Sneak peek: Feature length machinima VolaVola

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Nearly two years in the making, VolaVola / FlyMe is the Italian feature length machinima shot in Second Life® and directed by Berardo Carboni, expected to have its debut in a few months.

Pre-production work is now in effect for the same screenplay to be shot in live action in Rome, Italy. Two films, two mediums, but the same story.

The plot aims to disorient the viewer and make it difficult to discern what is real and what is not.



Credits:
Director: Berardo Carboni (aka Finally Outlander)
Machinimatographer: Evo Szuyuan
Assistant Director: Fau Ferdinand
Editor: Simone Bellonio
Screenplay: Berardo Carboni and Frank Koolhaas
Music: Andrea Gabriele
Builder: Stella Costello
Costume, Hair and Makeup Design: Honey Fairweather
Production Assistance: Liz Solo

Attaining Presence: 4Jetpacks4 and Bryn Oh

Posted by Alpha Auer

4Jetpacks4 was an immersive installation created by Bryn Oh, with the participation of Glyph Graves and Nonnatus Korhonen earlier this year. I was privileged to be one of the group of avatars that were given the tour of the research centre back on March the 6th. I will not talk here about what 4jetpacks was all about. The extraordinary video by Evo Szuyuan above does that far better than I ever could. What I will attempt to do instead is to talk about "immersion" and "presence" as integral parts of virtual world creativity. I know from personal conversations we have had that this is a subject as dear to Bryn Oh's heart as it is to mine, the thing which she puts at the center of her (virtual) creative activity.

I will quote a bit from scientific sources while I try to set up a basic definition of "presence", as a sense of “being there” in a mediated environment (IJsselsteijn, deRidder, Freeman and Avons, 2000). Lombard and Ditton (1997) define it as an illusion of non-mediation in which a user no longer perceives the display medium as a separate entity. A high level of presence will help users remember a virtual environment as more of “a place visited”, rather than “a place seen” (Slater et al., 1999). A success indicator of the attainment of presence is also considered to be the realization of similar behavior patterns in virtual environments to those in the physical realm (Slater and Wilbur, 1997), and even the manifestation of similar physiological responses towards a given event to its approximation in the physical realm (Meehan, 2000).

Various definitions of the term “presence” and their relevance to the immersive virtual experience are discussed by Mantovani and Riva who challenge the notion that experiencing a simulated environment deals with the mere perception of its objective features; instead proclaiming that presence in an environment (real or simulated) means that individuals can perceive themselves, objects, as well as others not only as situated in an external space but as immersed in a socio-cultural web connected through interactions between objects and people, leading us to the paramount importance of the interacting agent within a virtual culture, i.e., the avatar.

And this to me, lies at the very heart of the problem where artistic activity in a virtual world such as Second Life® is involved. Is the goal to be sought the "perception of objects" only? Or could it be that what would set artistic activity in a virtual world as a genre apart, would involve conditions wherein "individuals perceive themselves, objects, as well as others not only as situated in an external space but as immersed in a socio-cultural web connected through interactions between objects and people"? For me, without the shadow of any doubt, it is the latter. And it seems to me that this definition is what 4jetpacks is/was all about as well: That the creation of an immersive experience was the primary intention became obvious to me during Bryn Oh's opening statement where she addressed the importance of "presence" in virtual art. In her terminology the word "presence" is interchanged with "immersion", which does of course add up to very much the same thing. "Viewing" art, i.e., "the mere perception of its objective features" does not seem to overly interest Bryn Oh, and I am so very heartened to observe this in a fellow content creator, and one for whom I have a great deal of respect at that.

