Ducky...

Posted by Alpha Auer

Ever since I wrote the post on art in the age of computational (re)production a few weeks back I have been meaning to follow up on it with a few posts exemplifying what it is that I am actually trying to say there. What my point in all of that ultimately is.

I wrote a while back that it seemed to me that the folk that stayed the course in Second Life® were in fact the very ones that were creatively active: Only so much shopping and disco hopping you can do - and let's face it, when it comes to those kinds of activities Real Life is really far more engaging. So yes, as far as I can see, the metaverse is teeming with creative activity. We seem to have gone past the early days and entered a new era where more than just a few select individuals are putting out the content. These days Second Life seems to be in the process of transforming into a petri dish of activity where individuals from all walks of life are engaged in creative expression.

And one remarkable manifestation of this is the output of the Second Life community on Flickr, which is where I encountered Ravenelle and Ducky.

Now, although some of the "point and snap" photo documentation undertaken in-world by Residents is very accomplished indeed, the output that I have in mind here is the one where an individual takes the raw images captured in Second Life and then proceeds to manipulate them in an external bitmap application. In other words, the image processing activity surrounding Second Life photography. Indeed, I am quite surprised that this phenomenon isn't being widely talked about and indeed exploited in the "serious" Real Life art enclave out there. Probably is already, and I just don't know it yet...

So, why Ducky? Why is Ducky so very special? I am not going to spend a lot of time discussing the visual accomplishment of these, I would instead urge you to go and take a look at the collections on Flickr. I will say this however: There is a finesse, a sophistication in Ravenelle's visual approach which reminds me of the Renaissance masters. I will merely give links to who/what these images below remind me of and then proceed on to say how it is that Ducky really grips my heart.


Sandro Botticelli?


Georges de la Tour?


Leonardo?
...

And then of course there are these here, in a world of their own, maybe reminiscent of Max Ernst's Bride, come to life in a new shape and manifestation?




...

Unfortunately - and no matter how I slice this - I do have a real gripe with solely "viewable" art. I have had it for a long time I suppose, long before I ever came into Second Life, in fact. And I think the reason that Second Life grabbed me as a creative platform in the first place is the very fact that here creative activity has the hope, the chance of metamorphosing into a lifeform. Into becoming a living entity. An organism in its own right. Not something on a wall or a designated 3D space - but alive! (Really - an installation, no matter how accomplished - is absolutely no different to a modest 2D painting in my book - it is still there to be viewed and then gone home and left behind!)...


Ducky and Torley

Ravenelle gives us no textual clues outside of the visual material about Ducky. And yet, as I look and watch the videos, a fully formed persona emerges: A creature of ladylike elegance, with dreams and affections. Unspeakably delicate and feminine. Who loves her all too human Torley. With fears that haunt her and then the occasional lighthearted playfulness. Just as it should be, the personality slowly emerges as we watch. We get to know her over a passage of time. She is there, present, alive. Not hanging on a wall. Not on display in a showcase. She is wandering Second Life, she is wandering in the crevices of Ravenelle's mind and now she is also wandering in mine.

And no, this is not just about "building" a gorgeous avatar. Ducky is a gorgeous avatar - no doubt. But, far more is involved here: This is about making something come alive. This is about the deep commitment of an individual to a being created out of her own innermost being. An emergent, ongoing process. One which evolves and changes over time. One which I, with my huge tribe of alts, have yet to master. Alas...
...

Is Ducky Ravenelle? Well, maybe. Only Ravenelle can say. She has emanated from Ravenelle for sure.

Is Ducky "art"? I say yes! Emphatically so! I believe that a decade from now the "serious" art world will be making room for a new category of artistic expression: They will probably be calling it "avatar art". Just like "body art" "performance art" today... These were not around 50 years ago, or at least the activities undertaken in these domains did not yet have these handles attached to them. And I really think that "avatar art" will take its "official" place as a novel form of artistic practice in the very near future. Hopefully the officialdom of it all will not ruin the spontaneity, the unselfconsciousness, the selflessness, the utter abandonment to the joy of the creative process of its early day practitioners like Ravenelle...
...

Again, you can get to know Ravenelle's Ducky here.
...

