Art in Second Life 2022 (87) Bamboo Barnes: Personal Aspect

28 Oct 2022 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

Bamboo Barnes is going to open a new exhibition, Personal Aspect at the Akipelago, at Akiniwa. Akiniwa is owned by Akiko Kinoshi (a.kiko).
The exhibition is a restrospective with pictures and small picture installations of Bamboo Barnes, featuring her artwork of almost 10 years.

Exibibition poster and impressions of “Personal Aspect” by Bamboo Barnes at Akiniwa (1)

The exhibition is huge. Bamboo’s pictures are shown at 4 large exhibition buildings. In 3 of 4 corners between the buildings Bamboo made small 3D installations with her pictures. The 4th corner will present 3D art by Kerupa Flow and was not yet built at the time of my visit.
The center square will be used for the opening event today, Friday, October 28th, 12 PM SLT. At the opening even Carelyna will provide the music.

When I think of Bamboo Barnes, I immediately think of colours, of colourful pictures, of a feast of colours. All exhibitions that I saw from her were colourful – and of course a retrospective exhibition must consist of colourful pictures too.

Impressions of “Personal Aspect” by Bamboo Barnes at Akiniwa (2) – the 4 exhibition buildings

The amount of pictures is overwhelming. I estimate that Bambo selected about 100 pictures from her pool of artwork. The three 3D picture installations int he corner were new for me. Bamboo arrange her pictures together with 3D objects, giving the pictures a new environment instead of displaying them at walls. Some of her pictures in these corner installations change permanently. I suspect that these installations look even better with an environment set to midnight. Unfortunately I forgot to change my environment and used “Midday” for my pictures.

Impressions of “Personal Aspect” by Bamboo Barnes at Akiniwa (3) – corner art installations

In front of one of the exhibition buildings you can grab a free chair, designed with Bamboo’s art.

Bamboo is in Second Life for over 15 years already, painting software & photoshop are her best friends. Bamboo had many exhibtions and appearances in the Second Life art scene and in 2018 she had her first exhibition in real life: “I create what I see but maybe you won’t, they are about people’s reality and  mind.”
Bamboo’s art is a mixture of abstract forms, of people and photographs. Most pictures are colourful and it is in the eye of the beholder what we see in her pictures.
I myself saw her work the first time at La Maison d’Aneli during the Holiday season 2019/2020 (read here). I also saw her exhibition “Marginal Mannerism” at DixMixGallery in April 2021 (read here), the exhibition “Meant to be” at Itakos Art Gallery last year (read here), I saw “Conjure” at FOCUS Magazine F.A.I.R Gallery in August 2021 (read here), “Mindstorm” at IMAGO Land (read here) and “Drawer” at Hannington Arts Foundation (read here). Last December I saw her exhibition “The path” at Art care gallery (read here) and this year “Metaphysics” at the Kondar Art Center, (read here), Colores Primarios (read here) and New Day (read here) – wow, quite a list in the meanwhile!
Look also at Bamboo’s flickr page.

As mentioned above there are about 100 pictures! Just to give you a better impression of what to expect when you visit yourself I picked a few pictures for a collage.

Impressions of “Personal Aspect” by Bamboo Barnes at Akiniwa (4)

I visited again shortly before the opening so have a look at the 4th corner with the 3D art of Kerupa Flow. Kerupa wrote about it: “Without collaboration with you, my work is invisible. How you interact with the piece, what it makes you tink; the feelings it invokes is what uncovers it’s soul. Take your time, immerse yourself in the display: be aware.”
You can walk into one of the installation: heads, geometric objects, squares, texts … and everything changes permanently. Now it is at the visitor which feelings the installation seeds.

Impressions of “Personal Aspect” by Bamboo Barnes at Akiniwa (5) – Kerupa Flow’s corner installation

Kerupa Flow is a 2D&3D artist from Japan and in Second Life since 2007: “After all, there live the same person both SL and outside SL, so even if the tools changed, you can have the same scent.“.
Kerupa has a permanet place “Kerupa’s World” at Akimori. For more information and current exhibitions look up Kerupa’s profile or grab a notecard.

I enjoyed my visits. Don’t miss this exhibition with Bamboo’s colourful artwork.
Thank you Akiko Kinoshi (A Kiko) for providing the space for this exhibition.

Landmark to “Personal Aspect” by Bamboo Barnes at Akiniwa.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akiniwa/129/127/2622
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/
Kerupa Flow’s World at Akimori
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimori/55/129/4000

Art in Second Life 2022 (49) Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz

02 Jun 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, June 1st, Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz was opened at Akijima, a member of the Akipelago group of sims dedicated to artistic and natural beauty in its many forms, owned by Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori).

Exoplanet is a project in two parts. The first one, « One Step Further » opened on 22.02.2022 (nice date!).  I visited Exoplanet 1 in February and reported about it (read Art in Second Life 2022 (21) Exoplanet by Gem Preiz)
Exoplanet 1 featured the crew of a space mission preparing to explore extra-solar planets and you can still visit it.
Exoplanet 2 is an extension and you visit a space station on the eve of its return to Earth.

