Arts writers wanted

If you enjoy sharing you love of the Second Life arts scene, consider writing at Second Arts!  No pay, no obligation, all for fun.  Interested parties should email me at morrisvig [at] sbcglobal [dot] net.

Cetus Gallery District for sale

From Jonah Zenovka, part of the Cetus leadership group:

 

March 23, 2009

Dear Valued Cetus Gallery District Community Members,

As many of you know, construction of Cetus began in 2006. Since then, the district has played an important role in the cultural life of the Second Life grid. Although I have been off-world and away from Second Life for some time now, Cetus has continued on, thanks to a dedicated team of residents.  However, given that my real life priorities have altered my SL ones so substantially in recent months, with an increased project load and new publishers occupying my schedule, I have decided either to: 1) identify a buyer for the sim, or 2) cease operations effective April 30, 2009. 

If you or someone you know may be interested in continuing the legacy of Cetus Gallery District, please contact me. Otherwise, please drop by the sim before the closing date for a final visit. Residents may collect rezzed objects prior to the 4/30/09, or those objects simply can be returned by me to your inventory after that date.

Thank you for being part of the wonderful experiment and historical moment – the world’s first online simulated urban arts district. While Cetus may not continue in operation should no one opt to take it over, our network of friends and business relationships – and fond memories – can endure well beyond Cetus.

 

Best Always,

Xander Ruttan

Founder, Cetus

 

Here’s hoping for the best for one of SL’s consistently fine arts venues…

Announcing “The Morris Vig Experience”

I think it’s best to de-link the increasingly personal nature of my blogging with the Second Arts blog, so I’m starting a second blog – The Morris Vig Experience – to focus on my random musings over things SL (and RL).  Second Arts will focus more more tightly on things related to the Second Life arts scene.

Get all of your sweet, crunchy, nutritious, Viggy goodness at the link above.  Hope you like it!

Second Arts: #61 on the list, #1 in your hearts!

Thanks to Second Effects for the mention. It’s an honor to be mentioned in that group of Second Life-related blogs!

Jazz by the Sea presents Beaumont-Vig-Rossini

Jazz by the Sea Gallery presents the Second Life art of Barrowness Beaumont, Morris Vig, and Cala Rossini.  Come! Take in Barrowness Beaumont’s  gorgeous dreamlike landscapes; Morris Vig’s wonderful, thought-provoking SLscapes populated with avatars going about their SLives, and a selection of Cala Rossini’s award winning SL photo art!

In addition, Jazz Calhern, owner of Jazz by the Sea Gallery, has scattered a collection of her breath-taking avatar art among the flowers and birds in her garden by the sea!  Come and see, and listen to lovely streamed Irish music!

Coming REAL soon…

That’s right, my first-ever photo exhibition.  Jazz Calhern (who, as opposed to me, is a really good inworld photographer) has been on me to show some photos.  I finally caved…and we’re almost to the opening of the show!  There will be three photographers (including me) in the gallery, and Jazz is setting up a park-like photo walk.

More news as it becomes available…

Congrats to Filthy Fluno!

 

Filthy Fluno by TerryAnn Antonelli - courtesy of Snapzilla

If you haven’t yet heard, the inimitable Filthy Fluno was profiled in the New York Times Magazine.  Nice writeup, and surely will attract more creative minds to Second Life – a very good thing.

 

For those who aren’t aware, Filthy was part of a very interesting ArtTalk panel on Success in Second Life Art.  I kept a transcript of the talk and posted it on Second Arts.  It’s a good read…go check it out!

Bravo, Filthy!  Perhaps hitting the Times can be viewed as achieving just a small measure of success in Second Life art!

Yes, Virginia, I erred. Really, I did.

From Sledge Roffo, in reply to my post on his Gallery of the Minotaur:

Hey Morris. I appreciate your coverage of my gallery. I read with interest that you usually don’t cover work that isn’t done Inworld.

You apparently didn’t realize that my work is authentic to Second Life. I don’t use Photoshop. I may crop a picture or use contrast but I am using the SL camera to take pictures of my sculptures. Its called Primagery and there are examples here in Flickr.

Anyway, I’m glad you appreciate my gallery creation. Maybe you can return and take a closer look at what it houses. I’d sure appreciate it and would be glad to demonstrate for you how my work is absolutely created Inworld with twisted prims and virtually no augmentation.

SR

So it is cleared up.   Apologies to Sledge.   What can I say, the pieces I saw on the wall didn’t appear to be inworld photos.

It still is a very nice build, IMHO.

