Now open at LEA 6, as a part of the University of Western Australia’s Full Sim Art series, is Lives of the Monster Dogs, an installation by Vilvi Rae.
Located on a set of white platforms that are themselves visually stunning (and something of a tribute to the monumentalism architectural style of Alvar Aalto) which rise from the otherwise flooded region, the exhibit showcases art from furry fandom, the subculture interested in fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.
“Furries have been part of Second Life right from the beginning (although only part of the fandom inhabits Second Life),” Vilvi notes. “Furry fandom is many things for many different people. Many artists inside the fandom express themselves through art depicting furry characters.”
Vilvi has curated the pieces displayed in the installation, taking time and effort to seek the artists’ permission to reproduce their work in-world. The result is an engaging, informative display, with over 30 pieces of art from a number of artists on offer to visitors. In addition, one of the platforms includes a small media centre providing links to Vilvi’s own excellent machinima on Vimeo, including the award-winning Sun Dog, which took the 2nd Runner-up prize in the UWA-sponsored Machinima section of the 2014 Screen My Shorts Project Homeless short film challenge.
Everything about this exhibition has been carefully and beautifully executed, including the title itself, which as Vilvi notes, is drawn from the 1997 novel of the same name by Kirsten Bakis. Touch any of the pictures on display and you’ll receive information on the piece and its artist in local chat, while the minimalist form of the structural components ideally presents the works on display. Finally, the exhibition is topped through the use of Fox Amoore’s music stream.
I confess to not having come across the latter until visiting Lives of the Moster Dogs, but the music is not only fitting given Fox’s links to the furry community, it is in itself outstanding, and my thanks go to Vilvi for introducing me to it – do make sure you have music streaming turned on as you walk through the installation.
All told, a superb exhibit, perfectly showcasing the artistic talent within the furry community; Lives of the Monster Dogs will remain open through until the end of January 2015.
On Sunday, December 14th, 2014, the Grand Finale of the University Of Western Australia’s (UWA) Transcending Borders was held at the impressive UWA-BOSL Grand Amphitheatre. During the event, over L$1,000,000 was awarded in prizes to artists, machinima makers and those who took part in the audience participation competition. With some last-minute additions to the prize pools, and some additional special awards, the event was a very special celebration of artistic expression in Second Life.
Transcending Borders challenged entrants to interpret the title of the competition in any fashion they deem applicable, and produce a 3D artwork (in no more than 150 prims) or short film based on their interpretation, be it on transcending borders of space and time, love and loss, nationally or culture or language, or the real and the virtual, and so on. The result was a glittering array of 67 artworks and 38 machinima, representing a broad diversity of interpretations of the theme.
The Grand Finale was hosted by the UWA’s Jayjay Zifanwe, with the UWA’s art curator, FreeWee Ling also on hand to announce the special Curator’s awards in both the art and machinima categories.
In the first part of this report, I covered the awards for the Transcending Borders 3D Art Challenge. Here, I review the winners in the the MachinimUWA VII Transcending Borders Challenge, in which machinima makers could submit as many films on the them as they wish, as long as each entry had been specifically filmed for the Challenge, and should preferably run for around 4 minutes 30 seconds (although this latter point was not a “hard” rule.
Audience Participation Prizes
Alongside the “main” challenges focused on artists and machinima makers, Transcending Borders included two audience participation competitions. Anyone who was not on the official judging panel was invited to provide what they thought the top 10 would be as decided by the actual panel, and those with lists which most closely matched the final list of prize winners as determined by the judges, would receive a special prize.
And the winners were:
5th place winner (L$5,000): Elle Thorkveld
4th place winner (L$7,500): Chic Aeon
3rd place winner (L$10,000): Karima Hosian
2nd place winner (L$15,000): Lalie Sorbet
1st place winner (L$20,000): Dyzo.
Commenting on the machinima audience participation competition, Jayjay said, “No tall order to attempt to participate in this challenge, as one had to watch all the machinima [38 entries].
Quite amazing, as all the top 3 correctly predicted 8 of the top 10 [as determined by the judge’s votes].” He went on to note that of these five individuals, three had been in the top five of the last art Grand Challenge, perhaps showing that there was something of a science in how the winners make their selections.
