The Grand Odalisque - a sculpture by an unknown artist

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

Most everything that Rezzable Productions showcases has an element of mystery to it, and today's first look and reveal to the members of the Not Possible IRL and the Impossible IRL groups was no exception.

All photographs have not been retouched.



New and completely unknown Rezzable artist 3D Soup has created an immense sculpty sculpture called the Grand Odalisque: a hyperrealistic sleeping female nude, complete with stretch marks, pimples and calluses on her feet. She is lovely and endearing and we all know someone like her in Real Life. In fact, she probably looks like many of us do in Real Life.



Reminiscent of the works of Lucian Freud or Ron Mueck, the Grand Odalisque marks a leap forward in content creation in virtual worlds... an exacting portrayal of, and the embracing of our very real physical qualities.

As RightasRain Rimbaud (aka Jon Himoff), CEO of Rezzable commented, "It's really about realism, isn't it? It's an amazing piece. Gives you another dimension and level of access. At the same time, this piece makes you wonder why the avatars haven't changed or become more realistic on the Second Life® grid."


New media rockstar Gazira Babeli admires the Grand Odalisque

When I inquired further about 3D Soup, RightasRain stated that the artist believes that the piece will speak for itself, and is not taking any interviews. Of course, most old timers who remember the groundbreaking work of a certain Starax Statosky who later became Light Waves, believe that he is the only person capable of doing this quality of work. Coincidentally, Light Waves worked for Rezzable Productions until he left the grid, creating the startlingly poetic, very majestic sim Black Swan, which will be leaving Second Life at the end of August, to be re-rezzed on Rezzable's own OpenSim grid. Light Waves was also responsible for the creation of the Greenies sculptures and avatars, and the Ballerina which is currently rezzed at the Greenies Home Rezzable.

You can view the Grand Odalisque, rezzed at Black Swan, by teleporting directly from here, and then walking through the door on your right and down the pathway.

Viva la Vida: A video of AuraKyo Insoo's epic installation on the highs and lows of being human

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

It no longer exists, except in memory, but AuraKyo Insoo's soulful and sculptural Viva la Vida breathed earthy life and passion from every prim. An enormous installation that was truly impregnated with Aura's distinctive and immediately recognizable style, it required a good hour to take in. I shot the footage for this video weeks ago, and it wasn't lack of interest but the usual series of interruptions that held back its completion. I'm afraid I've done a shabby job of capturing the entire story and the enormity of it, but hopefully a glimmer of its effusive spirit is evident. If you missed it, I understand that Aura will have an opportunity to re-rez the show soon.


Shot and edited by Bettina Tizzy
Music: "Between two floors" by Five Star Fall
If you find that it is running slow, you can view it here.

Viva la Vida is a Spanish-language expression that loosely translates as Hurray for Life. The show - sponsored by Rezzable Productions - transported the visitor most elegantly through nearly every phase of life, beginning with a birthing and ending with peaceful and loving human interaction, but also touching on war (never more), cruelty, courage, fame and solitude.

In conversations with Aura, I have come to know her as a woman who embodies and lives by her own mantra, viva la vida. An Argentinian by birth and an artist in Real Life, Aura is also a poet and an activist. Viva Aura! We want more, and more can be had. Aura is currently showing at the Human Rights Festival in Second Life®: Reconstructing Rights; Humans in Process, which you can visit through January 20th by teleporting here.

New sculpture at Black Swan packs a wallop - You aren't going to want to miss this one

There is something new and so important at Rezzable Productions' Black Swan sim that most everyone in Second Life® will want to see it, and yes, I am aware that Rezzable is charging a $199L admission fee. All the same, I suspect that you will forget your objections and pony up.

The last time Seifert Surface (aka Henry Segerman ) and his younger brother Art Laxness (aka Will Segerman) collaborated together on a project in Second Life, they created an animated series of bots that spell out YMCA with their "arms." That was back in November, 2005.

Seifert - an Austin-based postdoctoral mathematician and lecturer - just got back from Brighton, UK where he was visiting his brother Art, a fine art sculptor and prop designer for theatre and film. Together, they collaborated to create a kinetic, story telling sculpture in Second Life that cycles every hour. I'll get back to you with more on the technical aspects of this sculpture soon, but for now, here is a taste.