Light and shadows on an epic scale: Templum ex Obscurum

With one week remaining and 402 participants - many of them considered the best photographers in Second Life® - it is getting harder and harder to select just ten images from the Templum ex Obscurum NPIRL photographic challenge Flickr pool to share with you, but the following photographs were each so striking in their own way that ultimately they claimed their place.

The challenge is a tribute to artist and builder Baron Grayson and his Templum ex Obscurum, a dark and poetic place that would have existed only in his imagination were it not for his ability to weave light and shadows together on an epic scale.

In most instances, you can see a larger version of a photograph if you click on it.


Nirvana Panorama by Gary Hayes


The fragile bridge of the crossed destinies by Esco Axelrad


MoonRiver by DreamsBeneaththeMoon


rain by Kean Kelly


Templum - Ivy by Lash Xevious


Templum ex Obscurum by winter wardhani


Fyrja and Michale by xaos theas


save me by F J Pix


Templum ex Obscurum by 2nd Magazine

And finally, a sumptuous tapestry, unlike any other...


Angel - Templum ex Obscurum by ¥ Çãrmíllä Mírabëaú ¥

Again, we must thank every single participant, and Cuwynne Deerhunter - guardian and owner of Templum - for his kind support and endorsement of this project.

Use Second Life and get brainier - Imagination made tangible

In his book The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge explained,“experiments have shown that we can change our brain anatomy simply by using our imaginations.” He goes on to say, "...the faster you can imagine something, the faster you can do it.”

Unless you are a neuroscientist, it is difficult to appreciate the seismic shift that is taking place regarding our understanding of the brain, but scientific evidence is piling up: the more imaginative and creative we are, the better our brain works. In fact, no matter what our age may be, it seems that the more we stimulate our brains, the faster we produce new cells or neurons.

Here's someone who's imagination is firing on all cylinders... rebecca's profile on her Flickr stream reads as follows: "the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars"


Dreamscape Escape - This would be easy to do in Second Life®, but we have to love the thinking that made this happen in Real Life. It does beg the question, though... what would Rebecca be capable of in virtual worlds?

Now then, I've said it before and I'll say it again.. Second Life is the most affordable and complete tool I know of to commit hardcore creativity. It is also the place where the distance between imagination and tangible creations is the shortest. I personally know hundreds of people in Second Life who are capable of dreaming up something completely new in the morning, and by evening are already sharing it with others.

NPIRL fashion: What the heck is it?

I just launched a new Flickr group for Not Possible in Real Life (NPIRL) fashion: NPIRL Fashion - Not Possible in Real Life, and I'm realizing that describing this genre is not so easy, so I made a little video.



It's about fashion that clothes the avatar's body and...
* Defies the laws of gravity and physics in general
* Exposes the avatar's body to extreme heat or cold or exploding particles or sharp things
* Features rotating textures, electrified elements that a human could not withstand
* Multitasks and that, in addition to clothing the avatar, can do strange and wonderful things
* Includes elements (such as clouds or snakes or sunshine, for instance) that could never be used in Real Life


Video locations
Cologne Cathedral
artoo Magneto's AnyMotion sim
Designer Dingson's Concept Build
Chouchou island

Arahan Clavaeau vexes me, significantly

This is Part I of three blogposts related in some way to Arthole that I hope to get out sooner rather than later.

Had it not been for "flat art," it would have taken me a lot longer to discover him. Fact is, there are 2D complements to virtual worlds that I adore and they translate into photography and Machinima shot in immersive 3D environments and then displayed on the Web. I generally don't like looking at flat images of anything in-world, with some exceptions: people like Feathers Boa and Douglas Story take 2D photography and breathe scripted life into it. But that's another story.


Arahan, together with Nebulosus Severine, created a new art space called Arthole

That said, Arahan Claveau (aka Steve Millar; rez: 6/28/2005) first sparkled on my radar on November 2007 when I came across this image by him.


Lamentum

With my antennae already on red alert, I was tickled when AM Radio pointed me to this discovery, a very dear, gorgeously rendered story book - appropriately named "Small Story: A Tale Without Words" - featuring a narrative collection of photographs that had been styled and shot within Second Life®.



