Infinite: celebrating Indigenous Australian art in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Subcutan Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Infinite

Indigenous Australian art takes many forms – rock painting, dot painting, rock engravings, bark painting, carvings, sculptures, and weaving and string art – and is the oldest unbroken tradition of art in the world.

It is rich in meaning and forms a central element of aboriginal life, the motifs, symbols and designs used revealing tribal relationships, social position, and more – all of which is noted by Sophie de Saint Phalle (Perpetua1010) in the introduction to Infinite, her latest exhibition which opened at the end of January 2022 in a new level of her gallery spaces, the Subcutan Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre.

Art is part of the main rituals in Aboriginal culture: it marks territories, records history, supports and transmits narratives about the Dreamtime. Similar to how Christians have their own story about the creation of the world, Aboriginal Dreamtime describes the creation of the world and each landscape.

– From the introduction of Infinite by Sophie de Saint Phalle

Subcutan Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Infinite

Laid out in a setting designed to evoke thoughts of the outback desert, with large rock-like blocks that appear to shimmer in the heat, Infinite presents a series of bass-relief paintings and watercolours by Sophie produced in the same manner and styles as those used by Australian aboriginals. However, these are no mere interpretations of indigenous art; rather, it is a genuine homage, as Sophie notes:

My art shown at this gallery was inspired by my stay in Australia where I lived with the Aborigines for several weeks.
From the Aborigines I learnt how to find and use the typical aboriginal paints. Mainly pigments derived from clay tinted with mineral oxides Very rare is the colour blue which you find in some of my paintings.
Some colours are mined from “ochre mines” and used for both painting and ceremonies. Inorganic pigments such as ochre or rock flour is sometimes collected only by certain men of a clan. Other colours are made from clay, wood ash, and animal blood. All colours are natural.

– Sophie de Saint Phalle

Subcutan Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Infinite

These are richly evocative pieces that speak to traditions, beliefs and a view of the world that is far, older than any European or other influences that have made their way to, and across, Australia.

They also stand as a mark of respect from Sophie to the peoples with whom she spent time and from whom she learned their techniques and approach to their painting as a expression of their history. For as she again herself notes: within aboriginal society, reputation is acquired through the gaining of knowledge and understanding and not by the accumulation of material possessions.

Thus the pieces in this exhibition speak to the knowledge and understanding Sophie has received from her mentors, and presents a reflection of the infinite depth of their beliefs and connection to Nature. They also offer a fascinating glimpse into a world the majority of us will never witness, much less encounter or understand, marking Infinite as much a journey as an exhibition.

Subcutan Art Gallery and Multimedia Centre: Sophie de Saint Phalle – Infinite

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A Buddha Garden in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Buddha Garden, February 2022 – click any image for full size

Update, December 29th, 2002: Buddha Garden has relocated – please read A Return to Buddha Garden in Second Life for more.

Tucked into the north-west quadrant of a Full region using the private island LI bonus, lies Buddha Garden, a “paradise of pleasure” put together by Gian (GiaArt Clip) and Havih – and a place deserving of its description.

It sits as a quarter-region parcel very much of two parts. To the north and west sits a lowland area, separated from the rest of the land by two channels of water. It forms a broad, flat sandbar of a beach that offers the kind of activities and opportunities one might expect of a tropical beach resort: there’s a beach bar (serving as the parcel’s unenforced landing point), complete with a wooden path that winds its way to where a dance floor sits over the sand. Nearby a deck extends over the shallows, while boats are moored within wading distance of the golden sands. All of which is watched over by the patient form of Buddha sitting in meditation.

Buddha Garden, February 2022

On the landward side of the beach, the water channels join at the mouth of a river that runs westwards from where it starts as a series of waterfalls that step their way down from the eastern heights. This river is braced on either side by high rocky plateaux that extend outwards from these eastern and the southern highlands.