The wierdness that is Bay City, part deux

Well, THIS has been an interesting 24+ hours on the blog.  Never mind the avi who got banned by the mall cops.  Never mind the podcasters who were – um – tormenting the same folks.  Never mind that traffic for the first posting in this now-truncated series has sent my traffic numbers sky-high.

Photo taken by Bodhisatva Paperclip in Bay City-Argos & posted on Snapzilla

The important thing is that, from a mass population point of view on this matter of governance, the ideas set forth pretty much crashed and burned over the weekend.  So this Metaverse Republic stuff is pretty much moot.

Rather than whip this dead horse, I’ll share public comments from an interested party, Bay City resident Tim Vantelli.  Tim’s comments (which were copied from a Bay City Alliance bulletin board on the issue) pretty much speak for me, too.  I don’t know the guy, but he’s pretty clear-headed in his thoughts.

Dear All,

First, let me introduce myself. I am just an ordinary member of the human race with a computer and a Second Life account who is also the proud virtual owner of a piece of virtual land in a virtual region called Bay City. In this regard I assume I am just the same as everyone else on this group list.

As we are all aware, Bay City is a piece of virtual mainland administered and governed by a real life corporation called Linden Labs who provide a virtual world called Second Life for us to indulge ourselves in on our computers once in a while. Second life is not real life. It doesn’t really exist. it’s a virtual world. A computer game of sorts. Sorry for stating the obvious. And Bay City is a virtual region in a virtual world and as such is identical to many other virtual mainland regions that exist in this Second Life game we like to play. Sorry for stating the obvious again.

So why am I writing this note and what is my point other than stating the obvious I hear you scream!

I am writing this note because I am becoming concerned. I am becoming concerned at what I am hearing in this group’s notices and what other Second Life residents are telling me. I am not normally one for ever standing up and complaining or speaking my mind. I’m British for crying out loud and I usually keep very quiet and accept everything that goes on without the slightest complaint! However this time I do not want to remain the silent majority because I have a feeling that if I do then life here in this little part of this virtual world might just change for the worse and I will not enjoy indulging myself here any more like I used to. I would very much like to attend the group meetings that I note are becoming more and more frequent and voice my concerns there but unfortunately this is extremely difficult for me due to time zone issues and real life commitments which is why I am resorting to sending a group notice in order to express my personal opinions. For this I apologise.

So now let me get to the point I want to make. If I wanted to buy some virtual land where I could guarantee some community conformity, some regulations on what my virtual neighbours could virtually build next door to me, if I was happy for someone in virtual “authority” to tell me I could not texture my virtual property bright luminous green or cover my virtual ground with virtual snow then I would spend my precious money on some virtual land on a private island where the region owner could provide this authority and this conformity for me. However I have chosen to invest my money on a piece of Second Life virtual mainland where I accept that the only authority that exists is that of Linden Labs through their normal terms of use, code of conduct, and complaints procedure. That is my choice and as such I share it with every one of you as owners of Bay City virtual mainland.

As much as I love Bay City’s theme, its waterways and streets, I would feel abhorrent to anyone inflicting a level of authority over it that was extra to the controls that already exist in Second Life for every other mainland region and resident. If those controls existed then it would simply not be Second Life for me any more. Bay City is a virtual piece of Second Life mainland, it does not need a mayor, a parliament, a law court, a police department or any other virtual creation by individuals who attempt to apply REAL tangible control and conformity over other Second Life residents. Play at being policemen, mayors, judges and lawyers as much as you want but don’t try to make it real in this virtual world we share. The day we allow people acting out their fantasies here in Second Life to inflict real control and not virtual control over other residents will be a very sad day indeed in my honest opinion.

This is just my personal opinion. Nothing more. I would like to voice it in person on Sunday 1st March at 11am PDT but I will be unable to. If someone could suggest a formal mechanism by which non-attendees of meetings could express their opinions and that minutes of meetings could be recorded and distributed then that would be fantastic.

Best regards,

Tim Vantelli

Case closed.  Now that we’re done eating our own, what are we going to do about getting a little more traffic in our corner of the grid?

Art walkabout: The Gallery of the Minotaur

I don’t really discuss artwork that wasn’t generated inworld (as in SL sculpture or inworld photography), but this place demands commentary not for the art (which is quite nice) by Sledge Roffo but rather for the gallery building itself. Sledge just rebuilt his gallery in a Mondrian- inspired style that gives the visitor the feel that they are walking THROUGH a piece of art. Quite creative – and while many have tried to do this type of thing, Roffo pulls it off in a way that is both functional and fun.
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