FREEWEE WINS IMAGINE, NYX & HERICK SHARE HONOURS: JUNE WINNERS OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

A brilliant and mesmerizing piece by FreeWee Ling, VERTICAL SPIRAL KALEIDOSCOPE has taken top art honors (L$5,000) for the JUNE Round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge! The FLAGSHIP (Architecture) Challenge went down to the wire, and in the end, the builds of Nyx Breen and Herick Straaf could not be separated as the judging panel were hopelessly deadlocked, thus resulting in the first ever joint winners for the FLAGSHIP Challenge. Herick a first time winner, and Nyx coming in with an incredible 5 wins across the 10 months of the challenge! Nicci Lane took 2nd Prize in the FLAGSHIP.

Concluding month 10 of this year long L$550,000 challenge, June saw 68 amazing artworks and 7 Flagship Builds submitted by artists hailing from all corners of the globe, including by a number legendary SL builders.

Commenting on the win, FreeWee said, "I am just astounded at this prize. The June round had some of the most amazing work yet seen, including many pieces by some of the true greats of SL. Artists who have truly inspired me for a long time. To win first place in this field of entries is truly humbling.  I was amused to see several kaleidoscopic pieces in this round. The nature of SL prim building lends itself to recursive forms like that. It's not hard to create interesting forms. But I admit my discovery of the effects of gravity on rotating flexible prims was a happy one. There is almost and organic quality to the piece as the parts spin and dance."

South American winner Herick Straaf was left stunned, " First, I have no words to describe my delight at winning this competition. It is an honor, since it's my first participation in the UWA Flagship challenge. I would like to thank everyone who gave me this vote and all of the jury and also to Keystone Bouchard who sent me a notecard about this contest.  As a Brazilian, I have great affection for the people, culture and Australian architecture. The moment I heard about the contest, I became interested in researching more about Western Australia, and one of the first great impressions was the Stirling Park Ranges, which gave me the start to my building, so I made a reduced version with high-technology style of the Bluff Knoll peak. I am very pleased and honored to have had this recognition, and from now on will be tuned to the forthcoming events of UWA. My sincere thanks to everyone who recognized the work."

Another first time entrant Takni Miklos won a host of prizes with her piece, Sierpinsky Sieve, taking the newly established Rain Prize, joint 2nd Prize in the People's Choice Award, and also joint 2nd Prize in the IMAGINE Art Challenge.

MidnightRain Glas, one of the founding patrons of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge and after whom the Rain Prize is named, explained, "It's very interactive, it tempts you to disobey the instructions, and you know you will, and so the artist.... is very clever and takes advantage of human weakness"

Takni herself was thrilled at the outcome, "I came to SL to chat and I didn't discover that you can build things here until a  year later. Now I'm discovering that other people like my things, and I'm VERY surprised. Thanks to all."

The exquisite MEDUSA'S GAZE, masterfully crafted by pravda Core took the prize for Best Non-Scripted entry, and will prove very hard to dislodge in coming rounds. He's thrown down the gauntlet, and submitted his pieces for July already (The Vampire Heritage & The Minotaur's Wrath).  A believer in the wonders SL can offer, pravda said, "nothing is impossible, dream, believe, be inspired and make it happen."

It was truly a month for joint awards, as EINSTEIN'S UNFINISHED SYMPHONY (Gleman Jun) and A BEAUTIFUL SOUL PASSES (Jeri Rahja) were joint 2nd Prize winners in the IMAGINE & PEOPLE'S CHOICE Awards respectively.

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES by Lea Supermarine & Jarapanda Snook also won a couple of awards taking first Prize in the People's Choice as well as the "Honorable Mention Prize for A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING".

There were 5 Honorable Mention Prizes in all, with the others being won by Madcow Cosmos, Abstract Baroque, Silene Christen and Theoretical Afterthought.

