Last friday the 22nd of March I attended a Upgrade! Boston gathering streamed directly to Second Life, hosted by the Emerson College SL, landmark: Emerson College Island, Emerson Island (182, 112, 23), the real life event taking place at real life Emerson College, Boston (I think). See Wirxli Flimflams lively report of the SL event HERE, including a litle criticism about the technical problems we're still facing with these new live broadcasting possiblilies.
There were to speakers: Eric Gordon, "The Digital Possessive: Private Spaces in Public Space", and Show'n Tell about her book "web Affairs", "webAffairs is an artist's documentary of an adult video web community. In this book the artist, Show-n-tell, tells her story of being a voyeur and eventually becoming part of this community through a series of images and actual chat text. She participates in the community both as an observer and a performer. " Fun thing she told at the end of her speach was that she has tried the sex life of Second Life too. You can hear what she said in my litle video from the event:
Now, Upgrade! is new to me so I wanted to find out more about it.
The Upgrade! International organization - International network of gatherings concerning art, technology and culture has about 20 nodes around the world and more coming, also one in Second Life. About Upgrade! International's mission HERE. "Upgrade! is an international, emerging network of autonomous nodes united by art, technology, and a commitment to bridging cultural divides." It's supported by other organizations like Eyebeam, Turbulence.org, New Media Scotland, Art Centre Nabi, The Western Front, The Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), InterSpace, i-camp, DCA, CCA, No-Org.net, Art Interactive, NOMAD/santralistanbul, program angels/lothringer13, Open-Node.com, t-u-b-e, C-M.TV, Lisboa 20, AT. joburg, University of the Witwatersrand, Ars Longa, 911 Media Arts Center, Ars Virtua / BitFactory (Second Life). Links to all these organizations you'll find HERE at the bottom of the page.
25th of March there will be a lecture or a panel discussion moderated by Eric Gordon (aka Boston Borst) at the Museum of Science, Boston, called "The Art of living a Second Life", with with Wagner James Au (aka Hamlet Linden), embedded journalist in Second Life; John Lester (aka Pathfinder Linden), community manager for Linden Lab; John (Craig) Freeman (aka JC Freemont), artist in Second Life (who was our host at Emerson College SL last friday). The lecture is one of the events in the Boston Cyberart festival. It seems this lecture is going to be streamed into Second Life too.
Plurabelle Posthorn
March 31, 2007
March 29, 2007
Recent meetings
- by Rezago Kokorin
This is a follow up to the first Scripted Art meeting we had last Sunday. I'll be hosting these weekly, Sunday at 5pm SL time.
We had a good discussion, along with a bit of show & tell. The picture on the left shows Dale Innis displaying his 3D Parametric Rezzer, which rezzes multiple temporary copies of objects in a mathematically determined pattern.
My primary goal with these meetings is to bring scripters and builders together and narrow the gap between the two. To trade ideas and brainstorm about possibilities.
In the virtual world we have the opportunity to create art which does such things as move, morph, and interact with the viewer. There are people creating amazing things but the knowledge has to be gathered from a wide range of sources, along with a lot of trail and error. I think a series of classes designed for virtual artists would be of great benefit.
The central problem that was discussed was how best to learn the skills we are weak in, whether it be building or scripting, keeping in mind that we're artist types who don't want to get bogged down in technical detail.
One of the problems with scripting tutorials is the way they're written. You almost have to be a programmer to follow many of the explanations. Possible solutions are:
* Building classes for scripters.
* Scripting classes for builders.
Both of these being geared artists of both types. I saw this week that Dorie Bernstein in Dreams has begun teaching a class called "Scripts for the Common Man." I haven't been able to attend this one yet but it sounds like the kind of scripting classes we were talking about.
* Creating a library of sorts for understanding and using scripts. The Library of Primitives and The Particle Laboratory are excellent models for this.
I've taken on the project of creating a simple inworld demonstrating the use of the common rotation script and how linked rotating objects behave. Its a common problem with those of us creating kinetic sculpture. You have everything looking great, then you link it together and BOOM!, it goes haywire. Or else it stops moving altogether. I've only recently begun to systematically experiment with this and find out what works and how, and what doesn't.
As a way of bringing artists together, I've created a blog called Unfinished Works of Genius, which allows anyone to post about a project they're working on or an idea they have. If you're looking for someone to collaborate with or are in need of advice post your thoughts there.