The landing point on the space station is next to an entrance control. Here you’re asked to adjust your viewer settings for the visit and you can grab a notecard as well as HUD’s for setting the environment and for teleporting around Exoplanet 1 and 2.

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (1) – landing on the space station

From the landing point you enter a huge hallway, the outer ring with many moduls used as warehouse, for storing and launching drones, as cabins for the crew, for several laboratories, as entrance to the the shuttle ships, and a module for emergencies: “All modules contain many interactive devices where you can: rest in cabins; contribute to experiences; launch drones and follow them on radar; pilot spaceships around the station; test emergency systems; and finally leave the station to reach Exoplanet 1 with the main Shuttle.“

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (2) – Drones (upper left), Warehouse (upper right), Cabins (lower left and right)

I launched a drone and I visited several cabins. I felt like within a science fiction film and my black latex dress fitted not too bad in this environment. I also visited the rescue modul. Behind a security glass panel you see the rescue ship. I entered through the door in the panel and sat into the rescue ship. It was released downwards and I was in space. The ship was easily to control and I used it to for a litte tour around the space station. Manoeuvring it back into the rescue modul was a bit tricky, but possible and I could continue my tour.

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (3) – A trip into space with the rescue ship

There are quite some laboratory modules and I had a look into all of them. To be honest, I didn’t really understand what the single labs were intended for, but in the short time of my visit I also didn’t have enough time for that. I’m pretty sure that you can discover a lot there and Gem wrote that you can even participate in the experiments.

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (4) – The labs

There are several gates from the outer ring with the modules to the center ring and the main room, that is called AGORA. Gem Preiz’s intriguing fractals, that look like planets and stars are showcased in the hallway around AGORA. In total there are “16 fractals (8 unfriendly planet + landscape), illustrating sites visited by the crew during the mission”. And as the space station is preparing the return to earth, the upper level of the gallery shows 8 landscapes sketch-like photos illustrating real sites on Earth.

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (5) – The AGORA Main Hall and the galleries

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.”
The pictures shown in the galleries alone are worth a visit to Exoplanet 2.

I used the teleporter HUD to visit the next destinations and there’s a lot more to discover and try out. I visited the Hibernation room, the reactor, the Communication center, the Data Center and the Main Control Room. I did not visit the Medical center, Training center, Cinema and Offices. Gem wrote that there are many interactive devices (medical equipment, gym, movies etc.).

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (6) – Main Control room (upper left), Data Center (upper right), Hibernation room (lower left), Communication center (lower right)

Gem Preiz provided a few of his thoughts about “Exoplanet” in his notecard:
“Scientists have classified about 5,000 exoplanets, that were discovered up until today, and prioritized them according to whether they allow the development of life as we know it.
Forgetting for a moment the vast distances that separate us from these extra-solar worlds, Exoplanet 1 staged the beginnings of their in situ exploration. Exoplanet 2 presents the mission on the eve of its return to Earth, reporting on the visit to some worlds with inhospitable reliefs and conditions for humans. By contrast, a gallery of familiar terrestrial landscapes reminds us of the simple evidence that the most suitable universe for man is the one from which he was born.
Because if the study of exoplanets is an essential discipline for what it can teach us about the universe, and for the awareness that it can generate in humanity in case the existence of life is discovered, it should not obscure the urgency of preserving our planet the Earth, by dreams of unrealistic conquests.”

By visiting all areas I learned about the structure of the space station and began to create a little orientation map for myself for further visits or for you find your way in this huge station.

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (7) – Orientation map

I ended my visit with another trip into space. This time I used a space shuttle. That was fun!

I have seem quite some of Gem’s former installations and exhibitions. His way to build futuristic towns and settings, using geometrical forms and the way he combines sim design, his fractal pictures, light and light effects is really artful and always a highlight to visit. Thank you very much for your art and for this new installation, Gem! And a big thank you for the fun that you also provided with Exoplanet 1 and Exoplanet 2. It really was a trip into another world.

Impressions of Exoplanet 2 by Gem Preiz (8) – Another trip into space

Thank you Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) for providing the space for this artful installation. I enjoyed my visit a lot!

Landmarkt to EXOPLANET 2 by Gem Preiz – Landing Point
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akijima/120/222/4010
Landmark to Exoplanet 1 by Gem Preiz
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akikaze/140/77/3601
Gem Preiz flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/187894176@N07/albums

Art in Second Life 2022 (21) Exoplanet by Gem Preiz

24 Feb 2022 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

Gem Preiz sent an invitation to me to visit his newest installation “Exoplanet – One Step Further“. The installation is at Akikaze, a member of the Akipelago group of sims dedicated to artistic and natural beauty in its many forms, owned by Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori).

Exoplanet is a project in two parts. The first one, « One Step Further » opened on 22.02.2022 (nice date!). The second part will open later this year, and will lead us further into space. Both contain a fractal exhibition displayed in a science-fiction environment.