These plateaux, together with the grassy lowlands that sit below the southern curtain of cliffs, present a very different atmosphere to the sense of fun, music and dance found on the sandbar beach. Reached via a pair of bridges, these lands are more peaceful and introspective in nature and offer hints of ancient places of worship, and for spiritual activities.

Buddha Garden, February 2022

To the south, a further series of waterfalls drop down from the cliffs to reach pools below. Their passage down the rock is watched over by a series of carved seated figures of Buddha, where the pools at their feet are open to visitors. Steps lead up to both, and while one remains in its natural state (and includes a place to sit and meditate), the other has been built out into a place to bathe within the crystal waters falling from above which in turn provide shimmering curtains that front a couple of shallow cavern hideaways.

Between both pools, and tucked against the base of the cliffs sit both a little cuddle spot set beneath the blooms and boughs of a plum tree and – perhaps not so noticeable but worth discovering – a well-like teleport. The latter will carry those who find it up to a skybox gallery hosting Gian’s art, a mix of images and paintings from both the virtual and the physical worlds.

Buddha Garden, February 2022

Back on the ground, the tops of the tall plateaux can be reached by winding path and / or stairs, one path marked by a Torii gate, the other leading past more of the secrets within the region – the entrances to tunnels and caverns that run and sit below one plateau and reach back behind the waterfalls that feed the river. I’ll leave you to explore these and what lies within them, and instead turn my attention to the plateaux tops.

Follow the path upwards marked by the Torii gate, and it will lead you by twist and turn up to where a second gate stands in greeting and the gardens continue with blossoming trees, a place of levitating meditation. Beyond it, steps climb upward to a place of refreshment together a small pagoda sitting over a koi pond and further places of meditation and relaxation, all of which sit beneath the blanket of a tropical rain shower.

Buddha Garden, February 2022

To the west, beyond the waterfalls and their short river, the lower plateau sits as the home to a further retreat located on its grassy top. Complete with pools of calming water indoors and out, places to meditate or to sit and cuddle – and even a hot tub in which to relax, it makes for a peaceful retreat as it overlooks the beach.

Should the plateaux prove a little too giddy to climb, visitors can take the stepping stones that run up the middle of the river from the beach. They end in another round flagstone offering a levitating experience, whilst on the southern bank of the river a further sanctuary sits, with an outdoor tub and shower and refreshments waiting to be shared within.

Buddha Garden, February 2022

Finished with a rich ambient soundscape and with birds and wildlife also awaiting discovery (as well as cats and dogs!), Buddha Garden offers a lot to see and appreciate, complete with secrets and touches to keep a visit entertaining. My thanks to Shawn for the LM and pointer!

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2022 SUG meetings week #5: summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Longing Melody, January 2022 – blog post

The following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. No video for this week, as Pantera was unable to attend.

Server Deployments – Restarts Only

All simhosts are being restarted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 (SLS Main channel) and Wednesday, and February 2nd, 2022 (SLS RC channels). No deployments will form a part of the re-starts.

There should hopefully be a new simulator version available for the RC deployments in week #6.

Available Official Viewers

This list reflects those official viewers currently available.

  • Release viewer: version version 6.5.2.567427 – Mac Voice hotfix viewer, January 13 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.5.3.567451, issued on January 20th, combining the Jenever and Koaliang Maintenance viewers.
    • The Tracy Integration RC viewer version 6.4.23.563771 (dated Friday, November 5) issued Tuesday, November 9.
  • Project viewers:
    • Performance Improvements project viewer version 6.6.0.567604, dated January 24.
    • Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.4.23.562625, issued September 2.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

In Brief

  • The core of the meeting was a user-to-user discussion about BUG-231634 “[Feature Request] llGetObjectDetails() constant OBJECT_BODY_SHAPE_HOVER_HEIGHT”, and the exact requirements for calculating and avatar’s position (notably relative to a sit object), where the issues lay, and what needs to be done. However, given the Lab’s response to the feature request, it appears unlikely this will be a focus of work near-term.
  • Leviathan Linden is compiling a list of feature requests that he will likely be tackling as he eases back into working on Second Life. As s first part of this work, he has been looking at requests related to llGetPrimitiveParams(), noting:
I’ve already overhauled the logic to allow me to call the fundamental logic in llGetPrimitiveParams() via llGetObjectDetails() but will have to translate the parameter values. I’m at the point where I’m wondering which should be supported and which should not.

