Art in Second Life 2021 (75) Sinners and Saints

Following Inara Pey’s blog I came across the exhibtion “Sinners and Saints” (read her article here). Thank you Inara for blogging about it

Sinners and Saints” extends over the two sims “Sinful Retreat” and “Angels Rest Arts Collective”. The provided landmark leads you into the center, right close to the sim border, that is indicated on the floor.
And just like the exhibition extends almost seamlessly over the two sims, the landmark descriptions of the two sims fit together:

Sinful Retreat is a land where worlds and times collide. A virtual playground where artists are welcomed with open arms to show their works. Home of the Janus Galleries and Janus Java.
Where art and music collide in an immersive environment for the senses. Curated by Chuck Clip, Angels Rest is the sister sim and mirror to Sinful Retreat with a focus on the performing arts and large 3D art installations.

Chuck Clip is a graphic designer, prim sculptor, co-owner of Sinful Retreat & Angels Rest, and co-curator of the Janus Galleries. He and his RL wife and SL partner, Jewell, seek to help breathe new life into the SL art community.

Sinners and Saints – an overview. The sim boarder is in the center. Angels Rest to the left, Sinful Retreat to the right. In the center is the event area.

Inara Pey wrote about the background of the exhibtion “Sinners and Saints“:
First announced in February 2021 (see Inara Pey’s blog: Sinners and saints, a new arts challenge in Second Life), the exhibition is in many respects the spiritual offspring of the great Art Challenges sponsored and hosted by the University of Western Australia and their partners (both in-world and out-world), and organised by FreeWee Ling and Jayjay Zifanwe on behalf of UWA.

Sinners and Saints: Merranda Ginssberg “Imprisoned” and “Divine Intervention”

And furtheron Inara quoted the Sinful Retreat team in her blog:
In the wake of the UWA gratitude art show back in November which Chuck Clip curated alongside Maripose Upshaw, we here at Sinful Retreat and Angels Rest decided to carry UWA’s torch onward into the future in the form of occasional themed art shows. Sinenrs and Saints art show is our first show which serves the dual purpose of carrying the aforementioned torch and celebrating the culmination of our first year in Second Life.
Sinful Retreat and Angels Rest are mirrors for each other, highlighting the dichotomy of light and dark in the art and humanity as a whole. We thought it appropriate that our first show should reflect that … with submissions form 50 artists and poets from across the grid, and over 20 hours of performances by musicians and DJ’s, plus poetry and Science Fiction readings, this show is sure to encapsulate all of us and serve to start some interesting conversations.
(Sinful Retreat team)

Sinners and Saints: Exhibit 2021 by Dusty Canning

You can find the program of events on the Sinful Retreat website. On the website is also the list of participants.

There’s really a lot of art to see and enjoy, to immerse into and to experience how and with which stylistic means the artists expressed the contrast between Sinners and Saints, Light and Dark, Good and Evil.
The dark part is at Sinful Retreat, the light part at Angels Rest.

The 3D objects are in the center of the exhibition and the pictures are showcased at the walls. Most artists have 2 exhibtis, one on the Sinner side and one on the Angels side. Also many of the 3D art objects are created twice and contrasting.

Sinners and Saints: London Junkers “Diva” and “Muse”

As mentioned before the list of artists is long and compromises a lot of artists that I covered already in this blog as well as some of who I have never heard of before. Morlita Quan’s picture couple is exactly on the sim boarder hence it is easy to see the contrast. Other artists contrasting pictures are farer away but you can recognize each artists signature and the exhibits are also marked.

Sinners and Saints: Morlita Quan “Lights and Shadows” (upper left), ArtemisGreece “Dancing with the devil” (lower left), Hermes Kondor “Blue Memories” and “The Dark Side” (center), Meilo Minotaur “Metamorphosis Part 3” (right)

The exhibtion “Sinners and Saints” opened July 10th and will be open until September. You can get the current program of events on the Sinful Retreat Website. There you can also find a video clip (14 minutes) of the opening event.
To get notified of upcoing events and exhibition you can join the remote subscription in the center of the exhibition.

Thank you Chuck Clip for curating and organizing this great exhibtion. I spent one hour there and must return as I haven’t seen all yet. A big thank you also to all the participating artists who took the challenge.

Landmark to “Sinners and Saints” at Sinful Retreat & Janus Galleries
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sinful%20Retreat/138/239/3501
Sinful Retreat Website
https://www.sinfulretreat.com/
List of participanting artists
https://www.sinfulretreat.com/artists
Video of the opening event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94IhN9a0lwM&t=3s
Inara Pey’s blogpost “Sinners and Saints in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2021/07/10/sinners-and-saints-in-second-life/

Art in Second Life (74) Lollipop by Cica Ghost

Sunday, August 8th, I got a message from Cica Ghost – she just had opened her next installation named “Lollipop“. This time the motto she provides to the visitor is: “Happiness is enjoying the little things in your life.

I personally think that this motto fits almost perfectly to all of Cica’s installations: Having fun exploring her world of giant animals, her journey back into childhood, when everything was big, not intimidating, just a world to explore and discover. And it makes you happy – well at least me!

Aus usual you should use shared environment and set advance lighting on as well as shadows from sun+moon and projectors. The fun begins right next to the landing spot where I met Cica. In front of you is a large court with 5 funny mice. One of them holds up a sign “Dance”. Hence you can start dancing to get into the right mood.
I myself was curious about all the ladders that lead up to steep rocks with houses (in Cica-style of course) or with opportunities to sit and watch or to dance. I walked up a few of the ladders close to the landing spot and enjoyed the view and had already fun – looking into the big eyes of a snake that sat on the top of one of the houses.