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (Neil Armstrong – July 20th 1969)
Gem Preiz invites us to take one step further by exploring Exoplanet through an exhibition of fractals, displayed in a sci-fi environment.

Upon your arrival please make sure that you use ultra graphic settings and the advance ligting model. Use shared environment and set your drawing ditance larger then 256m (better 512m). You can grab a notecard with more details and information about “Exoplanet – One Step Further” and I used most of it in this blog post. I recommend to take also the teleport HUD that is offered at the landing point. You can easily use it to explore everything at Exoplanet.

Impressions of “Exoplanet – One Step Further” by Gem Preiz (1) – First impressions and “Tower Hall”, the entrance of the Tower (lower right)

You land in a big dome somewhere on a planet in space. Under the dome is a full civilisation. Two large control towers and one large space needle building called the “Tower” dominate the ensemble of buildings. Outside of the dome you see some solar panels, radiotelescopes and other celestial bodies. If you look at the dome you see a big 80 m x 40 m cinema screen that displays 18 of Gem Preiz’ fractal pictures. It changes every 90 seconds. The screen enables you to watch the fractals from almost any place under the dome.
The same 18 pictures are exhibited in the “Tower” on 5 levels.

Impressions of “Exoplanet – One Step Further” by Gem Preiz (2) – a few of Gem’s fractal pictures

Besides the exhibition of Gem’s fractal pictures, that fit perfectly into a Sci-Fi environment, the space station provides a lot to discover, fun for hours!

  • The Tower with the exhibition, an observation deck and with the headquarters meeting room on the top. At the observation deck you can try out different environment settings, that fit to the installation.
  • Several other buildings like Data center, Dwellings, Shuttles Hangar, Arcades with industrial equipment and greenhouses and control towers
  • Vehicles: there are 3 flying shuttles in the hangar, 2 x 2 trucks parked besides the buildings, and speeders in the arcades parking. You can use them freely
  • The outside: you can walk outside and look at the dome and get an overview
  • Last but not least Gem added 43 crew members who populate the base. In the notecard gem wrote “please do not disturb them as they are very much focused on their job“

Impressions of “Exoplanet – One Step Further” by Gem Preiz (3) – The Tower / headquarters meeting room / exhibition / observation deck

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.”

Impressions of “Exoplanet – One Step Further” by Gem Preiz (4) – Control center / Dome from outside / Greenhouse / Diomita using one of the vehicles

I have seem quite some of Gem’s former installations. His way to build futuristic towns and settings, using geometrical forms and the way he combines sim design, his fractal pictures, light and light effects is really artful and always a highlight to visit. Thank you very much for your art and for this new installation, Gem!
Thank you Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) for providing the space for the art. I enjoyed my visit a lot!

Landmark to Exoplanet by Gempreiz
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akikaze/140/77/3601
Gem Preiz flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/187894176@N07/albums

Art in Second Life 2021 (121) The Incal and the 4 Mazes by Betty Tureaud

19 Dec 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) invited me to another art installation: “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud. It is shown at Akikaze, which is a member of the Akipelago group of sims dedicated to artistic and natural beauty in its many forms.
“The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud opens today with a Grand Opening party at 2 pm (SL time) with the music of Ultraviolet Alter.

Impressions of “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud (1) – “Offical” picture of the installation (upper left) / first impressions at the landing.

When you visit, please make sure that your use shared environment and have your draw distance above 250m. The landing is in an endless desert, on the horizont you see some mountains. If you turn you see a block of four large buildings. They look like huge storage halls. In the front of the buildings are 6 objects. The most left is a cube and when you click it you get a notecard with a biography of Betty Tureaud. The most right is a rezzer for a huge bug with which you can fly around. More about that bug later. And inbetween are 4 objects and each of them will teleport you into one of the 4 buildings. And each building contains a maze with another theme.

Impressions of “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud (2) – The Space maze

The spaceship stands for the space, the eye for the mind, the bug for the earth and the cube for the tecno maze. I started on the left and visited the Space maze first. Inside the maze you can get easily lost. The textures on the walls of the maze are permanently changing, sphere, coloured spheres like planets block your way as you try to find the center of the maze. In the center you find our planet Earth with it’s moon. You can “sit” on the moon and mediate. And you find a box with a gift giver. I won’t reveal what you get and won’t spoil your fun.

Impressions of “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud (3) – The Mind maze

The Mind maze has soemthing of “Big brother is watching you” as there are many huge eyes that follow you when you walk by and that’s a bit scary. Close to the center of this maze a brian flies around and when you walk into a dead end, then you see a mouth with a tongue sticking out … ha ha wrong way. In the center room are eyes and ears and the mouth with the tongue sticked out and they form a face – and once again you can grab a gift.

Impressions of “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud (4) – The Earth maze

The Earth maze is held in warm tones blue, green, yellow and brown. As in all mazes, the textures changes. In this maze you are blocked by huge bugs and creatures that either crawl throught he hallways or simple wait in a corner and watch you with their aritcicial eyes. In the center they circle around a spaceship. Is there a gift – yes, there is.