Scripted Art meeting - Sundays at 5pm
Larsson (150, 236, 601)
______________________________________________________
Artist Building Sessions
These are held every Wednesday evening at 7pm SL time at the same location as the Scripted Art meeting. Its an informal building session which is part show & tell, part builder's clinic. Its a good time to show work in progress and get advise about problems. Its also very stimulating and inspiring to be among a group of creative types and see the resulting chaos (chaos in the good sense of the work, of course).
At the last session we were delving into the problem of linking rotating prims and got sidetracked for a while with particles. But that the great thing about these sessions, there is no real plan. We get together and things happen.
Sunn Thunders showed us his model of the solar system, with the size of the planets and the speed of their rotations and orbits all to scale.
Artists Building Session - Wednesdays at 7pm
Larsson (150, 236, 601)
March 25, 2007
Scripted Art
- by Rezago Kokorin
I’m hosting a discussion on the subject of scripted art and collaborations between artists who are primarily builders and those who are primarily scripters.
Some of the most interesting and striking art in SL includes the use of scripts, which brings virtual creations to life with things such as movement, sound, and interaction with the viewer. Also, things can be done which are difficult or simply impossible in real life. However, many people are not good at both building and scripting.
Sasun Steinbeck had some excellent thoughts of the subject which are recorded here Sasun Steinbeck at Oyster Bay.
Now, come and tell us YOUR thoughts on the subject. :) The meeting will take place at 5pm PDT, March 25th (today!) on a floating platform high over Blekinge Sculpture Park. Larsson (150, 236, 601)
Below are landmarks to the places pictured above. There are many people who's work should be included here. These are just a few examples.
Sasun's Morphing Sculpture
The work of Alain Talamasca
nand Nerd's Flexi Fun Flexible, scripted, geometric art
The art of Elros, Tower 1, 6th floor, Artisan Galleria Legacy Towers
(The landmark doesn't take you directly to the spot. You'll have to go into the building and take the teleport to the 6th floor.)
March 23, 2007
Sasun Steinbeck at Oyster Bay
- by Rezago Kokorin
On the evening of March 20th, Sasun Steinbeck appeared as that night's featured artist in Oyster Bay's ArtTalk series. She told and answered questions about her famous Morphing Sculpture and had much to say about SL art in general.
"I'm very lucky to have been involved with the art community for the past 1-1/2 years or so and it's certainly exciting to see how much it's grown. As an artist myself I know what it's like trying to get your foot in the door and get your works seen and get a little positive cash flow going to help support your creative time."
"Instead of creating lots of pieces I've instead spent all my time working on just one, my morphing sculpture behind me always seemed like it needed yet another feature, so it just never seems to end :) Plus all the support and feature suggestions from fans really influenced what I'd spend my time on."
"I really never considered myself first a foremost an artist but more of a scripter since that's the magic behind the sculpture... the scripts that bend and twist the prims and give it all the interactivity. I really wanted to make this something that the user could "play" with, lots of options to fiddle with. So it becomes sort of a joint creation between me adn the user who customizes it to their liking. I think this is a really interesting direction for art in SL."
"The intersection between someone that has more traditional artistic skills and the 3D sculptor and the scripter. Some sort of mashup of the three is where I think the cutting edge of art in SL lies in the future. There will always be an important place for 2D art to be brought in and displayed, that's very cool but I'd love to see more artists taking advantage of the 3D engine in SL to create something you simply can't get in RL."
"I'd like to open the floor to any questions and let you guys guide this discussion instead of me droning on for an hour :) So pipe up!"
Question: Are your scripts based on random number generation or predefined cordinates
Sasun Steinbeck: Yes the sculpture morphs into random shapes based on certain ranges of random numbers so every shape you get truly is unique.
Question: Any real life inspirations to Sl art that use?
Sasun Steinbeck: .... since I haven't come from an art background, I actually don't have any RL influences I can name :)
Question: So since so many 3D objects in SL are basically useless anyway - how do you define the difference between 3D art and 3D craft
Sasun Steinbeck: Not sure I have a good answer :) other than... if it moves you, and creates that sense of awe, I'd call it art :) You could almost say the same thing about some of the builds (buildings etc.) in SL made of static prims, of course.