Impressions of Lollipop by Cica Ghost (1)

Also quite close to the landing spot is a strange kind of machine – the lollipop machine. In front of it are a few gear wheels, and in the rear is a tube from which lollipops drop on the ground. At the base of the machine is a board where you can get a free lollipop to wear for your visit (or later of course). You can change the colour of the lollipop.

Impressions of Lollipop by Cica Ghost (2)

This time there’s no hidden cat…. as opposed to the cat is big and showcased strikingly on a large table also close to the landing spot. Actually it is not a cat, it is a catfish. I walked up the ladder to the table, and sat at the catfish’s head, looking directly into it’s eyes. The table has another hidden feature. You can change it’s colour and I did that. Walking aroud at Lollipop by Cica Ghost you can find more objects where you can adjust the colour. This way the visitors can actively change the installation.

Impressions of Lollipop by Cica Ghost (3)

What else? There is a little town that is occupied by a 3 headed snake (or 3 snakes?) watching you as you explore it’s home and the many houses.

Impressions of Lollipop by Cica Ghost (4)

And to no surprise there’re also a vehicles again, kind of a helicopter, a “Cica-copter”. I think 3 or 4 of them are circling over the island. If you hoover your mouse over them you can sit inside and enjoy the view from above, yet you can’t steer it yourself, just sit and relax and enjoy – and smile.
I saw a family of dinosaurs as well as a big frog sitting on one of the steep rocks. I tried sitting on quite some of the many spots. And I had a look at Cica’s shop at Lollipop by Cica Ghost. It offers the different mice and the frog.

Impressions of Lollipop by Cica Ghost (5)

Lollipop by Cica Ghost is an installation to escape from the serious everyday life. It’s your little time out to see the world with the eye of a kid again and to explore an unknown world. In addition it inspires you to try out the different spots to sit or dance, to take the “Cica-copter” tour, to climb the ladders and to enjoy your lollipop. And as always Cica succeeded to conjure a smile into my face. Thank you very much, Cica.

Landmark to Lollipop by Cica Ghost
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Luna%20Sea/88/63/28
Cica Ghost’s flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64860898@N05/
Cica Ghost’s shop C I C A
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Appalachian/140/139/3502

Art in Second Life 2021 (73) The Borderless Project – Part IV (final): Akiko Kinoshi’s garden and Japanese village / Mitsuko Kytori’s art park

Friday, July 9th, I got a private message from Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). She told me about “The Borderless Project” that she and others had put together. And she sent me a notecard about it together with a landmark.

The Borderless Project is a multi-level, interactive digital art exhibition wherein we play with light: reflections, structures, movement, creation and evolution. With sounds and music to match the emotions brought to life by the multi-talented team of artists and scripters. The Borderless Project derives much of its inspiration from teamLAB founded in Japan in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, and now a series of multinational installations throughout the world. For more on teamLab please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMLABNET

The Borderless Project, in Second Life, explores what we can do within this world where gravity is unimportant, physics is negotiable, and magic is possible! The Borderless Team of Magicians are: Betty Tureaud, Gem Preiz, Delain Canucci, Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen), Mitsuko Kytori, Blaise Timtam and Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori).

I went there on Saturday, July 10th, and I was overwhelmed by the many different installations. Each of them would easily be enough and worth an extra visit and a seperate blog entry!

The provided landmark leads you to the installation of Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). You land in a circle with 8 boards. Each of the 8 boards brings you to another level and another installation. It is recommended to accept experiences – then just walking into one of the boards will teleport you. In addition in some of the installations you get teleported at destinct spots. For all installations of “The Borderless Project” you are asked to use Shared Environment, Advanced lighting model, High to Ultra Graphics, particles set to maximum (8192) and to activate the Media button and switch it on and off frequently. Turn on in-sim music. If you aren’t familiar with that, there are instructions at the entrances of some of the installations.
At each installation you land in exact the same circle of boards, from there you can continue your visit to the next installation.

I split my report into several parts so that I can publish a bit more pictures and give the artists some room.

The Borderless Project – Part I: Delain Canucci’s scenes 
The Borderless Project – Part II: Gem Preiz’ installations
The Borderless Project – Part III: Betty Tureaud’s cubes and Djehuti-Anpu’s installation
The Borderless Project – Part IV (final): Akiko Kinoshi’s garden and Japanese village / Mitsuko Kytori’s art park (this post)

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481


The Borderless Project – Part IV (final): Akiko Kinoshi’s garden and Japanese village / Mitsuko Kytori’s art park

Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) is in Second Life since 2017. I came across her as she provides space for the art, and quite a lot of space! Akiko is the owner of the ‘Akipelago’ chain of Sims: Akijima, Akiniwa, Akimori and Akimitsu, which hosts The Borderless Project. I have never seen anything from her before. But now I did.

The Borderless Project – Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori)’s garden

There are 2 boards leading to installations of Akiko. The first one is the main landmark that I provided with the series of posts. It is a garden, a particular garden. What makes it particular is the light and some art objects. When you roam through the garden, the light is changing and dives it into different colours. The leaves begin to literally glow and you get quite outstanding views. Also the art objects do look different when coloured in a different way.

The Borderless Project – Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori)’s garden

After parts 1 to 3 of this series had been published, Akiko sent me a message: “One thing I would mention about the gardens… we tried to replicate ‘Resonating Trees / Resonating Spheres – Forest of Tadasu at Shimogamo Shrine Light Festival August 2016’ in Second Life to the best of our ability“. Akiko added the link to a 2 minute youtube video about this Light Festival which I want to share here. It’s worth watching it – and it will make your visit in Second Life at the Borderless Project even more spectacular.