Bryn Oh is an exquisite builder. Every texture, every prim, every shape and object placed in perfect proximity, culminating in visual systems that I am awed by over and over again. And a very good thing that this is so: The immersive experience needs that level of concern for perfection to be pulled off with credibility. Creating an immersive experience does not imply that one can get away with shoddy visuality. If anything, it would imply the exact opposite: For us to become fully "present" within the "artwork" involves a level of visual expertise on behalf of the artist whereby perfect cohesion and gestalt are achieved to the extent at which not even a tiny component of the installation appears out of sync, thus distracting us from the immersive experience through its ineptitude or its misplacement within the overall system. Whether the visual gestalt that is meant to bring about "presence" involves high levels of abstraction or realism, opulence or stark minimalism would not be the issue at all by the way: I would seriously doubt whether one would need minutely detailed craftsmanship emulating realism to attain a state of presence. But, I would dare to say that what one would need would be a continuity of visual language - which as any artist worth his or her salt knows is a devil of a thing to pull off.

However, presence needs more than visuality. It also needs narrative. It needs a story or a situation endowed with sufficient power and imagination to pull us in. "Presence in art" needs substantial planning. An observance of fine detail whilst maintaining a firm grip on the whole. In other words, not a thing to be pulled off in one afternoon. Amongst much else, it is visuality, performance, role play, cyberpsychology combined. Bryn Oh has whatever it takes...

In the end, for me, the attainment of "presence" is more than likely to be the thing which will eventually create a "genre" out of the currently rather haphazard conglomeration that is the state of art in virtual worlds today. It really does seem to me that art generated in virtual worlds needs to be contextualized within the broader framework of contemporary art, given a raison d'etre, a property unique onto itself - and the attainment of "presence in art" would be a not too easily imitated attribute of virtual world based artistic activity. 4jetpacks gave me huge hopes in this direction and I am very grateful to Bryn Oh for having given me just that - hope!

...

A video created by Bryn Oh on 4jetpacks ends this post:



Also please read the post by Hamlet Au on NWN talking to Evo Szuyuan about her utterly remarkable SL-video skills and all that is involved in the attainment of the perfect SL-video here.

Juria's very, very mixed realities

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

In Second Life®, Juria Yoshikawa is the odd looking woman who took the grid by storm with her colorful abstract kinetic art for three seasons and then abruptly disappeared for several months, because - in Real Life - Juria is the male 40 year old Lance Shields, a Tokyo-based multimedia artist and creative strategist at a global marketing company who has been all but consumed with his job + working on an MBA.

Now Juria is coming out of from under her textbooks, thanks to a retrospective show sponsored by Atlanta's Kennesaw State University in Second Life (teleport directly from here), and a first... a showing of her work in Real Life.



While Juria works on a scale larger than conventional gallery work because she is interested in people experiencing the work in a physical way - flying through them, riding on them and socializing within the art - her creations will be shown and sold via FLART (flat art) during the Boston Cyber Arts Festival at Jeff Lipsky's (aka Filthy Fluno in SL - Yes, the one who was featured in last month's New York Times) CounterpART Gallery April 23 thru May 10.

See also:

* Haute on the grid... Being dOts - Machinimator and artist Evo Szuyuan captured the experience on video
Seeing Spots, Being Dots (Dance of Mayhem Plus Homogeneity) from Juria Yoshikawa on Vimeo.

* The Hall of Twisty Smears... Rezzed

* Memespelunk - Second Life through Juria Yoshikawa's eyes: Expect the unexpected

Evo Szuyuan's video document of Adam Ramona's immersive installation "17 Unsung Songs"

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

A hermit by his own admission, Australian Adam Ramona (aka Adam Nash) makes translucent jeweled sculptures in virtual environments that interact with and whisper to their visitors, and sometimes even sing to them. The tunes are generally mellifluous, but occasionally they are sad or downright chilling. Some of his interactive mixed reality pieces occupy and depend on both Real and virtual spaces to fully blossom, such as Babelswarm, which he co-created with Mashup Islander and Justin Clemens and produced with a $20,000 (Aus Dollars) grant from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Adam has had me waiting with baited breath for months now to share a gorgeous new installation of his - and a favorite of mine - but in the meantime, I was happy to learn today that videographer and editer Evo Szuyuan (aka Brigit Lichtenegger) has created a machinima in which she has documented his Seventeen Unsung Songs, a sprawling installation curated by Sugar Seville that has endured for over a year on the East of Odyssey sim in Second Life®.

