Spirits of the Sea in Second Life

Spirits of the Sea – Serena Imagine Arts Centre

Now open at the Serena Imagine Arts Centre, curated by Vita Theas is a new exhibition of images by Storie’s  Helendale (GlitterPrincess Destiny). Spirits of the Sea is, as with Storie’s previous exhibitions, a themed piece, the images reflecting a thought or narrative.

The core element of this theme is provided via a blank verse Storie’s provides with the introduction to the piece:

In my imagination I felt to create the sense…
… that spirits or ghosts
inhabit the sea
with maybe an untimely demise
never the less they continue with their lives
pieces of memories
as seen through my eyes… or the spirits.

Spirits of the Sea – Serena Imagine Arts Centre

So it is that, under a lowering sky befitting the theme, are more than 20 ethereal piece set out over a foaming sea broken by a rocky shoreline. Twelve of the images are set out either side of two cylindrical walkways pointing out to sea. These give the impression you are perhaps in an aquarium or under the sea, looking out at the images within the waters “surrounding” the tunnels. Ladders at the far ends of the tubes allow you to climb down to the water itself – invisiprims prevent any risk of sinking – so you can walk out over the water to see the rest of the pieces.

Taken as a whole, Storie’s pictures displayed here at first appear to be an eclectic mix. All are very ethereal in tone – again, as befitting the theme of spirits and the departed. However, some suggest memories being recalled – the woman putting washing out to dry; the children playing basketball. Others perhaps suggest past tragedies or illness which led to the people within them becoming spirits, lost to the physical world but still going about their business in the other world of our oceans.

Spirits of the Sea – Serena Imagine Arts Centre

But is their existence a happy one? Again, some suggest being caught in a particular moment – that point of death where, beneath the surface of the waves with lungs aching, that final inhalation has been taken, and the body started on a slow journey into the Deep; the torment of helplessness evoked by wheelchair and straitjacket as fears are manifested in the form of sharks circling.

But not all of the images are dark like this; there is also a sense of friendship continued, a flicker here and there of love, dance, companionship – and waiting. In this the clue to all that is going on within these timeless moments is perhaps encapsulated in another blank verse, rising from the waters close to the landing point.

Your arrival makes us certain
our spirits will remain
preserved
as we breath in your colours.

we … have become so
fashionable
as we sleepwalk past our lives.

In echoed depths
Blended well.

Spirits of the Sea – Serena Imagine Arts Centre

An intriguing, captivating exhibition.

SLurl Details

Kultivate 2018 Spring Art Show in Second Life

Kultivate Spring Art Show 2018

The Kultivate Magazine 2018 Spring Art Show officially opens on Friday, April 6th, and runs through until Saturday, April 14th. This celebration of 3D and 2D art features more than 40 participating artists, with both juried and non-juried art competitions, with those participating in the juried event competing to win a shared prize pot, gift cards, and more.

The event – which is taking place on a specially constructed show area at Kultivate Magazine’s home region of Water Haven – will also feature live performers, two hunts, a photo contest and learning opportunities.

The juried 2D and 3D artists are: AJ, CalystiaMoonShadow, Maaddi, Carly Afterthought, Wintergeist, Wild Alchemi, Sheba Blitz, Chanasitsayo, Eucalyptus Carroll, Avalon Chrome, Erkek DeCuir, Bellissa Dion, Slatan Dryke, Gwen Enchanted, Bri Graycloud, Syphera Inaka, Lala Lightfoot, Aquarius Lowtide,  Dakota Lavarock, Sabine Mortenwold, Pipit Peacedream, FiordiligiDaPonte Resident, KodyMeyers Resident, M8ty Resident, SecondHandTutti Resident, Jamee Sandalwood, Elle Thorkveld, Lucia Tophat,  Silverwind Tzedek, FreeDom Voix,  and Myra Wildmist.

Kultivate Spring Art Show 2018

The non-juried artists are: Eleseren Brianna, Jasmin Currier, Bellissa Dion, GlitterPrincess Destiny, Slatan Dryke, Hana Hoobinoo, aht1981 resident, Johannes1977 Resident, Kimblecoles Resident, M8ty Resident, Mangrovejane Resident, Eviana Robbiani (La Robbiani), Catalina Staheli, iSkye Silverweb, and Veruca Tammas.

Event Schedule

All times SLT.

