Sketch Furniture by FRONT

written by Cyanide Seelowe

Months ago, when my boyfriend was supposed to be working, and i was supposed to be in class, i was given a link to click in IM that had the simple tag attached to it: "I wanna try this!!"

What I saw was a video clip that had my jaw dropped and my artistic heart flittering with joy in my chest. A group of four people, the FRONT team, had set up quite a few cameras around an oval room. Two individuals stood in the center of the room and began to draw in the air with white pens. The cameras they were surrounded with captured the movements of the tips of these pens, and when the visual data was later compiled, they were able to translate the movements into three-dimensional objects.

The movie, as well as more info about the FRONT team, can be found here.

The footage that I saw was pushed out of my mind due to the then-upcoming finals weeks, but my memory was rekindled when fellow VAA reporter Rezago Kokorin wrote an article that involved bringing the objects of Second Life into the real world. Since that article I've been looking for that video clip and any other information that might go along with it in hopes of sharing it with my fellow artists everywhere. FINALLY, i am able to share this joy with you, and i hope your heart flutters as wildly as mine when you think of the potential that motion-capture artwork and designing with space has with Second Life.

If you are in Italy or in front of your computer...

...you might find these two events interesting:

1. The conference "The Philosophy of Computer Games" is taking place in Reggio-Emilia, Italy, from the 25th to 27th of January.
Website with abstracts and programme with links to presentation papers: http://game.unimore.it/game/Benvenuto.html
They are also going to videostream the conference. I think it will be from this site: http://tv.unimore.it (No, they didn't, but clips will be available in about two weeks. (Yes, if you go here: http://tv.unimore.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=7 and then on Recording of the event.)

I do not know if anybody explicitly is going to speak about (our metaverse,) Second Life, but the snapshot on their poster looks rather familiar, doesn't it? Here it is:

From the Introduction:
The purpose of the conference is to initiate an investigation into how current research on computer games touches upon philosophical issues. In line with this purpose, the conference is interdisciplinary, drawing together researchers from very diverse fields: philosophy, computer game-theory, semiotics, aesthetics, sociology, psychology, and anthropology.

2. Piemonte_share_festival: 23.-28. January 2007. Exhibition, conference, workshops...
Website: http://www.toshare.it/
Today, at the conference, at least one speach was related to Second Life:

New media art communities
SIMONA LODI - REGINE DEBATTY -
SIMON GOLDIN
Contemporary artists choose to create a community on “Second Life” similar to “The Port”. The logic of commodification, however, seems to go beyond claiming immaterial ownership on every level. Beyond the question of copyright and patents there is also a fundamental question of who the peer is in peer-production?

(We will probably be able to see the lectures on the website later..)

The Port is an artproject initiated by the artists Goldin&Senneby.
Another Second Life-related artproject by them was "Objects of virtual desire": 5 virtual objects reproduced in real life... exhibited in Bergen, Norway, 2005.
There is more to say about them, but not to night.

Plurabelle Posthorn

eyefood

written by Rezago Kokorin

I discovered eyefood on one of my random explorations, flying down a Linden road on the mainland. This is a beautiful gallery, a work of art in itself. The large open spaces of real world galleries and museums translates well into SL. The difference here being that it is much more open air than you would typically see in a real world gallery. I'll let the photos and the words of the artists speak for themselves.

Landmark: eyefood.Steiger, Steiger (124, 239, 122)



"It's like eyecandy, only more nutritious."

"Eyefood is a group of artists and photographers intent on exploring the relationship between the digital image, and the virtual world - both the three-dimensional metaverse of Second Life, and the two-dimensional social network of Flickr."

"What happens to an image when it gets embedded on a web page? How does a photograph change when it's placed on the side of a prim? And what do we mean by 'photograph' anyway? Does it always have to be 'of' something?"

"Or can it just be very, very pretty?"

Charity Auction Opening a Grand Success!

After months of planning, articulating, meeting, and just generally discussing, the Virtual Artist Alliance was finally able to hold it's first charity event: the First Book Charity Sculpture Auction!



Despite a few last minute set backs, retractions, and hurdles, we were able to gather ten artists to create sculptures a mere three hours before the scheduled event that were to be auctioned off for the benefit of our chosen charity. among the sculptors were members of our own VAA, Rezago Kokorin, Dale Innis, and myself. i was also able to get some newer artists out to participate- self-proclaimed non-artists Davidicus Liadis and Mylinn Ofeq, as well as hesitant sculptor Inarra Saarinen . finally, we had some famous artistic veterans building with us, such as Cheen Pitney and Alazar Fauna, along with amazing last minute surprises that Bree LeShelle and Ina Centaur whipped up in the last 15 minutes of the build-off.



I was extremely proud of all of the work that was produced during the build-off! patrons were bidding on the pieces before i could get all of the bidding boxes out, so that definately bodes well for the remainder of the event.

Happy birthday, Art!

Art's Birthday... Dear Perfomance Art Fans... you are invited...
So I went to the party on the 17th... cause art was born on 17th of january and because I'm a performanceartfan, I went to Second Fronts celebration of Art's Birthday. It all took place at Second Fronter Man Michinagas The BitFactory, also the home of the famous perfomancegroup. Not only a fan, I am now an offical groupie, member of Second Front groupies, founded on the 17th by Great Escape (does that mean I have to have sex with Second Front after their shows?).

The "Binge" performance, a colorful and beautifully chaotic performance. An important ingredient was the puke, everybody was puking loads of bloodlike redwine all the time, even I, because we groupies were invited to join the performance, so I puked (thank you, Man) like I never ever have done before, and there were pink flamingos, huge cakes and hamburgers, a withered xmastree with all the lights on.

So I joined in and had some nice interaction with Gazira Babeli. Better than sex we agreed...
Some scenes from the party:

Finally I was thrown out and up in to the sky with this red puke running out of me. It reminded me off something... Was it a way to say F... of, you stupid groupie! (?)

Plurabelle Posthorn

The Winners...

Here's the Winners of the Mauriac Contemporary Art Competition: Josie Baccara, Antonius Camus, Daruma Picnic (my favourite!), Tremali Lightworker, Jam Ingramm and Gunn Tunders.

Congratulations!

Plurabelle Posthorn

The Art of Madcow Cosmos

written by Rezago Kororin

Madcow Cosmos is a relative newcomer to SL but is already an accomplished builder in terms of the sculpture he creates. It puts one in mind of natural history museum displays, but with a whimsical twist.




These are fantasy creatures, but they're obviously inspired by the skeletal reconstructions of prehistoric animals. The complexity and anatomical detail of his work is a marvel to see.





I discovered his work recently when I saw it on display next-door to the Public Sandbox in Mauve. You can see it at the landmark below, and also here in my sculpture park in Blekinge where one of his "low-prim" works is on display.

Madcow's Prim Creatures, Mauve (162, 48, 36)
Blekinge Sculpture Park, Blekinge (139, 111, 99)

Madcow clearly has skill, imagination and a sense of humor. He is an artist to take note of and watch.