This sparked a discussion on the parameter should be supported, with suggestions including: PRIM_SIZE, PRIM_TEXT, PRIM_BOUNDING_BOX, etc., leaving Leviathan noting:

Well, my inclination would be to expose a few safe parameters to llGetObjectDetails() and add more later after more discussion/feedback.

So expect this to be a discussion for future SUG meetings.

Lab Gab with Brad Oberwager & Philip Rosedale: a summary with video + audio

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

On Monday, January 31st, Linden Lab streamed a pre-recorded session of Lab Gab featuring the company’s Executive Chairman Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden) and the Lab’s co-founder, Philip Rosedale, who recently re-joined Linden Lab in the capacity of a strategic advisor, having left in 2010 to work on a number of projects – most notably co-founding High Fidelity Incorporated in 2013.

The session was built around more than 300 questions submitted by users in the wake of the announcement that High Fidelity had invested in Linden Lab in terms of money, patents and personnel.

The following is a summary of the session, the full video of which is embedded at the end.

  • For ease of reference, I have broken this summary into heading based on the topics discussed through the session, and timestamps to the relevant start point in the video are provided for each.
  • Throughout the summary comments made by / questions directed towards Brad Oberwager are preceded by [BO] and those relating to or made by Philip Rosedale are preceded by [PR].
  • Note that audio extracts, where provided, have (as usual) been subject to some editing to remove pauses, repetition and the occasional aside that fall outside of the topic being discussed. This has been done with the aim of making it easier to follow the comments being made, and without changing the context or meaning of any of the statements made.

On the Investment by High Fidelity

[Video: 1:54-4:49 – PR]

  • After leaving Linden Lab in 2010, went on to establish Coffee And Power (2010-2012), prior to co-founding High Fidelity, a company initially focused on building a VR headset-centric virtual world.
  • In 2019, the company concluded the current generation(s) of VR headsets would not be commercially successful enough to sustain a virtual world environment. So the company pivoted away from this in 2019 – see: High Fidelity changes direction: the reality of VR worlds today (& tomorrow?), High Fidelity changes direction (2) and High Fidelity changes direction (3): layoffs & shuttering apps and access), eventually opting to focus of 3D spatial audio.
  • The Spatial audio side of the business – which already has the software licensed to a number of customers – will continue, However, the company retained a core set of skills based around building VW technologies, and with Brad Oberwager coming into Linden Research in a very hands-on capacity, he and Philip reached agreement that there is a synergy between the VW expertise at Hi-Fi and the work LL is doing with SL.
  • His personal view is the Second Life is the place to explore where virtual reality might go next, as it remains the cutting edge example of what a virtual is, and what might be achieved within one.

On What the Investment Means for Second Life / LL and for High Fidelity

[Video: 4:54-9:37]

  • [BO]
    • Looks at the relationship in three ways: personal, business and “meta”.
    • Personal: he and Philip have been friends for a long time. They share lot of personal time (e.g. travelling to and from Burning Man together, sharing walks and the occasional beer, etc.), and he has a lot of respect for Philip as well as liking him, and he is also a person he would like to emulate. Sees being able to connect with Philip within a business environment as “very gratifying”.
    • Business: running a platform like Second Life as a “great responsibility”, and fully acknowledges the platform is nothing without the users. So sees having someone with Philip’s vision to offer tactical and strategic input from outside of the company very beneficial.
    • “Meta”: believes that any / all consideration of “the metaverse” or of “metaverses” requires a moral compass. If it is left purely up to big corporations that generate their revenue through surveillance / behavioural monitoring (to deliver ads, content, etc.), could be “very dangerous”. In questioning of this approach and its associated technologies, he feels Philip has demonstrated he is that moral compass at this point in time, and is someone who continues to focus on serving and supporting users.
  • [PR]
    • In terms of Hi-Fi, the company retains a core team working on the spatial audio product, which is being licensed and will continue to be developed and licensed.
    • He will continue to run Hi Fi.

