Thunder-breath dragon blog

Thunder-breath. Green and blue Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blogs are like lumps of damp malleable clay. We bloggers bend and shape our blogs into little idea carrying vessels, then we display our wares out on the Internet. The Internet is more like a giant car boot sale where people can wander about aimlessly picking up shiny, eye catching objects here and there. This blog is a simple thumb pot (with pictures on its sides), there are cleverer, more highly glazed pots (some could even be termed fine bone china vases) to see out there.

Green and blue Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy (underwater view).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to get one idea into my blog and then put it out to be read by the web wanderers. These unfocused ramblers flitting here and there, according to their passing whims, have extraordinary influence. Their gathered searches, funneled by search engines, become geo-systems moulding the shape of the World Wide Web itself. (A chicken or the egg situation, which came first, the searchers or services?) Google Images for instance funnel hordes of dragon-seekers to this blog. Never mind my stunning pearls of insight, my thought provoking reveries into Social Presence Theory or the nature of virtual worlds, my blog visitors are hungry for dragons.

Orange Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy doing a loop-the-loop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lurking amongst the rocks. White Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of respect for these mythological beast hunters I am posting some more dragon images. Now, I wonder who influences who here? I myself am a lump of squidgy clay, never mind my thumb pot blog. I am feeding dragons to my readers, and I have some gorgeous dragons too, more avatars created by Flea Bussy of Grendel’s Children in Second Life™

Red Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy flying over dormant volcano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragon flying overhead. Red Pelagic Sea Dragon by Flea Bussy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I am starting to wonder if this blog should be re-named ‘Thunder-breath’? I will have to think about that, but then, ‘thumb-pot’ has a certain something.

To see more of Flea Bussy’s avatars visit Grendel’s Children in Second Life™.

Cyberloom’s most popular post of all time: ‘My Dragon Avatar!’ featuring the metal dragon avatar created by Malathar Xavier.

♦

Virtual Tupperware etc,

Pose Paradise in Second Life. Chair with couples’ animation poses.

I like to explore and showcase the creative work of Second Life™ artists. These are often incredibly talented people working within this almost abstract space. Their work is misunderstood or simply dismissed by the ‘real world’ art scene. It is ironic to think about how photography itself was not accepted as ‘art’ until around the 1980s (finally getting an exhibition in 1989 when the Royal Academy in London reviewed the medium’s past 150 years).It is interesting to peer into the future and try and see how the virtual art of virtual worlds will eventually be regarded. (Will it take 150 years as well?) I wonder how a retrospective exhibition might one day exhibit the work of Madcow Cosmos, Jopsy Pendragon and Flea Bussy?

The art installations found in Second Life are making clear statements about themselves, that is they are self consciously created works exploring imagery in an imaginative fashion. But there is enormous creativity in the work that goes into creating the more ordinary human avatars and their clothing, buildings, furniture and plants. I suspect that most virtual object creators are not looking at any big picture. They are building and designing for the sheer fun of it, for the Lindens they might earn, for the challenge of making their ideas manifest in the 3D world.

Botha sun lounge furniture, Botha Architects Group

When I was at art school I studied graphic design and then photography. Many graphic designers and photographers were often very matter of fact about their work, they did not see themselves as ‘artists’ (I even recall designers calling anyone who produced art for self expression a ‘basket-weaver’.) The culture was one where self expression was seen as mildly embarrassing at the very least! I guess the people who work in this fashion pride themselves on being artisans, workers making what is needed and necessary? Gradually, over time the work of the less self-aware, or self-questioning creator can sometimes become recognized as being part of a movement, or style.

Learned journals are written about salt and pepper pots, London Underground posters and Tupperware etc. We enjoy looking at the things that were made to serve some simple function in the past. Seeing these design objects in this new light can to be very evocative of times gone by. That is, mundane items carry rich cultural information.

Office chairs at Abiss Interior’s Main Store

Of course, many designers are conscious of where their work fits within the larger landscape of design and culture. But I am suggesting that many designers do not examine what they are doing, or why they are doing it, and where their work belongs in the great scheme of things. Responding to fashion trends, they are immersed in the current of their culture without any external perspective. And this same attitude applies to much of the work being created in Second Life. It is being created for entertainment with no greater ambition than selling it for a few Lindens or managing to make people smile. It is just intriguing to consider the implications of all this creative (yet ostensibly frivolous) expression!