Furtheron Akiko gave me more background information:
Mitsuko made the trees and Sculptures, I arranged them, then Gem and I did the lighting so it would seem to change as you walked… and in some places you trigger the lights by stepping on them.
I have been a fan of teamLab for many years, and I have seen their work in Japan in RL long before Covid which is absolutely amazing! And then one day, I wanted to bring something like that in here for everyone who was essentially stuck at home and had a lot of time on their hands. So it all kind of evolved here in SL, but only because of the team of artists and their interpretations, scripting, and the advent of EEP which we use extensively on the Beach level when you walk through zones, or take the raft trip, and then the skies change. Or they can change the Sky with the control panels… we try to make it fun. But I am no artist, I just rearrange the shrubberies and sweep up, the artists are the ones who deserve all the praise.

The 2nd installation of Akiko is a Japanese village. I didn’t notice any light effects. I just roamed through the village and enjoyed the views. There is a walkway with arches of flowers and when you walk along you get teleported into an other Japanese area. I’ve never been to Japan or Asia in RL and hence I lack a bit understanding the culture. What I can say is that I like the background and I liked exploring the Japanese village.

The Borderless Project – Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori)’s Japanese village

The Borderless Project – Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori)’s Japanese village

Mitsuko Kytori’s installation at The Borderless Project is an island with some solitaire flowers and art objects. At the first glance not that spectacular, but on the 2nd glance it is. There is a desk with 3 boards where you can change the environment settings. You could do that anytime with your viewer, but Mitsuko specifically invites you to do it and I of course played around with the environment settings. And doing so I got some very nice pictures. It is amazing how the environment settings change the view. The title of her installation could be: Mitsuko Kytori’s environment.

The Borderless Project – Mitsuko Kytori’s environment

Mitsuko Kytori is in Second life since 2009. She is the Hayabusa Design CEO. I have quite a lot of Hayabusa plants on our sim and hence Mitsuko is kind of a permanent guest at my home. I added the links that she provides in her profile to this post.

The Borderless Project – Mitsuko Kytori’s environment

This post ends the little series about The Borderless Project. One name listed in the introduction is missing – Blaise Timtam. I asked Akiko Kinoshi and she explained it: “Blaise is the master scripter of all the Experiences: Teleports, EEP Environment Changes, raft, balloon tours etc etc.

Thank you Akiko for your kind invitation to see The Borderless Project. It was an unexpected art simploring for me and that I spend way more time exploring it and writing about it might tell how overwhelmed I was seeing all the artful work. Thank you for your own installation and for providing the space for the art. I enjoyed my visit a lot and I hope that The Borderless Project attracts a lot of attention and visitors. It’s worth it!

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481
Hayabusa links:
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/108835
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hayabusa-design/
http://hayabusadesign.blogspot.fr/
Resonating Trees / Resonating Spheres – Forest of Tadasu at Shimogamo Shrine Light Festival August 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQxOq8jZu_4&list=PL-TLQIsBItKLSeYQkwBvqgadoZ0XEeYj9

Art in Second Life 2021 (72) The Borderless Project – Part III: Betty Tureaud’s cubes and Djehuti-Anpu’s installation

Friday, July 9th, I got a private message from Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). She told me about “The Borderless Project” that she and others had put together. And she sent me a notecard about it together with a landmark.

The Borderless Project is a multi-level, interactive digital art exhibition wherein we play with light: reflections, structures, movement, creation and evolution. With sounds and music to match the emotions brought to life by the multi-talented team of artists and scripters. The Borderless Project derives much of its inspiration from teamLAB founded in Japan in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, and now a series of multinational installations throughout the world. For more on teamLab please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMLABNET

The Borderless Project, in Second Life, explores what we can do within this world where gravity is unimportant, physics is negotiable, and magic is possible! The Borderless Team of Magicians are: Betty Tureaud, Gem Preiz, Delain Canucci, Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen), Mitsuko Kytori, Blaise Timtam and Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori).

I went there on Saturday, July 10th, and I was overwhelmed by the many different installations. Each of them would easily be enough and worth an extra visit and a seperate blog entry!

The provided landmark leads you to the installation of Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). You land in a circle with 8 boards. Each of the 8 boards brings you to another level and another installation. It is recommended to accept experiences – then just walking into one of the boards will teleport you. In addition in some of the installations you get teleported at destinct spots. For all installations of “The Borderless Project” you are asked to use Shared Environment, Advanced lighting model, High to Ultra Graphics, particles set to maximum (8192) and to activate the Media button and switch it on and off frequently. Turn on in-sim music. If you aren’t familiar with that, there are instructions at the entrances of some of the installations.
At each installation you land in exact the same circle of boards, from there you can continue your visit to the next installation.

I split my report into several parts so that I can publish a bit more pictures and give the artists some room.

The Borderless Project – Part I: Delain Canucci’s scenes 
The Borderless Project – Part II: Gem Preiz’ installations
The Borderless Project – Part III: Betty Tureaud’s cubes and Djehuti-Anpu’s installation (this post)
The Borderless Project – Part IV (final): Akiko Kinoshi garden and Japanese village / Mitsuko Kytori art park

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481


The Borderless Project – Part III: Betty Tureaud’s cubes and Djehuti-Anpu’s installation

Betty Tureaud is from Denmark, she’s a builder and light and space artist in Second Life. I came across her art already a few times and it was always impressing and something outstanding.
At The Borderless Project she showcases a set of silver cubes. All sides of the cubes are structured, form a relief – and they look different, depending on where you stand, at which angle you look at them. And the environment also changes it colours. This can be experienced in particular when you stand in the center, in the circle of stones.