Question: Any Sl artist you admire?
Sasun Steinbeck: ... yes, I was inspired by Siefert Surface, very definitely. I found some of his work and was utterly amazed that you could DO what he's done with prims. I immediately started trying to bend a tube prim into some of the shapes I've seen him use and utterly failed heheh. So I tried getting some scripts to do some random shape twisting and see if I could by random chance get even close to some of his shapes and the rest is history. Don't know if I ever accomplished my goal of getting that funky tube shape that he got :) but oh well I got a nice sculpture out of it.
Question: Is it moving texture ? ( from bottom to top ? )
Sasun Steinbeck: Yes Al the textures to move in two different ways across the prims. I use texture rotation (sliding in a straight line) as well as rotating like hands on a clock. Both modes give some really interesting results depending on the shape of the prims and the texture currently on the prim. You can configure the angle of the slide/rotation and the speed.
Question: And one particle generator ?
Sasun Steinbeck: Yes one lame particle generator hehe. It's actually expandable, the user can write their own particle script addons for it. Doesn't seem to be a real popular feature and to date I only have 2 pre-set particle effects. Something I'd love to work on for a future update :)
Question: I see 3 "MORPH" scripts ?
Sasun Steinbeck: Each prim has a script to morh itself into the same shape. So there is a master controller script that tells all the other prims what the prim parameters are so they all assume the same shape. In fact it has a master/slave mode so that you can set up a second sculpture nearby and the first sculpture will tell the second one what shape to assume, which looks really cool as matching columns around a doorway, for instance.or as a mirror under a glass floor, which someone did :)
Question: Have you played with the scale of the piece so that it's much larger?
Question: There are 13 prims ?
Sasun Steinbeck: Yes it is sold modify so the user can scale it up real big... let me show you. Yes 1 hidden master prim and 12 visible prims around it. I used to set up a big forest of them this size in the sandbox, pretty fun sight :) It's been SO much fun working on this because of the response from people, it's really gratifying hearing how much people enjoy this thing.
Question: Talk about scripting in general in SL art. What have you seen that you like, and what would you like to see?
Sasun Steinbeck: I've seen some basic scripting applied to objects, basic rotation scripts that make a sculpture much more interesting by rotating multiple pieces in clever ways but I'd love to see some more complex examples of scripted objects interacting in interesting ways. Art in SL just cries out for MOVEMENT and color and shape - it's all so fluid and changeable. But it's a new thing that traditional artists have a hard time wrapping their minds around... to some extent. So it's really a whole new skillset that an SL artist needs to learn if you want to branch out in that direction and explore the possibilities. Maybe the next big artists will be scripters first and foremost. I don't know. Or some interesting collaborations. Siefert has always done some collaborations with scripters to make his sculptures move, maybe that's the solution. But as Siefert put it when asked, doesn't the primitive nature of the tools drive you crazy, he replied that it's just more of a challenge to see what can be done with primitive tools like this.
Question: I'd like to say the two are the same, art and scripting... but i never had any formal training in either, just a good bit of time to play around.
Question: Scripting classes for right-brained folk might be helpful.
Sasun Steinbeck: Yes! LOL. Scripting classes for artists... or... art classes for scripters :)
Question: What is the sound you use with the sculpture?
Sasun Steinbeck: Those are some sounds I pulled from some music looping program... somewhere hehe. It's like the freebie loops you get with one of them. I'd love to commission someone to do some more sounds for it, as well as some good particle effects. I really wanted to go for the multi-sensory effect, light, sound. Too bad you can't smell SL :)
" ....I like thinking of SL as yet another medium to explore and hope to see more of that!"
Sasun Steinbeck: Morris wanted to demo the infamous Starax wand, so let me whip that out :) The Starax wand is a cool gadget that Starax Startosky created some time ago. He's left Sl and the wands are no longer available.
Sasun Steinbeck: bats
Sasun Steinbeck: buffalo
Sasun Steinbeck: computer
Sasun Steinbeck: fireworks
Sasun Steinbeck: look up!
Sasun Steinbeck: money
Sasun Steinbeck: frog
Sasun Steinbeck: tree
Question: Did Starax sleep?