Arahan cancelled his Flickr account (bother!) a few weeks ago and doesn't publish photographs taken in Second Life anymore. "They bore me," he says, though he does do some Machinima now and then.

By axing his Flickr account, Arahan has deprived me of a source of pleasure and a place I could go to learn about some of the more polemic history of Second Life - so I'm not amused.

"Second Life photography became less and less relevant for me. A lot of it had to do with wanting to channel my efforts into other areas, but it has become overwhelmed by glamour photography and I can't compete with breasts," he added.

Whatever... I'm pissed. That said, Arahan has a grid-wide reputation for artistic provocation. By cancelling his account, he is inciting me and his other fans to stop ooo'ing and ah'ing at his pretty pics and start looking at his other works. Damn, there goes pretty... now I have to look at his gallows .


His photography may be often whimsical and breathtaking but to me, Arahan's installations in-world speak - for the most part - about pain

Since 9/11, I have become increasingly chicken-livered about topics that make me feel pain and sadness. To that end, Second Life is the cadillac of anesthesias: I am able to interact with hundreds of avatars on a daily basis, while rarely having to consider the price of petrol, the latest treachery in political campaigns, or the earthquake in China. That is, unless Arahan's art is about. While he is always polite (when he gets serious he calls me Madame, yikes! This always makes me feel like I need to rise to some occasion), and sometimes playful, he is seriously committed to his vision of art as a tool of revolutionary change.

Take this Injustice installation, for instance (teleport directly from here). Here we have a seemingly innocuous pink room strewn with even pinker balloons. Dead center, a gallows where someone, presumably, has been executed by hanging. The party is over. His account of the story is further explained with the help of Real Life photographs of two Iranian youths about to be hanged and a notecard that explains the men's plight.

In his comments on the Brooklyn is Watching blog, Arahan went on to explain, "(This piece) was originally part of larger installations and was much more of an attack on complacent ‘queer eye’ types. In a nutshell it was saying “listen faggots, there is no equality, we are never going to be accepted by mainstream society so stop pretending. We are being beaten, tortured, murdered and executed every fucking day, get off your arses and fight back now!” When it comes to fighting for our lives there should be no compromise and this of course doesn’t just apply to homosexuals."

More sobering still was a second notecard that shocked me greatly. As wordly as I like to think that I am, I forget what it's like out there, beyond my liberal home in Southern California. Take a look at the penalties for homosexuality around the world. Mission accomplished, Arahan.

A picture that is worth $100L - and you get wings, too

Just for fun, I will give $100L to anyone who posts a photograph of themselves wearing these wings (not any others!) as a Flickr comment to my photograph (below), which I've posted on Flickr, by May 3rd.



Here's how you do it:

* Find one of the incredible promotional triptychs for the Garden of NPIRL Delights created by Rezzable Productions for this build festival, anywhere on the grid.

* If you ask me where you might find a triptych, or contact me in ANY way with ANY question regarding this $100L giveaway, you will be immediately disqualified. The idea is that you seek it out. What would be a logical place for you to find it?

* Accept these wings by Kaeli Candour from that generous object. They are free, and come with a few other great goodies.

* Wear the wings.

* Photograph yourself in them. You do not have to copy my posture in the photograph above. In fact, I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Importantly, it should be easy to see that the wings you are wearing are the ones given out by the triptych.

* Post your pic on Flickr (you will need a Flickr account to participate, and Flickr accounts are free).

* Go to the "all sizes" menu above your photograph, select "small" and copy the html code.

* Go to my photograph on Flickr here, and add that html code to the comment box, and make sure I have your in-world name.

* One prize per participant.

* Good till Saturday, May 3, 2008, 11:59pm SLT.

Keiko Morigi's Second Life + Photoshop combo = Art to spectacular effect

Second Life has been used before as a platform to create Real Life art anew, as can be seen in AM Radio's magnificent Death of Marat, portrayed here on Hamlet Au's New World Notes, and of course, in Robbie Dingo's absolutely unforgettable recreation and video of van Gogh's The Starry Night, among others.

What interests me especially about Swede Keiko Morigi's (she goes by the name [enter name here] on Flickr) (rez: 3/1/2007) recent work is that she sets up and photographs the recreation within Second Life, which, in her words "did look pretty crappy inworld... LOL... but ta-da... gotta love PS!" She is referring to Photoshop, of course... and her approach, which obviously met with much success here, is yet another way that Second Life can serve as a foundation for creating art.


