Where Can I Go to See Some Art This Week-end?

I had logged in-world on Saturday morning  only for a few minutes, mostly to clean up messages and check on whether or not I'd gotten behind on my rent. With notices, notecards and IM's answered, I checked the rental boxes and sighed in relief when I noted that both of my booths on Book Island were all paid up for the next few weeks. With that complete  I decided to stay in for a while, find a quiet location to go into busy and work on my inventory. It had grown by leaps and bounds the last six weeks and threatened to become quickly out of control. "Where to go?", I asked aloud while the real me sipped from a fresh cup of coffee on the other side of the screen. While I thought about it  a chat line appeared at the bottom of my screen.

Tommy3333 Resident: Hey Nazz, how's it going?

I camm'ed around to find the source of the chat and spotted Tommy to my left and slightly behind me. With the last name of "Resident" I knew he was fairly new to Second Life.

Me: Mornin' Tommy, doing good here thanks. How are you enjoying SL?

Tommy3333 Resident: Doing good here as well, can I ask you a question?

Me: Sure.

I watched his avatar as he begin to type, stopped and started, then stopped for several seconds before he continued. While he did I remembered my early days in SL and tried to anticipate what sort of question he might ask. His avatar was dressed nice enough I noted, with a decent jeans and shirt combination.

Tommy3333 Resident: I met a lady and wanted to take her to a few nice places. She's into art and talks about it all the time. Where can I go to see some art?

Me: Any idea what she might be interested in seeing?

Tommy3333 Resident: Not a clue.

Me: There are exhibits underway that would make for a pleasant afternoon or evening.

Tommy3333 Resident: Cool.

Me: "Through the Eye of a Woman". This exhibit opened a week ago at PRAKA Fine Arts Gallery and features the work of artists; Callipygian Christensen, Cat Boccaccio, Dantelicia Ethaniel, Del May and Maloe Vansant. The show runs until the 14th of March.

Tommy3333 Resident grins.

Me: Here's another exhibit that's underway. It's at "New Works at Kelly Yap Newcomer's and Friends Gallery".  The artists featured include;  Louly Loon, Corcosman Voom, RAG Randt, Trill Zapatero, Miso Susanowa, Tallulah Winterwolf and soror Nishi. You can, "also take a walk down the Art Walk when you get time … lots of new artists!  The Kelly Yap Art Walk is now hosting Eliza Quinzet, rant Ugajin,  Ally Aeon, Bobbi Laval, Harter Fall, Em Larsson, lala Lightfoot, Callipygian Christensen, Penelope Parx, Peoney Feld, Gallery SYNergy, Sonia Stardust, Nik Gandt and ginou Forcella".

I gave him a some time to read the previous chat which worked out well as I worked on the next one.

Me: A favorite stop of mine, although I didn't get a chance to attend the opening earlier this week is at the "Pirats Omega Art Gallery". The show opened on the 15th of February and features an extensive  list of artists utilizing multiple media. You can see some work by many fine artists there. The exhibit at Omega includes work from; Melina M, ling Serenity in SL, Chapl Paisley , Betty Tureaud, LarZ Rajal, oona Eiren, Chu Ann, daruma Boa in SL, JudiLynn Staples, judiLynn India in SL, Solkide Auer, Fafner Hofmann, Tehos, Tehos Quar in Sl, Typotel, typote Beck  in SL, Lollito Larkham, Nino Vichan and Maryva Mayo.

Tommy3333 Resident: Those are all underway, what about opening events?

Me: Here's one you both might enjoy. Black and White and Red All Over. The exhibit is  at Erato of Caerleon and opens tomorrow at 1 pm PST/SLT.  It's an exhibit curated by Sabrinaa Nighfire, who had sent out an open call to all artists  willing to submit  pieces which could , "only be Black, White or Red". I chatted with her yesterday and she told me the opening event will include live music and dancing.

Me: "The Mysterious Forest," a new immersive art build by Alizarin Goldflake . She is holding an Open Studio for this her newest immersive art build on Sunday, February 20, 2 pm PST at Atelier Alizarin.

Tommy3333 Resident: Anything else?

Me: Here's another one, "Above and Beyond", a photography exhibit by Cala Rossini at Galeria LX. The opening begins at 2 pm PST/SLT.