Here are parts 1 and 2 of Evo's video: 17 Unsung Songs, featuring cameo roles by a number of well-known Second Life artists and presented separately because of YouTube length limitations. The video was shown at the premiere of Queensland’s National New Media Art Award Exhibition.





You can still visit Seventeen Unsung Songs by teleporting directly from here.

Avatar Orchestra Metaverse's "Fragula" as captured by Evo Szuyuan

The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM) is a playful and highly interactive collaboration that can only take place in a virtual environment, wherein several people upload various sound samples and, against a score, activate them, thus becoming musical instruments themselves.

To facilitate the viewer's understanding of who is performing, each avatar wears a rounded object on its back, and as the sounds are triggered, that avatar spins on an axis. According to Gumnosophistai Nurmi (aka Leif Inge), the inspiration for that shape is Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase."


Nude Descending a Staircase from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Now Machinimator Evo Szuyuan has created "Fragula," the best video I've seen to date that documents this strange and cutting-edge phenomenon that is taking place in Second Life.



Fragula credits

Composer: Miulew Takahe
Instruments and animations: Bingo Onomatopoeia

Participating in the Orchestra are:
Bingo Onomatopoeia, aka Andreas Müller (Regensburg)
BlaiseDeLaFrance Voom, aka Biagio Francia (Agropoli)
Bluewave Ogee, aka Leslie Jarmon (Austin)
DeThomas Dibou, aka Detlef Thomas (Regensburg)
Evo Szuyuan, aka Brigit Lichtenegger (Rotterdam)
Free Noyes, aka Pauline Oliveros (Kingston)
Goodwind Seiling, aka Sachiko Hayashi (Stockholm)
Gumnosophistai Nurmi, aka Leif Inge (Oslo)
Hars Hefferman, aka Harold Schellinx (Paris)
Humming Pera, aka Tina M. Pearson (Victoria)
Ida Aabye, aka Nathalie Fougeras (Paris/Brussel)
Lizsolo Mathilde, aka Liz Solo (St. John's)
Loop Luo, aka Loopland (Regensburg)
Maximillian Nakamura, aka Shintaro Miyazaki (Berlin)
Maxxo Klaar, aka Max D. Well (Regensburg)
Miulew Takahe, aka Björn Eriksson (Sollefteå)
Nnoiz Papp, aka Tobias Becker (Haan)
Paco Mariani, aka Chris Wittkowsky (Regensburg)
Weave Noyes, aka Sarah Weaver (New York)
Wirxli Flimflam, aka Jeremy Owen Turner (Vancouver)

More Chouchou - Making music from somewhere far, far away

Ever since Thursday when Evo Szuyuan TP'ed me to a snow-globe jewel in the sky, I have longed to know more about that space... more about the musical group Chouchou - that exists only in Second Life - and more about their incredibly haunting song and music video "coma," which was shot in part, at that location.

"coma" Music Video - Chouchou

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I touched base with juliet Heberle (rez: 4/17/2007) yesterday and discovered that she is Japanese, but has been living in Manhattan for the past ten years, while her partner, arabesque Choche (4/8/2007), lives in Tokyo and is half-Japanese/half Central European.

juliet Heberle: Our group name is Chouchou, and the sky place you visited is "Islamey," created for our live concerts (teleport from here, and then walk through the tunnel and touch the crystal ball to teleport up).

Chouchou came into existence in July of 2007.



Bettina Tizzy: What is "coma" about? It seems so ardent.

juliet Heberle: "coma" is sung in a language from nowhere. I created the lyrics, imagining words from somewhere very, very far. Yes, people really like the song, even if they don't know the meaning of the words.