  • Friday, April 6th, 2018:
    • 08:00: Art Show opens and hunt, quest and photo contest begin.
    • 16:00-17:00: Live Performer Parker Static
  • Saturday, April 7th, 2018:
    • 13:00-14:00: Coffee-house Learning Hour – Beginners or Refresher’s SL Photography with Kaijah Chrome.
    • 16:00-17:00: Coffee-house Learning Hour – Marketing Yourself as an Artist with John Brianna.
  • Sunday, April 8th, 2018:
    • 13:00-14:00: Coffee-house Learning Hour – Using Flickr to the Max with John Brianna.
    • 16:00-17:00: Coffee-house Learning Hour – Basic Photo Editing with John Brianna.
  • Monday, April 9th, 2018:
    • 16:00-17:00: Live Performer Nina Bing.
  • Tuesday, April 10th, 2018:
    • 16:00-17:00: Live Performer Wolfie Starfire.
  • Wednesday, April 11th:
    • 12:00-13:00: Coffee-house Learning Hour – Useful Stuff For Making Art with Eleseren Brianna.
    • 16:00-17:00: Live Performer Lark Bowen.
  • Thursday, April 12th, 2018:
    • 16:00-17:00: Live Performer Melenda Mikael.
  • Friday, April 13th, 2018:
    • 16:00-17:00: Live Performer Dimivan Ludwig.
    • 20:00: Photo contests ends.
  • Saturday, April 14th, 2018:
  • 13:00-14:00: Coffee-house Learning Hour – Copyright & Creative Commons in Photography with Veruca Tammas.
  • 15:00-16:00: Seanchai Library.
  • 16:00-17:00: Awards Event & Closing Party.
  • 20:00: hunt and quest end, photo contest winners announced.

For details on the hunt, quest and photo contest, please refer to the information boards at the event.

Kultivate Spring Art Show 2018

SLurl Details

 

Decisions and memories in Second Life

Wintergeist – Decisions

Now open at the Artists In Residence gallery in the InterstellART, curated by Asmita Duranjaya, is a new exhibition of physical world photography by Fuyuko Amano (Wintergeist). Entitled Entscheidungen (decisions), it is dedicated to her father, who recently passed away, and so forms something of a personal exhibition of art.

A further dedication to her father sits alongside the landing point for the exhibit, which reads:

One morning you do not wake up. The birds sing as they sang yesterday. Nothing changes this new daily routine. Only you left. You are free now and our tears wish you luck.

Wintergeist – Decisions

Inside the gallery space, a dozen photographs are offered for viewing. They at first appear to be a curious mix: a building, an autumn leaf, a deliberately blurred night scene, an empty corridor, and so on. They seem to be random – and perhaps they are; yet, a considered look at them, taken with their titles (just right-click and edit to view), and perhaps something more is revealed.

When we lose someone, the mind becomes a waterfall of memories and mood, thoughts and feelings. The closer that person was to us, then the more tumultuous the thoughts. We can feel alone, caught between places and feelings – sometimes happy, others sad; places we can go to and remember, places that remind us, unbidden by conscious thought. Our moods become complex, layered; the familiar seems emptier, stranger, and it’s hard  – at first – not to count the passing of time when they are no longer there, doing what we know was part of their life.

Wintergeist – Decisions

This is this cascade of thoughts and feelings that might be reflected in the images offered here: rather than being a study of leaves turning red with the passage of the seasons, Herbst (Autumn)  becomes a reminder of what has now come to an end; Night City personifies the way the once familiar can seem suddenly strange to our eyes after the loss of a loved one; Here and There captures that sense of being capture between moods and memories; while In the City of Ghosts, Allein (Alone) and Don’t lose Your Way, speak powerfully and clearly without the need for translation here.

This is – as I noted – something of a personal display of photography, both in the way it is dedicated to the passing of a family member, and because of the manner in which Wintergeist appears to be opening her heart and feelings to use, allowing us a glimpse inside. Artistically speaking, it is also a visually captivating set of images; each beautifully framed and cleanly presented without the distraction of framing.

SLurl Details

Art at the Rose Gallery in Second Life

The Rose Gallery: Shadow (MyShadowSelf)

The Rose Gallery, located at Kaya Angel’s stunning Angel Manor has re-opened its doors with an ensemble exhibition, focused on art and photography by Shadow (MyShadowSelf) and Melodiyaa (aka Aphrodite Pandemos), a display of Fabergé eggs, and which includes a selection of images from curator Shakti Sugafield (Shakti Adored).  The art is displayed over two floors of the Manor, which has a total of seven rooms forming the Rose Gallery.