Credits:
* Concept and storyline: Seifert Surface and Art Laxness
* Sculpties: Art Laxness
* Scripting: Seifert Surface
* Video: Bettina Tizzy
* Music - Awaiting the Attack: composed by David Flavin, ASCAP and Roland Rudzitis, ASCAP

Teleport directly to Black Swan from here.

Baby found at Black Swan

Rezzable Productions' RightasRain Rimbaud (aka Jon Himoff) sent me an offline that read, "I got a big surprise to show you... you gonna flip really..." Who could resist such an invite? I logged in.

His teleport took me to Black Swan (teleport directly from here), the mysterious and fantastical sim created by Light Waves when he made his re-entry into Second Life® after an even more mysterious and much morned absence. Black Swan has been the center of considerable controversy recently, since Rezzable added an entry area and began charging $199L for admission.



Intriguingly, the creator of this baby is not Light Waves, but Unreal McCoy (rez: 4/29/2004). "Who is this artist?" I asked RAR, as he is affectionately called. There was a long pause before I got an answer. "The artist prefers that the focus be on the art." Oh, I do so love a mystery!

RAR mentioned that the sculpture is on sale and for the special price of $5,000L today. Tomorrow that will go up.

Miki Gymnast's bittersweet farewell to Rezzable Creators Gallery

Any minute now, Rezzable Creators Gallery will disappear, along with a few other Rezzable Productions sims. Our own Miki Gymnast, who invariably knocks everyone's socks off with her spontaneous and often mathematically inspired creations, took a previous build and reprogrammed it in under two hours to come up with an exciting and temporal 14,000 prim space, as captured in this moving video by Dizzy Banjo.


Music by Dizzy Banjo

"It's a type of breather surface, optimized for Second Life®, performance; parts calculated on the web, parts calculated in Second Life," explained Miki, referring to the enormous yet delicate raspberry-colored tower.

Beneath that tower and in the teleport arrival area, visitors' names and text-chatted words appear in swirling, colorful ribbons that span the base of the sim. Rezzable, CNN, and NPIRL's blog headlines also whirl around guests. "It takes the blog titles from the Internet, transfers them to Second Life, and shows them in big letters," said Miki.

It's not easy saying goodbye to great content. The Rezzable Creators Gallery once housed works for sale by Light Waves.

What happens when you let LittleToe Bartlett loose...

Oh, I know... the Garden of NPIRL Delights is over! Get over it and move on, Bett!!

I just couldn't resist showing you what LittleToe Bartlett did once the doors had been closed and the Gardeners had picked up most of their installations.

These are ground textures... sim(s) wide.




... and she wouldn't give me whatever she was smoking...

Light Waves' sculpture for the Garden

Update - Hint #2: It is a wee bit naughty.

Update - Hint #1: It is busy.

You still haven't found it, have you? :D

It's in plain view! Hehe.

Aiyas Aya's mountain

Canadian artist Aiyas Aya's (aka Christopher Postill) installation, "Upward Race to the Bottom," at the Garden of NPIRL Delights has always had something missing... until today that is. Aiyas, this one's for you! On the spur of the moment a slew of volunteers TP'ed in and we made it happen!


Not one pose-ball in sight! Click to see large

Aiyas describes his installation as follows: "The aim of this piece is to incorporate audience avatars as an integral part of a sculptural form. I am creating sculpture using the avatars of participants; the piece requires interaction in order to be completed. This user interaction slowly brings together a rough narrative experience as more and more viewers participate.

When properly filled, the piece becomes a wreathing mass of avatar bodies all reaching upward, stuck in a perpetual state of competition. A literal mountain of bodies all supporting eachother but fighting for the summit at the same time. Without participants, the piece is a simple terraformed mountain, but as more audience members sit on the 'pose-balls', the piece transforms into a tableau of never-ending struggle toward the top."


