Again, thanks to Corwin, I visited a new art installation by AM Radio. The info details about the work include the following notecard:

AM Radio’s The Red and The Wild

IDIA is pleased to host artist AM Radio as the inaugural artist-in-residence at IDIA Labs – an exhibtion and installation sim for virtual installation art and performance.

THE INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL INTERMEDIA ARTS is a hybrid art and design studio established as part of the Center for Media Design at Ball State University and funded the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The institute is an interdisciplinary research and design environment that explores the intersections between arts and technology. Students, faculty, staff and industry partners engage the discourse of emergent media design on projects employing virtual reality, visualization, simulation and human computer interface in this project-based immersive learning center.

http://idiarts.org

As always, AM Radio enjoys exploiting the SL space and creating art that is on the one hand familiar, yet on the other hand is very surreal. Here is another photo:

Corwin has been teaching a virtual photography group and taught me how to make a wireframe view today, so here’s another photo from the installation, this time converted to wireframe -

Second Life offers so much potential for creativity, and I’m always learning and experiencing new examples of that. Thanks Corwin!

Today Corwin (Nick Noakes) showed me an amazing art and sound installation in Second Life called I/O Redux, created by Dizzy Banjo. It is one of the most beautiful and ethereal experiences I’ve had in Second Life for quite a while. Here are some of almost 100 shots I took – I couldn’t stop!

The Ritchey Sealey art studio in Second Life (Ponden, 147, 212, 33) is really something special. It is a showcase of the real works of Ritchey, and features works using media such as oils, acrylics and charcoals. He has a stunning collection of modern abstract work in vibrant bold colours and geometric shapes – here is me below interacting with one of my favourite pieces:

But as well as that he has some amazing seascapes – and having grown up by the beach I am always moved by images of waves crashing against rocks. Here’s one of my favourites taken in the studio:

Ritchey’s real art can be bought online here: http://ritcheysealy.photography.com.au/

I wonder if I could convince Ritchey to do a Filthy Fluno and commission a piece which incorporates my avatar a la image number two there. I wouldn’t mind the seascape either!!! I don’t usually look at art in SL with a view to purchasing the real versions, but since Ritchey lives in the same country as me, it is easier to imagine, or at least to dream, of dropping by his studio and picking up the ones I fell in love with in his SL studio.

Wow!  Robbie Dingo created the most amazing 3D version of Van Gogh’s painting, and it is shown in this time lapse machinima.  Robbie’s blog post about here.

What fun! I managed to get to some of the special dLux Media rl/sl mixed realities event today that I blogged about here. This is me on my magic pony ride tour of SL art hot spots. In a very clever pop culture / high culture hybridisation, the tour incorporated visits to some wonderful art spaces – entire sims that are works of art, exhibits and all sorts of alternative types of art spaces as well as some traditional ones. The ponies had a follow the leader script so the tour guide could fly us all over Second Life, but there was lots of discussion and all participants had the opportunity to share and comment. Tours are being held weekly.

Gaza does it again – you might remember Gaza Stripped, an article from Slatenight magazine (now sadly on hiatus for the time being), where Gaza, pictured below, discussed her philosophy about real/virtual/pop art.

Nude Descending is another play on an artistic icon, in which falling nude art pieces topple down a staircase, and if you want to really interact and become art you allow your naked avatar to topple down too.

This exhibition is being shown at the Odyssey Gallery, and also includes all sorts of other interactive and thought provoking pieces. Just DO NOT say a certain phrase or term, or you will be attacked by a tornado and catapulted across to another sim! (I haven’t seen one person not test this, despite the warnings

All art has notecards with commentary and questions for you to ponder about the art work, which helps you understand what intention was had by the artist. How you interpret it though is still dependent upon your own experiences, expectations and belief systems about art and virtuality, so if you visit the exhibition with friends it can raise some very interesting discussions.

As part of the d/Art/07 festival being run by dLux Media Arts there will be a mixed reality event showcasing the Arts in Second Life. Here are the details:

Saturday, July 14, 2007

1:00 PM

Australian Centre for Photography

257 Oxford Street
Paddington, New South Wales 2021

Description

Some call it a better life while others say ‘Get a life’. Second Life is a 3D social networking site where participants can not only meet with each other but could also contribute to the design, coding and construction of their new world. When the laws of physics have no meaning, when people can fly and when a large number of the women you meet are actually men, it is inevitable that this new world has evolved in …er… unconventional directions that no longer simply mirror real life.

As part of the d/Art/07 festival, d/Lux/MediaArts will present a series of in-world guided tours of Second Life where we will explore the work of artists practising in SL and some of the interesting communities that are emerging there. You can join in the real world at the ACP or online in SL. The tours are free but booking is required for those joining us at the gallery. See our website below for details.

Homepage: http://dlux.org.au/dArt07/slife.html

It should be fabulous as Christy Dena has been advising the dLux team about the range of art spaces and practices in SL.

The question is – since the event is about experiencing art in SL, do I actually want to attend in person at the live venue?

Alan’s write-up of my talk is on the NMC blog here – thanks so much!

south beach strip club in Second Life, originally uploaded by amywilson.

Amy Wilson’s (Freelunch’s) Postcards from Second Life is now available, and there will be a free signing of the book in Second Life on Saturday, June 2nd, 6pm PST at the Pooley Auditorium (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pooley/250/6/38). The book, a set of watercolors documenting the travels of the artist inside a virtual world, is currently available at lulu.com (http://www.lulu.com/content/840930) for $15 US.

I was sent a link to Amy Wilson’s artworks a couple of weeks ago but have been so busy I haven’t had a chance to blog about it. I find Amy’s work more fascinating the longer I look at it. I love the fact that visual artists are interpreting and expressing their impressions of Second Life through their medium of choice. There are so many people blogging about SL because writing is their mode of choice, and we’re all uploading a ton of photographs to flickr as amateur photographers to capture special and/or memorable moments. But I haven’t seen many people using art as their medium of expression (though I did recently read Sharon’s post about how she has begun drawing avatars in her visual journal).

I think this reinterpration of Amy’s is also very clever because it makes a considered critique of various aspects of SL – covering issues of identity, reality, relationships and business inside the virtual space.  These are issues that we are all quite familiar with, but to see them articulated in a new form holds them up for renewed inspection.

Linden Lab Shines New Light on Second Life With Acquisition Of Technology From Windward Mark Interactive

Windward Mark Interactive Developers Will Join Linden Lab’s Growing Boston Presence, WindLight® and Nimble^TM Technologies To Be Open Sourced

SAN FRANCISCO & BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Linden Lab®, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life®, today announced the acquisition of graphics technology from Windward Mark Interactive. Linden Lab will acquire WindLight®, an advanced atmospheric rendering technology; Nimble^TM, a realistic 3D cloud simulator; and associated intellectual property and interests. Following this acquisition, Linden Lab will open source Windward Mark’s leading graphics technology and integrate it into the Second Life Viewer software, bringing striking visual realism to Second Life.

The five founders of Windward Mark Interactive will also join Linden Lab’s new office in the heart of Boston’s tech and academic research communities.

Founded in 2003, Windward Mark Interactive develops video games and advanced graphics technology that brings realistic visuals to real-time simulators. The company’s WindLight® technology uses patent-pending algorithms that imitate the ways in which light is affected by real-world atmospheric factors like dust and moisture, enabling the nuances of sunlight, clouds, water and weather to be accurately simulated in real-time. Windward Mark Interactive’s other real-time visualization product, Nimble^TM, uses advanced physics models to realistically simulate clouds.

(full press release here)