Tag: LEA Reviews

The Linden Endowments for the Arts is hosting a series of 16 “interim” art projects through until the end of January 2013. I’ve already covered a number of them – see the related links at the end of this piece – and here I turn my attention to the installations by Asmita  Duranjaya  and Maikelkey Resident and by Martini Discovolante and Marion Questi.

Tales of the Future  – LEA25

Tales of the future is a joint piece by Asmita  Duranjaya  and Maikelkey Resident which presents “5 immersive environments of 5 ambient études”, together with a live performance space.

Asmita has been immersed in art since her childhood, seeing it s a way to express her emotions and communicate in a non-verbal way. She works in a range of genres, including still-life, portraiture and surrealism, as well as producing applied art such as book covers, event posters, etc. More recently she has become increasingly involved in the medium of digital art using a tablet and pen. Within SL, her work has been presented at a number of venues, and she has her own exhibition space at Space 4 Art, where she exhibits both her own work and the work of other SL artists. At LEA25, she has produced the immersive environments.

Maikelkey is actually the digital persona of German science-fiction author, writer, translator and composer Michael K. Iwoleit. As well as being a published author in his own right, he is the co-founder of the German science-fiction magazine Nova and the international SF magazine InterNova. He has translated works by Iain M. Banks, Cory Doctorow, Sean Williams, Chris Moriarty and David Wingrove, among others. At LEA25, he is responsible for the 5 ambient études.

Traditionally, an étude is a short instrumental musical composition of considerable complexity designed to help perfect a particular musical skill. It’s a technique that will certainly be well-known to those who have been formally taught the piano, although it is by no means restricted to that particular instrument.  Here, the use of the term is somewhat broader,  the pieces on offer seeking to present a specific atmosphere or mood.

All five of the ambient environments are located in the sky and reached via anywhere door-style teleports located around the edge of the ground-level performance area. Each has a short description of the piece over the door, which will carry you to the environment when clicked. Once there, and with the exception of one of the environments, you’ll be asked to activate the required étude by following a web link. There are interactive elements to some of the environments, so keep an eye out for poseballs and hovertext when visiting them.

The use of web links is perhaps a little less than perfect, at least to me, as they form an intrusion into four the immersive aspects of the build, as the visitor either has to swap between viewer and browser to start the associated étude, or (if using the viewer’s built-in browser), have a floater open which then blocks a fair portion of the in-world view. Both of these points left me wondering why each of the ambient environments couldn’t have been presented within its own parcel, with the étude streamed into it for a more seamless  immersive feel.

The performance area itself sits within a “depression” in the centre of a rocky landscape bathed in a suitably blue sci-fi like light and covered by a blue dome. Anti-grav chairs together with poseballs provide room for the audience to hover (or float) before a  small stage area. The latter will be used for live performances by – I assume  – Maikelkey Resident. The first of these, at 14:00 on Saturday January 19th, will be a reading. The second, at 14:00 on Sunday January 19th, will be a musical presentation.

Continue reading “Of ambient art and large calibre handguns” →

The Linden Endowments for the Arts is hosting a series of 16 “interim” art projects through until the end of January 2013. I’ve already covered the Flash Mob event on LEA26 and LEA 27, and both The Wonderful World of Particles and Paper Observatory, which are displayed at LEA13 and LEA21 respectively, as well as the installations created by Frankx Lefavre and Thea Dee. In this item, I drop in to the regions provided to Fuschia Nightfire and Natascha Randt.

Fuschia Nightfire, “Fuschia’s Collection” – LEA22

“Since I first joined SL I have collected art from other SL artists, but never had a space to show these works,” Fuschia Nightfire says of her installation at LEA22, “So I decided to use my LEA sim to do this.”

The result is a chance to see SL art through the eyes of one of the platform’s foremost artists as Fuschia offers-up a display of some of her favourite piece of art she’s collected over the years, as well as pieces she’s collaborated upon with others. On display are sculptures, 2D art, paintings, static pieces, interactive pieces all from the likes of Rose Borchovski, Baron Grayson, Soror Nishi,  Light Waves and more.

The design of the region is simple and elegant: to one side of the region sits a gallery featuring paintings, drawings and a number of 3D pieces, which stands alongside a couple of other buildings which are there to be explored. Paths from here wind out over the water to a large sculpture on one side and a floral garden on the other, on which is set-out further items for the visitor to admire. More art can be found out on the water itself, most close to the footpaths – but do keep an eye out for the scattering of Light Waves’ brilliant Greenies.