On the Role of Strategic Advisor

[Video: 9:39-11:17 – PR]

  • As an advisory role, is not responsible for day-to-day decision making with the Lab.
  • Meets with the various teams at Linden Lab as and when they specifically would like his input / ideas / perspective.
  • Very much appreciates being seen as a moral compass.
  • Also hopes that his experience as an engineer and product strategist can be put to practical use.
  • Personally enjoys becoming a voice at the table again in an environment where responsibility for the platform’s growth is shared between the company and the users.

On Their Friendship and Mutual Approach to SL / LL

[Video: 11:31-17:50]

  • [BO] Initially met around twelve years ago through mutual friends when taking a boat trip around San Francisco Bay. At the time Brad was trying to close his first major business deal and “acting like a goofball” and being “obnoxious” when he noticed Philip was watching him. Once on the trip, they started talking, which lead to dinner (with at least Philip’s wife – whom Brad has previously referred to as his “closest friend” – joining them).
  • [PR] notes that Brad had always shown an interest in Second Life, and when he happened to mention the Lab was looking to put itself up for sale, Brad was immediately interested in the opportunity presented.
  • [BO] On the subject of buying Linden Lab:
    • Understood that SL as a virtual world has different needs to those of LL as a company, so felt there was a real danger that had LL been purchased by an entity that didn’t understand the difference between the needs of the platform and the needs of a company, SL could have ended up being squeezed for revenue.
    • Took a much different view in acquiring the company, with a willingness to invest in a commitment to make the platform “better” – although he admits he is not that sure what “better” actually means.
    • As such, he acknowledges that running Linden Lab requires a “looseness” of approach and outlook that others might have missed.
  • [PR] Felt he left Linden Lab in 2010 without knowing whether or not he’d built a successful culture at the company whilst its CEO. However, believes that it has become apparent that it does take a special kind of company to steward Second Life. The fact that the culture within the company remains very similar to when he was CEO has both made him confident that the right choices were made and made returning to the company and the platform “easy”.

PR – On Returning to LL and His View on SL in 2022

[Video: 18:15-20:20 PR]

  • Felt the decision to invest in LL and make a return to SL was absolutely the right thing to do, and the decision was easy to make.
  • Believes Second Life is both “incredibly similar” to how it was when he left it, even though it obviously changed in terms of users and content, etc.
  • Has loved reacquainting himself with events and activities in-world, and once again participating in the “standing wave” the platform represents.

On Facebook and its Pivot to “Meta” and the “Metaverse”

[Video: 20:29-26:51]

  • [PR]
    • If he could provide advice to Facebook, it would be “don’t do it”.
    • Particularly believes that the temptation for companies such as Facebook to enter the metaverse environment and attempt to parlay their surveillance / behavioural business model (utilising data gathered on users for the purposes of generating revenue through targeted ads and content) would be extremely harmful.
    • In contrast, Second Life has clearly demonstrated a fully scalable business model that operates purely on a fees-driven model, one that generates more revenue dollars per user per year than You Tube through its model, and probably than Facebook.
    • As such, believes the approach taken by LL / SL is much less prone to the risk of abuse and is safer than those espoused by the likes of Facebook and Google.

  • [BO]
    • Would add that as well as generating more money per user, Linden Lab also spends more per user.
    • Believes this is critical because a platform like You Tube is scale based: it relies on building a larger and larger audience, which in turn drives the surveillance / behavioural business model (more users means more adverts can be served and more revenue generated from advertisers, etc.).
    • The Second Life model, however is not just about user acquisition but is more equivalent to the physical world consumer model of supply and demand (or perhaps more properly for SL – demand and supply). So, the more closely links LL’s ability to generate revenue to its ability to offer capabilities and services to users, the more attractive it is for users to spend money on the platform.
    • As such, the decisions made by the likes of Facebook with regards to its platform will be very different to those made by the Lab for Second Life and its users.

Continue reading “Lab Gab with Brad Oberwager & Philip Rosedale: a summary with video + audio” →

Lab blogs on recent SL issues

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

The last full week of January 2022 saw Second Life experience a number of hiccups that causes no small amount of gnashing of teeth and rumblings from those of us affected.

With April Linden now departed, I wondered if we’d get any formal notification as to what what wrong – and on Monday January 31st, we indeed did, when the Lab blogged Recent Outages.

In short:

  • The week-long, if intermittent (for some) inventory issues: appear to have boiled down to an infrastructure overload, with an initial fix put in place followed by a back-end deployment it is hoped will prevent any recurrence.
  • The SLS Main channel restart freeze: for around 40% of the grid: a change in the simulator restart code resulted in some 12,000 simulators on the main grid attempting to re-start simultaneously, overloading the system, with many then hanging mid-restart. Steps have been taken to prevent this happening again.
  • Wednesday January 26th roll-out / rollback: an attempt to deploy (and then rollback) tools intended to help gather information on group chat performance hit problems, resulting in issues with login, group chat, and presence information, requiring Operations to intervene and crank the rollback.

The official post isn’t quite to April’s level of detail although it is chattier than the above, and provides all the info for who may need further info should it be required. 🙂 .

Sci-fi, music and marking the (Chinese) New Year with Seanchai Library

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.

January 31st 19:00: A World Out of Time

After being cryogenically frozen in the 1970s to await a cure for his (then) incurable cancer, Jaybee Corbell awakes after more than 200 years – to find his own body destroyed and his mind and memories transferred into the “mindwiped” body of a criminal. And that’s is not all that has changed: the Earth is now overseen by an oppressive, totalitarian global government called “The State”, and Corbell’s existence is to be determined by a “checker”; if he is found wanting, he will be discarded.

However, Peerssa, the checker, recommends Corbell as ideal fodder in The State’s attempts to seek out exoplanets suitable for terraforming – whether he wants to join the programme or not. Disgusted by his treatment, Corbell works out a way to take control of his one-person ship on its otherwise one-way mission, and heads toward the galactic core. Entering suspended animation, he is unaware his vessel skims close enough to the super-massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy to experience time dilation.

Emerging from his suspended state, and believing only 150 years have passed, Corbell returns to the solar system to find it again vastly changed: more than three million years have passed, and the Sun has become a bloated red giant, and Earth – well, Earth appears to have been relocated to an orbit around Jupiter, whilst humanity itself had endured extensive changes; and Corbell must face an entirely new set of challenges if he is to survive.

Join Gyro Muggins as he reads the 1976 novel (and originally a short story) by Larry Niven.

Tuesday, February 1st

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym

With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Celebrating the Year of the Tiger

Caledonia Skytower says Gong xi fa cai – or if you prefer the Cantonese: Gung hay fat choy as the Chinese calendar turns over a new year and we say “goodbye” to the of the Ox and hello to the year of the Tiger.

The Tiger is the third sign in the Chinese zodiac. According to legend, Tiger was confident that no one could compete with its speed and vigour for the celestial race that would decide the order of the zodiacs. However, when Tiger climbed out of the river, thinking it was first, it was informed that Rat placed first for its cunning and Ox placed second for its diligence. This left the king of the jungle having to settle for third place.

Traditionally celebrated over 16 days (this year commencing on January 31st), this session stands as a mini celebration of all that the Chinese New Year entails, through story and voice.

Wednesday, February 2nd: Dark

No readings for this week.

Thursday, February 3rd 19:00: Thursday Night Sci-Fi

With Finn Zeddmore.