Sasun Steinbeck: universe
(at this point my computer fainted in the face of the power of the Starax wand. I rejoined the demonstration a short time later - RK)
Sasun Steinbeck: worshipper
Sasun Steinbeck: I love these guys. You never know when you need a little worship..
Sasun Steinbeck: So my time is about up, one quick story. At one point Starax put a fun game into the wand. The wands would gain power over time, a "charge", and the person that got the most charge to a certain (very high) number won... a wand for a friend of their choice. Here's the twist :) You could zap another wandie with your wand and STEAL their power. bwahahaha! You can imagine... total chaos. It because a very cool hunting game.
Question: probably easy too when there was less sims lol
Sasun Steinbeck: yes LOL that was the problem, FINDING people to zap! Yep all us wandies sure miss Starax. But this is a great example of some of the cool stuff you can do in SL when you mix art and scripting together and he was truly an amazing artist.
Landmark:
Sasun's Morphing Sculpture, Mauve (164, 74, 34)
Art at Oyster Bay Aquarium, Oyster (38, 173, 82)
March 20, 2007
Second Life First Life Dance
Second Life Modern Dance Theatre, founded by a group of architecture students from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in collaboration with The Stockholm Modern Dance Theatre had their first performance and installation on friday 9th of March, at The Office. Plurabelle was there...
The installation was based on an event happening simultaneously at The Office (92,59,30) in SL and at the School of Architecture in Stockholm. The project aims to explore the borders between SL and RL.
The set design of the stage changed as the SL audience sat on different scripted seats which instantly changed the appearance of the stage. Cool!
Here's my video from the event:
More about the project HERE.
And HERE is an article about architecture in Second Life from Archinect. Kapital Metropolis aka Tor Lindstrand from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm is telling about some of the schools projects. For instance about Raplaa Lazarnos 3D graffiti. That's LOL!
The installation was based on an event happening simultaneously at The Office (92,59,30) in SL and at the School of Architecture in Stockholm. The project aims to explore the borders between SL and RL.
The set design of the stage changed as the SL audience sat on different scripted seats which instantly changed the appearance of the stage. Cool!
Here's my video from the event:
More about the project HERE.
And HERE is an article about architecture in Second Life from Archinect. Kapital Metropolis aka Tor Lindstrand from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm is telling about some of the schools projects. For instance about Raplaa Lazarnos 3D graffiti. That's LOL!
Madcow Cosmos at Oyster Bay
- by Rezago Kokorin
At a recent Oyster Bay ArtTalk, Madcow dazzled everyone with the size and delightfully reckless creativity of his work - and the shear number of them. I've included a lot of photos in this article and I had a difficult time deciding which to leave out. Madcow Cosmos builds on a grand scale and favors skeletal works, as you will see. It amazing what can be made from the few basic types of prims there are to work with.
He has been in SL since last November and in that time he has, as he puts it, "...been tragically prolific."
Pictured above are several of the avatars he has made. "I really enjoy making avatars do the the freedom from prim limit and the whimiscal nature of them. I usually build the avatar like I would a full sculpture and then add the invisible parts afterwards. I like to check my avatars for flaws by using dance animations. Its a good way to check for flaws in the articulation and in the invisible prims. I can't resist making otherwise serious looking avatars less so with a hat."
He first showed us his air boats, which was his first love in SL. He finds creations fantastic more fun than real world ones. And you certainly can't see these in real life.
"One of my early concepts for a piece of land want to have a gaint airial battle above it, but I quickly got lost just making more ships..."
"I complete most projects in a day. Some of my largest take me two but I tend to zone out and work until its all finished. I am a firm believer in flow, which is a mental state where one is challenged and has their full attention occupied, but is up to the task."
"...linking objects is one of the challenges of building at the larger scales. I link what I can and then select all the linked objects and then either copy or take to inventory,.."
"My biggest piece is one I can't actually take out and is not quite finished. Its a steam punk robot that takes up the better part of a sim."
In answer to the question of where his ideas come from, he said, "Well some people have a delicate and whimiscal muse, one that gives them brief genus but is fleeting. Mine is 40 year old female foreman who wants to see production and she wants to see it yesterday. I just make whatever comes to mind often times I get stuck on a theme for a bit before moving on."
"Here's a series of smaller pieces that I did to commemorate Valentine's Day. A day that though I love as a chef its among the busiest days of the year so I equally dread."