Tommy3333 Resident: That's really awesome Nazz, thanks a lot man.

Me: Hey no problem Tommy ... Hope you both have a great time.

A "New Art Show" - Open to All Artists in Second Life

I'd received the following announcement from Sabrinaa Nightfire:

New Art Show -- Open to all artists in SL

Title of Show: Black and White and Red All Over

Location:  Erato of Caerleon

Prim Limit:  200

*  When enough entries have been received to reach the total prim allowance, we will stop accepting entries.

NOTES:

1. One entry per artist

2. All pieces may only be Black, White or Red.  Pieces with other colors will be disqualified. 

    * ONLY THE BLACK AND WHITE TEXTURES INCLUDED ON THIS CARD (see below) MAY BE USED FOR YOUR PIECE. 

        Textures for black and white surfaces: (Contact Sabrinaa in world for the textures - Nazz)

    * You may use any red you desire and the red texture(s) may have some black or white.....but, NO OTHER COLORS MAY BE USED.

3. No Megaprims

4. Maximum size is 10x10x10m

5. No high lag scripts as determined by our script police.

6. The management reserves the right to not show any piece they deem inappropriate.  There will be no trial.  It's good to be head goddess:)

All art MUST be submitted to Sabrinaa Nightfire by Midnight SLT on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at Midnight, SLT.   Any art placed by others will be sent back to its owner.

The Show will open at 1pm SLT on Sunday, February 20, 2011with live musical entertainment and dancing.

Questions, comments, concerns?  Contact Sabrinaa Nightfire.  If I am off line, please send me a notecard.  My IMs are often capped....thanks!  Sabrinaa

The Caerleon Museum of Identity Opens on October 2nd in Second Life

On Saturday, the 2^nd of October 2010, the Caerleon Museum of Identity opens. The museum is a collaborative project of one of Second Life's premier artists groups, the Caerleon Artists Coalition. Festivities began at noon PDT/SLT and at 1 pm the incomparable Mommaluv Skytower will perform. The following information was taken from the press release announcing the opening.

The Caerleon Museum of Identity is the latest in the series of sim-wide collaborative installations by the Caerleon Artists Coalition, a project of the Virtual Art Initiative.

The 18 artists participating in this collaboration include:


* Artistide Despres
* Botgirl Questi
* Cat Bocaccio
* Chrome Underwood
* FreeWee Ling (coordinator)
* Fuscia Nightfire
* Gracie Kendal
* Ian Pahute
* L1aura Loire
* Lollito Larkham
* Maya Paris
* Nebulosus Severine
* Pete Jiminy
* Pixels Sideways
* RAG Randt
* Sabrinaa Nightfire
* Taralyn Gravois
* Wotthe Dickins

The Caerleon group was established by Georg Janick (Dr. Gary Zabel of the University of Massachusetts, Boston) and consists of artists, writers, musicians, and scholars who are using the immersive and interactive digital media to develop new forms of artistic content. Members of the coalition are among the most respected and imaginative artists working in SL.

Georg Janick's six Theses on the Art of Virtual Worlds are the framework for the series of collaborations on the Caerleon sims. In addition to major builds on each of the six theses, there have been numerous theme collaborations on various topics, including consumerism, imprisonment, surrealism, and masks, as well as limited resource challenges like the one-prim and limited texture shows.

The Caerleon Museum of Identity is an interpretation by the collaborative team of Georg's fourth thesis: the Ambiguity of Identity. It states in part, "…digital bodies, and the names that uniquely identify them, can be altered, multiplied, discarded, or exchanged at the will of the user. Since bodily presence is open to such radical discontinuity, the identity of the virtual person is protean and ambiguous, including indicators of age, gender, race, and even biological species."

The project has been in development for over a year. Weekly discussions about the project inevitably centered around the subject of identity and how people in virtual worlds both express themselves and interact with others. This is a subject of tremendous interest to many in SL, and some of the team members have formed the open Creative Identity group to continue talking about issues, especially as they relate to creative work.

