Art in Second Life 2020 (11) The Carbone Studio

29 Jan 2022 Leave a comment

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

I got an invitation to see Milena Carbone’s new space. The Carbone gallery has become “The Carbone Studio“. The Carbone Studio combines several purposes: a new concept with exhibition spaces for Milena’s work and performances. And is offers spaces to meditate, relax and watch video clips and even dance.

Along with the new layout, Milena has revised and updated her webpage.

Milena’s webpage as of Jan 28th

The provided landmark leads you to a skybox where you get instructions on how to adjust you viewer settings, in particular, use Advanced lighting Model, shadows of sun and projectors and shared environment. From there you can teleport to the different placed of the studio: The Church, The Dance Hall, The Welcome Hall, The Exhibtion Hall.

I first visited the Church. Here Milena has installed her exhibition “Scandal” in a reproduction of the Church of Light, designed by the famous architect Tadao Ando. I reported about this exhibtion already in this blog here.

Impressions of “Scandal” by Milena Carbone at “The Carbone Studio“

The Exhibtion Hall featured Milena’s exhibition “Mild Memories” at the the time of my visit. This exhibtion will only stay open until Monday, January 31st – then it will be replaced by February exhibition “Life Light”.
On her webpage Milena wrote about “Mild Memories”: “Mild memories” is a short exhibition that is very close to my heart. It is a selection of nine works that I love. The series includes works from several past exhibitions. Neither preference, nor pride, simply a link, a mild closeness that I wish to share with you, intimately, for a few days only, before opening my February exhibition.”
And in fact I knew quite some of these pictures. It is really a nice overview over her work of the last years.

Impressions of “Mild Memories” by Milena Carbone at “The Carbone Studio“

Next to The Exhibition Hall you also find a place to relax and mediate in a small forest. A lovely place just to wind down.

I went to The Dance Hall next. It is used for Milena’s live performances but at all other times it is open to the public.
“A 24-hour playlist of music videos, selected by Milena Carbone, is projected on a giant screen. The permanent show called “immersive music” allows you to park your avatar while enjoying a variety of music and very graphic videos.” (taken from Milena’s webpage)
Actually I met Milena there but she was absent.

The Carbone Studio: The mediation area / The Dance Hall / Milena Carbone and Diomita / The board with Milena’s current exhibitions at The Welcome Hall

Finally I went to The Welcome Hall, that is right next to The Dance Hall and probably the space I should have gone first. Here you get information about Milena Carbone, you can grab the monthy group gift and you find a board with all current exhibitions of Milena Carbone in Second Life.

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.
You can also find her on flickr here and you can read her texts here.

Milena was very active in Second Life, owning and was curating three galleries, right now she focused on her Carbone Studio. Well done, Milena. I will re-visit for sure.

Landmark to The Carbone Studio
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/177/175/3287
Milena’s website
https://sites.google.com/view/thecarbonegallery/news
Milena Carbone’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s writing
https://medium.com/@539568

Art in Second Life 2021 (20) Scandal by Milena Carbone

04 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

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

I was invited to the opening of “Scandal”, Milena Carbone’s newest exhibition at The Carbone Gallery. I wasn’t able to attend the opening event on Wednesday, February 17th. Instead I visited a few days before the opening and I had the opportunity to talk with Milena.
Milena, being a story teller, combines several aspects in “Scandal”. There’s first the opening event. Milena has designed a choreography of a ballet, based on Philip Glass music and SL ballet and dance poses. She told me that she will dance herself. I can’t report about this event as I missed it.

Scandal is a series of 8 pictures about the character of Iselin, an Icelandic girl who becomes a Christ in the XXI century. It is Milena’s third story of a contemporary christ, after the Brazilian child in the exhibition Locked, and the mixed-race gay Mahdi in the exhibition Plead Guilty. This work will probably close her series of Christs.

The location of this exhibition is outstanding. Milena reproduced the Church of Light, designed by the famous architect Tadao Ando. The church will stay as a permanent part of the gallery, for exhibition, concerts, and prays. I never heard of this church before and hence visiting “Scandal” inspired me to do some reasearch on the internet about this church and it’s architect. I recommend to start with the wikipedia entries about the church of light and about Tadao Ando. Milena did a great job transferring the church into Second Life – and it is a great place for future exhibitions and other events. Chapeau!

The exhibition Scandal is related to the theory of social violence of René Girard, a french anthropologist. He wrote a book called “Woe to the man through whom scandal comes” where he showed how Jesus Christ unveiled the role of sacrifice, and how the innocents are sacrified. I also read about René Girard in wikipedia. Girard showed how conflicts in social groups are solved by the scapegoat mechanism.

Impressions of “Scandal by Milena Carbone” (1)

The 8 pictures are exhibited inside of the church of light. They relate to the story of the Icelandic girl Iselin, but they stand for themselves as well without the story. They deal with religion, with innocence and with a culminating act of violence. Milena has the plot of the story in her mind and will publish it most probably as another book, a small book that you can read within Second Life, in the course of March 21. It was not written yet at the time of my visit. I intend to visit Scandal again when the story is published.

Impressions of “Scandal by Milena Carbone” (2)

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.

On February 22nd Milena told me that she rearranged the exhibiton and included pictures of the opening concert and ballet to make it part of the exhibition and to save the impressions. The concert consisted of a series of 15 pieces composed by Philip Glass, gathered in 7 parts, each introduced by a libretto written by Milena Carbone.
The dancers of the ballet were Milena Carbone and Belice Benoir, Nieu (NieuwenHove) supported them with the technic. The now showcased pictures of the even were taken by Charlotte Belladona (charlottebelladonna) and .Crazy Dust. (zigboom) and can also be seen at their flickr pages here and here.

Impressions of the opening event of “Scandal” by Milena Carbone

Thank you for another great exhibition, Milena. Scandal inspired me to quite some research and hence was educational for me – and it impressed me.

Landmark to The Carbone Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woiler/172/158/3316
Landmark to The Carbone Gallery @ Noir’Wen City
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/243/203/32
Milena Carbone’s Flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/photos/milenacarbone/
Milena Carbone’s writing (blog)
https://medium.com/@539568
Charlotte Belladonna (charlottebelladonna)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/186968761@N05/
.Crazy Dust. (zigboom)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zigboom/