A short time ago I wrote a post about the opening on October 23^rd, of the Doppelgänger exhibit at “The National Portrait Gallery” in Second Life. This is the gallery’s second exhibit in a series of exhibitions which explores, “contemporary notions of portraiture in the online realm”. The exhibit is hosted on Portrait Island within Second Life, and features the work of; Gazira Babeli, Andrew Burrell (Nonnatus Korhonen), Cao Fei (China Tracy), Patrick Lichty (Man Michinaga) and Adam Nash (Adam Ramona), Christopher Dodds (Christo Kayo) and Justin Clemens (Jack Shoreland). The exhibition opened on the 23^rd of October and runs through the 23^rd of March 2010. Multimedia interpretations of these works are also available for viewing in exhibition spaces at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. I met with exhibit organizer, Portrait Watanabe at the gallery one evening, where she graciously answered my questions about the exhibit and the gallery.

Nazz: How’s it going with the exhibition, good traffic I hope?

Portrait: Yes it’s been really great! I’m still discovering groups to approach about it but the word of mouth seems to be beginning to bring people in

Nazz: That’s good news; I’ve passed the link on to a several people as well, plus a post in Second Arts. When we chatted the other night you’d mentioned that the exhibit was a year in planning, what was it that took the most time to complete?

Portrait: I suppose the longest part was preparing our Gallery’s council or board for the idea of an exhibition in second life. The island build began about three months ago and gradually evolved as the artists created their works.

Nazz: Then this is the gallery’s initial foray into second life and virtual worlds?

Portrait: Yes, I think it may even be the first cultural institution in Australia to do so. Having said we needed to prepare our board – they and our Director have been amazingly supportive of this move.

Nazz: What was it that brought you into second life?

Portrait: Initially I suppose I wanted to find out what this virtual reality looked like having grown up on trashy films like the lawnmower man. I did what many people do originally and stayed for a few hours then didn’t come back for ages. Once I did a bit more research on the artists working in Second Life I thought it would be a perfect place for an exhibition about digital identity.

Nazz: How long have you been associated with the gallery?

Portrait: I’ve been with the portrait gallery for six years, however only three of those as the online manager. This is our second online exhibition – the first was a series of animated self portraits by 12 Australian animators

Nazz: The exhibit here is essentially about digital identities, how did that develop for you as a concept for doing an exhibition?

Portrait: The Portrait Gallery has always been interested in challenging traditional notions of portraiture. Over the past few years i have become interested in the projection of identity into online spaces; in particular our adoption of these spaces as the ‘third space’.

Nazz: What are the traditional notions of portraiture that this exhibition challenges?

Portrait: A lot of our audiences still expect portraiture to take the form of an oil painting of an important politician or explorer … or at the very least to be figurative. This exhibition explores the notion of data as a conduit of identity.

Nazz: With the concept of digital identity in hand, how were the artists selected for the exhibition?

Portrait: I researched artists working in SL whose ideas, artwork and performances suggested an interest in this theme. They have been an amazing group to work with – each has produced work that extends the ideas of the exhibition in different directions.

Nazz: Can visitors at the real life gallery see for themselves what has been done by the artists here in Second Life?

Portrait: Yes, while the works were developed for display on Portrait Island we wanted to give our real life visitors the opportunity to experience the works at the Gallery so we invited the artists to produce extensions of their works for display in our real life project spaces.

Nazz: Have they each responded with something?

Portrait: Yes, each artist produced a different interpretation of their work for the real life space – some produced machinima, Andrew Burrell provides a real time view of his work through the eyes of an avatar – you can see him floating around above us. Patrick also provided QR codes for audiences to download his screen tests to their mobile devices and the Autoscopia collective produced a composite portrait of the RL artists which compares the ideas they explore in their second life work with the 19th century tradition of composite photography. The works operate across many platforms and I think this draws attention to the fact that the perceived line of the computer screen between real life and second life is just that – a perception.

Nazz: Most lines are “perceived”,

Portrait: Indeed.

Nazz: The length of time for the exhibit is five months, why so long?

Portrait: I wanted to give people time to discover the exhibition – including those who may never have been to Second Life before. It will take us a little while to market the space to the real life media. We see Portrait Island remaining as a display space for the gallery and have invited artists to submit proposals to display work here that deals with the themes of identity and portraiture.

