Tag: Nitroglobus

Mareea Farrasco is a Second Life photographer whose work covers a broad range, from avatar studies to landscapes – the latter oft processed to resemble paintings – and the literal to the metaphorical, producing images that can contain within them a rich narrative or which offer the confluence of shape and form to present a simple statement or comment.

Many of these elements are presented to us through her exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas, with the exception of examples of her landscape work – for reasons that will become clear. Entitled Claustrophobia, the exhibition takes as its theme the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but from an angle that perhaps has not gained the attention it deserves.

When asked to define “claustrophobia”, most people are liable to go with its more well-known meaning: an abnormal dread of being in closed or narrow spaces. However, the word has another meaning, one not so often considered and that is a feeling of discomfort or discontent caused by being in a limiting or restrictive situation or environment, and it is this second definition that Mareea focuses upon.

We live, these days, in a confined, pandemic universe of our own, and we are all more or less “claustrophobic”, even without suffering from this disorder in our normal, healthy lives. This exhibition is my metaphoric way to express those feelings, trying to rationalise them, in order to make them endurable.

– Mareea Farrasco, introducing Claustrophobia

Now to confess, on first seeing the 14 images presented for the exhibition, I fell into the trap of looking at them through the lens of that more popular definition of “claustrophobia”, and while there are one or two that contain elements that most certainly do convey a sense of physically restricted space and / or a sensation of the walls closing in (notably Claustrophobia (6) and Claustrophobia (7)), I initially felt the exhibit, focused as it is on studies of an individual avatar, could just as easily be called “solitude”, without any need to reference the pandemic.

It was only when I broadened my consideration to that second definition foe “claustrophobia” that I was struck by the manner in which Mareea has perfectly encompassed it through each of the pieces offered in this exhibit, and seamlessly linked them to offer expressions of how we have been forced into am artificial sense of “claustrophobic distancing” because of the pandemic. It doesn’t matter if we’re home alone or with family, we have been forced to artificially limit our environment and interactions to an extent that expressions of solitude are all we actually have left; circumstance demanding that as constrained as we are, we turn our thoughts inwards.

Seen it this light, all of the pieces here are subtle and evocative explorations of thoughts and feelings that reflect our desire – our longing – for more normal times. At the same time, there is perhaps a deeper aspect to be considered. Whilst physical distancing from friends, colleagues, neighbours and all might well be a requirement for all of us, many of us do at least have family with who we can at least find some release from that sense of isolation – but what of those who live alone? For them, the routine of isolation has potentially been amplified by the pandemic; through Mareea’s images, we perhaps catch a glimpse of all they face.

Another outstanding exhibition at Nitroglobus that should not be missed.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated: Moderate)

Officially opening on Monday, July 6th at noon SLT at Dido Haas’ Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is an evocative, provocative and challenging exhibition entitled Ex Machina, created by Caly Applewhyte.

While her work embraces Second Life landscape images, Caly is perhaps primarily an artist focused on avatar studies, producing pieces that offer stories, and that can be both produced out of an underlying theme and / or nuanced in their content and message. It is in this latter area that the pieces presented within Ex Machina fall.

As individual images, each of the twelve large format pieces stands on its own in terms of narrative. While each has an obvious transhumanist / robotic element to it (the artificial enhancement of the body in the case of the former, the outright replacement of the body in the case of the latter), this is not necessarily the focus for the individual narrative; rather, this comes from the overall framing: the very human tilt of the head, the position of the hand (human or artificial), the cast of a look, etc., all of which serves to offer a story in and of itself.

However, when taken as a whole, it is evident that the transhumanist / robotic element evident in each piece does have a significant role to play in the exhibition’s core meaning. They reside alongside and reflect deeper themes of identity (and/or loss thereof), subjugation, and the psychological / philosophical / religious archetype of the eternal feminine, particularly as it relates to the idea (or myth, as Caly rightly references it) of the idealised female form, something that in turn encapsulates a touch Freud – and perhaps a darker warning.

The first of these ideals  – artificiality, transhumanism, robotics – are evident from the outset, as noted. Within them, we might choose to see questions as to humanity’s future; are we really simply the sum of our frequently all-too-frail parts? Or might our growing ability to manipulate technology, replicate our capabilities robotically and our evolving ability to create artificial intelligence one day lead to us completely transferring the human condition from that of flesh and bone to something we might see as more perfect, in whole or in part?

Such questions inevitably lead to the core focus of Ex Machina: questions of identity, subjugation and the idealised woman and what they may mean in a coming age.

For how better could the archetype of female beauty, grace, purity, and compliancy be expressed than through the creation of the flawless, artificial woman? And much easier might it be to relate to the potential widespread use of AI units than be giving them the idealised female face and form? After all, it is the female who is literally the mother of life, and the female ideal most often used to present the good and the positive.