The Borderless Project – Betty Tureaud’s cubes

Each cube has to offer something else. The cubes have something inside. The best way to see that is by getting the teleport HUD with which you can jump from box to box and see the inside. There are: Bells, Street, Cubes, Cells, Kabuki, Balls, Butterflyes and Waves.

The Borderless Project – Betty Tureaud’s cubes: Bells (upper left), Cubes (upper right), Street (lower left), Cells (lower right)

The Borderless Project – Betty Tureaud’s cubes: Kabuki (upper left), Butterflyes (upper right), Balls (lower left), Waves (lower right)

Betty has an own gallery, the Gallery AI.

doyouSL builder/artist Thoth Jantzen (aka “TJ”, “Djehuti-Anpu”) specializes in creating massively immersive multi-media environments and sculptures.  Using video as “paint”, he creates builds with structures that allow the media to “paint” itself on them in interesting, often beautiful ways, with changing patterns emerging as a result as the video plays out over time. His work’s been displayed at numerous SL events and galleries, and some in RL as well.” (taken from an older notecard about Djehuti-Anpu)

The Borderless Project – Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen)’s installation

At The Borderless Project Thoth showcases some geometric forms and some colourful spaces into which you can immerse yourself. I did not notice that you can go into some of the forms first, yet it is fun and provides spectacular views. As opposed to the big box with the stairs invites you to go inside. And once in at least I had my difficulties to get out again *winks*. Again the permanent changing textures and objects are very artful and intriguing.

The Borderless Project – Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen)’s installation

Thoth is on Second life since 2006 and has had some impressive builds and exhibits. I covered Thoth in this blog already a few times. Look up the profile of Thoth so see some of his artwork.

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481
Betty Tureaud’s Gallery AI
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Danish%20Visions/177/208/26

Art in Second Life 2021 (71) The Borderless Project – Part II: Gem Preiz’ installations

Friday, July 9th, I got a private message from Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). She told me about “The Borderless Project” that she and others had put together. And she sent me a notecard about it together with a landmark.

The Borderless Project is a multi-level, interactive digital art exhibition wherein we play with light: reflections, structures, movement, creation and evolution. With sounds and music to match the emotions brought to life by the multi-talented team of artists and scripters. The Borderless Project derives much of its inspiration from teamLAB founded in Japan in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, and now a series of multinational installations throughout the world. For more on teamLab please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMLABNET

The Borderless Project, in Second Life, explores what we can do within this world where gravity is unimportant, physics is negotiable, and magic is possible! The Borderless Team of Magicians are: Betty Tureaud, Gem Preiz, Delain Canucci, Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen), Mitsuko Kytori, Blaise Timtam and Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori).

I went there on Saturday, July 10th, and I was overwhelmed by the many different installations. Each of them would easily be enough and worth an extra visit and a seperate blog entry!

The provided landmark leads you to the installation of Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). You land in a circle with 8 boards. Each of the 8 boards brings you to another level and another installation. It is recommended to accept experiences – then just walking into one of the boards will teleport you. In addition in some of the installations you get teleported at destinct spots. For all installations of “The Borderless Project” you are asked to use Shared Environment, Advanced lighting model, High to Ultra Graphics, particles set to maximum (8192) and to activate the Media button and switch it on and off frequently. Turn on in-sim music. If you aren’t familiar with that, there are instructions at the entrances of some of the installations.
At each installation you land in exact the same circle of boards, from there you can continue your visit to the next installation.

I split my report into several parts so that I can publish a bit more pictures and give the artists some room.

The Borderless Project – Part I: Delain Canucci’s scenes 
The Borderless Project – Part II: Gem Preiz’ installations (this post)
The Borderless Project – Part III: Betty Tureaud’s cubes and Djehuti-Anpu’s installation
The Borderless Project – Part IV (final): Akiko Kinoshi garden and Japanese village / Mitsuko Kytori art park

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481


The Borderless Project – Part II: Gem Preiz’ installations

It’s been a while that I saw an exhibtion or isntallation of Gem Preiz. His art is always intriguing. He plays with geometric forms, fractals, with light and illusions. At The Borderless Project there’re two boards leading to installations of Gem Preiz. The first one which I visited features two big event rooms. The rooms have particular textures that were taken from the teamLAB. The rooms are enlarge using the mirror effect that I could already admire before at Delain Canucci’s installation (read here). It seems to be a common tool. Outside of the rooms Gem has placed some geometric growing and decreasing forms. It is fun to watch and to take pictures.

The Borderless Project – Gem Preiz’ teamLAB event rooms

The other board leads to a larger installation. Gem has built kind of a futuristic court, in different colours, with different geometric objects. It looks quite “Gem-ish” *winks*.

The Borderless Project – Gem Preiz’ futuristic court

There’s an elevated walkway around the court and from there you can enter different rooms. Each room has a theme: Petals, Souls, Clock, Blades, Stone, Stream, Jungle, Marbles, Dream, Beads and Lumen. And each room is impressive. Again the rooms look way larger using the mirror technique. In some rooms you can even change the textures yourself from a control desk. The rooms are great backgrounds, or ideas of what you can create yourself, what is possible. Looking at my pictures – they are kind of art as well *winks*

The Borderless Project – Gem Preiz’ themed rooms: Souls (upper left), Stone (upper right), Clock (lower left), Stream (lower right)

The Borderless Project – Gem Preiz’ themed rooms: Petals (upper left), Marbles (upper right), Jungle (lower left), Lumen (lower right)

Gem Preiz “is educated in science and mathematics and is fond of anything related to Nature, Cosmos and Earth, from astronomy to geology. The world of fractals is, in the same way, ruled by Mathematics functions which, as Physics do in Nature, enable to create objects which features repeat themselves at every scale. There lies his passion for fractals: create thanks to the power and pureness of the Mathematical concept, images the complexity of which can suggest Nature beings, objects or sceneries.” (taken from an older notecard about Gem).

The Borderless Project – Gem Preiz’ futuristic court

Gem has an own gallery, the Gem Preiz Fractal Art Gallery.

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481
Landmark to Gem Preiz Fractal Art Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seductive%20Horizons/11/228/297

Art in Second Life 2021 (70) The Borderless Project – Part I: Delain Canucci’s scenes

Friday, July 9th, I got a private message from Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). She told me about “The Borderless Project” that she and others had put together. And she sent me a notecard about it together with a landmark.

The Borderless Project is a multi-level, interactive digital art exhibition wherein we play with light: reflections, structures, movement, creation and evolution. With sounds and music to match the emotions brought to life by the multi-talented team of artists and scripters. The Borderless Project derives much of its inspiration from teamLAB founded in Japan in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, and now a series of multinational installations throughout the world. For more on teamLab please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMLABNET

The Borderless Project, in Second Life, explores what we can do within this world where gravity is unimportant, physics is negotiable, and magic is possible! The Borderless Team of Magicians are: Betty Tureaud, Gem Preiz, Delain Canucci, Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen), Mitsuko Kytori, Blaise Timtam and Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori).

I went there on Saturday, July 10th, and I was overwhelmed by the many different installations. Each of them would easily be enough and worth an extra visit and a seperate blog entry!

The provided landmark leads you to the installation of Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori). You land in a circle with 8 boards. Each of the 8 boards brings you to another level and another installation. It is recommended to accept experiences – then just walking into one of the boards will teleport you. In addition in some of the installations you get teleported at destinct spots. For all installations of “The Borderless Project” you are asked to use Shared Environment, Advanced lighting model, High to Ultra Graphics, particles set to maximum (8192) and to activate the Media button and switch it on and off frequently. Turn on in-sim music. If you aren’t familiar with that, there are instructions at the entrances of some of the installations.
At each installation you land in exact the same circle of boards, from there you can continue your visit to the next installation.

I split my report into several parts so that I can publish a bit more pictures and give the artists some room.

The Borderless Project – Part I: Delain Canucci’s scenes (this post)
The Borderless Project – Part II: Gem Preiz’ installations
The Borderless Project – Part III: Betty Tureaud’s cubes and Djehuti-Anpu’s installation
The Borderless Project – Part IV (final): Akiko Kinoshi garden and Japanese village / Mitsuko Kytori art park

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481


The Borderless Project – Part I: Delain Canucci’s scenes

Delain Canucci’s scenes are in several separate rooms. You can see 4 boxes from where you land and several entrances, marked with light frames along the walls.

The Borderless Project – Delain Canucci

I started my visit with the 4 boxes. And each of them has a lot to offer. The boxes are kind of magic. When you enter them you lose contact to the outside. The inside is mirrored and provides the impression of being in a much larger space. It’s perfect for taking pictures. And the content is quite creative. The longer you stay inside, the more details you will discover. And the scenes are not static, hence stay a bit and watch. There’s one box with a green jungle scene, one with an Asian gate, one with a forest scene in Autumn and one winterly scene.

The Borderless Project – Delain Canucci’s boxes: Winterly scene / Forest in Autumn

The installations that you enter from the walls are different, some are bigger boxes, some are spheres. All have in common that you can fully immerse into them. One is a planetarium, some others are like forests – all are very creative, artful and invite to stay longer and take more and more pictures.

The Borderless Project – Delain Canucci’s planetarium

Delain Canucci is in Second Life since 2009. She says about herself, that she’s just herself in SL, an average girl who wants to have fun with her friends, who wants to learn and who lives out her creativity. Delain has an inworld shop for particles “Color Alchemists” and an inworld store for fantasy builds “Fantasy Builds & Plants” . You can also get her stuff on the marketplace.
And if you look up her profile you will find a pick with links to youtube videos using her particles from “Color Alchemists“.

The Borderless Project – Delain Canucci’s Flower Room and Morpho Room

It’s the first time I came across Delain Canucci and I have to admit I am impressed of her art work. Did I mention that all boxes and installations of Delain Canucci are non-static? Everything moves, colours changes, the whole scenes look different every second. Even my pictures are little of temporary art pieces, non-reproducible.

Returning to the ring of boards I went to a cave scene next. This one is also from Delain Canucci. It is a smaller installation.

The Borderless Project – Delain Canucci’s cave

The cave is particular as it permanently changes its main colour, diving the scenery in different colours. Sometimes you have the impression to see people in the cave, but the people are just rocks. Again an artful fantasy build.

Landmark to Borderless
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimitsu/128/128/2481
Delain Canucci’s inworld shop for particles “Color Alchemists”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shinda/144/84/22
Delain Canucci’s inworld shop “Fantasy Builds & Plants”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Abyss/228/94/29
Delain Canucci’s on the marketplace
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/147677?lang=en-US

Art in Second Life 2021 (69) Asperix Asp’s gallery “Render4”

After my last visit to Lad Maison d’Aneli (read here), I had a short conversation with Asperix Asp, one of the participating artists. Asperix asked me to add a link to his own gallery, Render 4. Of course I added it to the links sections in the post.

Sunday, June 27th, I had some time left over and went visiting Render4.

Asperix Asp’s gallery “Render4”

The gallery building is dominated by a large tower. The 4 facade sides are used to showcase 4 of Asperix’ pictures. The tower is not accessible though, it’s just a landmark for the gallery.

The gallery itself consists of 3 rooms. The room where you arrive features some of the pictures that I saw already at La Maison d’Aneli, fractals that could be minerals or scifi structures or whatever. I’m always intrigued by fractals.

Impressions of Asperix Asp artwork shown at “Render4” (1)

One room showcases four 3D models in the center of the room. I can’t describe the models, so far I’d characterize them as art objects – whatever the spectator might see in them. At the walls of that room are more of Asperix’ fractals.

Impressions of Asperix Asp artwork shown at “Render4” (2)

The third room features one big picture, held in green, different from the other pictures. It could be algae and an unknown crustacean, who knows. In this room you also find 3 slowly rotating spheres in different colours. The spheres are partly transparent and textured so that they look different depending on the viewing angel and rotation.

Impressions of Asperix Asp artwork shown at “Render4” (3)

Asperix Asp is in Second Life since 2007. He’s a Spanish senior artist with 35+ years of experience in digital image, infography, rendered tridimensional fractals, virtual entorns… and had many exhibitions in RL and SL.
In his gallery “Render4” Asperix provides a deeper and broader insight in his artwork.

Landmark to Asperix Asp gallery “Render4”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Polyakov/57/27/33

Art in Second Life 2021 (68) La Maison d’Aneli Summer 21

On Wednesday, July 28th, a new exhibtion was opened at La Maison d’Aneli: “Summer 21”. It features the artwork of Giovanna Cerise, Marylooooe, Elodiecasa Dragovar, Deyanira Yalin, lo01ner01, Mareea Farrasco and Fly Kugin (flyqueeen).

For this exhibtion Aneli Abeyante, owner and curator of La Maison d’Aneli, has a special gift for the visitors. She offers a (attachable or displayable inworld) SL booklet that shows examples of the artwork of the participating artists on 2 pages for each artist. Hence – I could have refrained from taking pictures. You find the booklet at the end of the main hall, next to the event area for the opening event. It is displayed at the seating groups.

Aneli Abeyante’s booklet about the Summer 21 exhibition

The event area is also the space where Fly Kugin (flyqueeen) has her exhibition space.
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen), as a live violin performer, is streaming into Second Life from Istanbul, since September 2019. She’s performing improvisation, Jazz & Rock genres, musicals & soundtracks from different time periods from various artists. But Fly also likes to spend her time taking pictures of landscapes and playing with them on photoshop. And she is still learning different techniques.

At the event area Fly showcased some of her pictures, all of them were taken in Second Life and processed afterwards to make them look like oil paintings. The combiantion of art and Second Life offers great opportunities for artists. Fly also gave a violin concert on the opening event. Fly has an own website with more information and a flickr account.

Fly Kugin’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Giovanna Cerise is not unknow to me. The last time I came across her art was in May 2019 at La Maison d’Aneli (read here). Before I visited Flash Back / Flash Forward in 2017 (read Simploring 2017 (42) Flash Back / Flash Forward), in 2016 I visited her LEA-installation Monochrome (read here) and in April 2015 I saw Otium (read here: A visit to Otium). Giovanna is an Italian literature teacher and musician. In Second Life she’s active since Ende of 2008 and had many exhibtions and installations. She particpated in the LEA program participations and her list of activities and appearances is long. For more information look up her website.

Giovanna Cerise used her space at La Maison d’Aneli to showcase her “Doll’s house”. It is a space main held in black and white with clear structures that is partly in 3D and party in 2D (but looks 3D). The space has several houses, more a Doll’s village. And there are dolls, I’d rather say ballerinas or dancers. The dolls are stylised, performing alone or as couples in front of the houses or on the open space. There’s quite some to discover viewing at Giovanna Cerise’s installation from different viewing angles.

Giovanna Cerise’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

It is the first time that I came across the artist Marylooooe, She is in Second Life for 5 years and had several small and two larger exhibitions in favor of “Feed a smile” and the “Parkinson foundation”.

Marylooooe set up a 4 story gallery building in her skybox at La Maison d’Aneli. She named her exhibtion “Art of me – coynty art”. Marylooooe uploaded her RL artwork into Second Life. All of her art is very colourful, strong and expressive colours. On the four floors Marylooooe grouped her pictures. The ground floor shows some abstract pictures along with pictures in which you can recognize an animal, a goat? The 2nd floor is dedicated to flowers an abstact pictures, which could also be flowers because of how colourful they are. On the 3rd floor are some pictures showing a cow or a cow’s face. And finally the 4th foor is used to showcase some landscapes, towns and villages. For all of her pictures you need imagiantion, you have to connect with them to see the details beside the colours. Marylooooe wrote about her skybox in the accompanying notecard: “All my pictures exist in the original in rl. This exhibition country art is based on an idea originated when a friend asked: do you paint cows too, why not, and so i got down to work. A series of works was created and I hope you will have as much fun looking at them as I had painting them.” (from the accompanying notecard)

Marylooooe’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Elodiecasa Dragovar is also a new artist for me. She’s in Second Life since 2010. Art is part of her life, she started getting lessons in art aged 9. Since 13 years Elodiecasa lives in Morocco. In the accompanying notecard as well as on a board in her skybox at La maison d’Aneli she wrote about herself: “I don’t consider myself as an artist but a passionate person. I love art in all forms, I touch everything. Art is a part of my life, it’s a need

Her skybox is quite packed with pictures. All of them are imported into Second Life from RL pictures as far as I could gather. Elodiecasa uses all kind of techniques for her art and thus we get a broad picture of her artwork, which ranges from abstract alcohol ink pictures to acrylic portraits, from watercolour pictures of villages to abstract oil pictures. The variety is impressive and I couldn’t categorize her art at all.