This photo by Gary Kohime caught us in the initial attempt

Participants include (sorry if I didn't catch your name!):
Amyrlin Sewell - Aurakyo Insoo - Avi Arrow - Bettina Tizzy - Bryn Oh - Cocoanut Koala - Dannie Fargis - Decoy Nagy - Economic Mip - Elina Radek - Ella Quinsette - Emuishere Boa - Gary Kohime - Glyph Graves - Gypsy Paz - Izikael Novi - Julia Hathor - Keenan Yengawa - Krystalheart Oh - LittleToe Bartlett - Lumiere Noir - Maraschino Susa - Mordechai Laasonen - Rena Mascot - Rikard Bashly - TheDove Rhode - Tryptofaa Sands


We had to struggle to get in! This photo by fellow Garden artist Gary Kohime

Thank you, everyone! More photos can be seen here and here.


Some days ago, Quadrapop Tree captured another bodacious attempt to fill the mountain!

These are a few of my favorite things...

The Garden of NPIRL Delights - generously sponsored by Rezzable Productions - is almost over... *sobs* The last day is June 23. There are so many little and big things that I am going to miss.

Collaboration is a powerful thing, and dozens of people made enormous contributions that few people are aware of.

One day before the Garden opened, Ravenelle Zugzwang and Soror Nishi helped me landscape it with their exquisite trees and sculptures.


Ravenelle's sculptures range from surreal to breathtakingly beautiful, and they lift the landscape here and there


This photo of one of the many colorful and dreamy trees by soror Nishi by Neon Hammerer

Minutes before the Garden opened to the public, artoo Magneto sent over his phenomenal 3D trees, and elros Tumominen helped me install a few of his flaming sculptures.



I hope Glyph Graves will participate in any project I take on. His flowers! His willingness to work with others!



The Garden is closing... sigh.

The skinny on Ordinal Malaprop

It is seldom that one encounters an individual who is so consistently resourceful, knowledgeable and proper, but add to this her Napoleonic abilities with all things explosive and this Victorian-era Grande Dame is one-of-a-kind. To think that I might have gone to my grave without ever knowing such a person had I not had a Second Life®... well, it's unthinkable.

She's also a hard one to pin down, as she will not exhaust her freshness.

The thing is, Ordinal Malaprop (rez: 9/9/2005) is filled with enterprise, and she is just as apt to take on the entire world by mounting a campaign for or against a cause, as she is to be found proffering delectable candies that, upon the first nibble, go Kaboom! and bring you to your knees in a smoldering heap. Really.



Ordinal is widely known and admired for successfully taking on the ad farmers (or what she calls "griefing builders"), those hideous ads and things that are "designed to make neighbours give up and move elsewhere, or give up and buy the plot to get rid of the horrible spinning thing."


This photo is part of Ordinal's documentation "of people who pollute the Grid sixteen square metres at a time." Click to see large

It all began quite innocently enough with a blogpost and the creation of a Flickr group, followed by a notice that she posted on the Forums, but soon escalated into a heated conflict regarding a "DMCA Takedown Notice" issued by Flickr in response to a complaint filed by a certain Cytherea Eagle for having reproduced her "logo," in said incriminating images.

What happened next will surely go down as one of Linden Lab's most appreciated moves of 2008. To everyone's utter astonishment, Linden Lab listened to the community and took action: they banned ad farming!

It was Ordinal who enlightened us with her much celebrated Cosmology of the Grid: "I have noticed that there does still seem to be some Confusion amongst Residents as to precisely the relationships between Linden Laboratorye, the Grid itself, other Parts and also the Broader Aethernet, which does seem to be causing Misapprehensions as to the origins and behaviour of certain Aspects and Components.

"I am always of a bent to properly Explain the Technical Nature of how these things operate, and for that purpose I have prepared a small diagram of the Cosmology of the Grid and Second Life, which I hope will prove useful. No doubt other Grid-Cosmological Types will have disagreements with the Details, but I believe that the basic structure is sound."


Click to see large

Ordinal may be wasp-waisted and wear the most extraordinary hats, but I think we should make her a five-star General, or whatever the equivalent is in the UK (more on her titles in a moment). Just before the Garden of NPIRL Delights began, I spent some delightful hours with her, and while that conversation is somewhat dated, I think it very much worth your while that I share some highlights from it.