Her almost child-like, completely unforgettable voice, whispers in our ears while we are regaled with imagery that transports us to another mindset. Juliet shared that so far she sings in "Japanese, English and a language out of nowhere."

Bettina Tizzy: Did you and arabesque meet in Second Life? And who did the Machinima?

juliet Heberle: No, we've known each other for a long time, and have met in Real Life, but we can hardly meet each other. It's too far! arabesque made our official videos "coma" and "Islamey." The location, Islamey, opened last fall and changed to a winter version now.

Bettina Tizzy: Who built Islamey?

juliet Heberle: I had those images for the space first, and I collected all the things I needed to assemble it. I then turned to Yuki Aabye - one of a great creators in Second Life, and he helped me to transform my images into shapes.

The icy floral space is delicate and finespun like the most exquisite snowflake, and includes winter trees by Julia Hathor , owner and creator of the four sim Creative Fantasy Home & Garden (teleport directly from here).

Bettina Tizzy: The recordings... done in real life?

juliet Heberle: arabesque first composes the music and sends the data to me through the Internet. I listen to it, and write the lyrics and sing. Then, I send that data back to arabesque, again via the Internet, and he mixes it. We're working on new songs right now, but in the near future, we want to make more videos for our songs.


Photograph courtesy of Chouchou

Bettina Tizzy: Did one of you convince the other to come in-world?

juliet Heberle: I think arabesque told me about Second Life first, and we decided to start together.

You can purchase their music in-world (teleport directly from here), and also pick up a free Radio Box, from which you can stream Juliet's weekly radio program (lasting between one to two hours) on Saturdays at 6am SLT, "Little Tiara."

Haute on the grid... Being dOts

At Juria Yoshikawa's seeing spOts, being dOts performance last week, participants weren't just taking part in the show. They were the art, and also spontaneous interpreters of it. Meanwhile, a Real Life audience in Berlin looked on, as part of the Directors Lounge Festival.



The show was curated both in Second Life and Real Life by Olga Wunderlich, and featured Nnoiz Papps's original composition and musical performance - in addition to Juria's kaleidoscopic and kinetic environments.

One participant reported that the outrageously dotty moment felt like "freedom in full color." Each was given a "dot costume," as well as several numbered kinetic sculptures to wear. Juria would call out a number, and everyone would don that specific sculpture, using animations of their choosing from their own inventories. The only real rule... "stay below 700 meters."

Machinimator and artist Evo Szuyuan captured the experience on video, and added her own twist.



Seeing as the event took place on a weekday and at 9:15am SLT, most Americans were unable to attend, and many were quite disappointed. But something curious and infective is happening. People who participated in the event are sharing the full perm kinetic sculptures with others... in sandboxes and on their own land... and now this new collective "dancing" - to their own music - appears to be in vogue.

Chouchou "Islamey" - a club (and a video) that define Cloud Nine

Update: Landmark given has changed! Please teleport from here, and then walk through the tunnel and touch the crystal ball.

I'm not much of a clubber. It's not that I don't enjoy music and dancing... but I'm generally too caught up with visiting builds and builders. This morning, though, Machinimator and artist Evo Szuyuan alerted me to the handsomest little club in the sky, called Chouchou "Islamey" (teleport directly from here, and then walk through the tunnel and touch the crystal ball). It's not a new build, but I am so glad to know it and take pleasure in sharing it with you.



This Japanese jewel box in the sky was assembled with several of NPIRLer Julia Hathor's delicate winter trees (teleport directly from here), as well as textures by yuki aabye. Julia's four sims, by the way, are devoted to her remarkable store called Creative Fantasy Home & Garden , which is brimming with so many beautiful things! More on that soon...

Chouchou is also a musical group which exists only in Second Life, with band members juliet Heberle and arabesque Choche. Here is their newest music video, shot on location, featuring the dreamy, magical piece "coma."

"coma" Music Video - Chouchou

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Great news for Machinima makers: Lip sync in Second Life is now possible

Evo Szuyuan is an expert on visualization and information applications, not to mention a terrific artist and Machinima maker.