Nazz: Excellent idea, the blurring of identity will only intensify in the next several years. Are there any plans to utilize other virtual worlds?

Portrait: Yes most definitely. Second Life was selected for this exhibition because of the real life media it has received and its large population base. But I am keen to explore other platforms for future exhibitions.

Nazz: You’re closing thoughts or comments?

Portrait: I would just like to thank the participating artists and our island designer and encourage as many people as possible to come and see the exhibition. And thank you Nazz for your time!

The featured works from the participating artists from are noted below:

iGods, 2009 by Gazira Babeli: Holds up a critical mirror to ‘real life’ from within Second Life and reminds us that “in Second Life, DNA is code and in virtual worlds this code can be replicated or borrowed”.

temporary self portrait in preparation for the singularity, 2009 by Andrew Burrel (aka Nonnatus Korhonen): A virtual mnemonic device containing narratives of the artist’s life, both remembered and imagined. The viewer is asked “to wonder if the site of the self can be shifted to a place completely removed from its traditional abode somewhere within (or as a part of) the body”.

Autoscopia, 2009 by Adam Nash (aka Adam Ramona), Christopher Dodds (aka Christo Kayo), and Justin Clemens (aka Jack Shoreland): This work “examines the derangement of identities through the projection of our personalities into digital environments”.

iMirror, 2007 by Cao Fei (aka China Tracy): On loan from the artist and Vitamin Creative Space, Cao Fei’s three-part, documentary-style machinima, reminds us that “real emotions are difficult, if not impossible, to omit from human encounters”.

CodePortraits, 2009 by Patrick Lichty (aka Man Michinaga): Patrick Lichty’s CodePortraits, “becomes a metaphor for recognition; of the human tendency to identify with faces, be they real or virtual”.

The JAZZALIVE concert series opens today in Second Life at noon SLT. The venue has some great artwork commissioned especially for the events, this is but on of several pieces by DanCoyote Antonelli. The sites also works by Oberon Onmura and Juria Yoshikawa. Those attending the real life venue will also experience the art show. It will be viewable on big screens at the venue, “The Crypt” St Giles Church, Camberwell Church Street, London SE5.
posted by Nazz Lane on Jazzlive using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

“Fall Flowers” by Em Larson, always a delight to view the pictures taken by Ms Larsson. Stop by and see her collection.
posted by Nazz Lane on Born using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

I picked up this landmark from White Lebed, BL 2009 Art Department Lead. Transcripts available include; Art That Moves Us: Emcee Widget, Sounds and Lag: Lorin Tone, About Burning Man: Dusty Linden, Anti-Lag Textures: Lonetorus Habilis, Scripting Classes: Zuleika Deere, Builder’s Lag; Orange Planer and Builder Class: Kazuhiro Aridian. Stop by and pick em up!
posted by Nazz Lane on Burning Life- Deep Hole using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

I stopped by for a visit at AM Radio’s “The Space Between these Trees” installation this morning. The scene pictured above of is of a farm house and barn on a desolate tree less parcel somewhere on the Great American Plains. The grey low clouds rolling across the sky suggests a storm is nearing and given the time of year, I sensed a snow fall would soon blanket the ground. When standing on the road, a sign reads US 61, the view is of an endless stretch of a two lane highway bisecting the land and pointing to no where in either direction.
posted by Nazz Lane on Welsh Lakes using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

The opening at the Museum Of Hyperformalism, occurs on Friday, November, 6^th with a reception that begins at 1:00pm PST/SLT. The exhibit is being hosted at the PIRats Art Network, where it will remain open until December 31^st. Three artists will be featured; Josina Burgess, Werner Kurosawa and Juria Yoshikawa. The guest curator for the exhibition is DC Spensley (aka Dancoyote Antonelli).

The following information was released by the PIRats Art Network:

Curator’s Statement:

Combining these particular artists together is to form a “chord”, a resonant combination of the projects of each of these individual artists to form an impression of three unique branches of Hyperformalist expression in the MMO of SL.

Each of these installations represents a singular view of formalist abstraction in the virtual hypermedium. The collection of works share both site specificity and dialogic characteristics as expressed in the unique conditions of the virtual space. In the material space, contemporary site specificity has morphed from a critique of the segregated gallery and museum space to emphasis on a conceptual location or vector. Virtual site specificity has unique characteristics in its relationship to the traditional understanding of time and space. The virtual condition compresses time so that all locations are one click away and therefore it takes almost no time to go from virtual location to location. Time as a factor in transit from experience to experience has been folded into space and rendered moot.

The works in this exhibition are dialogic in that they encourage a dialog with the visitor, but an abstract dialog unlike human language, foregrounding the disembodied viewers’ relationship to the virtual condition. This dialog is brought about by the literal involvement of the visitor who is required to be an active participant in the work to experience it. The participant is necessary to complete the works and all the works in this exhibition are deeply centered on the involvement of the visitor. And while the works can be viewed passively from a single point perspective as in cinema, this is only a fraction of their intended potential, which is defined by the involvement of the viewer.

The resulting dialog is of a distinctly non-anthropocentric quality. The virtual artifacts in this exhibition speak to the alien conditions outside of the physical gravity world and offer another set of experiences that enter the mind of the viewer from a non-verbal and being level entry point. While this work is all in relationship to the viewer, it is not about the viewer, but about a sense of wonder possible only in this continuum.

The Artists:

Josina Burgess is Dutch born jazz vocalist, fashion designer, painter and virtual theatrical director. Her work in this exhibition makes me think of how the microscopic is often similar to the macroscopic. The volumes in her exhibition are deeply textural abstract assemblies that are constantly in motion seemingly transferring energies from globular cluster to globular cluster. These could be new galaxies forming or molecules in the process of transmutation. Strangely enough, since Josina is a musician, her offering in this show is silent, but each assembly sings a unique visual and spacial music of its own. Each grouping establishing a new visual syntax distinct from the others, each soothing, sublime and ineffable.

Werner Kurosawa is Belgian born architect and fine artist known for work with technology inside and outside of the virtual world. Werner’s assemblies are angular and crystalline, chaotically animated, monochromatic platonic solids. There are two main works in this exhibition, the first of which is a swarm of chrome solids that is controlled through a series of clickable objects on the observation deck of the exhibition. These user interface items invite the visitor to choose the frequency and dynamism of the swarming objects which wiggle and interweave in wondrous and seemingly random algorithmic patterns and while doing so produce sounds that seem to be the audio equivalent of the objects in space. Other works invite the viewer to sit on them and drag the viewers camera through a dizzying series of gyrations through the deliberately darkened exhibition area.

Juria Yoshikawa is an American born musician, fine artist and commercial art director, living in Japan. Juria’s work in this exhibition is about the use of light and a riot of highly saturated colors and detailed graphic textures. Like Josina, Juria’s work consists of coherent groupings of animated textured abstractions that are little universes unto themselves. Instead of darkening the whole exhibit space like Werner, Juria creates darkened spherical, tubular enclosures that barely contain the light shows within but present the visitor with an opportunity to walk through the work in a pre-determined way mediated by geometry. The work here also has an audio dimension, triggered by the presence of the avatar small bits of music and utterances bring this work closest to the borderline of anthropocentrism. The effect of these kinds of sound samples triggered by the visitor walking through, creates a unique irreproducible accompaniment for each visit.

It had been when I attended one of White Lebed’s Master Artist Classes where I had first met Juliete3d Quinzet. Oddly enough our conversation had been more about music that evening and not art. Over the course of the next several weeks, we’d managed to run into one another at several different gallery openings and our conversation eventually turned to art. An artist in her first life, Juliete3d Quinzet (aka Donna Surles) is also a photographer and published writer. Her work can be viewed at several Second Life Galleries; which can change weekly so she uses her profile picks to show where her woirk can be seen. Ms Quinzet calls herself a “Nuclear Mystical Artist” and in her artistic statement, she tells us that she’d adopted the title “that Dali gave to his later works in his Nuclear Mystical period”. Also from her biography she states:

“As I journey, I study with magical artists. Each of them gives me a piece of the dream that holds my work together. In return I give them a true vision of the dream. My direct focus is on the communications influences on civilization and the direction those influences are preparing us to journey. We are a small part of the entire structure, but the impact that we as individuals have on it is astounding.”

We met at her shop on Tuuli Isalnd, at the Fluxionne–Medieval Art Town for a conversation about her art and influences.

Nazz: What was it that brought you into second life?

Juliete3d: I’m not sure … I must have seen the link somewhere concerning the art of second life and it sounded like it would be interesting.

