Tag: Art 2026

Currently open at IMAGOLand & Galleries is an interesting exhibition by the gallery’s owner, Mareea Farrasco. Entitled Nature and Culture, it sits as an examination of the intersection of nature and culture expression, as seen through the creative lens of Second Life.

In the physical world, what we today view as culture – which here might be defined more as lifestyle and couture – largely stands very apart from the natural world. Where once culture – culinary preferences, mode of dress, belief systems, etc. -, were very much rooted within the environments in which they flourished, they now easily exist divorced from their natural origins, allowing them to be found and experienced the world over.

However, in Second Life, there is no such separation – indeed no such evolution from nature to culture / couture. As Mareea notes, everything is effectively manufactured, born out of deliberate design and the manifestation of light photons through the electronic medium of graphics chips and processing.

The result is a world in which “nature” and “culture” are – from a creative standpoint – one in the same. There is no separation of one from the other, just as there is no natural progression from one to another. They both simply exist. 

This is reflected within Nature and Culture through both juxtaposition and combination through its mix of avatar-centric “fashion” pictures and images of an avatar exploring in-world locations. The juxtaposition is just that: the placing of the “fashion” images alongside of – but somewhat distinct from in terms of style (such as the triptych) and content, the “landscape” images. It’s a presentation that leaves the two as feeling separate and distinct. Until, at least, one considers the avatar herself. She brings them together, and she does so not merely because of the outfit she wears

She does so because her presence throughout all of the images reminds us of the fact that everything in SL is conjoined through the aforementioned act of intentional creation. She, the clothes she wears, the settings she is “exploring” – all underscore the fact that neither nature nor culture exist within Second Life in the manner in which they have grown together and undergone separation within the physical world.

Thus we’re presented with a series of images prompting us to consider both the nature of Second Life as an environment of consciously-created landscapes, characters and couture and – perhaps, in going beyond the exhibition itself – on the manner in which we have managed to take culture from its natural origins and environments and reduce it to a statement devoid of natural heritage and open to appropriation.

SLurl Details

• IMAGOLand & Galleries (Desert Sands, rated Moderate)

STAY is the title of an immersive exhibition by Selen Minotaur, currently open at the Kondor Art Centre, curated and operated by Hermes Kondor.

A multi-part, interactive installation, STAY is described as a journey that unfolds through spaces, images, and presences that evoke solitude, memory, and reconstruction – the overall theme  examining what remains after a fall, an inner upheaval.

Exactly what form this upheaval has taken is up to us to discern, shaped by our own experiences / attitudes / outlooks at the time of a visit, together with our responses to the installation itself. As such, I’m not going to offer my subjective conjectures lest they colour your own perceptions in visiting.

The important aspects when visiting the installation are that you preferably use a PBR-enabled viewer, accept the Shared Experience, and add the STAY companion HUD when offered and ADD. You’ll then have to accept the SL Experience as offered by the HUD and make sure media and sound are enabled. If, for any reason, the HUD is not offered, there is a small icon mounted on the wall close to the landing point which will deliver it when touched.

Once the above are all set, progress through the various rooms of the installation is by means of seeking – and passing through – the white lights. This might itself be somewhat symbolic, perhaps, particularly given the nature of the first room to be visited – but again, I’ll step aside from adding my own conjectures here.

A further point to make here is that STAY is an installation to be taken at a leisurely pace, the name itself offering a dual meaning. The first is related to the theme of the installation:  that which remains – which stays with us after a personal upheaval. The second is a more traditional meaning of the word: to tarry, and spend time.

The latter is important, as this is – as noted – an immersive experience; one which only unfolds if one gives it the opportunity to do so. This definitely requires pausing in all of the rooms and taking the offered seats within those offering them in order to trigger the room’s visual contents. The latter should then be considered – and note, images may not only appear on the wall in the direction in which you are facing).

A very small note here is that the first of these interactive elements is a video presented through You Tube. Sadly – and due to You Tube itself, this video cannot auto-play (and in fact may not run at all in-world). As such following the dialogue box to view the video via browser is necessary.