Elodiecasa Dragovar’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Deyanira Yalin has been in Second Life since 2007. Her creations started with oils and acrylics shown at exhibitions in Mexico City, and has continuously expanded to incorporate other media: “As a graphic designer, the influence of Second Life has help me to embrace the digital art form, which culminated in several exhibits currently displayed in Second Life. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I believe that my art is the product of cumulative dreams and visualization.” (taken from the accompanying notecard)

Deyanira Yalin’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is a dark blue box with a 3D object in the center. Her pictures glow colourful in this environment. They range from animal faces over geometric forms, from portraits to flowers. Deyanira often uses different layers in her pictures so that you have to immerse into her art.
Deyanira has an own gallery in Second life and a store “DeyLyn Creations” on the marketplace,

Deyanira Yalin’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Neel (lo01ner01) is in Second Life for 4 years.
Neel was born in the Himalayan foothills of India but now lives in the vast city of Mumbai. He is a passionate animal lover and cares greatly for the earth and all its creatures. A university graduate trained in business, Neel is also a student of poetry, art and literature in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. But he is especially interested in science. He combines abstract painting with imaginative birds, insects, and fish. Thus Neel explores the inner world of emotions and feelings, and how they connect to the natural world around us. His work draws on observation of the fine detail of the natural world together with an inner vision, which he paints as he sees with the eye of the spirit.” (from the accompanying notecard)

Neel (lo01ner01)’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is a light 2 story box held in white. His pictures are shown on the walls. Some pictures are abstract, others are a combination of abstract pictures with objects as described in the notecard. All of them seem to be RL pictures that were uploaded into Second Life.

lo01ner01’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

Mareea Farrasco is “a SL photographer and the owner of IMAGO Land and IMAGO Art Galleries, a Nature, Art & Culture area open for visitors who love to explore, relax, take photos or admire the highly talented artists works displayed in the galleries… My photography covers a large field, from portraits to landscapes, from concrete to metaphoric images, from narrative scenes to still life pictures.” (from the accompanying notecard)
I visited IMAGO Land in April 21 and reported about my visit (read here)

Mareea’s skybox at La Maison d’Aneli is complete held in black in order to provide a contrast to pastel colours of her photographs, that mainly show landscapes along with only few details. I don’t know (but suspect) that Mareea porcesses her pictures a bit to make them a little bit blurry, which fits perfectly (no critique meant). Mareea proves the almost endless possibilities that Second Life offers for our creativity.
Mareea Farrasco’s pictures can also been seen at her flickr account.

Mareea Farrasco’s pages in Aneli’s booklet

La Maison d’Aneli is owned by Aneli Abeyante. Through her gallery she brings together all forms of creativity in RL and SL and the featured artists come from around the globe. Aneli’s intention is to “put her gallery in the service of artists, so that the world can be better, exchanges and meetings probably contribute even though it seems to be particles.”
Thank you for another great joined exhibtion, Aneli. As always I enjoyed my visit and writing about it. It inspired me.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/23/64/22
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen)’s website
https://www.flyofficial.org/
Fly Kugin (flyqueeen)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134260978@N05/
Giovanna Cerise’s website
http://giovannacerise.blogspot.it/
Deyanira Yalin’s gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fortinbras/20/198/27
Deyanira Yalin marketplace store “DeyLyn Creations”
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/167933
Landmark to Mareea Farrasco’a IMAGO Land
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Broken%20Mountain/86/132/21
Mareea Farrasco’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96165669@N06/

Art in Second Life 2021 (67) Fragments by Melusina Parkin

I got an invitation to “Fragments” by Melusina Parkin, an exhibtion shown on a seperate platform of Milena’s Carbone Gallery @ Serena.

For the exhibtion “Fragments” Melusina Parkin and Milena Carbone have cooperated for the first time. Milena composed the texts, each piece inspired by one of Melusina’s images. Pieces of sentences that, put together, constitute an absurd story, but a coherent whole, like a journey of human life.

Together with the invitation I got a bunch of information. I have visited quite some exhibtions of both artists.
Melusina Parkin’s photos tend towards minimalism, which is Melu’s main inclination: simple details from daily life or usual landscapes are the subject of mostly empty scenes, stressing voids, space, geometries, lights; this reveals hidden meanings or pushes the observer to give them her/his own one. Her favorite subjects are wide landscapes, city views, industrial environments, popular lifestyles and daily objects.

“Fragments” by Melusina Parkin @ The Carbone Gallery

Melusina wrote:
The image belongs to the observer. I agree with this statement made by the recent semiology and art critics. The reasons that an artist takes a photograph or paints a picture – or is compelled to do that – aren’t the same as those that open the observers’ way to find a meaning in them. Images are just incentives to seek unconsciously in our mind a memory, a meaning, a feeling we saved into the cells of our brain, codified by a mysterious chemical language. More ambiguous images are deeper and can evoke more complex thoughts or feelings.

My photos try to offer these “links” to the observers’ minds by representing simplified, “incomplete” images. Lonely places, empty rooms, absences, silent, still, small details that we usually neglect, when shown in a large size photo can have that power. Fragments of the outer world we live in take to fragments of our inner one.

Examples of “Fragments” by Melusina Parkin with texts from Milena Carbone (1)

When Milena proposed that I show my photos at her new gallery, paired with her written reflections on them, I was curious to know what kind of thoughts they would stimulate. The result of her careful observation has been stunning: her texts reveal even the most private sides of her soul, starting from pictures that don’t belong to her past life, but are linked to her own mind’s archive by multiple hooks : so she tells her stories about an object or a landscape, or even about a color, or a light, and those stories compose a portrait showing something placed between memory, reality, imagination, dream and abstract thought.
I wish that my images could have the same effect on visitors’ souls. No other aim would be more enticing for a photographer.