Theoretical Afterthought put it very nicely when she said, "Recognition of someone's creative attempt to describe a feeling or emotion through the use of uncomplicated building blocks signals some degree of success, albeit temporary, for its creator.  Being at the receiving end of that recognition for creation of The Panopticon is very cool, indeed.  This being a build based on surveillance, on watching, on gazing, of one's physical  depiction or that of others, I have to wonder what it signals to the spectator.  It is that connection, that relationship that develops between the idea of the creator, and how the spectator receives it, that intrigues and challenges me. As a lifelong student of identity, introspection /self-reflection is always at the forefront of all my work."

Some other exciting developments with the UWA presence were announced at the awards ceremony.

First of all  the Residents of Artemesia, through FreeWee Ling,  have stepped in to help run a UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge Trophy Contest, to create a Trophy that will be given to all winners of the UWA Challenges. The creator of the best trophy, that we select to use, will win a  L$3,000 prize. The closing date for submissions of the trophy design is the 31st July 2010. Basically no scripts are allowed for the trophy, and the limit is 10 prims. There are notecards available here ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/64/136/250 ) for anyone who might want to help design a trophy.

The Rain Prize was also established. This is a special prize of L$1,000 offered by one of the founding patrons of the UWA 3D Art & Design challenge. This Rain Prize winner will be selected by the patron and provided for the June, July & August rounds.

We also had the Second Life Birthday #7 (sl7B) happen and UWA were represented by a lovely build by quadrapop Lane which was dedicated to the 180++ SL residents who have taken part in UWA events.  There was a talk at sl7b which described all the "Unexpected Collaborations" that have driven the growth of the UWA presence. (http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2010/06/unexpected-collaborations-uwainsl-and.html)

Thanks was given to the master machinimatographer Iono Allen who created the Machinima of the May winners ( http://vimeo.com/12891162 ). His works have been much sought after, and his amazing interpretation of the winners will be sorely missed for the June round winners as Iono goes away holiday. We are lucky however to have another very accomplished machinimatographer Suzy Yue, to pick up the reins for the June winners! Big boots to fill. But if anyone can fill them, Suzy can.

WINNERS OF THE JUNE ROUND OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE
IMAGINE CHALLENGE - 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt) VERTICAL SPIRAL KALEIDOSCOPE by FreeWee Ling

Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L3,000)  JOINT EINSTEIN'S UNFINISHED SYMPHONY by Gleman Jun & SIERPINSKY SIEVE by Takni Miklos

Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L3,000 + Custom T-Shirt) MEDUSA'S GAZE by pravda Core

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE - BUILDING DESIGN

Flagship Challenge 1st Prize :  ($L5,000) JOINT CONCEPT BUILDING FOR AXS LAB by Herick Straaf & UWA AXS LAB  by Nyx Breen

Flagship Challenge  2nd Prize: ($L3,000) JUNE UWA FLAGSHIP by Nicci Lane

Honorable Mention Prize for PHILOSOPHY (L$1,000) TA PANOPTICON  by Theoretical Afterthought

Honorable Mention Prize for SOUL (L$1,000) THE LAND OF FORGOTTEN THINGS by Selene Christen

Honorable Mention Prize for A BEAUTIFUL MIND (L$1,000) IMAGINE by Abstract Baroque

Honorable Mention Prize for ELEGANCE (L$1,000) THE FORGE OF DREAMS by  Madcow Cosmos

Honorable Mention Prize for A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING (L$1,000) MUSIC OF THE SPHERES by Lea Supermarine and Jarapanda Snook

The RAIN PRIZE (L$1,000) - Established for one of the Founding Patron of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge SIERPINSKY SIEVE by Takni Miklos

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD - 1st prize (L$1,000): Lea Supermarine & Jarapanda Snook - Music of the Spheres

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD - 2nd prize (L$500): Joint Prize Takni Miklos - sierpinsky sieve jeri Rahja - A beautiful Soul Passes

Winners Announced December Round of UWA 3D Art & Design

As announced via notecard from Jayjay Zifanwe:

Igor Ballyhoo & Patch Thibaud triumph in DECEMBER ROUND of UWA 3D Art & Design

Article with Photos and winners list on the blog as well.

