Diomita Maurer’s Blog

I (pre-) visited the installation “Memento Vivere” by Selen (Selen Minotaur) at NovaOwl Sky Gallery. The installation is ready to be viewed, the opening party will take place today, May 3rd at 9 PM (CET) / noon SLT.

Before entering you should ensure that your Graphics ate set to “Advanced Lighting Model”, if you can you’re recommended to set schadows to Sun/Moon and projector and you should enable Sound and Media with Media Autoplay enabled.
When entering the intallation you see big arrows at the floor and at the walls that guide your on your way through the installation. The first what you see is a permanently changing, mirrored being with hands and heead, most probably a human, that moves, develops and vanishes on three screens.

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (1)

Selen wrote about “Memento Vivere“:
“Memento Vivere”, in Latin, means “Remember to live”. Isn’t it the other face of the same medal with “Memento Mori” which means “Remember that you’ll die”? What if the fear of dying was actually the fear of living?
This installation, mixing 2D, 3D and multimedia is meant to explore this question. The bias being to treat the subject with all the more lightness that it is serious, even heavy.
Visitors are therefore invited to take their time to look and sometimes interact with the artworks with their inner child, without forgetting their sense of humor, and to find the stories and messages that speak to them.
Most of the images are fantasy style, using avatars from the Metabody project.
An experimental art video (machinima) made specially for this installation will come out soon. It won’t be ready for the opening vernissage on May 3, as initially this opening was planned for June. But stay tuned, it might be ready before the start of June!”

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (2)

The installation consists of a just a few 2D pictures, most of them permanently changing a with fading transition, hence you always get a different view. Please be aware that the floor is also used to display posters and messages. There are also some 3D objects in the installation, very outstanding is the the pendulum in the corner, that swings like a metronome above a circle with symbols of different religions and beliefs. On the wall you find the center message “The fear of dying refers to the fear of living“. On the floor your find other wisdoms like “Vita nihil valet nisi nihil valet vita” which is latin and means: “Life is worth nothing and what is of no value is not worth of life”.

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (3)

There is a stairway leading upwards on a little stage with another animated colourful protrait and surealistic picture of what might be the devil at work. Looking back you see a videoscreen which plays the animations that you find at installation in a permanent loop. I am not aware if that is the machinima that Selen mentioned in her note about “Memento Vivere”. Anyway, here is the link to it.

What else? Find out yourself! One last thing, I liked the Salvadore Dali face next to another wisdom:
Go to work. Get married.
Have some kids. Pay your taxes.
Pay your bills. Watch your tv.
Follow fashion. Act normal
Obey the law
.. and repeat after me: I AM FREE

Impressions from “Memento Vivere” by Selen @ Nova OwlSky Gallery (4)

I came across Selen (Selen Minotaur) just recently the first time when I visited her exhibition “Junction Points” at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (read here).
Selen (Selen Minotaur) is in Second Life since 2008. In her biography she writes about her connection to art: “In the physical world I grew up in France with an architect, painter and sculptor father, maybe that’s why I’ve always loved art in all its forms. I myself tried drawing, painting (watercolor) and sculpture (clay) when I was younger. Later I discovered different platforms of the Metaverse (Second Life being the very first and main one) with endless possibilities to create digitally….. I always like to experiment new things, and creativity and art are definitely my main fuels in SL.”
Nowadays, Selen has an own gallery, an own website, a facebook and an instagram account, a flickr page and an own youtube channel. You cand even more links to Selen’s artwork at her link-list here.

The NovaOwl Gallery  and the NovaOwl Sky Gallery is owned by Uli Jansma, Owl (Owl Dragonash) is the general manager. NovaOwl is an international community on the mainland continent of Corsica. NovaOwl is located on Novatron. It is a meeting place where events take place regularly. Thank you Uli and Owl for providing the space for the art and for enabling this Installation. I enjoyed my visit.
“Memento Vivere” by Selen shall stay open until June 30th.

Landmark to NovaOwl Sky Gallery and to “Memento Vivere” by Selen
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Novatron/122/39/2001
Landmark to NovaOwl – Gallery & Club
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Novatron/131/102/23
Video with for the permanent loop animations at “Memento Vivere”
https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxj_7o7wdk4?version=3&loop=1&playlist=qxj_7o7wdk4&autoplay=1
List of links leading to Selen’s art:
https://linktr.ee/selen.inworld
Selen’s gallery in-world
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Royale/211/208/1602
Selen’s website
https://seleninworld.com
Selen on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000855067835699
Selen on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/selen.inworld/
Selen’s youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUSdEgggYEheFsxHI7drfpw
Selen on flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/185987389@N08/