For Chic Aeon, the audience participation prize was the start of a remarkable part of the evening, something she shared with Haveit Neox.
Machinima Prizes
Note that SLurls are given with the titles of all winning pieces, and all the entries into the MachinimUMA VII Transcending Borders challenge can be seen on the SL Artist website.
The 10th through 6th places winners, who each received L$25,000 are:
As there was a tie for 4th place, there was no individual 5th place prize winner. Instead, the top four prizes in the MachinimUWA VII Transcending Borders challenge were awarded as follows:
Grand prize winner: Metaphore, by Tutsy Navrathna (India)
Jayjay had contacted Tutsy ahead of the event to inform him he had won a prize, but due to Internet issues, Tutsy could not remain connected to Second Life for the event. Instead, a short speech he had prepared ahead of time was read out by his friend, Yoon.
I would like to express a warm welcome to all participants and visitors for attending this grand finale. Also I would like to express a big thank you to UWA, Jayjay and all the organizers of this contest for offering the opportunity to many people, to discover or establish themselves as creators in 3D or Machinimas.
Transcending borders in and with a movie is less tough than transcending the borders of a contest itself. A work of NicoleX was refused because it conflicted with the UWA borders. I do regret the work has been refused, it shows the limits we have to deal with sometimes. Yet we also cannot be deaf and blind for using our freedom of expression with a sense of awareness for the consequences. When input and output become disproportionate, other solutions are needed.
Therefore again, many thanks to both UWA and all people that participated with their movies and opinions. And I am secretly proud as well a tiny little bit, thank you all!
Special Awards
In addition to the top ten awards, the Grand Finale included a number of special awards, both from the MachinimaUWA VII Transcending Borders challenge and also from the 2014 Project SciFi, which the UWA partners.
MachinimUWA VII Transcending Borders Special Prizes
Honourable Mention Prize for message within a film (L$15,000): Unseen Transcended Borders, by Eric Takkar & Arcane Marenwolf (USA and Australia)
Honourable Mention Prize for artistry within a film (L$15,000): The Embryo, by Ultraviolet Alter (France)
UWA Special Prize (L$25,000), awarded by the UWA representatives on the judging panel to the film that interweaves a number of locations from the UWA campus in it: The Ghost in the Machine, by Chic Aeon (USA) – Chic’s third win of the evening, and the second for her entry
Curators Choice Award (L$25,000) for the film, selected by UWA’s curator FreeWee Ling, that weaves one or few of the artworks in the challenge into it: Reading Primchords, by Haveit Neox (USA) – Haveit’s third individual win in the Finale with both the film and Primchords, the artwork which inspired it. Haveit also shared a prize with Lilia Artia and Mouehane for Sharing Unknown Roads
Commenting on her choice, FreeWee said:
For the machinima curator’s prize there were several entries that included artwork from current or past UWA shows. Some were focused specifically on a single piece or two, some incorporated art as a background to their narratives, and some had only a brief sighting of a work. I was looking for machinimas that most effectively used the artwork to tell the story of the film. The films that did that best seemed to be those by the 3D artists themselves. Among those, there was one film I thought was most engaging with the 3D art being essential in telling a story.
Project Sci-Fi Awards
Mention was also made of the two SL-based machinima which had also received prizes inthe 2014 Project Sci-Fi competition. This event was judged by a jury entirely separate to that of Transcending Borders.
2014 Project SciFi Challenge Honourable Mention (AU$200): About Face, by Avajean Westland (USA)
As with the first part of this report, I would again like to extend my personal thanks to both Jayjay and FreeWee for the incredible amount of work they do in the promotion of virtual world art and the potential of virtual worlds. Transcending Borders is not only a fitting theme for a UWA Grand Challenge, reminds us that both Jayjay and FreeWee help artists, educators, students and virtual worlds enthusiasts transcend the borders between the virtual and the physical each and every day.
The UWA-BOSL Ampitheatre: scene of the Transcending Borders Grand Finale
On Sunday, December 14th, 2014, the Grand Finale of the University Of Western Australia’s (UWA) Transcending Borders was held at the impressive UWA-BOSL Grand Amphitheatre. During the event, over L$1,000,000 was awarded in prizes to artists, machinima makers and those who took part in the audience participation competitions. With some last-minute additions to the prize pools, and some additional special awards, the event was a very special celebration of artistic expression in Second Life.