The Tecno maze is all about bits and bytes, curtains of 0 and 1 block your way as you search the center, the walls are covered with electric circuits. At some walls are just coloured squares in a pattern. And in its center is a pair of jumping doplhins. I won’t try to interpret that.

Impressions of “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud (5) – The Tecno maze

I ended the exploration of the mazes and tried out the most right object, the bug rezzer and I used to to fly around and explore the installaion from higher up. It’s fun to fly with the bug. I circled one time around the space ship that hoovers over the block of the 4 buildings. And I flew through the small lanes between the buildings. In the center is a glowing small pyramid, the “INCAL”? On one side is a crystal and on the other side a “Dark Light”. I ended my flight with the bug and returned to the INCAL. If you sit on it you get teleported to the space ship above the buildings. Yo find yourself standing on the ship and there are poseballs. I tried out one and it made me hoover circiling around the spacehip, like the 2 people in the “offical” picture of the installation shown above. That is fun!

And what is the “INCAL”? I looked it on the internet: “The Incal is a comic masterpiece illustrated by acclaimed artist Moebius and written by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Together they present a classic sci-fi adventure featuring John Difool, a private detective. With the great darkness attacking the galaxy, Difool races through the cosmos with his pet concrete bird, Deepo, and the Universe’s greatest warrior, the Metabaron, on a quest to face the great evil.“

Impressions of “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud (6) – Flying around, the INCAL and hoovering in the air (the arrow points to me)

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 – just like this interactive installation, that combines art, space and fun. Betty has a flickr page where you can see more of her art.

Betty wrote in her biography notecard about herself: “I love to put some scripting to my art and bright colors are my favorite.
I love artwork who is coming from Mexicans Indians. The colors is so bright and sometimes chocking for your eyes. It makes me also think about Frida Carlo who make some wonderful paintings where she express her own pain. My art is a more happy happy style, but i also get my inspiration from real world.”

Thank you Betty. Thank you also to Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) for the invitation and for providing the space for the art. I enjoyed my pre-opening tour.

Landmark to “The Incal and the 4 Mazes” by Betty Tureaud @ Akikaze
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akikaze/122/248/3024
Betty Tureaud’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/betty-tureaud/

Art in Second Life 2021 (119) Clay & Seed

13 Dec 2021 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) invited me to the opening of a new exhibtion at her sim Akimori on Sunday, December 5th. I had seen there “The Borderless Project” this Summer and wrote a blogpost series about it (read here part I, part II, part III and part IV). The new exhibition is called “Clay & Seed“.

I could not attend the opening itself and went there already the day before the official opening party. Akiko had told me that the exhibition was already open. With the invitation I got a notecard with the landmark, a notecard about the exhibition and a notecard with information about each participating artist: Haveit Neox, Bamboo Barnes and Lilia Artis.

Clay & Seed is “a collaboration of art, utilizing 3D, 2D, and Text. For the Clay & Seed exhibit, Bamboo Barnes chose to focus on 2D artwork, Lilia Artis on poetry, and Haveit Neox on sculpture and architecture. The goal was to have these disciplines unite into a single work, which in this case of three like-minded artists, occurred organically.

Haveit’s galleries provide the supporting walls for Bamboo’s imagery, while Lilia’s poetry garnishes the windows of these clay buildings and thus closes the circle. During the process, each artist’s work contained a seed of inspiration for the other two. Being admirers of each other’s works for many years, it seems destiny smiled on these three with the opportunity to share their visions together and in an art region that inspired their creativity.

Describing the erosion of the environment and human relationships, the work of all three artists explores the fields of destruction, growth, abuse, hope, gratefulness, and loneliness.“

The landing is in the center of the installation on a little platform with three trees. A few chairs invite to sit down and to have a first view on the artwork. It is in the skies. Two big buildings, which reminded me of cathedrals, caught my eyes first. The two buildings are the galleries. Between the two buildings are several platforms in the form of dishes. They seem to be supported by many beings among others also mermaids. On the dishes are 3D art objects. You also see paths that lead the visitor around and along the paths are more 3D art objects.

Clay & Seed – Impressions (1): First views on Haveit Neox’ artwork

At the landing point you can grab presents from the three artists, art that you can use to display at home. I started to explore the installation. All 3D objects were made by Haveit Neox. In the accompanying notecard Haveit wrote about himself:
“I feel that I grew up in a garden. Nearly always a barefoot kid with stained feet from the earth, I constructed primitive cities with yard debris, mud, and twigs. Colorful paint and cutout pictures from magazines enriched the surfaces. Later I fashioned cities of fired clay and glazes. Interior and exterior spaces fascinated me as I observed bugs take up residence. I also drew cities on paper and long scrolls. The cities advanced from their mud origins to painted scrolls, and ceramics.
In Real Life, I have displayed my artworks mainly in Los Angeles, New York, and a couple shows in Paris. The theme is often based on urban settings of my own invention. In December 2009, I was led to the virtual world of Second Life. As a child, a strong and recurrent fantasy was miniature people populating my cities. Avatars fulfill that dream. The spaces I make in SL receive real people in their pixel guise. In the context of the city, the interior and exterior spaces hold my artwork, and are themselves a habitable exhibit.“

Clay & Seed – Impressions (2): Haveit Neox’ artwork

There’s a lot to discover and to see. For example you find the small clay cities, you find artful beings like horses, fishes, mermaids, fantasy beings, you find smaller 3D art pieces where several layers build the 3D effect. And the 2 galleries of course.