Melodiyaa is both a writer and a photographer. She has written for a number magazines in the Netherlands, and had always regarded photography as a hobby. However, when writing one article, she found she was without an assigned photographer – so she took along her camera and submitted her own photos with the article. As a result, she found herself in demand as both a writer and a photographer.

The Rose Gallery: Melodiyaa

For the exhibition at the Rose, located in Gallery 1, on the ground floor, six photographs Melodiyaa took whilst in Venice are presented to visitors. It’s a superb selection, mixing familiar sites: a view across the canals with St Mark’s Campanile in the background, gondolas moored along the canals, with more unusual – dare I say intimate studies – the décor on a gondola, the shuttered window of a house, the broken adobe of a wall, exposing the brickwork beneath.

In galleries 3 and 4, also on the ground floor and across the lobby area from Gallery 1, Shadow offers a broad selection of her digital art. She notes that she has little formal training in art, her degree being in philosophy, and that she views her art as meditative; a counter-balance to her mental activity, which often ranges to thoughts of the nature of existence and consciousness, from both scientific and spiritual perspectives.

The Rose Gallery: Shadow (MyShadowSelf)

The art on display spans landscapes, mandala-like pieces, chakras, fantasy-like works and more. some appear to have been grouped thematically. They also show a rich mix of materials and approaches: acrylic, pastel and pencil, mixed media, pastels and coloured pencils; all of which offer the visitor an intriguing insight of the artist and her work.

The upper gallery spaces host a historic display of events from Angel Manor’s past and the selected art from Shakti’s personal collection. These bracket the main exhibition hall, in which is the display of some of the most delicate Fabergé eggs I’ve seen in Second Life, with marvellous models by Pandora (Heloise Ghostaltar), Claire-Sophie de Rocoulle (tjay007), Pamela Galli, and Alia Baroque. Camming in on these is highly recommended, as they are exquisite (see the GIF below). They share the hall with a display of miniature bunnies by Eeky Cioc, Leo Maven and Apple Falls, and are preceded by a short history of the painted eggs.

An interesting ensemble exhibition, with a rich mix of art, my one critique is that it might perhaps be easy to miss the displays of work by Shadow and Melodiyaa, simply because the landing point and signage tends to direct arrivals to the upper floors, and with the ground floor galleries set back on either side, they might easily be missed.

An official opening for the gallery is set for 12:00 noon on Sunday, April 1st, featuring the music of Oblee.

SLurl Details

Eidola: reality and perception in Second Life

Eidola

Eidola (a phantom; an apparition; an ideal) is a new installation by Livio Korobase, which opened on March 16th, 2018. It’s a daring, imposing – and possibly overwhelming – build; seeking to explore the eye and the idea; how vision has helped form our perceptions and understanding of the world around us.

It’s an ambitious subject, one that dates back at least to the time of Pythagoras, as is indicated in the installation’s liner notes. He believed that we could see because the eye emits rays of light, and that these rays gave a person information about colour and shape. From this idea through Democritus to Johannes Kepler by way of Da Vinci, and with a mention of gestaltism along the way, the liner notes provide a framework for understanding the installation, including the fact it uses, as a means of both presenting ideas and navigating it, the five chapters of Ruggero Pierantoni’s  1981 book, The eye and the idea. Physiology and history of vision.

Eidola

Visitors arrive at a near central arrival point, which offers significant reading – including an excerpt from Wassily Kandinsky’s ruminations on the geometrical elements which make up every painting, and the basic plane, the material surface on which the artist draws or paints. This sits alongside extracts discussing the nature of visible light and the brain’s reaction to light entering the eye.

From here, visitors are invited to make their way through six vast houses, most of which are elevated in varying manners – on the backs of great statues, atop basalt columns, up in the branches of trees. The first five houses reflect the chapters of Pierantoni’s book, and the sixth something of a conclusion.  These are linked one to another by raised ladders on top of scaffolds laid out as horizontal walkways. The first of these can be reached via a short walk over the landscape, or a teleport board is available for those short of time, or returning for a further visit and wish to resume where they left off.

Eidola

Each of the houses is packed with information on its specific topic: Myths of Vision; Space, Inside and Outside; Light, inside and Outside; Proportions, Symmetries and Alphabets; and Illusion and Pleasure. Some of the walkways are on a single level, some are there to be climbed in order to see the contents in a house, and one includes a teleport. Outside of the houses, the walkways offer views across the surrounding landscape. This is filled with what might at first appear to be curios watched over by gigantic humans – but they are all in some way related to the overall theme of the installation.