"I like the more visceral feel for love, an enternal emotion carried by temporary flesh."
(...nothing says love like skeleton hands and an anatomically correct heart)
For the bones he uses a texture for a bone wall, stretched out so that the trim at the bottom can't be seen.
"Someone suggested I make some houses, I of course took the comment the wrong way. I made the most unlikely and inpractical houses available. Not really places to live so much as art houses."
"Next I decided to do some bugs and crustaceans. I figured the segmented bodies would lend themselves perfectly to the building tools."
"I am a simple man with simple beliefs and I think everyone has the right to do battle atop giant monsters."
"I like to set up these guys doing battle in the sandboxes now and again. I always like the old Ray Harryhausen movies for the giant monster fights."
"I often times use a model for the first in a series to get the details down and then do it from memory afterwards."
"This one was a blast to build but is based on a comment someone made to me. They said stairways were always to high a prim count. I don't think they understood that I considered that a challenge. So I made a dragon who's back bones are a stairway. .....a 10 M rise for only 529 prims."
"I like to call this one atalas even though he is a cyclopes, the police haven't taken my artistic license yet."
"This next dragon is among my favorite do to the possing. I always pictured the trees bending aside as his head thrust into a clearing."
"I usually start on the spine and align everything around it."
"I really like the look of rage on this one. Its the same feeling I get when I drop my toast in the morning."
"I have the center piece for an unfinished work related to goldfish heaven. Eventaully the little cats with pitchforks will punish the naughty gold fish."
Questions from the audiance:
How do you come up with the great textures?
Honestly I just look through the massive collection of free ones I have and try to picture them in different colors or stretched out. I've seen much better texturers than myself. I rely on prims instead."
Any significance to the voodoo themes? Perhaps just because of the bones?
"Well I like bones and silly hats so it comes unitentionally."
How do you manage a build this big? It has to be cumbersome.
"Well all the pieces are very easy to see. Some times it can be hard to find space to buld but that about the hardest part. The 10m limit on size is one of the major limiting factors on my pieces"
Who do you credit, or what in your life do you credit with your initial love of creativity and art?
My mommy :)
She would write down the stories I told about my drawing when I was very very young. She made them into little books for me. I have some and she has some, I guess I have her to blame for being a hopeless pack rat also. Which becomes dangerous in SL.
Landmark:
Art at Oyster Bay Aquarium, Oyster (38, 173, 82)
A new Performance by Eva and Franco Mattes!
Go to Cosmos Island! Find this pile of stones and receive this notecard:
"Eva and Franco Mattes (a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG): "Joseph Beuys's 7000 Oaks"
This basalt stones and oaks are part of a performance by Eva and Franco Mattes a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG) consisting in the reenactment of Joseph Beuys' work called "7000 Oaks" . Beuys's project begun on March the 16th 1982, at Documenta 7, in Kassel. His plan called for the planting of seven thousand trees, each paired with a columnar basalt stone, throughout the world as part of a global mission to effect environmental and social change.
The Mattes reenactment begun in Second Life's Cosmos Island, where the first virtual tree and stone was planted on March the 16th 2007, exactly 25
years after the original oak got planted. The project will end once 7000 virtual
stones and trees will be placed all around Second Life.
This work is part of Eva and Franco Mattes series of "Synthetic Performances", reenactment of historical performances, by artists like Chris Burden, Vito Acconci and Marina Abramovic, in online Synthetic Worlds such as Second Life.
If you want to be part of this project contact Eva and Franco Mattes in-world (sending an IM to Pei Twang or Pei May), you will be given a Basalt Stone and an Oak tree which you can plant anywhere in SL. Note that the stone and the tree need to be planted in pairs.
For more info check: http://www.0100101110101101.org/"
They are the artist behind "13 most beautiful Avatars".
About the original Beuys project HERE.
I have IMed them to get an oak tree or two... But they have 7000 of them! Get one you too, and be a part of their ongoing performance!
Oh, I just logged in again and have received my tree, and I met Pei Twang:
[15:01] Pei Twang gave you 7000 Oaks.
[15:00] Pei Twang: (Saved Tue Mar 20 22:53:13 2007) hi plurabelle! I left the tree and a stone in your inventory. Would be great to have the locations in which you put them to take photo documentation. let me know...ciao Pei/Eva
[15:03] Pei Twang: please pass the tree and stone to anyone you like
I asked Pei (picture to the right) how long she thought it would take before all the trees were planted.