Some of Haveit Neox’ sims and buildings still can be seen in Second Life – something on my list of places to visit: Acc Alpha (also known as the city of Accentaury), QeddoQ, Sparquerry and Centaurs’ Hall.
On vimeo you can watch a video about Haveit’s RL clay artwork and about Accentaury: Accentaury Tour 2014. On the sim of ACC Alpha, Accentaury, City Center 2016.

At the entrance of both gallery buildings are storks that hold boards with the poems of Lilia Artis. As mentioned above, poems are also in the windows of the two gallery buildings. They aer kind of a connecting element between Haveit Neox’ 3D art and buildings and Bamboo Barnes’ pictures that are exhibited inside of the galleries.

Clay & Seed – Impressions (3): Lilia Artis’ poems

spit out

you look at me
showing yellow teeth
I see cities tumble
out of your open mouth
and remnants of corpses

your foul breath crawls
over my body that is locked in place
to witness you gobbling down empires
and spitting them out again
only to tell me who I am

Lilia Artis writes about herself:
“My RL artwork stepped into the background when I discovered the love of writing, which has become my main career. Coming into SL however, rekindled the passion for the paths of colours, light, pattern and structure. And so, I merge both interests into my virtual art, be it 2D, 3D or machinima. During my creative voyage all these years I noticed how much my virtual art inspired the exploration of my RL artwork and vice versa, often one leading to the other. In the beginning I was neck deep into painting with acrylics and water colours and drawing. When I later learned to weld metal and to sculpt stone and wood, I discovered my love of creating 3D objects. At first it only led to learning the goldsmith craft and creating my own jewelry. But I was hooked and seeing what you can do with prims in SL felt like such a similar process, minus the damaged fingers. I will never forget the joy of building my first simple virtual installations made of prims. Again several years later, learning to sculpt with 3D software led to learning to sculpt with clay in RL, something I would never have considered otherwise. But I wanted to create faces, something that fascinates me most…
I have done solo and collaborative exhibitions in galleries and at events in Second Life. For a while my main focus concerning artwork was on machinima. I teamed up with Haveit Neox and we expanded to RL art projects as well, which we will continue into the future. Since 2015 in SL I focused on building together with Haveit Neox the Arts & Entertainment region for Fantasy Faire.”
There are still video’s available of Lilia Artis’ machimas, which were made for the UWA art challenges, 2015 & 2014: ‘Tis an Egg, touching white and Striding – unknown Roads.

Clay & Seed – Impressions (4): Bamboo Barnes’ artwork

Inside of the galleries are Bamboo Barnes pictures. I never saw that many pictures of her than in this exhibtion. There are around 30 pictures in each of the two buildings.
Bamboo is in Second Life for over 14 years already, painting software & photoshop are her best friends. Bamboo had many exhibtions and appearances in the Second Life art scene and in 2018 she had her first exhibition in real life: “I create what I see but maybe you won’t, they are about people’s reality and  mind.” Bamboo’s art is a mixture of abstract forms, of people and photographs. Most pictures are colourful and it is in the eye of the beholder what we see in her pictures. I myself saw her work the first time at La Maison d’Aneli during the Holiday season 2019/2020 (read here). I also saw her exhibition “Marginal Mannerism” at DixMixGallery in April 2021 (read here), the exhibition “Meant to be” at Itakos Art Gallery last year (read here), I saw “Conjure” at FOCUS Magazine F.A.I.R Gallery in August 2021 (read here), I saw “Mindstorm” at IMAGO Land (read here), and just recently I saw her exhibition “Drawer” at Hannington Arts Foundation (read here). I also had a look at her flickr page.

Clay & Seed – Impressions (5): Bamboo Barnes’ artwork

The broad range of themes is intriguing. There are pictures that remind of Mediterrean cities painted in water colour and artfully processed in Bamboo’s way. There are faces under several layers so that the spectator has to dive into the picture, there are pure abstract cretions as well as pictures of art objects. You have to see them yourself – and you need time to get all the details. Each of the two buildings would be worth a seperate visit.
But that’s not all…. Looking down I could see another platform. It is connected to the art installation “Clay & Seed” with a long row of horses which winds up from there to the platform. I did not check if you could walk up and down, I think it is more another art object, that connects the world below with “Clay & Seed” in the sky. On the lower level is another art installation of Bamboo Barnes, this time in 3D. I didn’t find a name or anything about it. The installation consists of boxes, mirror boxes and ice cubes. As you could expect it, it hs very colourful. You can walk inside and suddently you’re completely in another world. Whereever your look at you see Bamboo’s art.
In the outside Bamboo added some geometrical forms and objects .. and you can sit down for a break and a chair. This chair is one of the gifts you could grab at the landing of “Clay & Seed” – and it is now also at my homeplace.