Ordinal did all the scripting and building for this, the triptych by Bosch for the Garden of NPIRL Delights... quite surely the most extraordinary promotional item in virtual worlds

Might you tell us a little about your whereabouts and your background?
Ordinal Malaprop: I live in London at this moment in time, obviously the best city one might choose. I have a background in scripting and programming and all that sort of thing. I am trained in Artificial Intelligence matters, not that I actually do much with it, but, you know, one rarely does do anything with one's purported areas of expertise.

Is that what bridged your entry to Second Life?
Ordinal Malaprop: Well - it has had some influence. SL scripting, to be effective, requires the use of a lot of independent agents, and that is something which AI education does teach: various entirely independent little monsters, all talking to each other.



Your early days in Second Life... what were they like, whom did you meet?
Ordinal Malaprop: For the first month or so I was utterly baffled.
There were two stages bringing me further inwards... Firstly, a friend handing me an awfully large number of free scripts, which I could play with and learn from (and on this basis, I hand out many myself), and secondly, meeting up with Victorian and Steampunk groups. The Withnail Academy was a great help, to begin with. Gives one a sense that one is not alone. I think everyone would like to feel that.

What is the Withnail Academy?
Ordinal Malaprop: Er, well, the Academy... it is slightly defunct right now, but it was an educational establishment that ran various courses, Japanese and scripting and so on... and also some "correctional" ones...

Japanese! And correctional?
Ordinal Malaprop: ...I have nothing to do with the "correctional" ones. Schoolgirls. Naughty ones. You know.

How long has Babbage been around and were you instrumental in making this community come togther? One of the founders, perhaps?
Ordinal Malaprop: Ah, well. First we had Caledon, and the steampunk group had a parcel here. I bought this parcel at the same time. We had the Lodge, where we would gather to tell tall tales and suchlike. It is now pretty much a place with a few trees on it. Then, the main founder left Second Life. The Mayor of Babbage, Shaunathan Sprocket, branched out to start the New Babbage sims. Really, Caledon is now more of a place for Victorianesque socialising and activity, rather than the sort of hard steampunkish design that Babbage hosts.



Ordinal Enterprises, as photographed - beautifully - by Kean Kelly, also known at 2K

Do you have a specific role here?
Ordinal Malaprop: Well, I have titles. I can't remember them all. Oh, er, I am a Knight of Caledon, or rather a Lady, and... actually, I have shields outside my front door. Some Caledonians do pay a lot of attention to that, but I am one of these dubious Suffragette, Socialist types.

I ask about your community because your character is so closely aligned with it... it seems important.
Ordinal Malaprop: I was here before any such community, and doubtless I shall be after it :). I used to live on the mainland and conduct myself pretty much in the same way.

With your knowledge of scripting... what are your wishes... things that you wish we knew... that would make things better, keeping in mind that most everyone came in-world within the last year?
Ordinal Malaprop: Turn off your clicky-clacky shoes! That is mostly because I hate them. They do poll assorted places though and are inefficient - ask Codebastard - who will say the same. Er, temp-rezzers are really bad; don't use them. If you use them, don't complain that your sim appears to be in a treacle well.

What are the commands to turn off shoes? It is in preferences, yes?
Ordinal Malaprop: Unfortunately there are no shoe-specific commands. They will still grab controls.

Hmmm. Will have to get to the bottom of this. It seems important.
Ordinal Malaprop: Oh - and the other thing I am always telling people: nobody can follow you, or cage you, or enslave you, no matter what they say. Teleport out, then somewhere else. Actually, just one will usually do.

Ah... I didn't know that. I thought one TP would suffice. This has to do with followers?
Ordinal Malaprop: Indeed. I am just not sure that they've properly fixed that bug :)

Shall we talk about explosives? You are the one person most closely, um, associated with them.
Ordinal Malaprop: My reputation has always been "builds things with rivets, which explode."

How'd that get started? That first set of scripts?
Ordinal Malaprop: Physics scripting is one of those things which is immediately obvious as something which affects the outside world. Not just a technical point, but it has an immediate effect. So, it is the starting point for a lot of people. Some might go into "griefing," but that is rather dull to be honest, so, things which explode! It is also a terrific way to learn how to make particle effects.