Two incredible works took out top honours in the December Round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge announced on the 10th of January at the University of Western Australia's IMAGINE Challenge Art Platform. On the tie-breaker 'Chaos In Order' by Igor Ballyhoo took the top IMAGINE art prize over Anyunie Daviau's 'Araucaria Artist Book' (which won the Artist Book Prize), and renowned architect Patch Thibaud's submission called 'UWA Cultural Precinct Nexus' beat all comers and set a new standard for the FLAGSHIP Challenge.

Igor also took the People's Choice Award in another close battle that saw over 300 votes cast. This time it was neck and neck with 'The Cub Rescue' by Really Scrabblebat and came down to the final hour of voting. An amazing double by Igor, becoming the first to top both categories!

Stunned by the awards win, Igor said, " I thank all people that voted for my work and I thank the amazing J.S. Bach for inspiration"

The Flagship Build of Patch Thibaud is true masterpiece and has already received a lot of attention in architecture circles. Frolic Mills, a judge for the Grand Prize and CEO of BOSL & CO said, "Patch has been an inspiration to many here in Second Life: From his first build, 'The Best of SL Boulevard' to 'Ciudad de Mexico' he has received outstanding critics even from people like SL CEO: Mr. M Linden. But what is truly remarkable about his University of Western Australia entry is that Patch was able to build something that can totally be executed in Real Life and that fits right in with the purposes of the University. I would love to see this art gallery come to life in the real world some day! Well done Patch and congratulations!"

Commenting after his win, Patch said, "The University of Western Australia is doing a wonderful thing, in their Flagship Challenge, for architecture in Second Life. The idea of encouraging creations in SL that could be used for a real world building is an innovative and exciting use of Second Life as a design tool, and further strengthens the relationship of SL with real world applications. And I think the inclusiveness and openness of the process is an inspired and fertile platform for encouraging the arts in SL in general."

The build can be seen here through the end of January: Patch Thibaud December Flagship Entry

A record total of 69 entries were submitted for the IMAGINE challenge for December and 5 entries to the FLAGSHIP. Professor Ted Snell, Director of the UWA Cultural Precinct (RL), Chair of the judging panel, had this to say about the entries this month:"The range of works submitted in December was extremely impressive with a much larger number of entries moving on from technical competence in rendering images and objects to speak with an original voice and engage audiences in a conceptually challenging and intellectually rewarding encounter. The winning works were reflective and thought provoking, using the medium as a means of exploring ideas and concepts rather than merely re-presenting borrowed images or reworking existing concepts. They remain vividly in your memory after the screen has been switched off.

The architectural winner displayed a high level of sophistication and combined extraordinary technical competence with intellectual rigour and practicality. "

At this point, the Challenge has reached 6 continents of the world, with only Antarctica out of the mix. Canada, the USA, the UK, Scotland, England, Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan and Australia are all represented!

A number of other awards were also presented including the the 'Best Non-Scripted Art' prize taken by Sistagrlro Wei with 'Black Soils Plains Running Through My Veins'. Other winners included Miso Susanowa, Jedda Zenovka, Nyx Breen, Scottius Polke, LollyPop Congrejo, Asmita Duranjaya and Oldoak Merlin.

The competition is now receiving entries for the month of January.

A new prize has also been added to the IMAGINE Challlenge, and this is 'The Casey Cultural Award', which encourages artists and builders in all disciplines to research Western Australian historic OR contemporary Culture and present a piece which demonstrates aspects of Western Australian culture, ecomony or society.

A Machinima Challenge with a L$60,000 1st prize, closing on the 31st of January has also been announced.