Nazz: You are an artist in real life?

Juliete3d: Yes … actually the art that I have been doing for year’s looks like it was inspired by second life.

Nazz: Inspired by second life, how so?

Juliete3d: Look around … I have always painted avatars and scenes not possible in real life … always been a Surrealist. I fell right into the ways of second life, my first installation was at SL6B and I had already been in half a dozen galleries.

Nazz: The concept of “avatars” has been around for awhile, did being in second life change how you envision a piece?

Juliete3d: No not really change … enhance maybe.

Nazz: Better visualization?

Juliete3d: Different … all of the other hundreds of artists I have me there inspire me to challenge my interpretations of paintings I had already done and I try to add different elements to my previous work.

Nazz: Has there been anyone in second life, an artist or style of art that has influenced you the most?

Juliete3d: Oh my … Mitch Shelman is one. This is Mitch Shelman’s new SIM, I was the first resident. I love the sculptures possible here too. Silene Christen is one of my heroes here too and Miso Susanowa.

Nazz: Do you work with oils?

Juliete3d: Pastels and or acrylic. I bring in a painting I have finished in real life and I add prims to it here to make it SL3D.

Nazz: Hence Juliete3d.

Juliete3d: Exactly … not possible in real life as they say. I had a class at the Criss Museum of Contemporary Art for a while and am getting ready to start another at the Born Museum of Fine Arts.

Nazz: What sort of class?

Juliete3d: I had a Surrealism class. I may do that again but with projects. Did you see my piece in the God show?

Nazz: The GODart show, no I haven’t been able to get over there yet.

Juliete3d: My piece that is there is to your left … the black and white box. Go ahead and click on it … it has about 50 things to rez, see and read in it. I will give you one before you leave.

I did as she suggested and received a chat line message that said, “Box of God v.2.7: Nazz Lane I believe in love”.

Juliete3d: God talks to me and tells me what each person chooses. It’s interesting that you chose Love … most people first choose Faith.

Nazz: I’m a romantic at heart. Tell me a bit about more about the box … what was the inspiration for it?

Juliete3d: I needed something for the GOD art show and I study the second coming so I thought ok I will use what I know and display it for others to see and learn and decode like I did. I have given out hundreds of them already. They are free … I can’t sell God

Nazz: So when someone uses it, you get a message telling you of their choice. Do you do anything with the data?

Juliete3d: I can only see it if they are in range. I think about it … it’s priceless.

Nazz: The information is priceless?

Juliete3d: Yes to me, to be able to think about it. You chose Love and said you are a romantic … very inspiring. Love is the name of my planet

Nazz: A nice choice for a name.

Juliete3d: That is why Love is such an important concept here … we came from Love and inherent ability.

Nazz: Which one is chosen the most often?

Juliete3d: Faith or Proof … yes probably Proof … I had to look.

Nazz: Any theories as to why that may be?

Juliete3d: Yes … It is called Box of God. I have the audacity to speak for God and of course people need PROOF.

Nazz: It’s what Moses wanted when he went up on the mountain, proof.

Juliete3d: Yes … click on that box that just rezzed from Proof.

A chat line message appeared that reads, “Box of God v.2.7: Juliete3d Quinzet Listen to the music”. I also received an inventory offer, a note card with a suggested list of music.

Juliete3d: Music is the way to get your proof. U2 played live from the Rose Bowl free on YouTube the other night, they said it too. Listen to the radio a little spaceman said … you should watch it. The link is on my profile. They had a guest appearance from someone in the international Space station via satellite.

Nazz: I’m looking at the note card, an impressive list. Where do you see yourself and your art in a year from now?

Juliete3d: Last year I had over a dozen real life shows … this year I have had three. I have concentrated on my art here. I have had about twenty shows here. So a year from now I would like to be back to showing real life … with my SL3D element included.

Opening at the Diabolus Art Space today is a photographic exhibition by Tim Deschanel. The subject of his photography being bathrooms in SL, their presence and simulated use with animations and poses. Besides the humorous photographs you’ll not want to miss seeing the giant toilets, complete of course with pose balls. The exhibition is open for the next to weeks, stop by for a view … even if you don’t need to use the facilities.