Keiko Morigi's "Baglione," made possible with the participation of friends and models (and significant photographers themselves) Khamudy Mannonen and Raul Crimson.

In 1602, early baroque painter, author and Roman Giovanni Baglione created Heavenly love conquering earthly love, a favorite example of art historians to demonstrate the Chiaroscuro technique that was very much in vogue at the time, which focused on contrasting light and shadows softly to highlight and add volume to three-dimensional images.

A talismanic journey at The Cannery opens with Melodious Source

Her icon on Flickr is an eyeball. Her photography stream has been viewed nearly a 100,000 times... and she's developed quite a following - nearly 1,400 contacts - so she must to be doing something right.


Rise Above by Melodious Source

While most of her photography falls in the Fantasy genre, Melodious Source doesn't like to be classified, and to promote that freedom, just when you think you have figured her out, she does something completely different.


Melodious' cyborg girl

Her main protagonists are nearly always women, and they are intrepid. One would imagine that they don't walk... but swagger... or fly.

The air shimmers around them. They are larger than life.


Seeking Divinity by Melodious Source

I love a quote that Melodious posted on her Flickr profile page by a certain Douglas Everett: "There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." I was surprised, by the way, to learn that this insightful pearl comes from a retired Canadian senator. Go Canada!

At any rate, her work continues to enchant and inspire an adoring and ever-growing audience. Much of it is erotica and rather steamy, and all is imaginative, and infused by her infectious personality - which comes across with each new image - and spirited remarks.

Her show, "The Source," which opens tomorrow, marks the debut of a new gallery space at Rezzable Production's The Cannery that is unabashedly mystical. Drawing from astrological and magical lore, the secrets there are plentiful, and even the special key to unlock their charms isn't enough… and isn't explained… so you are compelled to explore on a visceral level.

Your journey begins with the purchase of a heart for the modest price of $100L. Without this heart - which you must wear - you cannot proceed or access any of the gallery rooms. A teleport away, you find yourself standing on what is surely the largest sword ever created.



Walk towards the tip of sword where Melodious' eye awaits you.



Inside, the flash of her camera consumes you...



... and you begin to fall.




... and that's where your journey really begins.



I won't spoil your experience by revealing more, but know this: touch torches... touch doors, and linger. Teleport directly from here.

Notably, Rezzable Productions encouraged Melodious to invite several guest artists to participate in the show. They include:

Phinn Boffin
DeeDee Deepdene
Shoshana Epsilon
Vint Falken
Flugel Flasheart
Tyfanny Flintoff
Maitreya Graves
Carmilla Mirabeau
Edward Mokeev
MasterDave Newman
Heroine Nouvel & Pestilence
CodeBastard Redgrave
RightAsRain Rimbaud
Collin Savon
Daequix Scarborough
Cienega Soon
Akira Seymour
Hio Taringa
Marquez Tone
Stephen Venkman

The new gallery space at The Cannery was created by many talented artists: Monn Laval, Andrek Lowell, Kaeli Candour, Rob Balder, Betlog Hax, Vint Falken and Foolish Frost.

Rent a philosopher :P

I rarely spend any money in-world other than on tips and tier, but here is a must have service, from the mind of Ollix Biedermann, CEO of SL PHILO. :D

AS ADVERTISED:

Have your own 20th century philosopher! Have the best intellectual conversations without the need to attend a university to meet interesting people. SL Philo is the ultimate service for having a 20th century philosopher without effort. Impress your friends by having one at your Rezday party! Help your primchilds with their homework! We can provide a wide range of models starting from postmodernists to phenomenologists, from poststruturalists to the classical marxists. Model displayed: MICHEL FOUCAULT


The Michel Foucault edition

On Ollix's Flickr page, I was offered a choice of models:

1. Heidegger
2. Wittgenstein
3. Jean François Lyotard
4. Jean Baudrillard
5. Jacques Derrida
6. Michel Foucault
9. Gilles Deleuze
10. Cristiano Ronaldo

Note to self: I need to find out what 7 and 8 are all about!