WINNERS FOR THE DECEMBER ROUND

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
CHAOS IN ORDER by Igor Ballyhoo

Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L1,250)
AURACARIA ARTIST BOOK by Anyunie Daviau

Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)
BLACK SOIL PLAINS RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS by Sistagrlro Wei

Honourable Mention Prize for TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE (L$500)
VECTOR BEEHIVE by Scottius Polke

Honourable Mention Prize for SERENITY (L$500)
RADIANT STALLIONS by Miso Susanowa

Honourable Mention Prize for MESSAGE (L$500)
SPRAY ADDICT by LollyPop Congrejo

Honourable Mention Prize for BODY OF WORK (L$500)
WORKING FOR YOU & ME, DEVOTIONAL TRINITY & MECHANICAL BIRDS by Oldoak Merlin

Honourable Mention Prize for IMMERSION (L$500)
HEART SEED by Jedda Zenovka

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE - BUILDING DESIGN

Flagship Challenge 1st Prize : ($L5,000)
UWA CULTURAL PRECINCT NEXUS by Patch Thibaud

Flagship Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L1,250)
FUTURELab by Nyx Breen

ARTIST BOOK PRIZE

Artist Book 1st Prize : ($L2,000)
AURACARIA ARTIST BOOK by Anyunie Daviau

Artist Book 2nd Prize: ($L500)
ASMITA's PHILOSOPHICAL BOOK DISPLAY by Asmita Duranjaya

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD (L$500)
CHAOS IN ORDER by Igor Ballyhoo

3 Days left to vote: UWA 3DA&D Challenge

The following came to me by way of a group notice:

People's Choice Voting for the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge (December Round) closes in 3 days. 69 entries to choose from. Everyone has 3 votes. The winners announced at 5am slt 10th Jan.

MachinimUWA: The UWA Machinima Challenge

WHAT: MachinimUWA : The UWA Machinima Challenge

 
 

WHEN: Submissions are open 18th December 2009 - 31st January 2010

All entries will be displayed on the University of Western Australia (UWA) Second Life Blog.

 
 

Winners will be announced during a ceremony in February

 
 

WHERE: In front of Winthrop Tower (Main SIM of the UWA presence) & starting point of all Machinima

 

THEME: Architecture, Teaching, Research & Arts on the UWA SIMS

 

THE CHALLENGE

Create a Machinima between 2 and 5 minutes in length that captures the 4 main elements that make up the heart of the University of Western Australia SIMS. These elements are the RL architecture, the teaching, the research and the arts. The purpose would be to show that UWA's presence in SL is comprehensive and covering all these areas, creating true bridges between SL & RL for prospective students, current students, staff, alumni & the community (this is the snapshot - more details below). Note that there are 3 SIMS making up the UWA presence, namely UWA, Uni of WA & WASP Land, and this challenge covers all 3.

 
 

Method of Entry:

* Load the Machinima anywhere, and provide the link to both Jayjay Zifanwe & White Lebed (co-hosts of MachinimUWA)

 
 

Closing Date:

* Midnight 31st January 2010 (winners' announced in Mid-Feb 2010)

 
 

OVERVIEW OF UWA (RL)

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a leading Australian research university and has an international reputation for excellence, innovation and enterprise. A member of the Australian 'Group of Eight' research universities, it is also among Australia's leading research universities. Sitting on the banks of the Swan River, the UWA Crawley campus is the oldest in Western Australia and among the most picturesque in the nation with its grand sandstone and terracotta buildings sitting among elegant heritage-listed gardens.

 
 

MORE on the CHALLENGE

As follows will link some of the key areas that could be looked at in the preparation of the Machinima. The Machinima should start with a view of the Winthrop Clock Tower & the Reflecting Pond which is an icon of the state of Western Australia. Graduation ceremonies are carried out here, and it is named after UWA's founder, Sir John Winthrop Hackett.