The early development of the museum metaphor and leadership for the project was the work of Sabrinaa Nightfire, who has run a number of the Caerleon theme collaborations. When Sabrinaa had to withdraw for personal reasons, it fell to FreeWee Ling to take over the coordination of the team and she has brought it finally to the opening with the tremendous support of all the artists. This is the first project of this magnitude FreeWee has done in SL. "It's a very rare opportunity to work with so many creative people. This is why I'm in SL–to be creatively engaged and to be constantly inspired by talented colleagues. I am so grateful to Sabrinaa for recommending my membership in the Caerleon group, for her inspiration on this project, and for her friendship. The Identity team dedicates this build to her with our love and best wishes."

RESOURCES:

Machinimas:
BotGirl Questi: http://vimeo.com/15307758
Ian Pahute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=symG_03vh1Y

The Thesis by Georg Janick (Gary Zabel)

Ambiguity of identity results from the fact that our bodily presence in the virtual world is mediated by a digital representation. All dwelling within a world involves being present in a body which both constitutes our perspective on things and makes us present to other embodied experiencers. Though personal identity can be a very complex construction, its ultimate foundation is continuity of bodily presence. However digital bodies, and the names that uniquely identify them, can be altered, multiplied, discarded, or exchanged at the will of the user. Since bodily presence is open to such radical discontinuity, the identity of the virtual person is protean and ambiguous, including indicators of age, gender, race, and even biological species.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL FLUIDITY COLLABORATION PROJECT "ART THAT WILL MAKE YOU SMILE"

At the invitation of Pixel Sideways I stopped in to check out the latest exhibit at Caerleon and ported out impressed as ever with the creativity on display. The exhibit titled, "Art That Will Make You Smile" lives up to its name with plenty to make ones lips curl upward into a smile. A few of the artists who'd contributed to the exhibit include; Alizarin Goldflake, Artistide Despres, Banrion Constantine, Lollito Larkham, PattiAnne Daviau, Pixels Sideways and Wotthe Dickins. It is a SIM wide exhibition that features fifteen unique art installations, "teaming with interactive, reactive, kinetic, morphing and entertaining original artworks". The exhibit opened in early July and runs through the month. Stop in when you have the opportunity, you won't be disappointed.

Winners Announced at Imagine Create No Texture Challenge

Crowd Awaits Announcement of Winners

With a drum roll, Sabrinaa Nightfire announced the winners of the "Imagine Create No Texture Challenge" to the plus forty avatars who attended the opening.

1st Place - triflangatide by Physeter Nicholls $1000L

2nd Place  - Antientropic.particles by Oberon Onmura $700L

3rd Place - Lady With A Fan by Miso Susanowa $500L
 
The contest judges were:
 
Artistide Despres, Gracie Kendal, Jayjay Zifanwe, Sasun Steinbeck, Scottius Polke and Steele Darkfold.
 
The exhibition will be viewable until March 15th.

Opening of Imagine Create No Texture Challenge at Erato of Caerleon

The following information on the opening came to me by way of Sabrinaa Nightfire, challenge organizer:

You are cordially invited to the opening of the Imagine Create No Texture Challenge. The opening is at 1pm SLT on Sunday, February 21, 2010. Erato of Caerleon is hosting this event that features the work of 32 artists whose challenge was to create artwork using no textures. Sculpties, scripts, bumpiness and color were permitted.

Music for the opening will be provided by the talented and witty Whirli Placebo. So, come out on Sunday and party with us. Come out and see the amazing creations these artists submitted. The entries are situated along a path through a jungle created by soror Nishi. The entry to the jungle is by Jedda Zenovka.

Below (in no particular order) is a list of participating artists:

soror Nishi
Zhora Maynard
Artfox Daviau
Josina Burgess
Asmita Duranjaya
Dale Innis
Corcosman Voom
FreeWee Ling
Merlino Mayo
Laurel Leavitt
Sledge Roffo
Tegan Jenvieve
Kicca Igaly
Chapl Paisley
Gleman Jun
Miso Susanowa
Maryva Mayo
Physeter Nicholls
Al Lurton
Jess Oranos
Jimmy Debruyere
Misprint Thursday
quadrapop Lane
iTony Pleides
Flicky Exonar
Scarp Godenot
Fuschia Nightfire
Sabrinaa Nightfire
ArtCrash Exonar
Alizarin Goldflake
Daco Monday
Gwen Difference
typote Beck

Steaming Hot! A Show of Steampunk Builds

A group notice from Sabrinaa Nightfire:

You are cordially invited to an opening party for Steaming Hot! a show of Steampunk builds by some of Second Life's leading artists. The opening is this Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 1pm SLT. Musical entertainment will be provided by thte amazing MommaLuv Skytower. The event takes place at Erato of Caerleon.

Participating Artists Include:

Bryn Oh
Zhora Maynard
Gleman Jun
Dekka Raymaker
Blue Tsuki
Stardove Spirit
Penumbra Carter
Stardove Spirit
Scottius Polke
Miso Susanowa
Abel Moonites
Fuschia Nightfire
Doctor Obolensky
soror Nishi
Wizard Gynoid
Cogito Ultsch
Canolli Capalini

Erato of Caerleon Issues a Call for Artists for an "Imagine Create Challenge"

I received the following via a notecard from Sabrinaa Nightfire. All of the pertinent information regarding the challenge is included below; how you can participate, the event timing and rules for the challenge. For further information or clarification contact Sabrinaa Nightfire in-world:

Erato of Caerleon is having another Imagine Create Challenge. This time the challenge is to create a work of art that uses no texture.

Here are the rules:

1. You may either use the Default texture, transparent texture, white transparent or Blank texture on your work. You may use color and shine and transparency.

2. The maximum size of your piece is 10x10m foot print. Your piece may be taller than 10m

3. You may use a maximum of 40 prims.

4. Only low lag scripts may be used (as determined by our script police)

5. All work must be submitted to Sabrinaa Nightfire by midnight on Friday, February 12, 2010.

The management reserves the right to not show any piece that we determine is inappropriate for this show.

This will be a judged show with a panel of judges determining the first, second and third place entries.

The show will open at 1pm slt on Sunday, February 21, 2010.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please contact me, Sabrinaa Nightfire.

Caerleon Art Collective Activities on ReactionGrid

I logged into Second Life on Thursday to find a notecard from Georg Janick awaiting my arrival in-world. The note was a brief update on recent activities and included twenty eight pictures from Caerleon's first two weeks on ReactionGrid, a virtual world based on OpenSimulator software. He went on to explain that," Things are developing there faster than we expected and we are in the process of upgrading our SIMs so they can handle all that activity". His closer was an invitation to come over for a visit. I'd registered an account with ReactionGrid several months ago and had paid a few short visits initially, but hadn't really spent much time there. After leaving Second Life and with the invitation as incentive, I found my notes and login-in information, then launched the Hippo viewer for a trip into ReactionGrid.

On rezzing, I tried to do a search and it came up with no results for either Georg or Caerleon. So I opened the map and within a few minutes located what I hoped to be the right SIM. The teleport worked and I found myself on the Caerleon-Charon SIM. A system message said on my arrival,":: Nazz Lane enters Caerleon-Charon (now 3 visitors in this region)", which I took to be a positive sign I'd selected the right SIM. Opening the mini-map now, I located the other two avatars present and headed in their direction. Closing in I realized one was Georg, so I sent him an instant message to which he replied with both a greeting and a TP request. I was close enough to where he stood, so I rejected the TP request and in the chat window called out a greeting.

"There you are Nazz. I didn't see you." He said in reply and then asked, "Do you know Marnie?"

"Good to see you Georg. I got your notecard with the pictures and had to come over to look around. We've not met, but I have seen Marnie at a few Second Life venues." I replied and then exchanged greetings with Marnie Reinard.

"Oh great, I'm glad. We have seventeen people here now … on and off from Caerleon in Second Life."

I'd scanned around with my camera controls and saw several of the builds. Based on the number of pictures he'd sent, I knew there were more. "That's a lot done in two weeks … congratulations!" I said.

"Thanks … I'm surprised myself at how many have come, and we are running a major collaboration here on AI and A-Life led by Nonnatus." He replied and then added: "ReactionGrid has great owners and tech people … they make up for the glitches. That's one reason I like being here. Plus I'm tired of LL taking money and giving little back … the cost of a SIM here is 1/16th that of Second Life. Artists in the broad sense have built Second Life at no cost to LL."

"And allot of prims." Marnie added.

"The tool set here is the same or better?" I asked.