Below “Clay & Seed” – Bamboo Barnes’ Boxes

Visiting “Clay & Seed” made my Saturday an art day! I enjoyed my visit, reading about the artists and writing about this great installation. Thank you Akiko Kinoshi (Akiko Kiyori) for your kind invitation as well as for providing the space for the arts. Thank you Haveit Neox, Bamboo Barnes and Lilia Artis for your artwork.
According to Akiko “Clay & Seed” will be availabe for a visit for several months.

Landmark to Clay & Seed @ Akimori
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimori/189/86/1740

Haveit Neox Acc Alpha (also known as the city of Accentaury)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ACC%20Alpha/236/208/54
Haveit Neox QeddoQ
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/qeddoq/110/118/32
Haveit Neox Sparquerry
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sparquerry/128/128/28
Haveit Neox Centaurs’ Hall
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Verdigris/209/75/66
Haveit Neox RL clay artwork
https://vimeo.com/281525163
Haveit Neox Accentaury Tour 2014. On the sim of ACC Alpha
https://vimeo.com/115370393
Haveit Neox Accentaury, City Center 2016
https://vimeo.com/195723654
Lilia Artis ‘Tis an Egg
https://vimeo.com/143798263
Lilia Artis touching white
https://vimeo.com/144233680
Lilia Artis Striding – unknown Roads
https://vimeo.com/110392433
Bamboo Barnes’ flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboobarnes/

Art in Second Life 2020 (45) Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth

28 Jul 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I got an inviation for the opening of “Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth” for July 7th. I wasn’t able to attend the opening but I visited the next day, Wednesday July 8.

As the name already gives away Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth is an installation by Gem Preiz. I have visited a lot of the installations and exhibtions of Gem, Just latey I saw his skyscrapers (Gem’s Skyscrapers – read here) and Elusive Reality (read here).

Entering “Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth”

Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth is an immersive exhibition of high resolution fractals, featuring particles by Delain Canucci. In this exhibition Gem brings together two of his passions: fractals and mineralogy.

Impressions of Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth (1)

The exhibtion consists of 16 rooms. You should set your environment to “Midnight”, particles to max and graphics to high or ultra. There’s just one way through the rooms. Each room has one big fractal picture of Gem Preiz. The walls, ceilings and floors are adjusted to the fractal object and colour of the picture as are the particles that liven up the room and the scenery.

Impressions of Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth (2)

“There are a few hundred mineral species on Earth (a few thousand if we include those that the microscope only can reveal), born of the fantastic pressures suffered by the rock in the Earth’s crust, the sudden cooling of volcanic material, or the accumulation of sediments crushed by their own weight. While tectonic movements and volcanoes lava have brought to Man many of these natural treasures (quartz, gypsum, sulfur, obsidian, …), many of them were discovered in the depths of the planet only through industrial research or scientific exploration.” (taken from the acompanying notecard)

Impressions of Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth (3)

Each room is a piece of art itself and you can let your mind wander watching the picture, the walls and the other objects in the room. The particles make every view particular, every picture I took is unique therefore, yet the real experience is to see it yourself in 3D.

Gem has selected a music. It can be heard by running youtube in a seperate window, the link is also in the acompanying notecard. I recommend that you listen to it as it enhances the experience.

Impressions of Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth (4)

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 a notecard from another exhibition)

Diomita at Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth

With Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth Gem Preiz has made another great and outstanding installation and I really enjoyed my visit. The particles of Delain Canucci add a lot to each room and scenery. Many thanks also to Akiko Kinoshi who, as for “Gem’s Skyscrapers”, provided the space for this journey.

Landmark to Gem’s Journey to the Center of a fractal Earth
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimori/236/151/2959
suggested soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6XDpCbFCU0

Art in Second Life 2020 (32) ROOMS by Betty Tureaud

06 Jun 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I got an invitation from Aki (akikokinoshi) to visit and see “ROOMS by Betty Tureaud“, an installation realized in Aki’s sim. And I didn’t regret my visit at all. Upon landing you can grab a notecard in many different languages that provides some background for what you are going to see. You also get a free avatar and it is recommended to wear it during your visit – I did that.

ROOMS by Betty Tureaud – upper right is at the landing point / other pictures show the hallways and the rooms

ROOMS is an art installation by Betty Tureaud inspired of a dream.