 
 

Start Point of Machinima : Winthrop Tower & Reflecting Pond (RL & SL location)

 
 

The rest of the following areas can be used (or not) as you see fit, and in any order you choose.

 
 

UWA Sunken Gardens (RL & SL location)

This is a place of great significance to the staff and alumni of the University. Many many people get married in this location in RL every week, and it is a place of nostalgia, and quite a few people who got married in RL at the sunken gardens, have been here looking at the SL version of the place they exchanged vows.

 
 

UWA Sky Theatre (SL only location)

This is a theatre we have created for use by Professor Wade Halvorson of the School of Business and Professor Mark Pegrum of the Graduate School of Education. Profesor Halvorson ran an entire 2nd year Bachelor of Commerce Unit using this as his primary location. It was run for the first time ever this semeter, in a unit called Electronic Communications Strategy.

 

 
 

UWA Square Kilometer Array - SKA (to be created in RL)

Now, these are replicas of telescopes that will be built in the Australian Outback, at a place called Boolardy station. 40 of them will be built for a smaller project caller ASKAP, or the Australian Square Kilometyer Array Pathfinder. Currently the final telescope design is presented in SL and the unique characteristic of these dishes is illustrated, namely the three rotational axes where most telescope dishes only have 2. Australia is in a battle with South Africa to secure the rights to the Main SKA, which will comprise 4000 radio telescope dishes. This will be the biggest land based science project in the hsitory of mankind.

 
 

Visualisation Research @ The West Australian Supercomputer Programme (WASP), UWA

Visualisation Research is being run by Tranguloid Trefoil (RL - Paul Bourke). A critical component of this is the automatic representation of data in SL, rather than manually modelling. There are a number of examples of this such as the volume rendering of a human cortex. Among other things, Paul has an interest in fractals and how they may be used to describe and model real world objects. There are a number of fractal objects on the WASP land, one is the famous Menger sponge. For more information.

 

3D Art & Design Challenge

UWA runs an extremely successful 3D art & architecture challenge, with some of the greatest artists and architects of SL displaying their works for the challenge. This has been one of the most important components of UWA's SL offering, and has been listed as an SL Destination for Arts.

 
 

THE PEACOCKS, THE DUCKS, THE GALAHS, THE RAINBOW LORIKEETS, THE PARROTS ad other fauna are a significant part of the RL campus, and these are represented on the SL campus. These are found mainly on the Uni of WA SIM

 
 

The Wonders on the Ground of the UWA SIM

Wonderful art by quadrapop Lane, Soror Nishi & Glyph Graves (seek out 'Strangers also Dance'). This is here to give the UWA presence a mixture of the RL aspects of Second life, as evidenced by the recreation of the RL buildings as well as the truly out of this world aspects of SL, as evidenced by what is found here.

 
 

OTHER AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Physics Building

Hackett Hall

The building housing Astronomy, HR & Facilities Management

 
 

PRIZES

A first and a 2nd Prize will be awarded for this. These prizes come courtesy of the University of Western Australia, VR Shed Pty Ltd (Dr Chris Thorne) and other benefactors.

 
 

1st Prize - $35,000L + a UWA T-Shirt

2nd Prize - $15,000L + a UWA T-Shirt

 
 

JUDGING PANEL

1. Professor Alan Robson (RL) - Vice-Chancellor, The University of Western Australia

2. Professor Ted Snell (RL) - Director, Cultural Precinct, The University of Western Australia

3. A/Professor Wade Halvorson (RL) - Lecturing in Marketing, Business and Electronic Commerce, The University of Western Australia

4. Colin Campbell Fraser (RL) - Principal Adviser (External Relations and Advocacy),

Vice-Chancellery, The University of Western Australia

5. Kelly Smith (RL) - Director, International Centre, The University of Western Australia

6. White Lebed (SL) - Lead of Burning Life Art Department, Curator

7. Jayjay Zifanwe (SL) - Owner of The University of Western Australia (SL), Creator & co-host of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge