I got an invitation from Gem Preiz to visit his newest installtion “A dark star“, that opened May 10th.
I follow Gem Preiz and his work for several years already. His installations and exhibitions are unique. Gem works with fractals and his work has brought fractals closer to me and aroused my interest in this form of art. Lately Gem Preiz experiments with light and reflections. He got a full sim grant for 2023 at SLEA 3 during the first half of 2023. There he started with “Lines of Light“. This installation is still available. I wrote about it in January 2023 in this blog here.
When you enter “A dark star” make sure that you switch the Avanced Lighting Model on, use shared Environment, set draw distance and particles maximum or as high as possible and set your graphics to high or even ultra if possible.
Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (1)
I zoomed out first in order to understand the installation. You land on the top of a planet or star. You’re surrounded by light, by glowing buildings, the ground is mostly covered with small objects in different colours, looking up you see smaller objects flying around followed by smaller particles so that they look like comets.
You can walk around on the surface.
Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (2)
I noticed several spaceships on the ground and used one to fly around. That is not only fun, you also get great views. As the particles move, and some objects move you get a different view whereever you look at!
Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (3)
I stepped out of the spaceship and walked around a bit. I found a seating opportunity where I could watch. I turned the music on and watched the scenery for a while. You can relax and enjoy! Then I further explored … walked over the edge and could walk down for a while before gravity kicked in and I was on another part of the planet or star.
Impressions of “A dark star” by Gem Preiz (4)
I had fun exploring and looking at all the colours, light and reflections. Well done, Gem!
“A dark star” is the 3rd installation Gem Preiz opened on the full sim grant. It all started with “Lines of Lights“. I missed the 2nd installation “Color & Glow“. As all three installations are available, I visited “Color & Glow” next. Incidentally Gem Preiz was present and I met him there.
Impressions of “Color & Glow” by Gem Preiz (1) – Gem Preiz and Diomita in the lower left
Gem explained to me how the 3 installations build on each other:
Gem Preiz: In all these builds I tried to play with reflections and lights and changes, either switching colors or adding movements of particles and physical objects here. It started in a closed place, kind of an underground maze, with “Lines of Lights“. “Color & Glow” sort of added a dimension, by opening the build to the sky and extend horizons. Here the colours change every 5 minutes. The last one, “A dark star“, is a combination of both, colours of the first, structures of the second, but adding another dimension, and the build, instead of being flat as many builds in SL, has become a whole 3D construction. It is surrounded by orbiters, and nested in an isotropic 3D universe of glowing lines, the boundaries of which are unreachable.
Diomita Maurer: yes, if you walk down … you reach other parts, intriguing
Gem Preiz: limited by the gravity however, which is not like on the Earth. If one could walk beyond the limits of the sim, one would fall. But visually, it looks like sort of a planet.
Impressions of “Color & Glow” by Gem Preiz (2)
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). To see more of Gem Preiz’ art take a look at his flickr page.
I enjoyed my visit a lot and was impressed by all the light effects. In addition “Color & Glow” and “A dark star” are great places to wind down and just enjoy as particles, comets and objects fly by submerging the world in different colours and light.
All three installations are available until June 30th, 2023.
Thenk you Gem!
Landmark to SLEA3 – Gem’s A dark star (part 3)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA3/80/61/3199
Landmark to SLEA3 – Gem’s Color & Glow (part 2)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA3/2/197/1916
Landmark to SLEA3 – Gem’s Lines of Light (part 1)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA3/204/128/993
Gem preiz’ flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/187894176@N07/albums
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 