Dreaming Rooms…
“… at drømme om rum er en adgang til din underbevidsthed om dig selv. ”
(Dreaming of rooms is an access to your subconscious of yourself.)  — Betty Tureaud

“If you dream of a room or find yourself alone in a room this represents different factors of your personality within the waking world. One of the most intriguing of dreams to have is of being in a house, and suddenly discovering new rooms in it that you did not know were there. In the dream, these rooms may be a very pleasant and even exciting surprise, they may be unusually decorated or full of interesting things. But most commonly, you will have a sense of surprise, because you thought you knew this house well, and never would have suspected that rooms such as these were here. To dream of discovering new rooms is often a symbol of releasing new aspects of your own personality.
The analogy is that you thought you knew yourself so well, but suddenly circumstances have arisen that have revealed there is far more to you than you previously thought.These kinds of dreams are a great gift, they challenge you to outgrow previous limited perceptions, and to embrace growth and change in your life.”

(taken from the notecard)

There are 15 rooms. I think I didn’t see all of them because after a while you get lost in the hallways and rooms. But I might have seen most of the rooms. It doesn’t matter where you start. Important is that you look in the main chat when you enter a room to get a quick thought about the room. You often have to fully enter the room and to go to the center to see the installation of the room. The colourful hallways, the avatar that melts into the walls, ceilings and floor, the dancing figures at hallway crossings, it all does feel like a dream after a hile and when you get lost in the hallways and rooms. I’ll present the rooms in the order I saw them.

Impressions of ROOMS by Betty Tureaud (1)

In the picture above are three rooms.
Betty whispers: Get some new brain cells Diomita Maurer (upper left)
Betty whispers: Stay in the center and get caught in colors Diomita Maurer (lower left)
Betty whispers: Click on the floor Diomita Maurer (upper and lower right)

The pictures are just catching a moment and give just a tiny impressions of what you see in the rooms. For example, the room with the brain cells fills slowly with the cells until they form a net around the avatar’s head. Everything is steadily moving and you get different impressions depending on viewing angle and zooming. On the other hand my captured 2D pictures are quite artful (in my opinion) and can’t be reproduced again, they are temporary like thoughts, that come and go.

Impressions of ROOMS by Betty Tureaud (2)

Betty whispers: Now you see them now you don’t Diomita Maurer (left pictures)
Betty whispers: Tribute to Yayoi Kusama Diomita Maurer (right pictures)

The whales in the left picture appear and disappear, yet they are moving and they don’t show up in the same position, and strangely they are not intimidating at all.
The room in the left picture was filled with imaginary walls in colourful textures with circles. I admit, that I never heard, read or saw anything about Yayoi Kusama but I do know a bit of her now looking her up in wikipedia: “Yayoi Kusama (born 22 March 1929) is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. She has been acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan” (source wikipedia)

Impressions of ROOMS by Betty Tureaud (3)

Betty whispers: Don’t be afraid of the dark! Click the box and sit on the doll then click again Diomita Maurer

The dark room is quite funny and playful. When you click the box a uni coloured (lego-like) figure appears, when you sit on it you become one with it and your avatar vanishes and when you stand up the figure falls from the box and jumps around on the floor before it vanishes … and you can do that with all boxes …

Impressions of ROOMS by Betty Tureaud (4)

Betty whispers: Sit and enjoy Diomita Maurer (upper left)
Betty whispers: Relax Diomita Maurer (lower left)
Betty whispers: Welcome to the crazy circus Diomita Maurer (upper right)
Betty whispers: walk around and be a griffer for a day Diomita Maurer (lower right)

Sitting down in the gallery room makes your avatar disappear. You can sit in the boat in the relax room and there are mayn poses offered, including coupleposes. The crazy circus reminded me a bit of pole dancing, set the stools are way to umcomfortable for the spectators. The colourful boxes did offer a lot of different perspectives for taking pictures.

Impressions of ROOMS by Betty Tureaud (5)

Betty whispers: Take my hand and stay in the center Diomita Maurer (upper left)
Betty whispers: Stay in the center of the room Diomita Maurer (lower left)
I either missed the text for the upper right room or it was also “Stay in the center of the room Diomita Maurer” (upper right)
Betty whispers: Say hello to mister AI Diomita Maurer (lower right)

While I was with many other peopler in the room shown in the upper left picture, I was alone with colours and colourful particles in the next two rooms. In the last room I visited I met mister Artitical Intelligance – at least now it has a face … and it springs out of the human brain.

Betty Tureaud is from Denmark, she’s a builder and light and space artist in Second Life. I came across her art before at ArtSpace UTSA in 2016 (read here), in August 2018 when I visited her installation “The Art Game” (read here), in January 2019 when her work was shown at La Maison d’Aneli (read here), and in April 2020 when I visited “swim with elephants” which was also hosted in a sim owned by Aki (akikokinoshi) (read here).

ROOMS by Betty Tureaud is a well made journey into your dreams and inspries to let your mind wander, to play around, to dream and to get away from everyday life and maybe as Betty wrote to find new sides of yourself or new rooms in your “house”.
Thank you for this artful istallation, Betty and thank you Aki for hosting it. I enjoyed my visit!

Landmark to ROOMS
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akimori/102/92/3257

Art in Second Life 2020 (20) Gem’s Skyscrapers

23 Apr 2020 3 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Art in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I got an invitation to visit Gem Preiz’ newest installation “Gem’s Skyscrapers” which opened Sunday, April 19th. As so often I wasn’t able to attend the opening celebration but I went there the very next day.