Ah! Interesting. Thumbs down on griefers
Ordinal Malaprop: Oh, griefing with scripts is the sort of thing people without any imagination do. I have seen some of the scripts these people use - they are awful. I do know a fair number of... "experimenters" :) I enjoy their company. I do not do that much with that sort of thing these days, but I like to know the latest.

What are your current projects?
Ordinal Malaprop: I have three main branches there: Firstly, things for Rezzable, which are either too specific or not ready to be announced :) Secondly, general ideas - I am, for instance, working on a "point gravity" simulation, which will have people falling towards masses in a sim rather than the ground, and turning themselves to face that point. A few issues are bothering me there. It could be useful in the Privateer Space sim though. You know, asteroids which you can stand on, but jump from one to the other. The third is very personal ones which are "in character" as it were, though I hate that phrase.

Because it sounds like RP (role-playing)?
Ordinal Malaprop: "Am I some sort of music-hall player?" as I have said. There is no playing of roles here! No pretence. Caledon operates on a rather different basis but, for instance, in that category I have been working on a Battlefield Teapot... something a soldier can wear, which will deliver a proper cup of tea at any instance. I have a shop on that basis; the products that I sell are all in that genre.

How civilized.
Ordinal Malaprop: Well, tea built the Empire.

Do you prefer to work alone on these projects or do you find yourself collaborating?
Ordinal Malaprop: For everything apart from the professional i.e. Rezzable at this point... they are all individual. Second Life is such a poor environment for collaboration.

Let's talk about hats. Have you always worn them?
Ordinal Malaprop: No. But as soon as I was aware of them I did. Hats are one of my favourite parts of Second Life.


Ordinal's signature lobster hat. She always wears glasses, and occasionally a monocle. "Very 'Girl Genius'"

How many do you currently wear? And do you make your own?
Ordinal Malaprop: Well - I have, oh, a dozen or so favourites. No, clothing is one of those things I just find myself unable to make. I am very fond of the products of Chapeau Tres Mignon (teleport directly from here). The lobster hats, which I have been known to wear, are from there. I also like boots, but I just cannot find proper ones. I normally wear glasses, too. Can't see a thing otherwise.

What is your favorite product... one that represents what you do best?
Ordinal Malaprop: I am most proud of my Swordstick, I think. That has a combination of all sorts of disciplines. I consider myself a a generalist, thus if something involves texturing, animation, scripting and building, I approve.

Your infomercials... am I correct in understanding that you were the first to do them?
Ordinal Malaprop: Well... I am not sure. I am the first that _I_ know of. Certainly the first to be widely publicized.


The Ordinal Galvanic Swordstick from Ordinal Malaprop on Vimeo.
Which is, of course, the usual reason, but yours are works of art. Have you made any recently?
Ordinal Malaprop: Oh, functional art. Not as such, but whatever I produce from now on will have an appropriate video. The last thing I think was the Brian Eno paintings widget.

Are you PC or Mac based?
Ordinal Malaprop: The Macintosh, certainly. I could not hide that based on Twitter.

Ah, yes... Twitter. You developed that lovely in-word device: the Twitterbox. Do you find Twitter very useful these days?
Ordinal Malaprop: Oh, yes, without it I would not know what on earth was going on. Not that I necessarily do anyway, but as long as a few people use it, and post relatively significant things... I am not much interested in the whole "I'm getting on the bus now" rubbish.

I went back to have a look at the shields outside the front door of Ordinal Enterprises, and here is what the notecard associated with the top one said:

Many of you have seen and enjoyed the Caledon Trolley, a wonderful landmark of the community and a joy for all. The trolley was created by Shaunathan Sprocket, Reitzuki Kojima, and Ordinal Malaprop all together. Ordinal put in countless hours scripting it, for the benefit of residents and visitors alike. There is simply no way to compensate that sort of effort - were this a real software contract, the time and effort involved would have exceeded the entire liquidated net worth of Caledon several times over. This Knighthood is in recognition of that service to the community. - Desmond Shang

Incidentally, while conducting my research for this piece, I was rather surprised to learn that it was a German Franciscan Monk by the name of Berthold Schwarts who developed gunpowder and its use in guns.

Ordinal Enterprises, can be found by teleporting directly from here.