Transcending Borders challenged entrants to interpret the title of the competition in any fashion they deem applicable, and produce a 3D artwork (in no more than 150 prims) or short film based on their interpretation, be it on transcending borders of space and time, love and loss, nationally or culture or language, or the real and the virtual, and so on. The result was a glittering array of 67 artworks and 38 machinima, representing a broad diversity of interpretations of the theme.
The Grand Finale was hosted by the UWA’s Jayjay Zifanwe, with the UWA’s art curator, FreeWee Ling also on hand to announce the special Curator’s awards in both the art and machinima categories.
JayJay Zifanwe
Opening the event, Jayjay said:
It’s been an absolute pleasure for me to work with all of you over the course of these challenges, and especially to those who went above and beyond the call of duty to make all of this a success. Thank you FreeWee Ling, curator of art at UWA & RL Honorary Fellow at UWA. Thank you LaPiscean Liberty, co-host for MachinimUWA VII, champion of machinima of Second Life. Also much thanks to those who have provided support and sponsorship which sees the overall prize pool standing at more than L$1,000,000 across both art and machinima. Special mention needs to be made of all who have been such strong supporters.
These challenges are sponsored by Tom Papas and SciFi Film Festival, LaPiscean Liberty and SL Artist, AviewTV, Arrehn Oberlander and MetaHarpers, Kip Yellowjacket and Virtlantis, Taralyn Gravois and Arts Castle Gallery, TheDoveRhode and Peace is a Choice and S&S Gallery of Fine SL Art, Barbie Alchemi of Creations for Parkinsons, Jon Stubbs and UWA Student Services, as well as The UWA Virtual Worlds Project.
I want to thank all of you for being here today, bringing the world together. The UWA Art, Architectural & Machinima Challenges, the teaching & research have seen people from all corners of the globe involved with students, artists, builders and machinimatographers hailing from Lithuania, Singapore, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Finland, Greece, India, Colombia, Poland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, Taiwan, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, Venezuela, Belgium, Mexico, Wales, Canada, the USA, the UK, Uruguay, Scotland, England, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, the French Caribbean, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Cuba, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and parts unknown. More than 45 nations with 6 of the 7 continents of the world represented.
The following is a run-down of the winners of the 3D Art challenge. The MachinimUWA VII: Transcending Borders awards are presented in a further article in these pages.
Audience Participation Prizes
Alongside the “main” challenges focused on artists and machinima makers, Transcending Borders included two audience participation competitions. Anyone who was not on the official judging panel was invited to provide what they thought the top 10 would be as decided by the actual panel, and those with lists which most closely matched the final list of prize winners as determined by the judges, would receive a special prize.
In all, there were two groups of audience participation prizes for the 3D art challenge. As an entire art degree class from York University entered the competition, and the overall prize pool had been increased from L$57,500 to L$62,500, the audience participation prizes were altered, with 3 awards specifically for York University students, and four for members of the public. These prizes were awarded as follows:
Joint second in the York University student prize: Vickar Tran and Stefano Onorati (L$2,500 each)
Overall winner, York University student prize: Abisola Okiwole (L$5,000)
Overall winner, audience participation: Temi Sirbu (L$20,000 and a place on the official jury for the next grand art challenge
All of the winners will additionally receive a physical prize from the UWA.
Art Awards
Note that SLurls are given with the titles of all winning pieces, and all the entries into the Transcending Borders 3D art challenge can still be viewed at the UWA art gallery.
In an unprecedented result, there were no fewer than five 10th places winners, all tied on a total of 21 points from the judge’s selections. The five winners each receive a L$5,000 prize and are:
Open now, and with events running through until the end of November 2014 at LEA 6, under the umbrella of the LEA / UWA Full Sim Art series is Rebirth … together, presented by the 2Lei collaborative.
Now in its fifth year, 2Lei began as a project involving artists, gallery owners, musicians, etc., with the aim of raise awareness and disseminate events related to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which falls on November 25th.
The installation / event is described by the organisers thus:
This year’s theme is “Rebirth… together!”. We cannot just denounce: we must dare to hope, to dream, to act, to make the dream come true and springboard for new dreams. Dreams in which men and women cooperate together to build a more just, more healthy society, in which violence does not represent the instrument upon which to convey anger, frustration, fear, and aggression.