Evo has alerted me to some exciting information that is especially relevant to Machinimators and voice users, which I take pleasure in sharing with you here. While Second Life now offers Voice Chat, avatars' lips are lifeless. Now Mm Alder has implemented a Babble loop for voice visualization that makes lip sync possible in Second Life. Creative Machinery is hosting the binaries for Windows here. The code may be downloaded from the JIRA. To understand how it works, please refer to Mm Alder's wiki. Thanks for the tip, Evo!

By the by... if you are like me and do not understand what JIRA stands for, it is a Java EE web-based bug tracking and issue tracking application developed by Atlassian Software Systems, and used by Linden Lab.

Memespelunk - Second Life through Juria Yoshikawa's eyes - Expect the unexpected

The first time I experienced Juria Yoshikawa's (aka Lance Shield) work, I was spell-bound... my earliest interactive art experience in the metaverse. It was the "I'm Not Here" immersive light installation at the Gaping Lotus Experience art space back in May of this year. The colors were clean and bright, like easter eggs.

Sadly, the art in the next three photographs exists only in Juria's inventory. We can't have it all ^.^


By combining these colors with light, motion, audio and animations, Juria created a space you wanted to step into and stay in.



Over the many weeks that followed, Juria's new art popped up everywhere... as often as 4 and 5 times a month. I would run to inhabit it.



Then - on July 14th - Juria took a giant leap forward. We were treated to Blink - Two Rooms and an Island - an enormous installation featuring Juria's art combined with AldoManutio Abruzzo's (RL = Dennis Moser) blissful soundscape. I don't mind telling you, plain and simple, that I was blown away. Upon arrival, we were handed gowns of light and animations... and sent off to play. We became, in fact, pixelated paint splashed onto Juria and AldoManutio's audiovisual canvas, wiggling and squiggling about in our dream states.

Fortunately, Evo Szuyuan (aka Brigit Lichtenegger) documented the opening of that show with this video:



Since then, Juria has created numerous installations - large and small - throughout the grid, but it wasn't until the island of Memespelunk came into being that Juria's art began to have some permanence. I am laughing as I type these words. I don't really believe that the word permanence exists in Juria's vocabulary :P.

I am jazzed with the way Lance, the real life Tokyo-based multimedia artist and designer who operates Juria-the-avatar, describes her: "She inevitably chooses scales larger than conventional gallery work because she is interested in people experiencing the work in a physical way - flying through them, riding on them and socializing within the art. To Juria, virtual art is about freeing oneself up to create in ways she finds impossible in real life."

Still... it isn't that Juria is impermanent. It just happens that her art has a very short life span. At least in any state. Here is one typical example... last week Juria alerted me to this:

I love Tron. Um, I love spermatozoa. I sorta love water ballet. Where am I going with this? Let's just say that an experiment went astray and an exuberance of joyful display is had for one and all. The spermatozoa are jumping and the spirit of Tron is in their hearts. Be happy. You won't get pregnant. (Statistical data: 87% of sl av's are male including the girl avs.) Splash!

A few hours later, I received another notecard:

From consumer research and the opinions of my loyal viewers, I have decided to change the name of my latest work to "Headless Spermatozoa Impregnated with the Spirit of Tron (a Water Ballet circa 1982)". Yes the sperm are HEADLESS and IMPREGNATED. Don't ask me how this could happen but it has. It has also been noted that my earlier statistic that 82% of sl avs are male was pure fabrication.

Before one more thing happened, I decided I'd better make my way over there, and this is what I found:



The tune that plays while the sperm cavort playfully in this pool is rather catchy... and happy.

I went back tonight to see what it all looked like in Windlight... and Juria had been tweaking again. Teleport directly from here.



Now the pool filled with headless, pregnant sperm had been invaded by ovum. No further explanation...

... and that is just the way it is if you - like me - are going to follow Juria's art.