"Well there are differences. The prims here are fully scalable … no mega' and there are 45,000 of them per SIM … three times the number in Second Life. The tools are very much the same, the in world tools but you script in C# and Java as well as LSL if you know how." He replied.

"It provides more flexibility?" I asked.

"Yes, but of course it's also a bumpier ride sometimes." He responded.

"The stability of the regions?" I asked

"We just doubled up on our resources. We added an extra server with a full set of RAM, CPU, etc … so that should help a lot with stability." He answered.

"You have four islands here now?" I asked.

"Yes and we made add one more … we have to see, the upgrade is coming tomorrow." He said in reply.

"You have four SIMs in Second Life now, right?

"Yes, but we are going to drop one in about three months so we will have three there and four or five here." He replied.

"I really liked what I saw in the pictures ... remarkable stuff being created here." I said in comment and as I did, his avatar disappeared from the screen. I said to Marnie, "We lost Georg."

Before she could reply, a system message appeared in the lower left corner of my screen. ":: Georg Janick enters Caerleon-Charon (now 3 visitors in this region)".

"He is coming back." Marnie said.

As his avatar rezzed, he typed in chat. "Speaking of crashing … "

"But that happens in Second Life to." Marnie commented.

"I'm trying to bring Thoth, he's here on another of our SIMs. He made a great video structure." He said and then added; "Actually, let's take a look. I'll TP you."

Georg left first, followed by Marnie and then me. I arrived quickly at the new location and as I rezzed, Georg said. "My map shows Thoth somewhere around here. Make sure your video is on Nazz and set to midnight."

We were joined shortly by Thoth Jantzen and the four of us exchanged pleasantries. Georg then explained that he'd brought us over to show off the build. After getting my video set up in preferences, it started playing for me and the build lit up with the video and my headset with sound.

"Lead the way Thoth." Georg said.

"Just walk through the cube ... straight." Thoth directed then added; "You can stop and look around to …"

"How how did you do this Thoth?" Marnie asked.

"Very carefully." He replied with a grin and then added; "Actually, just a matter of slapping prims together and texturing them right and I'm more a builder … I sort of make canvasses for art to be shown on."

"Is this Cirque du Soleil?" I asked thinking that the video and music was familiar I added, "This is the same one you'd shown me a few days ago in Second Life."

"Yep it is Cirque du Soleil, but no I don't think it's the same one." He replied and then added; "Well, let's walk on through to the other side … this way kids … you sort of get disoriented in there. It's been a trip building here … but it's fun. I also have stuff at 300m and 2500m. I'm not finished yet though."

"Yeah but you've made a lot of progress in a very short time." Georg commented and then added; "Well you have a lot of prims to play with."

We spent the next fifteen minutes marveling at the sights and sounds presented in Thoth's build, but it was coming up on 2 pm and I had an appointment in Second Life. Georg commented that he also had to leave shortly. I thanked him for the tour and complimented Thoth on his build.

I was about to log out and leave ReactionGrid when Marnie said to Thoth. "You have done it now I want a notecard with how you did on it and the scripts."

"Well, there's no real scripts except for spinning and stuff. The rest is building and texturing and whatnot. I have a thing that shows how... has static and active versions of different pieces on it It's really simpler than it looks fundamentally … it's the arrangement of the pieces that does it."

As they continued the discussion, I said my good bye and logged out, delighted that I'd stopped in.

Artists Caring for Artists - Benefit Art Auction

On Saturday, August 22, 2009 at noon PDT/SLT a silent auction will begin to benefit second life artists who have been severely affected by the global recession. The "Artists Caring for Artists" benefit art auction is being organized by the founders of the Caerleon SIM's to help those in desperate need. Everyone who bids gets a chance to own a beautiful piece of artwork from some of SL's best artists.

Donating artists include:

Feathers Boa

Pete Jiminy

Artistide Despres

Dekka Raymaker

Jeb Soderstrom

Bryn Oh

Georg Janick

FreeWee Ling

Sowa Mai

AuraKyo Insoo

Misprint Thursday

Glyph Graves

Ub Yifu

Sabrinaa Nightfire

Alizarin Goldflake

Olza Koenkamp (RL drawing)

luce Laval

Nonnatus Korhonen

Pixels Sideways

marnie Reinard

Please come by for the opening ceremonies and make a bid that will help those in need!