Pei Twang: I think it'll take months
Pei Twang: the original performance went on for 5 years
Me: hm, yes, oh!
Pei Twang: we are not in a hurry :-)
Pei Twang: some peolple already asked to have a tree and stone to plant
Me: Can I copy the tree and stone as many times I like?
Pei Twang: yes!
Pei Twang: please try to make a record of how many you planted and where
Me: ok, so I will give you a message when I plant a new one?
Pei Twang: we are asking everyone to give us an idea of how many they put and where
Pei Twang: and we take photo documentation
Me: so, you will travell around to docoment it yourselves?
Pei Twang: yes we'll take photos of the places in which we are told there are a tree and stone planted
Pei Twang: and we are also making a video documentation
Pei Twang: with several locations
Me: ok, nice!
Me: I'm going to plant it in my two parcels
Pei Twang: let me know when you have it planted and i'll come to document
Me: sure!
Pei Twang: thanks for your contribution
Pei Twang: ciao
Me: fun to be part of it!
Me: ciao
[15:00] Pei Twang: (Saved Tue Mar 20 22:53:13 2007) hi plurabelle! I left the tree and a stone in your inventory. Would be great to have the locations in which you put them to take photo documentation. let me know...ciao Pei/Eva
[15:03] Pei Twang: please pass the tree and stone to anyone you like
I asked Pei (picture to the right) how long she thought it would take before all the trees were planted.
Pei Twang: I think it'll take months
Pei Twang: the original performance went on for 5 years
Me: hm, yes, oh!
Pei Twang: we are not in a hurry :-)
Pei Twang: some peolple already asked to have a tree and stone to plant
Me: Can I copy the tree and stone as many times I like?
Pei Twang: yes!
Pei Twang: please try to make a record of how many you planted and where
Me: ok, so I will give you a message when I plant a new one?
Pei Twang: we are asking everyone to give us an idea of how many they put and where
Pei Twang: and we take photo documentation
Me: so, you will travell around to docoment it yourselves?
Pei Twang: yes we'll take photos of the places in which we are told there are a tree and stone planted
Pei Twang: and we are also making a video documentation
Pei Twang: with several locations
Me: ok, nice!
Me: I'm going to plant it in my two parcels
Pei Twang: let me know when you have it planted and i'll come to document
Me: sure!
Pei Twang: thanks for your contribution
Pei Twang: ciao
Me: fun to be part of it!
Me: ciao
Plurabelle Posthorn
March 19, 2007
Rhizomatic has annonced a new dorkbot meeting
Cut and pasted from http://rhizomatic.wordpress.com, run by Maximillian Nakamura:
"The next dorkbot session is coming! As the press reaction was quite big, I hope that it will be a low lag and not that chaotic like lasttime session. There are 2 artist planned but maybe there will be one more. First AngryBeth Shortbread aka Annabeth Robinson sl-(sound)-artist from the UK will talk about her art/sound works and also about the port-project. Then DanCoyote Antonelli aka DC Spensley will speak about his ZeroGSkyDance-Project (avatar dance performance) project and hopefully also about hyperformalism. After his talk we are invited to attend a performance at his place.
The Session will start on Sunday 8th of April at 2 pm PST in Odyssey, Rhizomatic."
"The next dorkbot session is coming! As the press reaction was quite big, I hope that it will be a low lag and not that chaotic like lasttime session. There are 2 artist planned but maybe there will be one more. First AngryBeth Shortbread aka Annabeth Robinson sl-(sound)-artist from the UK will talk about her art/sound works and also about the port-project. Then DanCoyote Antonelli aka DC Spensley will speak about his ZeroGSkyDance-Project (avatar dance performance) project and hopefully also about hyperformalism. After his talk we are invited to attend a performance at his place.
The Session will start on Sunday 8th of April at 2 pm PST in Odyssey, Rhizomatic."
Artisan Galleria Legacy Tower is opening, March 24
Landmark: Artisan Galleria at Bellatrix, Bellatrix (218, 217, 26)
Plurabelle Posthorn
March 11, 2007
Listening to Art: A Journey Through Krystal Epic
written by Cyanide Seelowe
Multimedia experiences are abound throughout Second Life, but none are quite as beautiful, fluid, or unique as the ones that can be found in Enniv Zarf's PK Gallery.