Gem’s Skyscrapers – instructions and bird’s eye views

The landing at Gems Skycrapers is in a skybox where you can grab a notecard about the installion. I use a lot of this notecard it in my post. Furtheron you get instructions how to set your viewer, which windlight is recommened (I used the recommened windlight “TOR Night Under a Yellow Moon”) and how to hide you avatar for a visit. I shied back from that first as you have to get rid of all of your attachments but then prepared myself as instructed. There’s a reason for that and I will explain that lateron. I teleported to the installation and although I had seen a picture of Gem’s Skyscrapers in the invitation before I was really overwhelmed by the first views. I selected an UFO and started my visit flying through the alleys and above the skyscrapers. Great!

Impressions of Gem’s Skyscrapers (1)

“I love the infinitely large and the infinitely small. I love stars and atoms. I love skyscrapers and grass strands. I have presented on Secondlife very large fractal frames teeming with tiny details. These differences of scale are one of the levers of the immersive feeling.” (Gem Preiz)

Impressions of Gem’s Skyscrapers (1)

With the city Gem had two objectives:
– the first one is purely architectural and linked to my fascination for the skyscrapers, modern cathedrals which are, like those of the past, the synthesis of all the techniques of their time, dedicated to the collective aspirations of their builders.
– the second one aims to create a stronger sense of immersion on Secondlife. How to push the 256m limit of a Sim and give a city its natural dimension compared to our character? The solution I found is to build on a 1/10th scale and make the avatar invisible, apparently enclosed in the cockpit of a vehicle whose size and speed are made consistent with the scale of the buildings. Thus, it is in a city of 2.56 km side that you move, which is the equivalent of the surface of 100 normal Sims. The offsim background emphasizes this scale effect since these hundred meters high hills really seem here to be mountains topping up the skyscrapers.

Impressions of Gem’s Skyscrapers (3)

About 11000 prims, 500 constructions of more than 100 different designs, 6 transport lines of 20 km in total (at scale), 6 bridges; diversity and excess that evoke but do not equal that of the megacities of our time. I hope that you will take as much pleasure in visiting this city as I had to build it during the 6 months of its realization.
(taken from the notecard)

Impressions of Gem’s Skyscrapers (4)

The city, that Gem has built, has clearly different districts in which the skyscrapers are of the same colour or at least of a similar style, just as they had been built by the same architect. Some forms and silhouettes seem familiar. The reason is that Gem has used some of the world’s most famous skyscrapers as a model for his skyscrapers. He added some drafts of skyscrapers that were never built and some of his own ideas.
The city remembered me of Chicago with the river and the bridges crossing it. You must try to move your vehicle close to the ground for a different perspective as well as flying above the city in order to get an overview.

Before I finished my visit I went home, dressed again and returned to see Gem’s Skyscrapers again but this time 10 times smaller. Again I got different views!

List of buildings or architectural projects evoked or displayed in the city

– Burj al Khalifa (Dubaï, UAE)
– Marina Creek (Dubaï, UAE)
– Sydney Opera (Sydney, Australia)
– Geode (Paris, France)
– The Interlace (Singapore)
– Abu Dhabi Plaza (Astana, Kazakhstan) (competing project, not selected)
– The One (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
– The Address (Dubaï, UAE)
– Lodha World Towers (Mumbaï, India)
– Ecocity (Tianjin, China)
– ADNOC Headquarters (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
– Etihad Towers (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
– Hyatt Regency (Xuzhou, China)
– Sheraton (Huzhou, China)
– 900 Biscayne Bay (Miami, USA)
– WFC Tower (Shangai, China)
– St George wharf Tower (London, UK)
– Sky Mile Tower – Tôkyô Bay (Tôkyô, Japan) (project never built)
– Wynn Hotels (Las Vegas, USA)
– Central Park Tower (New York, USA)
– Pullman Hotel (Roissy CDG, France)
– Grand Rama 9 (Bangkok, Thailand)
– Bride Tower (Bassorah, Iraq) (project never built)
– Lincong Bridge (Huashan, China) (project by Santiago Calatrava)

Impressions of Gem’s Skyscrapers (6)

I wrote already quite often about Gem Preiz and his fractal art, the last time just a few weeks ago, when I visited his installation “Elusive Reality“. In 2019 I visited his own art gallery the “Gem Preiz Fractal Art Gallery”.
Gem Preiz is educated in science and mathematics and is fond of anything related to Nature, Cosmos and Earth, from astronomy to geology and to architecture. Seeing his work in Second Life is always a particular experience and so was my visit to Gem’s Skyscrapers.

Thank you very much for this great installation, Gem. I enjoyed it to the fullest!
Thank you Akiko Kinoshi who provided the space for Gem’s skyscrapers (as far as I understood).

Landmark to Gem’s Skyscrapers
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Akiko/128/128/2981
Landmark to Gem Preiz Fractal Art Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seductive%20Horizons/11/228/297