We wish every woman’s heart beat be as strong as the drum of life. No woman will be forgotten or left behind. The “Rebirth” marks the passage of the works of artists who are exhibiting in these spaces, and the performers who will take turns on stage. The program is rich and detailed, and offers many insights. Now we want to talk about “rebirth”. A rebirth towards a world where people can live, breathe, and dream without the fear of having to defend themselves. We are reborn together in front of each painting, opera, photograph, theater or musical show that a fragment of this kaleidoscope of images, desires, dreams, passions, and every project of rebirth involves. Primarily this involves the denunciation of what is evil, of what is burning, what clip wings, and cuts short lives. Then, after the denunciation, comes the dream: the work, the strength to believe it, and to make it happen together. “TOGETHER” is the keyword of a true renaissance. And we will be the first to give testimony. Men and women who, together, believe in this project and have put in place. Thank you for sharing this journey with us.
Rebirth … together features works by artists from across Second Life and the world at large, spread across several gallery areas within the region, both at ground / water level and on floating islands overhead. All offer a mixture of 2D and 3D art, with pieces focusing on the many different ways in which violence against women can take, be it physical, emotional, mental, verbal, etc., some of which are quite striking in context and form. There are also a number of event areas scattered through the installation, which will be active through most of the remaining 10 days of the event.
The programme for these events days comprises (all times SLT):
Friday, November 21st, 2014:
13:30: “RELIVE” – Art exhibition by various artists (Duna Gant) featuring music by Morlita Quan and Ultraviolet Alter
14:30: – A tour of the 2Lei installation
Saturday, November 22nd, 2014:
13:30: SoloDonna even area – Sniper Siemens – Elettra Beardmore
14:45: Music by Andromeda Slade
Sunday, November 23rd, 2014:
13:30: Live concert by Musicante Malandrino with a Surprise Guest!
Monday, November 24th, 2014:
13:30: L’Arme d’Amour (Viola Tatham, Andromeda Slade) present I Loved Her More Than Her Life, a one-act play written by Cristina Comencini
14:00: Rosanna Tafanelli, Francesco Bonetto, Lapsus Weinstein and Alejandra Balhaus discuss issues of violence against women
Tuesday, November 25th, 2014:
13:00: Reading and music by Libriamo Tutti – Imparafacile (Imparafacile group)
14:00: Idee Libere Alternative (Francy Lytton, MarinellaMonti) present a reading of Women in rebirth by J. Folla edited by Margherita Hax, followed by a live concert by Trinity Ermingtrood and then poems by Cordediseta Rosea
15:30: Official closing of the live events for this year’s 2Lei
Sunday, November 30th, 2014:
11:00: STAND! – the SL Fashion World Stand with 2Lei (by Mila Tatham, Aliza Karu, Bodza Blackadder, Absinthe Montenegro)
13:30: Particle Show by Tansee Resident with music by Andromeda Slade
Since 2012, 2Lei has offered events throughout the year and has participated in other SL activities with featured art exhibitions. In 2014, for example, 2Lei was represented at the SL11BCC celebrations with works by Paola Mills, and a mesh sculpture composed by Moore Tone, with creative contributions of all 2Lei committee members. Those interested in tracing the history of 2Lei may wish to visit the retrospective display area in the south-east corner of the region.
Friday, October 31st marked the closing date for submission to this year’s combined 5th University of Western Australia’s (UWA) Grand Art Challenge and MachinimUWA VII challenge. In all, there have been 105 entries – 67 pieces of art and 38 machinima films.
The challenge presented by Transcending Borders has been for entrants to interpret the title of the competition in any fashion they deem applicable, and produce a 3D artwork or film based on their interpretation. So the title might be seen as transcending borders between space and time, or the past and present or the present and future; it might be interpreted as divisions between dimensions, real and virtual; or borders separating nations or cultures or languages; it might even combine several of or all such idea, or something else entirely – such as the many borders we encounter as we navigate our physical and virtual lives.
