January 30, 2008

Universcale


written by Cyanide Seelowe

Universcale, a Nikon-sponsored web-based flash animation, is a fantastic comparison of size on a universal scale.

Universal, you say? That's right. This graph goes beyond mere flea-to-dog-to-human size comparisons and reaches out into the universe for both massive and minescule sizes. The scale ranges from lightyears and moves all the way back to the femtometer (1/1,000,000,000 of a micrometer) and will give you a short, educational "story" behind the measurements, creatures, items and monuments throughout at the click of a button.

If you've ever wondered how big a snowflake is compared to Jupiter, or how big a giraffe is compared to the Milky Way, Universcale will definitely give you a better perspective of these size comparisons.

The world in which we live, the universe that comprises our world. In order to better understand them, humans have assigned to them the concept of "size" so they may be comprehended by all. Nevertheless, there are actually very few things that we can see with our eyes or touch with our hands. Our curiosity brings us to use objects visible to the naked eye as yardsticks to identify those things invisible and give them new units of measurement. We are now capable of comparing and ranking these entities. We have, in fact, been given an "infinite yardstick".

By setting things up against this yardstick, observing and comparing them are we able to accurately identify their true forms. They are silent when merely observed, but spring to life when put to use in unique, creative ways.

One thing we know for certain is that they are all around us in our close vicinity.

Universcale.

January 25, 2008

Recent events

Resurrection of the VAA Artist Building Sessions


Video by Magellan Egoyan
Machinima clip of a gathering of virtual artists in Second Life experimenting with reactive sculptures - objects which change color, size or shape in response to an avatar's proximity

I hosted a number of these last year and have started them up again, every Tuesday night at 6pm SL time at this location.

I'd like to thank Magellan for his video and commentary of the event, as still images do a poor job of capturing the dynamic nature of the scripted objects we were experimenting with.

In the next session, on the 29th, we will be further exploring what can be done with these Reflexive Architecture scripts, as they are called. The original scripts can be found on here on The Arch website. Their inworld location is the Gallery of Reflexive Architecture: by Keystone Bouchard.

- Rezago Kokorin







VAA Haiku Speed Building



The Virtual Artist Alliance in collaboration with the Shin Tao Haiku Retreat is proud to present the weekly Haiku Speedbuild!

This was our fourth event, held in the north end of Blekinge Sculpture Park. This is another weekly event, held every Thursday night at 6pm SL time. Additional pictures and more in-depth writing of this and past events can be found on Cyanide Seelowe's blog.

The theme of each speed build is a haiku from which the contestants create whatever imagery it inspires in them, with 50 minutes allowed for building. The builds from each event remain on display throughout the week until the eve of the next event.

The haiku for this event was:

What remains unseen
When you break the whole to bits
Are the holes between

-Yvonne Aburrow




Jeanni Nishi's interactive kinetic build was drawing attention well before time was up. It allows one to become part of sculpture, flying and orbiting around it.











January 15, 2008

2D Art Exhibition/Competition at Dreams















Spaces are now open in the Dreams art exibition/competition for flat artwork, in the categories of Second Life art/photography, Real Life art/photography, and Computer generated art. Twenty 20mx10m plots available in each category. Unclaimed plots are available for L$25 each.

Timeline:
January (all times are SLT/PST)
15 - 6 am - Obtain plot and begin display
18 - Soj notifies people wanting two categories
22 - 6 am - Art placement ends. 9 am - Voting begins
29 - 6 am - Voting ends
TBA - Artist Walk (We walk around the exhibits and the artists
talk about their work.)
30 - Take down art. Often, unless otherwise specified, I just return it to you.

Visit Dreams for futher details.