See also:
* Ordinal's "cinema"
* Ordinal's Scripting Colloquium, a Forum
* Ordinal's Cabinet of Ephemera, on Tumblr
* Ordinal's Twitterbox, a Twitter client for Second Life devised by her
* Ordinal's Twitter address
* Ordinal's ShopOnRez shop
* Ordinal's SLExchange shop

Toast in Limbo

A late entry by Zora Spoonhammer - also known for her spectacular Sculpty Earth - to the Garden of NPIRL Delights, asks: "When toast falls to the floor it exists in a special limbo for five seconds where any fate is possible. Will it succumb to evil and become wasted food at six seconds or become a heavenly snack before then? For those five seconds, it exists here, in this limbo of toast."

Inside the mind of Crap Mariner: At the Garden

Crap Mariner cracks me up. As GoSpeed Racer said recently, "He is a true comic genius with a flare for the bizarre, the weird, and the obscure. Crap can tell a story with as little as one picture."

Crap has his own installation at the Garden of NPIRL Delights, but he has devoted more time to exploring the Garden and seeing what others had done there than anyone else I know. Here are just a few of the many, many videos that Crap has created. I suggest you pull up a chair, and take a tour through his stream for a glimpse into this man's head, and the Garden, too!

Truthseeker Young's "The Singularapture is Near"

by Alpha Auer (aka Elif Ayiter)


I liked this tremendously the first time that I saw it and every time I revisit it seems to grow on me more, takes me further and deeper into a story and what is even more a truly remarkable ambience. I just stand there and watch and listen.



The sound effects of The Singularapture is Near are possibly amongst the subtlest and most accomplished I have yet heard in Second Life®. It is astounding how the random grinds and creaks in conjunction with natural sounds such as those of crickets, add to what to me seems to be the most powerful feature of the piece: its integration with the terrain. I would almost tend to see Truthseeker Young's " installation in the category of land(scape) art, so closely connected is the piece to the land that it has been rezzed upon.

One of the big challenges of building in Second Life is integrating what you create with the earth that it stands upon, mostly because of the absence of shadows but also because of the very structural nature of Second Life’s terrain. In fact, outside of AM Radio’s wheat field, The Far Away, I do not really recall seeing anything else out there (my own abysmal ineptitude in this regard is duly noted) that has managed to accomplish this feat quite so dramatically.



The "organic matter" that makes up the bulk of the piece has been (deliberately) constructed out of highly inorganic content, but nonetheless manages to clutch onto its little hill so fiercely that you not only hear the grinding of its roots but almost see them digging in as you stand there and watch.

And then, of course, comes the central lightning tower/tree that is connected to the peripheral husks through huge metallic worms that really seem to slither atop the virtual soil. And the husks each have their own organic/inorganic story to tell. Each one different. Nothing really moves (sure things sway, but then, so does everything else in Second Life!) but everything seems to be on the move, to be changing location and to grow in front of your very eyes. Yes, you somehow do not look at this piece - you watch it and quite carefully at that...



"The Singularapture is Near" has its own story, no doubt. But like all art that ultimately manages to draws me in, it allows me to make up my own story as well. I love it and I would recommend it to anyone who has not yet seen it or been near it to go go go before it is too late.

Teleport directly to The Singularapture is Near from here.

The birds by Nonnatus Korhonen

Photography by Kean Kelly

They are other-wordly and a bit unsettling, in a cute sort of way. They reside where giant strawberries are found. Flocks of them chase visitors, but they won't allow themselves to be caught. They are the birds by Sydney-based Nonnatus Korhonen (aka Andrew Burrell), created for the Garden of NPIRL Delights (teleport directly from here).


Kean waits for them to come to her


Kean works to establish trust in them

Seifert Surface's "The Sky is Falling"

Crap Mariner had this to say about it: "Oh my God, it's full of arrows... more arrows than an Indian convention!"

Fact is, "The Sky is Falling," by postdoctoral mathematician and lecturer Seifert Surface (aka Henry Segerman), has 1000 of those arrows and looms in the sky over the Garden of NPIRL Delights.



These photographs by NPIRL Flickrite Andromega, who's stream I regularly haunt

"The pattern is based in part on a process that turns up in nature a lot: 'growing' new objects around an axis at an angle of 2pi/Phi from the previous one, where Phi is the golden ratio," explains Seifert.

A Virtual Art Show that Would Not be Possible in Real Life

Click to see large (pretty crazy stuff here)

UPDATE: The last day to visit the Garden of NPIRL Delights is June 23, 2008 (teleport directly from here).

Press Release

Rezzable Productions, the largest developer of public spaces in virtual worlds, and Not Possible in Real Life (NPIRL), a working group dedicated to identifying, sharing and showcasing well conceived and realized content creation that would not be possible in Real Life, have joined forces to hold the largest-scale art show of its kind in the metaverse: The Garden of NPIRL Delights.

Taking a page from Hieronymus Bosch, Rezzable and NPIRL have enlisted the participation of over 100 of Second Life®’s artists, architects, builders and coders to construct the NPIRL Garden of our collective dreams, spanning four simulators/islands to illustrate: the Underworld, Earth, and Paradise.

NPIRL’s inaugural build festival, sponsored by Rezzable Productions, will open its doors to the public on Friday, May 16th through June 22nd, and hold numerous events, including music (both live and DJs), and tutorials. Musicians interested in performing at the Garden should contact Gweneth Lange. For all other events, please contact Vint Falken.

Rezzable has provided the following sims for the event: Rezzable Create, Rezzable Design, Rezzable Discover, and Rezzable Explore. A slurl to the event will be posted on this blog, as well as a new event-dedicated website produced by Vint Falken of Rezzable Productions, which will showcase each participating artist. If you have the Garden HUD, you will be able to teleport into the Garden from anywhere in the grid, too, to a new spot each time.

The content creation tools in the online world of Second Life provide an unprecedented palette for artistic and intellectual expression. Most of the natural laws of physics are not obligatory or even necessary. We can walk (or fly) through walls, and walls themselves can expand or contract wildly, or teleport a visitor to an entirely different place. In virtual worlds, architects and fashion designers are given unfettered new freedoms. The body can be exposed to extreme heat or cold or comfortably wear a display of exploding fireworks or shattered glass.

It is in this novel environment that a new school of thought and practices have emerged and taken on a life of their own, and the terms “NPIRL” (Not Possible in Real Life) and “PIRL,” (Possible in Real Life) have become lexicons in virtual worlds.

This is not a routine build festival. In fact, it is the first time that such a large number of mostly well-known and well-regarded artists, architects, and scripters have come together to not only embrace and demonstrate art and architecture and landscaping that is “not possible in Real Life,” or NPIRL, but also to construct it around a theme so surreal that a similar effort could not be duplicated in Real Life.

That many of the participants are artists or architects or art directors already, in Real Life, is irrelevant. In Second Life they go toe-to-toe with a full time chef, a financial planner, a magician, and a post doctoral mathematician.

"While most of the artists are seasoned content creators, a number of the participants are relatively new to virtual worlds or have never been a part of a build festival. This isn’t just about bringing in the best artists, but also about building a community of people who appreciate and enjoy creating things that are NPIRL," said Bettina Tizzy.

“It is not true that the online experience of Second Life consists only of fantasy Role Play, shopping for virtual goods and cybersex, or even of digital and sometimes shallow duplications of things that exist in Real Life, said Jon Himoff (aka RightasRain Rimbaud), president and CEO of Rezzable Productions. “It is about user engagement in an immersive 3D world that doesn’t even exist in online games, such as WoW. If you give people in Second Life a chance and a little structure – not a lot – they create art that is native to this new environment. For the Garden, we have joined together to push the bar way up in this new frontier, which is both an artistic and technological experiment.”

Many surprises await the visitor, and multiple visits will be necessary to fully discover all that the Garden offers, including a new sculpture by Light Waves, a multi-layered environment created by Darek Deluca that spans four sims at 3000m altitude, and individual and group installations by over 100 artists.

Every effort has been made to inform the visitor and facilitate a quality experience: guided tours in a vehicle especially created by Lumiere Noir and scripted by Darek Deluca; a Garden HUD by scripting wiz Miki Gymnast that enables you to see and learn about each work; and Landmark-Ready notecards have been especially prepared by Corporate Jay. Miki Gymnast and Pavig Lok devoted countless hours to working with the artists to harmonize the scripts in coexisting installations. The sheer number of scripts that are running would normally crash most sims.