When signing on in-world on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I was told about this place by the lovely Sasun Steinbeck. Since ignoring Miss Sasun is very much like ignoring a hurricane, I simply had to check it out :]
Immediate arrival into the PK Gallery is extremely promising, especially if you like classical and neo-classical music. Especially made for the gallery and its works, the beautiful and soothing movements of piano and cello surround you with haunting melodies that capture you and invite you to explore.
It is highly recommended that the Kystal Tour be taken- at a modest price of 25 Lindens that is put toward that land tiers that the gallery rests on, the Kystal Tour takes you to various rooms and landscapes that are made entirely of crystal. Coordinated to neo-classical piano, the swirling textures and the dancing light in each room promises to entrance you and may inspire you to do romantic things- so bring a date along, if you can :] each room can be visited after the tour so you can take a closer look at the inner workings of the Krystal Tour, and lounge upon custom-made crystal furniture.
On the main floor of the gallery awaits the Nine Tones exhibit, a series of 15 artworks that immerse you in a fantastic multimedia experience. As stated in the program notes for Nine Tones:
"The illustrations of Nine Tones are composed of basic strokes such as lines and dots as inspired by Chinese writing. They act as both the contents of the paintings as well as the rhythmic gestures of the music. The melodic/harmonic materials are derived from the Nine Tonal inflections of the Cantonese Language. The piece could be thought of as a sound rendering of the Cantonese language as understood through basic pen strokes."
Despite the minimal use of materials in each of the 15 works, it is a wonderful example of experiencing events as a whole as we watch smaller incidences come together.
In addition to the Krystal Tour and the Nine Tones exhibit, further exploration of the gallery will take you to several lounges with custom-made furniture by Enniv Zarf (available for purchase, like most of the works there). There is also an area where several rides are available for minimal fees- each in their own right a separate tour of the gallery, and will give you different perspectives of the place as a whole.
Overall, the PK Gallery is a truly immersive experience for your eyes and your ears, so don't miss it!
PK Gallery SLURL
Multimedia experiences are abound throughout Second Life, but none are quite as beautiful, fluid, or unique as the ones that can be found in Enniv Zarf's PK Gallery.
When signing on in-world on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I was told about this place by the lovely Sasun Steinbeck. Since ignoring Miss Sasun is very much like ignoring a hurricane, I simply had to check it out :]
Immediate arrival into the PK Gallery is extremely promising, especially if you like classical and neo-classical music. Especially made for the gallery and its works, the beautiful and soothing movements of piano and cello surround you with haunting melodies that capture you and invite you to explore.
It is highly recommended that the Kystal Tour be taken- at a modest price of 25 Lindens that is put toward that land tiers that the gallery rests on, the Kystal Tour takes you to various rooms and landscapes that are made entirely of crystal. Coordinated to neo-classical piano, the swirling textures and the dancing light in each room promises to entrance you and may inspire you to do romantic things- so bring a date along, if you can :] each room can be visited after the tour so you can take a closer look at the inner workings of the Krystal Tour, and lounge upon custom-made crystal furniture.
On the main floor of the gallery awaits the Nine Tones exhibit, a series of 15 artworks that immerse you in a fantastic multimedia experience. As stated in the program notes for Nine Tones:
"The illustrations of Nine Tones are composed of basic strokes such as lines and dots as inspired by Chinese writing. They act as both the contents of the paintings as well as the rhythmic gestures of the music. The melodic/harmonic materials are derived from the Nine Tonal inflections of the Cantonese Language. The piece could be thought of as a sound rendering of the Cantonese language as understood through basic pen strokes."
Despite the minimal use of materials in each of the 15 works, it is a wonderful example of experiencing events as a whole as we watch smaller incidences come together.
In addition to the Krystal Tour and the Nine Tones exhibit, further exploration of the gallery will take you to several lounges with custom-made furniture by Enniv Zarf (available for purchase, like most of the works there). There is also an area where several rides are available for minimal fees- each in their own right a separate tour of the gallery, and will give you different perspectives of the place as a whole.
Overall, the PK Gallery is a truly immersive experience for your eyes and your ears, so don't miss it!
PK Gallery SLURL
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