Pixel Sideways “Transcending Borderz” (click images for full size)
Now, with the closing date reached, the task of judging the entries begins, and with it the opportunity for all residents in Second Life to share in the prizes on offer as a part of the Transcending Borders challenge. On offer are two prize pools, totalling L$57,500 apiece, one for the Machinima challenge, the other for the art challenge.
All you have to do is visit the art exhibits on display at the UWA gallery area and / or watch the machinima entries and then submit a list of the entries you think will finish in the TOP 10 in order 1st – 10th as decided by the official judging panel.
Entries should be submitted by e-mail to jayjayaustralia-at-hotmail.com or via note card submitted to Jayjay Zifanwe in-world
All entries should include your name, and be titled either “Transcending Borders 3D Art Audience Event” or “MachinimUWA VII Audience Event”, according to the category being entered
You can enter the art participation event or the machinima participation event or both (make sure you submit one “top ten” list for each category in the case of the latter).
Luko Enoch: Borderless
Each category (art and machinima) offers a total of five prizes, which will be awarded to those entrants whose lists come closest to the final order decided by the judging panel:
1st Prize L$ 20,000 + an invitation to be on the panel for the next grand art challenge
2nd Prize L$ 15,000
3rd Prize L$ 10,000
4th Prize L$ 7,500
5th Prize L$ 5,000
(A total of L$57,500 in each category.)
In addition, the five winners in both categories will receive a special RL prize pack.
Entries for both of the audience participation events should be received no later than Midnight SLT on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014.
Remember, this is not a popularity vote. Your top 10 entry / entries should be your prediction of who the actual top 10 will be according to the official judging panel.
Note: the images and machinima included in this item should not be taken as any indication of my personal preferences as a member of the Transcending Borders jury. They are included purely for the purposes of illustrating the article.
Transcending Borders, the UWA’s combined Art and Machinima Challenge which offers a combined prize pool of over L$1,000,000 to entrants, plus L$240,000 in audience participation prizes, is reaching the final couple of weeks before the deadline for submissions is reached on October 31st.
The challenge presented by Transcending Borders is for entrants to interpret the title of the competition in any fashion they deem applicable, and produce an artwork or film based on their interpretation. For example, it might refer to transcending borders between space and time, or the past and present or the present and future; or it might refer to the divisions between dimensions, real and virtual; or it might be used to explore the borders separating nations or cultures or languages; or it might involve any or all of these ideas, and more – such as the many borders we encounter as we navigate our physical and virtual lives.
Jipe Loon’s Baculum Murder, a piece the artist suggests has many interpretations: physcial transcendence; spiritual transcendence; genetic transcendence, and more – you determine what it may mean to you (click for full size)
Art pieces submitted to the competition should not exceed 150 Land Impact, and should preferably by submitted with COPY permissions, and art entries are limited to one per entrant, while machinima entries should preferably be no more than 4 minutes and 30 seconds in length, although this is not a “hard” rule, and there is no limit to the number of items an entrant can submit.
The first prize in each category is L$100,000, with a number of runner-up and prize category prizes as well, as detailed in the original UWA blog post on the challenge. Winners will be determined by an invited jury of academics, SL business people, journalists, bloggers, artists and writers.
Tutsy Navarathna’s “MetaPhore – Transcending Borders” – one of the machinima entries in this year’s Transcending Borders UWA Art and Machinima challenge
And if that is not enough, there are also audience participation prizes available as a well (a total of L$135,000 for participating in the art section and a total of L$105,000 in the machinima section). All you have to do is list your personal Top Ten entries in either the art or the machinima sections of the challenge (or both!). Prizes will be awarded to audience members whose top 10 lists most closely align to the final juried top 10. Keep your eyes on the UWA blog for details on how to enter.
Ama Avro’s “Utopia” focuses on communications (click for full size)
Art entries can be viewed now at the UWA’s gallery space, while machinima entries can be viewed on the Transcending Borders page at SL Artist.com. Please remember that submissions will continue to be added to both locations through until the closing date for entries on October 31st, 2014.
(Spiral Silverstar’s “Transcending (Surreal) Borders” – one of the machinima entries in this year’s Transcending Borders UWA Art and Machinima challenge
Note: the images and machinima included in this item should not be taken as any indication of my personal preferences as a member of the Transcending Borders jury. They are included purely for the purposes of illustrating this article.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 