the opportunity to visit and write about an installation by Gem Preiz in Second Life – the last time being in 2022, when I reviewedExoplanet: One Step Further. So it was with a degree of expectation that I dropped into Selen’s Gallery to visit Gem’s Do You Like Gold?, an exhibition of work that is part museum, part retrospective, part homage to the humble prim and a delight for those who enjoy miniatures and Gem’s work.
I’ve followed Gem’s work for a fair number of years now, having first written aboutCathedral Dreamer all the way back in 2014. Whilst primarily focused on 2D work in those earlier days, Gem also worked with 3D elements, his exhibitions frequently staged within 3D environments he specifically built for them, and included 3D components to help enhance the stories he folded into many of his installations – narrative also being an important part of his work (just consider Heritage: Vestiges and Heritage: Wrecks as examples of this narrative aspect).
Selen’s Gallery, April 2024: Gem Preiz – Do You Like Gold?
In more rent years, Gem’s work has shifted to bring his love of architecture to the fore in 3D installations of the most marvellous kind, with his fractal works often taking on more of the supporting role – or in some cases, tucked away as easter eggs awaiting discovery. 2020’s Arcadia is a good example of this, together with the impressive Skyscrapers of the same year.
Within Do you Like Gold? Gem takes us on something of a retrospective of a number of his more 3D-centric installations – notably Demiurge, Skyscrapers and Arcadia – in the form of reproductions of some of the structures used in those installations, which here have been given a gold leaf effect finish. Each structure is presented on its own plinth, together with notes on both its inspiration from the physical world and details on the installation(s) in which it appeared.
Selen’s Gallery, April 2024: Gem Preiz – Do You Like Gold?
Offered at scals of 1/40th, 1/25 and 1/10th, some with the flying vehicles Gem provided within them to help give a sense of scale, the models sit as graceful reminders that, in an age of mesh there is still much to be said for the beauty which can be achieved via the humble prim and prim linkset.
What I particularly like about this installation is the manner in which the individual structures displayed within it allow us to fully appreciate how Gem has taken his love of architectural masterpieces in the physical world – those both built and imagined and freely interpreted them within his various installations. It may not have been obvious, for example, that both 2018’s Demiurgeand 2020’s skyscrapers incorporated the proposed Bride Tower (Basra, Iraq), or the likes of the Hotel de la Marine (Paris) or the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C. lay tucked away within Arcadia.
Selen’s Gallery, April 2024: Gem Preiz – Do You Like Gold?
Hence why Do You Like Gold is so multi-faceted as an installation – and worth taking the time to visit. And should you do so, be sure to give it a decent amount of time; not all of the miniatures within it are as static as they might appear to be; courtesy of a rezzing system they will change.
Morrigan’s Roadhouse, April 2024 – click any image for full size
It had not been my intention to write about two locations designed by Yxes (Yxes Evergreen) practically back-to-back; however serendipity played a hand when, after writing about Memories of Dreams (see here for more), I was bimbling around south-western Heterocera (specifically along Mock Heather Road and trying to work out if it was part of the atoll continent’s Route 2 or not) when I stumbled across a place called Morrigan’s Roadhouse.
Or rather, I initially came across the unmistakable form of the TLG Ruined Gate by Marcus Inkpen, standing alongside one of Elicio Ember’s marvellous plants and with the . a i s l i n g . Old Fountain sitting under it. Given all three are creators / brands I tend to use myself, I was immediately intrigued, and with the large house sitting above the ruined gate teasing me further, I decided to poke my nose at what I had found, and only after flycaming and discovering more of interest – notably in more of Marcus’s architecture and Elicio’s plants – did I take a look to see who was responsible for this most enchanted of settings, and thus discovered it to be the work of Yxes.
Morrigan’s Roadhouse, April 2024
Sitting to the north side of Mock Heather Road and within just under 20,000 square metres of land, Morrigan’s Roadhouse is a place of gentle contradictions natural delights, touches of fantasy and (to me at least) spirituality (in a pagan sense), and infinite charm. The About Land description suggests the setting may have been influenced by what might be the most instantly recognisable (and misinterpreted) of all of the recordings by the Eagles: Hotel California, quoting as it does the sixth verse of the song.
It’s a verse that is somewhat reflected in the mysterious lean of the setting – the big house sitting as they crown of the landscape (inasmuch as it rises above everything else) might be seen as a place every bit as strange and mysterious as the hotel of the son, whilst the roadhouse of the setting’s title might bring to mind the idea of an edge-of town inn or coaching house where accommodation, alcohol and perhaps dancing might be had; again somewhat in keeping with elements of the song.
Morrigan’s Roadhouse, April 2024
Similarly, there is much within the song – and the quoted verse that might be applied to Second Life and those of us who have been engaged with the platform for a long time – do we ever really leave? Whilst the platform itself might be said to be programmed to receive.
But then there is the name of the setting itself, which carries one away from the poetry of (relatively) modern song and lyrical juxtapositions of meanings real and imagined, and into the realm of Irish / Celtic mythology in the form of The Morrigan, the Phantom Queen, most often associated with war and fate, and said to be able to take the form of a crow. Indeed, within the setting, the ruins of a chapel (again the work of Marcus Inkpen) offer a shrine and prayers to the Morrigan, further strengthening this connection.
Morrigan’s Roadhouse, April 2024
Nor are these two thematic elements in opposition to one another; just as there has been much debate and speculations about the meaning behind the lyrics of Hotel California, so the Morrigan can be interpreted in different ways. she is seen as both an individual in the form of the Red or Phantom Queen, and also a triumvirate, as both a threefold goddess and also as the Morrigu, three sisters of united heritage cause. Thus, both the reference to the song and to the pagan figure, lend an air of mysticism combined with fantasy and dream to the setting, well in keeping with its unique and engaging presentation.
Which is undeniable about Morrigan’s Roadhouse is the sense of enchantment and the fantastical found throughout, be it in the will-o’-the-wisp-like blankets of mist drifting here and there between the trees and over the waters, or the exotic plants and giant mushrooms awaiting discovery, or the unicorn and albino stag watching over the landscape, or the simple presence of boats floating serenely in the air. There is a charm and sense of magic to be found within the buildings (and under them in the case of the main house), whilst the motifs of familiars (cats and ravens) might be found in multiple places throughout.
Morrigan’s Roadhouse, April 2024
That said, this is a place where flycamming is perhaps more advantageous in seeing all that is on offer when compared to walking around. There are elements of the setting not entirely conducive to wandering on foot, and while this may make finding them a little harder, the fact that the landscape does hold somewhat inaccessible corners is entirely in keeping with Nature herself in rarely offering us a simple footpath or trail to follow.
Engaging, photogenic, peaceful and definitely with more than enough in possible motifs, themes and meanings to get the brain cogitating on all of its cylinders (a mere four in my case, admittedly!), Morrigan’s Roadhouse makes for a very worthwhile place to visit.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 