To ensure the eye isn’t too distracted by things going on around the region, Fuschia has erected a set of walls surrounding the installation which an image of the sky, forming the perfect backdrop to the exhibit and allowing the photographer to cleanly capture items on display.

This is a great way for those unfamiliar with the scope of SL art to dip a toe in the water without getting heavily into anything and gain a little familiarity with works by some well-known names.

Recommended.

Continue reading “Looking through an artist’s eyes and discovering flying in SL” →

The Linden Endowments for the Arts is hosting a series of 16 “interim” art projects through until the end of January 2013. I’ve already covered the Flash Mob event on LEA26 and LEA 27, so here are two more you might want to take a look at: The Wonderful World of Particles and Paper Observatory.

The Wonderful World of Particles

I’ve long been an admirer of particle-based art in Second Life, having first encountered the power and versatility of particles as an artistic medium through the works of Tyrehl Byk, who still stands as one of the great Particle Magicians in my humble view of Second Life. So when I discovered that Mary Wickentower would be using LEA13 to present The Wonderful World of Particles (sponsored by Aview TV), I knew it would be on my list of places to visit.

Open until the end of January 2013, the region comprises a number of areas in which the beauty of particles can be seen. The largest of these is Le Musee de Particules, which will be used for particle performances throughout the month, as well as displaying various exhibits relating to particles, such as a photography by Particle Tom. Around this can be found a particle art installation by Lexi Marshdevil, a drive-in movie theatre featuring particle-themed films by Mary Wickentower and featuring the work of noted particle artists, and a “particle garden” by Danya Sadofsky.

Shows will be held throughout the month, including one by Particle Tom which will take place on Sunday January 19th at 13:00 SLT, featuring music by Jed Luckless.

Take your time exploring; there are some interest displays to be seen – and you might want to have a little place with windlight to get the full visual impact from Lexi Marshdevil’s piece outside of the museum.

The keen-eared movie buff with a penchant for  “Spaghetti Westerns” might also enjoy an aural treat inside the museum with some familiar chimes central to a story involving Clint Eastwood, Lee van Cleef and Gian Maria Volonté!

The Paper Observatory

Haveit Neox is at work on LEA-21 is what is very much a work-in-progress. Paper Observatory is eventually designed to eventually replace a four-year-old Paper Tower on his ACC Alpha region, and which houses the visitor centre and galleries.

“The new Paper Observatory on the LEA21 sim hovers above an ample arena. The city leading up to this build is concentric; rooftops conforming into one large sweep of concavity, suggests a satellite dish.” Haveit says of the piece, before going on to describe more of the structure of the build and the people within. The human activities on the streets of the city are reflective of superstitious times of old, in the days before science had given us a measure of enlightenment, and when the Earth was still thought to be flat and disease the visitation of evil spirits.

Overhead, the observatory floats serenely, the only way to reach it being via flight – and this is intentional, Haveit using flight as an analogy of turning the page to move beyond the past and into the realm of the present, where the observatory will “be connected to science and therefore be a venue where one could gather information and get in touch with thought-provoking theories.”

Within the structure of the observatory one can find images of Lawrence Krauss, Richard Feynmann, Isaac Newton and Neil de Grasse Tyson (whose television continuation of Sagan’s epic Cosmos I am eagerly awaiting) – and possibly more as the build progresses – which form interactive elements designed to get the grey cells working.

As the Paper Observatory will be under development and enhancement throughout the month, this is an installation one may well want to re-visit at least a few times to more fully get its entire measure. The completed build will be installed on ACC Alpha on Thursday April 10th, 2014, the fourth anniversary of the founding of the original Paper Tower.

Related Links

• The Wonderful World of Particles SLurl (Rated: Moderate)
• The Paper Observatory SLurl (Rated: Moderate)

On January 3rd, and thanks to Quan Lavender, I wrote-up a small piece on In the Belly of the Whale and Flash Mob, both of which are taking place under the auspices of the LEA in January. At the time of writing, Flash Mob was just in the process of starting-up, so I thought I’d pop back and take a peek – although admittedly with ulterior motives.

The event is the brainchild of Secret Rage, who is also curating it across LEA26 and LEA27. As noted in my preview report, Secret is inviting people to submit one or more art pieces (the total for which should not exceed 200 LI) to be displayed within one of the regions through until the end of January – the hope being to keep on adding pieces until the combined 30,000 LI capacity of both regions is reached.

Already a number of noted artists and SL photographers have responded to the call, and Flash Mob is turning into a fascinating collection of SL art work which is also quite possibly one of the most unique in SL in the way it is both bringing so many different talents together in one place and because there is no central theme or idea on which the exhibits are to be based, leading to an intrigue mix of exhibits.