At the end of the elevated walkways, beyond the sixth house, is the frame of a house. Approach and enter this, and the frame is revealed at an animated work of art built in reflection of the themes from the rest of the installation: perception, perspective, line, point, and more.

Eidola

Trying to quantify this installation is not easy; it is one that needs to be personally experienced. The amount of information it contains can be overwhelming if trying to take everything in during a single visit. But there is a lot of food for thought to be found in the houses for those interested in science, philosophy, psychology, history or art; therefore more than one visit might be the best order of business.

SLurl Details

  • Eidola (LEA 24, rated: Moderate)

UWA Art of the Artists machinima challenge winners

Poster by Eliza Wierwright

On March 26th, 2018, the winners of the UWA Art of Artists machinima challenge, launched in July 2017, were announced. Initially sponsored by LaPiscean Liberty of SLArtist and Singh Albatros and The Writers Centre, Singapore, the challenge opened with a prize pool of L$350,00 which, thanks to additional sponsors such as Pooky Amsterdam of Pookymedia, topped-out at L$430,000 by the time the challenge closed to entries on December 31st, 2017.

Challenge entrants were asked to produce a machinima film focused on any of the art exhibits located on the UWA regions in Second Life. They were allowed to choose individual pieces of art or a collection around which to weave a story. However, the art had to be a relatively significant part of the story, and not merely something glimpsed in passing, and films to be considered for any of the prizes could not exceed 8 minutes in length (although longer films could be submitted if desired.

The award ceremony was held at the historic Winthrop Hall in the UWA virtual campus in Second Life. As well as a celebration of the competition and its winners, the event also marked an end of an era. “It’s a farewell from me,” Jayjay Zifanwe, who has been the powerhouse behind the UWA’s presence in Second Life and its patronage of digital arts, informed me ahead of the ceremony.

He continued, “Farewell in a sense that it’s the last of my major events, and the last speech in will do within SL.” During his opening address at the awards ceremony, Jayjay took time to thank all of those – especially Freewee Ling, curator of the UWA’s art exhibits, and to all those who have done so much to make the UWA’s presence in SL so rewarding for him. In doing so, he also paid tribute to artist Alizarin Goldflake, who passed away recently after a long illness.

The Awards

All of the entries can be viewed on the Slartist website.

Art of the Artists Awards

Sponsored by LaPiscean Liberty and Slartist.

Award Awarded To
Film title / link
1st – L$75,000 Glasz Decuir Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) and Intrusion Detection System(IDS)
2nd – L$50,000 Tutsy Navarathna Serendipity
3rd – L$40,000 Natascha Randt & Karmia Hoisan The River of Forgetting
4th –  L$30,000 Isabelle Cheren Before the World was Made
5th – Award L$20,000 Bryn Oh Cerulean
Craft Awards (L$7,000 each)
Suzie Anderton; Amelie Marcoud; Diana Rose; Elle Thorkveld; Tantra Sangha & M1nn0taur; Veyot; Gerhard Helmut & Lila~R; Iono Allen; Joseph Nussbaum; Secret Rage; Lampithaler

 

The Pookymedia Awards

Sponsored by Pooky Amsterdam and Pookymedia.

Award Awarded To
Film title / link
1st – L$25,000 Bryn Oh Cerulean
2nd –  L$15,000 Tutsy Navarathna Serendipity
3rd –  L$10,000 Suzie Anderton Never Say Never
Honourable Mentions (L$1,000 each)
Amelie Marcoud; Iono Allen; Lampithaler; Isabelle Cheren; Chic Aeon

 

UWA Art of the Artists Special Awards

Totalling L$51,000, awarded by Jayjay Zifanwe on behalf of the University of Western Australia.

Award Awarded To
Film title / link
L$17,000 Amelie Marcoud For Love and Art
L$17,000 Suzie Anderton Never Say Never
L$17,000 Chic Aeon The Amalgamation of Objects

The Merlion Special Prizes

Awarded by Singh Albatros and Kaylee West on behalf of The Writer’s Centre, Singapore to the films which best represent the The Merlion,  the national personification of Singapore, and featured at the Merlion Portal in Second Life.

Award Awarded To
Film title / link
L$16,666 Amelie Marcoud For Love and Art
L$16,666 Suzie Anderton Art and Transformation – a dialogue at intervals
L$17,000 Diana Rose A Journey From the Past: Singapore

 

 

Congratulations to all those who received an award, and thanks to Jayjay, FreeWee and all those involved in this challenge.