“We are also taking this opportunity to educate the Second Life visitor about the IP rights of artists,” added RightasRain. “Upon arrival, visitors will be asked to attribute any photography and Machinima to the artists whose work they portray.”

“Rezzable Productions put their entire team to work and provided every resource necessary and/or imaginable to help bring this about. I’d like to especially thank LittleToe Bartlett and Beatrix Newt, without whom the careful layout and planning and nurturing of the artists would not have been possible, and the many NPIRLers who gave selflessly of their time,” added Bettina.

The Garden of NPIRL Delights is blossoming

There were about 40 content creators signed up nine days ago when Rezzable Productions made the four sims available for our joint effort - the Garden of NPIRL Delights - and the Not Possible IRL group's first-ever build festival.

That number has mushroomed. We had more than 40 people at a noon Town Hall meeting yesterday - our first - and today I think we stand at over 110 participating creators.


Click to see large

Not all builds are in place and there is so much work left to do, but people are collaborating with each other at a furious rate. Just today, every installation got a prim bonus to blend their work with that of their neighbors.


Click to see large

The "bonus and blend" idea came from a person who has contributed so much to this effort that even if she never does another thing, she's left a deep mark of goodness that none of us will forget: LittleToe Bartlett.


Beatrix Newt, Lauren Weyland, Pavig Lok, and the chillin' fridge is LittleToe Bartlett

It was Lag-tastic!

It stands to reason that a call for Not Possible in Real Life builds would generate a lot of scripty creations, and about four days ago, the lag got so bad, that one of the sims was disappearing off the map a few times a day. Sim crossings were laughable.

Pavig Lok studied the situation and alerted us to a few trouble spots. Miki Gymnast came in, fresh from knee surgery in Real Life, and worked with dozens of builders to optimize their scripts. I was worried that participants would throw up their hands or freak out and leave, but a funny thing happened... people started to really cooperate and collaborate, seasoned builders with newer ones, expert coders with other expert coders... and suddenly, you can breathe on all four sims. The lag is gone.


Click to see large

There have been all sorts of heroes and heroines along the way. I still don't know how Beatrix Newt can take on so many responsibilities (site allocation, terraforming, parcelling, tour supervision, and much more) and still appear calm and in control.

And Lauren Weyland... will you ever forgive me? She needed bio input from every participant, so I helpfully issued a notice providing the wrong email address and promptly logged off to a busy Real Life schedule. Ouch. Sorry folks!

Ah well... these stories and hundreds more will only matter to those who are living them, very intensely, on four very special sims these days. I've had very little sleep, and I know I'm not alone in this, but when I look at the Garden and how it is blossoming, I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Garden of NPIRL Delights will open its doors on May 16th.

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.

An object that is really an event: The Garden of NPIRL Delights promotional triptych

The triptych created by the Rezzable Productions team to promote their joint effort with us, the Not Possible in Real Life group, is simply without equal in the promotional category.


Click to see large (pretty crazy stuff here)

The 4-sim, 2-month build festival - Garden of NPIRL Delights - is getting underway, but there is still LOTS of room for more builders. FOUR sims, people! If you own or manage a sandbox, would you consider rezzing this 24-prim baby there? It will autoadjust depending on the stage of the festival, so you may leave it rezzed.

What do I mean when I call it an event? Check this out...



The freebies alone... a pair of wings, a halo, and a lightning bolt that you can zap... um... others with, are top retail quality.



The festival is open to all builders and building begins tomorrow. The sims will open to the public on May 14th. We are very interested in discovering unknown builders, in helping intermediate builders along (there will be tutorials and all sorts of events once the festival opens to the public), and group collaborations, too.

Several of the grid's most talented creators made this explosive (literally) promo for the festival... It really is more of an event than an object. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like a copy of it.

Credits:
Hieronymus Bosch: Painting
Ordinal Malaprop: All scripting and building
Spiral Walcher: Flowers and lightning bolt
Kaelie Candour: Wings
Madcow Cosmos: Devils
Vint Falken: Several textures
RightasRain Rimbaud: Project Director

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.