Piece currently on display include works by Claudia222 Jewell (always a favourite), Giovanna Cerise, Bear Silvershade and Derry McMahon and Ziki Questi (three photographers I greatly admire), Haveit Neox, Betty Tureaud, Ataro Asbrink, Fuschia Nightfire – and more.

The pieces on display range from photos and paintings through sculptures and murals to interactive pieces, all set-out in an open landscape one can explore at will and in whatever direction one opts to take.

Given the nature of the event, it makes for a highly eclectic exhibit, one which perhaps gives visitors the chance to see works by people they’ve not come across in SL before (that’s certainly the case with me; I’ve already found pieces by several people I’ve added to my list of Names To Watch Out For in art and other announcements).

And the ulterior move for this revisit? Well, I got up the courage to submit 8 of my own images of places around SL, and Secret has put them up in a rather nice little display in what is the first time I’ve exhibited anything in-world.

I don’t expect anyone to visit Flash Mob simply because I have some pictures there, but given the august company surrounding my little efforts, I do commend Flash Mob as a worthwhile visit; It’s a great way to enjoy a very broad cross-section of SL art,

Related Links

• Flash Mob 1 SLurl
• Flash Mob 2 SLurl

Opening on Monday January 6th as a part of the LEA’s Full Sim Art series is Gem Preiz’s A Catherdral Dreamer, exhibiting his most recent fractal art creations and which is effectively one-third of a three-part exhibition. Opening at the same time (14:00 SLT on January 6th) will be an additional in-world exhibit featuring his fractal paintings, which includes those on display at LEA6, at his own gallery, while the third part comprises a version of A Cathedral Dreamer displayed on the Metropolis Opensim Grid.

The Installation comprises five distinct elements. There is a central arrival plaza, which is largely devoid of distinguishing features, symbolic of, Gem tells us, “the choices which each of us inevitably has to make about the various attitudes towards Life, the world and other people.” Surrounding this, and connected to it by individual paths, are four great exhibition halls, which the artist advises people to visit in the specific order of East, West, North and South.

The East hall, reached by a path which is increasingly given over to grass and plants, presents a submarine environment, sunlight falling into it from a dappled surface of waves high overhead. Here the images are strongly evocative of coral scenes, as fish and other creatures of the deep circle and swim. It is a place devoid of human presence; a place, Gem states, which “is the domain of the present and permanency at the same time.  It is also the evocation of the contemplative attitude of Man before Nature.”

To the West, within what might be an old, abandon warehouse, lay works representing humankind’s industrious nature, featuring huge and complex constructions and buildings of immense size and complexity – but all suffering from decay. From the roof hang a series of cages in which are set a number of human figures in evocative poses. Each of these conveys its own pathos, drawing the observer into its world in a quite powerful manner. This is a setting designed to evoke “the human society which takes, in its whirlwind, the individuals who are the actors and the slaves.”

The hall to the North is more hopeful, containing images of a possible future, focused on a grand and ambitious design, a great cathedral, designed to awe and overwhelm in its sheer beauty. However, one only has to examine the onlookers and the forlorn figure of the designer, seated with his back to the wall, head cradled in his hands, to know this great vision will never be achieved; it is simply to overwhelming.

Finally, to the South lies the future; a place of lines and light, which the artist describes as being, “beyond Time, beyond the world and beyond human activity.  A universe of pure concepts which evokes the domain and the activity of the spirit, and which everyone will fill with one’s own faith.” Take your time exploring here; there is more to be seen than might at first seem apparent.

The fractal images on display in the three halls are stunning in their depth and detail, deeply evocative and completely captivating in both their design and their beauty – even those representing decay and loss. The stories present within the halls – particularly the West and North halls – are also very emotive, drawing the visitor into them, encouraging careful observation in camming around if everything is to be captured fully and properly.

Four videos have been produced alongside the exhibition – the full listing is in the note card – and these are also striking in their grandeur and execution, featuring carefully considered music tracks. Pasting the links will play the videos in full-screen HD mode – and they really are worth watching; the marrying of soundtracks to images is simply superb. I’m including one here – make sure you play it full screen and set it to 480p.

A Cathedral Dreamer opens at 14:00 SLT on Monday January 6th, and will remain open until the end of the month. Recommended.

Related Links

• A Cathedral Dreamer SLurl (Rated: Moderate)
• Gem’s gallery in-world – Timamoon Arts