When I inquired further into this intriguing service, Ollix replied, "This concept was done just for fun, but I think I will develop more avatars of philosophers of the 20th century. I would like to create a escort service for intellectuals, recruiting the persons with the highest IQs in SL to be behind the avatars. :)"

Hmm. I might have to exchange more dollars for Lindens.

Where the carp fly

Ever since I discovered her work a few weeks ago, Ashanti LeShelle's Flickr stream of photographs has become a destination for me.


Ashanti's "Carp" - All rights reserved

Ashanti uses the freeware ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5 to post-process her work.

You can see her work and that of many other gifted photographers in the following Not Possible IRL Flickr group pools:
* Not Possible IRL Content Creation
* Avatars Not Possible IRL*
* Situations Not Possible IRL

Join us! Add your own masterpieces to these pools, but please do read the group rules and descriptors first.

The one, the only, Sabine Stonebender: Flickr group SL Picture.Pile.Ups gives me a helping hand

Sabine Stonebender is one of the brightest stars - a true original - in Second Life. Yesterday, I had the good fortune to spend fascinating hours with her, as I am preparing to profile her soon. I took the opportunity to snap some pics, but when I reviewed them, my shortcomings as both a photographer and a post-producer glared right back at me. What to do? And then I had a brainstorm... I turned to a very active Flickr group founded by Miabella Foxley that I have been following with growing admiration - SL Picture.Pile.Ups - and submitted this shot.


Sabine's incredible skin in my shot is lost in darkness

The SL Picture.Pile.Ups, which boasts 357 members, explains the process this way in its charter, "Each new pile-up begins with a post in the discussion section. Take that picture and add to it in Photoshop.. maybe some effects? a background?? w/e floats your boat... then repost so another person can take your addition and add to it... get it??"

KadeKlata Karson was the first to come to my rescue to spectacular effect.



Luna Zolnir, whose gorgeous photography has been featured on this blog on more than one occasion, followed suit with her take.



Not long after, Suzanne Graves blew me away with this rendition...



All this happened in less than half a day! What a group! Many thanks for their time and generosity.

Content creation in the service of LOVE - Eshi Otawara's Taj Mahal

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I created a new group in Flickr called NPIRL <3 - Content creation in the service of LOVE, and invited Flickrites to share their photographs and stories about their own personal experiences. Here is one of the first entries and I think you'll agree it, it's smashing.

by Eshi Otawara

I was about 4 months old and still seeking self - sort to speak. At that point, most of my 'SLife' was socializing and hopping from place to place trying desperately to distract myself from grieving the passing of my (RL) husband. One day, at a club I used to frequent, there stood a man with long hair and purple sparkling eyes. I thought he had a rather funny mustache which turned out to be an excellent conversation starter.

As if we have known each other for years prior, we stayed there and talked, laughed, cried, and before we knew it some 8 hours have gone by. For the next couple of months we spent many more hours learning from each other about each other in a beautiful platonic relationship. I don't think I ever felt so deeply understood and connected to a human being and even though we were cultures and miles apart (I am Croatian living in USA, he is Hindu living in Australia) and our bond was strong. His wisdom was rare, his kindness to me was disarming and his way of showing me he cared for me was indeed the thing that prompted the first steps out of the most sickening depression I ever experienced.

One day we were both obviously very tired and we got into an argument. I hurt his feeling so deeply that he left saying he'd never speak to me again. I was shattered after I realized what I've done and It haunted me so badly that the only thing I could feel and think of was the desire to make him happy again.

I went to a sandbox to try to distract myself by taking a shot at building a 'house'. I threw out a prim and remembered one of our first conversations when he said only true Love can give life to most beautiful and miraculous things... like the Taj Mahal, the world's most beautiful monument to Love...adding he always wanted to see that building in Second Life.

At that point, I was not a builder - all I have ever built was an over sized ice cream cone and my building skills were truly nowhere near good enough to undertake something like the Taj Mahal, but I wasn't focusing on my insecurity of being judged for a bad build. I focused on his words about Love and great things, and thought about his happiness...