Examples of “Fragments” by Melusina Parkin with texts from Milena Carbone (2)

The exhibtion consists of two parts – outside and inside. The provided landmark leads to the outside area. Melusina Parker’s pictures are featured on big single boards under the open sky. Chairs are placed in front of the boards so that you can sit down and look at the single pictures. A paved walkway leads you to a center screen, which shows the pictures one after the other in a slideshow – together with the texts, that Milena Carbone wrote.

As you walk along the paved walkway, you can read another accompanying text on the paving stones:
My life is straight as a road through the desert, and this road never stops, it goes straight in circles, it ticks off the numer that never ends. If this desert were alive, my road would be twisty, facetious, chaotic and unexpected. But wem the human species, have sterilized and flattened the earth to satisfy our appetite for perfection, geometry, purity. And all of this, now, is boring like a gray day at the office. Boring and tiring. I am sitting on the bench, exhausted and sad. Here, a circle will never be perfect, Everything we see from the outside is a story. Your life, my life, our life are fragments of stories, nothing is true, nothing is holy.

Examples of “Fragments” by Melusina Parkin with texts from Milena Carbone (3)

Milena Carbone’s texts are created using automatic writing, a surrealist technique. They are initially extracted from independent stories, sometimes autobiographical, often imaginary. Subsequently, they are reworked so that each text is linked to one or more other texts by common images, symbols or sensations.

The inside area contains what might be the other half of the pictures in a traditional gallery. In the center of the inside area you find a bookstore. Those who are regular visitors to Melusina Parkin’s exhibitions know these books already:
Melusina All-in-One Exhibits allow you to keep at home the whole exhibit you visited and loved. It’s an alternative kind of the exhibit catalogue – you can hang the object on your home’s walls and enjoy the changing images.
They come in four versions, that you can choose according to your home style: plain or framed, changing image by touch or in random loop. The objects are set as modifiable, so you can adapt them to your walls.

“Fragments” by Melusina Parkin @ The Carbone Gallery – inside area with bookstore

Milena Carbone (mylena1992) is a French artist and is in Second Life since mid 2019. She discovered its artistic potential and since then has devoted all her free time to creation, associating, as in real life, images and texts: “Milena Carbone is a fiction in which, as in any artistic work, biographical and imaginary elements are mixed.” Her creative process is iterative: some of her images inspire her stories and these stories modify the development of the image, which itself transforms the story.
Milena Carbone currently curates three own galleries: The Carbone Gallery, The Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City, and The Carbone Gallery @ Serena. You can follow her on flickr and you can read some of her texts on Medium.

Melusina Parkin is in Second Life since September 2008. She has been a fashion manager, a journalist, a furniture creator, a builder, a decorator and a photographer. Her work as a photographer has been showcased in more than 50 exhibitions – from which I saw just a few. Melusina has an own gallery, an own store for Art Deco furniture “Melu Deco“, Melusina has a flickr account which counts more than 13,000 (!) photographs. Extensive collections of her photos can be seen also on her blog Virtual Exhibits and on some slideshows on Youtube (links under this post).

Thank you both, Milena Carbone and Melusina Parkin for a this cooperative work, for a perfect combination of images and texts. My visit to “Fragments” was touching and inspiring – a great exhibition!

Landmark to Fragments by Melusina Parkin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Pontypridd/145/82/2071
The Carbone Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/172/158/3316
The Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/243/203/32
The Carbone Gallery @ Serena
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Pontypridd/69/182/22
Milena Carbone’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s texts
https://medium.com/@539568
Landmark to Melusina Photo Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Landmark to Melusina Parkin’s store for Art Deco furniture “Melu Deco”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/243/99/1930
Melusina Parker’s flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melusina_parkin/
Melusina Parkin’s Virtual Exhibit blog
http://meluphoto.blogspot.it/p/home.html
On line book Second Life exhibits 2011-2019
https://www.calameo.com/books/005997622f28dd58ca75d
Melusina Parkin’s youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzglBiqhrOLXnAp3Qt3Zjw

Art in Second Life 2021 (66) Manet 3D by Red Bikcin

I saw Red Bikcin’s art before, the last time in 2020 at La Maison d’Aneli (read here). Actually one of her pictures is at our home. So far what I saw from Red Bikcin were animated geometric forms or fractals, always colourful, always something to watch for longer as it changes regularly.

Redi (Red Bikcin) sent me an invitation to her latest exhibtion “Manet 3D” and the poster did not fit at all to what I saw so far from Redi. Hence I had a look on Monday July 12th.
Manet 3D” is exactly what the name implies. Pictures from Manet in three dimensions. That is of course hard to capture in 2D pictures. Each of the 9 pictures of Redi is in a box with the main object in the front and one or more layers behind. If you look at them frontal, it is a 2D picture, if you look from aside you see the different layers and the picture changes.

Impressions of “Manet 3D” by Red Bikcin (1)

Redi added a third dimension to Manet’s paintings. She worked with the orignal pictures and cutted out some parts to get the 3D effect (NO, of course she worked with digital copies or photographs of the orginals *winks*).

Impressions of “Manet 3D” by Red Bikcin (2)

Red Bikcin is from Spain and in Second Life for more than 14 years. She has her own gallery, the R&D Art Gallery Diotima.

Landmark to Manet 3D by Red Bikcin
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gigli%20Waves/147/249/1944
Red Bikcin’s R&D Art Gallery Diotima
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gigli%20Waves/156/241/41

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