But – and here’s the rub that Caly expressly raises – the entire idea of the eternal feminine whether rooted in the philosophical, psychological religious, is a male construct, one that has – intentionally or otherwise – constrained women. As humans, we are by nature flawed, just as all men are flawed in one way or another – though looks, abilities, disabilities, etc. However, for women, these flaws so often leave us wanting in the eyes of the (male) beholder, as Caly notes:

This paradigmatic myth, which generates high expectations that will always be disappointing, and moreover tries to trap women in an impossible ideal image, denying their individuality. Real women are thus always perceived as burdens, unfinished business.

Thus, in embodying the feminine in the perfection of the artificial, is there not a risk of further constraining / denying female individuality and value? To put it another way: in giving machines a female appearance, we may well establish a sense of connection to them in their role as servitors and assistants; but might not this also risk a further degradation of the place women have in society – perhaps even increasing things like the Madonna-whore complex (again, it is no coincidence the pieces in Ex Machina have a certain erotic edge to them)?

Complex, nuanced and challenging, Ex Machina is an exhibition intended to get the grey matter working, and it is well worth allowing it to do so, and in taking the time to to peel aside its layered meaning.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated: Moderate)

Opening on Monday, June 8th, 2020 at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas, is Tranquil Droplets, an exhibition of art by Bamboo Barnes.

There can be few involved in the art world within Second Life who can be unfamiliar with Bamboo’s work; it is by turns vibrant, evocative, provocative, emotive and so often rich in narrative. A physical world artist hailing from Japan, Bamboo works with digital tools to produce her pieces, her finished works strongly assertive in terms of its presentation, ability to dominate the space it occupies and in the way it demands the attention of the eye and mind.

There’s hopeless life still seeking for hopes like abandoned walking shadows of people on the street, my artworks are expression of confusion of life, darkness of light and strangeness of love. I create what I see but maybe you won’t, they are about people’s reality and mind.

– Bamboo Barnes, discussing her work

Much of her works is produced entirely outside of Second Life, which presents itself – along with Flickr – as a means for Bamboo to reach her audience. Which is not to say the pieces offered in Tranquil Droplets originated beyond our digital realm; rather the reverse, in fact, as the focus here is very much on avatar faces.

Not that the pieces offered are in any way a “traditional” avatar portrait / study; far from it. Each is presented in Bamboo’s rich, evocative style such that her use of colour, digital highlighting and layering all serve to add depth to the portraits offered. This gives each piece a life of its own, an expressive richness that presents us with a sense of story.

For Bamboo, emotions are a core element of her art, be they those that are invoked by the piece she is working on; those she felt at the time she started working, and / or those evoked by the music she is listening to, as well as those she sees within her subject.

All of this is strongly evident within the 17 pieces offered within Traquil Droplets, each one of which offers unique reflections of both her subjects and of various artistic techniques – abstract, modernist, hints of dadaism / collages, and impressionism, all without ever merely mimicking these styles.

As Bamboo says, these pieces are like water whose dripping echoes in the silence; once heard, it cannot easily be forgotten, except here, it is that each of these images that continue to live with the imagination long after they’ve been seen, because of their richness of colour, presentation and emotion. In other words, this is a captivating exhibition.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated: Moderate)

Officially open from Tuesday, May 5th at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery curated by Dido Haas, is Entropy, by EmberPolaris.

In terms of thermodynamics, entropy is defined as:

A measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is also usually considered to be a measure of the system’s disorder, that is a property of the system’s state, and that varies directly with any reversible change in heat in the system and inversely with the temperature of the system.

More informally, entropy is referred to as a general running down of the universe into a state of disorder. For her exhibition, Ember presents an almost Shakespearian view of modern life; one in which we might as a well be mannequins, we have so little little say in the fate of the universe as a whole; that all we say and do, all that we build, is merely a stage for the greater passage of life – ours and the universe’s.

It is a stark, but captivating view of things; one that might be referred to as emphasising the futility of life. But there is more here; through the use of mannequins in place of humans, Entropy folds within it question of identity – not only who we are or might be, but also a challenge as to what our role in life might be when framed against the bigger backdrop of the universe’s slow passing.

More then this, through the framing of each picture is a reminder that creation – and creativity – can offer a richness of beauty that far surpasses any darkness that might otherwise be inherent in these pictures: sunlight falling through the scaffolding of an advertising hoarding, Shadows falling across an alleyway or a sudden bright splash of colour amidst the grey; sunlight falling through clouds. 

There is a stark beauty within these pieces that is astonishing; life is present in every image, the use of mannequins as models notwithstanding; a vitality that stands in contrast to the basic meaning of entropy. There is also, conversely, the suggestion of disorder that is entirely in keeping with the precepts of entropy; it surrounds and enfolds the sense of order also suggested elements present in these pictures and their sense of structure and order of life as can be witnessed in the settings for many of these images.

Those Entropy is a richly layered exhibit, offering multiple commentaries on life, the universe, and our place within it, as well as presenting rich images in and of themselves.An excellent first-time exhibition from an artist I hope we’ll see more of in the future.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated: Moderate)

 

As I’ve oft noticed in these pages, through her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, Dido Haas presents some of the most evocative, engaging art to be found in Second Life. I’m constantly drawn back to the gallery each month as Dido has the ability to draw out the very best in the artists she invites to exhibit there, gracefully coxing their own inner voices to the fore.

However, Dido is herself a gifted photographer, although it is rare that she places her own art into the spotlight at her gallery. It is in part because of this that the latest exhibition at Nitroglobus is so attractive, because for April she offers a selection of her own work. I say “in part”, because Birds & Blue is very much a joint presentation from Dido (photography) and Harry Cover (ImpossibleisnotFrench – 3D elements).

We’ve turned Nitroglobus into a large pond, with the soothing sound of rippling water. Harry added awesome blue boats, barrels and super cool birds he made specially for this installation … For my part selected snapshots from my blog posts, which I made blue to fit into the mood of this installation, and I’ve added pieces of land (thx Miu) with seats and parasols, waving blue flower beds, rusty wind turbines, a beach hut, an animated rock and more… We hope you like to wander around, ‘cos it’s fun and should be enjoyed as such.

– Dido Haas describing Birds and Blue

The result is a setting that might be said to be much needed in the current times: big enough to have a wander around and enjoy the sounds and the setting; small enough to suit those who would rather just sit and admire the art and let the sounds wash over them and escape daily worries.

Tinted blue for the theme, Dido’s images further offer a means to relax and forget the worries of the world. Offering wide-open views, oft with coastlines and water, each piece sits as a window through which we can escape, perhaps to join Dido as she appears in many of the pictures, and share in her exploration.

When visiting, make sure you make your way up to the high beach house, where two of Dido’s black-and-white self-portraits offer s contract to the blue tones below.

A different kind of exhibition for Nitroglobus, but one that is nevertheless richly attractive.

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated: Moderate)

Now open at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas, is The Meaning of Love, an exhibition by street photographer Natalia Serenade.

Noted for her vivid use of colour and composition, Natalia notes that her art is centred on physical world photography that are very much images caught in the moment as she roams with her camera, and then mixed together, given life and colour through Photoshop to become statements in their own right.

For the Meaning of Life, Natalia brings together a series of images that offer reflections and comments on love and relationships as they can occur in the virtual realm (but do not always remain there). Such relationships can, as many have learned over the years that Second Life has been around, be deeply rewarding – adding depth and light to our virtual presence, offering love, closeness and comfort that never need to stray out of the confines of this digital medium.

Sometimes it is possible for such relationships to reach beyond the digital and into the physical and become even more enriching for those involved. This is something the Lab has sought to emphasise through the video series Love Made in SL. But virtual relationships can also be fraught with uncertainty.

Anonymity allows us far greater freedom than the physical world; this is both a blessing and a curse – a point people can so easily forget when blithely quoting Wilde. “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth” is only half the story. While we may well speak a great truth through the freedom given us by the mask of an avatar, so to does that same mask allow those who would  – if I might use half another famous quote, if slightly out-of-context and this time from Sir Walter Scott – “practice to deceive”.

To put it another way, when restricted to the the virtual, how can we ever be sure what we’re being told is the truth? What about those who enjoy the art of deceit and think nothing of using one or more alts achieve their own satisfaction? How can we even be sure such thoughts as these really have a grounding in “reality”, rather than being a product of our own uncertainty / hidden fears?

All of these ideas are explored in the images Natalia presents here: the warming glow of being basked in the happiness of love and of having “found someone”, the first rising concerns that al might not be as it seems, the realities of being manipulated, the uncertainties created by our own thoughts, the deceptions of which we might be guilty in keeping our on-line life and lives hidden from those physically around us. Each image in this collection of thirteen represents an aspect of love and the rewards / risks it brings. Each image richly makes use of colour as much as form  and subject to convey visceral feelings and emotions.

It’s an engaging, vibrant exhibit (be sure to mouse over individual pieces to see names / gain context, and one in which Natalia appears to be asking a question – perhaps of herself more than anyone else: is love in SL real, or just – for most at least – a fantasy?

SLurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated: Moderate)