The prims kept flowing for hours... building on as I duplicated, shaped, rotated and textured them in white marble. One minaret was done, then another... and another... The sensation of gratitude for his presence in my life regardless of the outcome, the desire to fulfill his wish which was not his expectation of me by any means, all of that kept me going for 3 days. And after 3 days- there it was. I stared at the Taj not believing how it got built. I have secretly dreamed of being a builder since I got to Second Life, but before this I never had the courage... In all actuality, I am still not comfortable taking the credit for this build. Vajra's Taj was built by pure Love which only used me as a vessel.



I took a snapshot of it and sent it to him without saying anything else but - "Thank You." And I am still thankful, and always will be thankful.

Without this man's love, I would never have gotten the courage to create in Second Life.

Photography in virtual worlds: More production elements than Real Life shoots

The work of photographers Arahan Claveau and Luna Zolnir - two gifted Not Possible IRL Flickrites - has been featured recently in Hamlet Au's New World Notes, the online zine that serves as a main artery and chronicle of just about every aspect of Second Life.

This has caused me to reflect on the additional complexities behind the creation of great photography in virtual worlds. While the best pics in real life also involve studio work or location scouting, model and prop selection, art direction, styling, and post production, other factors come into play when that shot is taken in a virtual environment.

Luna Zolnir is making her own animations, for instance. Another NPIRL Flickrite, ColeMarie Soleil, often uses particles, thereby introducing the special effects within the environment that is being photographed. Arahan Claveau is a pioneer in creating narrative photography in the metaverse, that doesn't depend on text or other aids to relate a story. He also brings several special effects inworld. All are now working within the Windlight First Look viewer whenever possible and appropriate, which enables them to specify the time of day, as well as some weather visuals.

In fact, since creating the Not Possible in Real Life Flickr groups: Not Possible in Real Life - Content Creation, Avatars - Not Possible in Real Life, and Situations Not Possible in Real Life, I've had the good fortune to discover several really exceptional photographers. One such artist is Stephen Venkman. His work has already graced the pages of this blog, and I have taken to actively tracking his creations. Yesterday, I happened upon this photograph and have been going back to look at it again and again. I believe Magritte himself would have enjoyed it.


"Floating with nothing but..." by S-Venkman © All rights reserved

I asked Stephen what was involved in producing this work.

Stephen Venkman: I had taken a bunch of shots while in a suspended animation of sorts (within a build called) "The Afterlife" (by NPIRLer Toran Cult)...and the first part of the experience was floating around in darkness while everyone joined you. All was black for me 'cept some sparkles of light... so when I pulled it into Photoshop, I removed the black backgrounds first. As soon as I had seen the series of shots, I knew I wanted them somehow all on one piece. I created a new file and dragged each one in scaling and sizing...added a cloud layer with some brushed and there you go... Oh, some lens flares, too.

Lash Xevious' La Reve - a Flickrite's delight

Couple Lash Xevious' new purplish eye candy "La Reve" sim and Windlight and you have a photographer's feast on your hands. NPIRL Flickrites... show us your stuff! Here are my own sorry pics, without the benefit of Photoshop.

La Reve is a full sim featuring narrative sculpture and moody virtual nature.



Teleport directly from here.



The very lovely Lash dates back to May of 2004. On her blog, she speaks of La Reve as her virtual canvas. I look forward to knowing her better. Many thanks to my mentor and friend, Tayzia Abattoir, for pointing us to Lash and her work.

Strawberry Holiday' sends us on our journey

It was a pretty invitation... luminous, with sweet particle stars.



"On Their Journeys" by Strawberry Holiday - which opened today - is a girlish, diaphanous installation that encourages daydreaming. Teleport directly from here.

The pathways are interactive... you might be enveloped in a translucent cloud, or see the steps twinkle beneath your feet.



Her "fractal trees" will surely please fiddling Flickrites as much as they did me. I don't have PhotoShop... yet... but this is one place that begs playfulness with the resulting photographs.



Here is the raw pic... Heh, as you can see, I still have a looong way to go before I can call myself a photographer.



The colors, particularly from this perspective, made me think that we need a recreation of Monet's garden at Giverny in Second Life.



In a few weeks, "On Their Journeys" is expected to join other interactive art at the much anticipated opening exhibition for the new NMC Aho Museum, curated by our very own Tayzia Abattoir.