This past Friday, October 23^rd, an exhibition opened at “The National Portrait Gallery” in second life. Doppelgänger is the second in a series of exhibitions held by the gallery and explores, “contemporary notions of portraiture in the online realm”. Hosted on Portrait Island within Second Life, the exhibit features the work of; Gazira Babeli, Andrew Burrell (Nonnatus Korhonen), Cao Fei (China Tracy), Patrick Lichty (Man Michinaga) and Adam Nash (Adam Ramona), Christopher Dodds (Christo Kayo) and Justin Clemens (Jack Shoreland). The exhibition will run from the 23^rd of October through the 23^rd of March 2010. Multimedia interpretations of these works are also available for viewing in exhibition spaces at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. The exhibit is the concept of organizer, Portrait Watanabe who told me that “the project was a year in development”. I stopped by for a few hours last night and only scratched the surface of this complex exhibition.

The featured works from the participating artists from are noted below:

iGods, 2009 by Gazira Babeli: Holds up a critical mirror to ‘real life’ from within Second Life and reminds us that “in Second Life, DNA is code and in virtual worlds this code can be replicated or borrowed”.

temporary self portrait in preparation for the singularity, 2009 by Andrew Burrel (aka Nonnatus Korhonen): A virtual mnemonic device containing narratives of the artist’s life, both remembered and imagined. The viewer is asked “to wonder if the site of the self can be shifted to a place completely removed from its traditional abode somewhere within (or as a part of) the body”.

Autoscopia, 2009 by Adam Nash (aka Adam Ramona), Christopher Dodds (aka Christo Kayo), and Justin Clemens (aka Jack Shoreland): This work “examines the derangement of identities through the projection of our personalities into digital environments”.

iMirror, 2007 by Cao Fei (aka China Tracy): On loan from the artist and Vitamin Creative Space, Cao Fei’s three-part, documentary-style machinima, reminds us that “real emotions are difficult, if not impossible, to omit from human encounters”.

CodePortraits, 2009 by Patrick Lichty (aka Man Michinaga): Patrick Lichty’s CodePortraits, “becomes a metaphor for recognition; of the human tendency to identify with faces, be they real or virtual”.

The following came to me by way of White Lebed, the Art Department lead for the 2009 Burning Life festival:

Every year Burning Life Art Department picks 12 art projects out of many wonderful applications for featured presentation – the so-called 12 Big Art plots. They are not exactly “big”, only 40 by 40 meters – smaller than most regular camps, but the artists get to use 2000 prims.

And they sure know how to use those!

1. Bryn Oh – Vessel’s Dream

A new cam build based off of her poem Lilac.

2. Ub Yifu – Gulliver’s travel

Gulliver’s travel scene from Ub Yifu and Copan Falta Audio; streaming by Reverend Upshaw

3. Solkide Auer – Shellina Winkler – Towards the future

TOWARDS THE FUTURE is a fully immersive installation created at Burning Life. We are proud to invite you to enjoy the colorful atmosphere we have built in one of the 12 camps of Art Department.

4. Sekhmet’s Serpentunes

A temple for the Egyptian Goddess. Sekhmet suddenly sprang from the playa floor. Could be because she’s associated with fire and snakes. Builder/Prim Abuse Artist: Madcow Cosmos Sound/Music Design: Lorin Tone Research/A

5. Adam Ramona – Proud Flesh

Avatar-interactive, wind-responsive, evolving audiovisual sculpture

6. Alpha Auer & Frigg Ragu – The Tower and the Quest

Someone was here and left a story, half finished, broken, unsatisfied, no beginning and no end. Through shapes, figures, poses, avatars, stages the participants are invited to create their own story.

7. AM Radio – Among Other Things

Among other Things. Join in and help me create the art for this space! Graffiti the train!

8. Selavy Oh – irregularity

irregularity: a structure by Selavy Oh

9. The Roof Is Gone

Miso Susanowa & Misprint Thursday journey through evolution – personal, universal and collaborative.

10. 144′ by Dekka Raymaker & Penumbra Carter

144 – Low-fi art made in a simplistic manner out of products one could take with oneself, junk and scrap.

11. Kicca Igaly & Nessuno Myoo *ArtEvolutionCube*

From a pencil sketch of a work, to realization in 3D … Are not you curious? Come and see the result of an Artistic Evolution.

12. Yoa Ogee – Friends are everywhere!

circle of friendship and friendliness!

Curator White Lebed, the Art Department Lead