In all there are eight rooms to visit, including a “double room” connected via walkway rather than white teleport, plus the final room in which visitors are reminded over a further use of the words “stay”. Richly visual, STAY is an engaging installation with quite a lot to set with those with the – so to speak – eyes to hear the unfolding story.

SLurl Details

• STAY, the Kondor Art Centre (Royal Tea, rated Adult)

I’m not sure exactly why Dido Haas selected the title Interim for the title of her exhibition at The Annex of her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, which opened on Monday, September 7, 2026. Perhaps it is because she has had to fill a sudden gap in the gallery’s calendar; I’ve no idea.

The one thing I do have an idea on, is that the title drastic undersells what is a richly engaging exhibition of personal – and slightly NSFW given the nature of some of the images – exhibition I cannot help but feel should have been called Intimacy.

I say this because each piece – most featuring Dido herself as the model – is a study in intimacy, both personal and shared. Further, all are presented in monochrome verging on chiaroscuro, giving them a depth which reaches beyond a level of engagement that might be achieved using colour, heightening their personal nature.

The personal element comes in the framing of the majority of the pieces, which feature solo images of a naked, or near naked Dido. They present a woman at ease with her one body; someone who has an intimate relationship with herself.

By intimate, I do not mean sexual; I’m using the term in its broader, personal and special meaning. These are studies of a woman entirely at ease, so to speak with her body, her skin – her very appearance. It is not prideful or driven by hubris or sense of self beauty / worth, it simply is.

At the same time, the use of long, black gloves does tip the balance of intimacy a little. There has long been something of a sexual suggestiveness in the wearing of long, opera-style gloves, one that can run over into the realm of fetishism.

Thus, through their use in several of the images here, Dido is more overtly encouraging observers to share in the intimacy of her nakedness; the placement of her hands on her body becomes more overt in the suggestion of sexuality, making it possible for the observer images their hands are the black on the white of her naked flesh in a personal – although not necessarily sexual – moment of joint intimacy.

This idea shared intimacy is further offered through three of the pieces featuring a partner in poses which – again – are by no means sexual. But which suggest very personal shared moments together. Again, perfectly framed, these three set the observer as both a passing voyeur of these moments and as the possible partner.

The result is a beautiful, engaging collection of images carrying a finely layered richness of interpretation which reaches far beyond the exhibition’s title to captivate the observer.

Slurl Details

• Nitroglobus Roof Gallery Annex

JaiRus Bly is a Second Life photographer-artist who recently invited me to pop along to the opening of his latest exhibition, hosted at the Centre for the Arts in SL. Sadly, I was unable to make the opening itself, but I did make sure to hop along as soon as time permitted.

The exhibition – entitled Fragments – is housed within a skybox gallery at the Centre for Arts, and whilst small in terms of the number of images, it is very well themed and captivating in its content.

Fragments is perhaps best encapsulated in JaiRus’ own words:

I am drawn to atmosphere, cinematic light, shadows, solitude, beauty, mystery, and the emotions hidden beneath the surface. My images often explore the space between reality and imagination, using Second Life as a canvas where I can create scenes and stories that exist beyond the limits of the real world.

For me, photography is not simply about how an image looks. It is about how it feels.

– JaiRus Bly, discussing his work

So it is that the exhibition presents 12 images, the majority of them avatar-centric, each one framed as a moment in time; a fragment, if you will, of life – or perhaps a life, depending on your response to each of them.

As moments of a life, they are not necessarily connected in terms of whose life they might come from outside of the artist’s avatar generally being the focus – although I suspect they might be seen by some purely as expressions of the artist’s own thoughts and feelings simply because they use his avatar as the primary subject.

But as moments of life I would argue they have a power connect more deeply to each of us; the emotions, feelings, outlook and attitude they express resonating more strongly when seen in terms of our own lives, outlook and emotions. Whichever way one views them however, the richness of the emotional narrative within each piece is inescapable. These are images with a voice all their own, simply asking for us to stop by each and listen to what it has to say.

Coupled with a masterful use of technique and use of either monochrome or colour to further define the moods and sensitivity of each piece, Fragments is a visually engaging, through-provoking collection.

Slurl Details

• Fragments, Centre for the Arts (Waterstone, rated Moderate)