Couch at Ramos Designs

Maybe Second Life needs a museum of 3D design solutions? A place that showcases the best sculpties, the best tables and chairs of Second Life, the funniest arm wrestling scripts etc? But then, the fascination of virtual worlds lies in not only how well and quickly we can manifest our ideas, it also revels in how quickly we can discard and forget them!

Art objects in the digital ether

Aiyas Aya, Stella platform, AngelGate Arts

Angelgate Orb and Nephos platform, AngelGate Arts

elros Tuominen, Nephos platform, AngelGate Arts

Apollo Reinard ‘Shards of the Sun II’, Stella platform, AngelGate Arts

Scarp Godenot’s abstract sculpture ‘The Egg Comes First! Dimension’ and painting by Ahkums Razor, Ether platform, AngelGate Arts

Saiwun Yoshikawa’s ‘Peacock’, Ether platform, AngelGate Arts

Cheen Pitney ‘Eagle Dancer’ , Zen Tree, AngelGate Arts

All photographs taken at the RADIANCE exhibition at AngelGate Arts.

AngelGate almost ends with a bang…

Cyberloom doing a happy dance after winning L$1,000 in the AngelGate photo competition. I have a sneaking suspicion there were no other entries in the competition, but I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (L$1,000 is L$1,000 afterall). I am wearing the box avi created by Flea Bussy from Grendel’s Children, this fetching (and free) avi is perfect when you have no idea what to wear.

Bau Ur curator of AngelGate galleries dancing in a great ray of light. This celebration marked the official closing party of the “RADIANCE” art shows though Bau Ur wrote in a notecard “the show will remain in place for an indeterminant while longer, but this is the official end.”

The party was given the theme “Famous for Fifteen Minutes” and Bau also wrote on the invitation “Guests will be invited to rez objects they have created, and show them around the dance floor to be admired for fifteen minutes at a time. At the end of the last party everyone is invited to rez fireworks, large art, and outrageous particle effects until we freeze or crash the sim. Wo-Hooooo!”

Truthseeker Young (one of the exhibiting ‘RADIANCE’ artists) arrived wearing a fascinating avatar (click the photo twice to see the picture’s detail). This outfit demonstrates (one of Cyberloom’s favorite themes) that avatars can truly be works of art in themselves. Truthseeker is standing in front of my photo of Cheen Pitney’s ‘Eagle Dancer’.

This is the avatar of Voodoo Buwan from rezmagazine.co.uk. Voodoo’s avi is wearing his heart on his sleeve and the heart was actually pulsating! (In the background you can see Cyberloom’s photo of Saiwun Yoshikawa’s moving feathers installation).

At the end of the party the floor was filled with various rezzed sculptures and then in the final minutes there were massive explosions that preceded a cube waterfall. Cyberloom appeared to be protected by her box avi (cube respects cube). However some of the other avatars were less fortunate triggering the following message from Bau Ur:

“Apologies to everyone that got tossed off the gallery roof last night. It was the last few minutes of the party and I okayed and encouraged ‘silly extreme creations’ that ‘normally can’t do at an art show because of prims, physics, scripting or whatever’. the explosions bounced me only about a meter. Apparently various kinds of AOs greatly affected what it did to us. I hope everyone got to see the cube waterfall before crashing. I am pleased to report that the sim itself held up well!”
♥

Visit Angelgate RADIANCE exhibition to see ‘shows which explore the special power of darkness, light, and color in SL art’.

To see more of Flea Bussy’s avatars visit Grendel’s Children.

Earlier Cyberloom post that features the Radiance exhibition at AngelGate ‘3D mind maps and Web 2.0’

Next post will show Cyberloom’s Angelgate photos.

Avatars as celestial bodies (and debutantes)

Cyberloom posing on board the S.S. Galaxy wearing a Sacha’s Designs (demo) ball gown .

I wonder whether an avatar qualifies as a virtual world in and of itself? That is, it need not be seen as just a vehicle for moving through virtual spaces, or as a communication device with social presence. (Though an avatar is certainly these things.)

A virtual world might be described as a space, or dimension, which:

• applies a virtual representation that (apparently) complies with real life physical laws,
• is a metaphor of the real world,
• immerses us within a 3D imaginative experience,
• shares a story/narrative of some nature with us.

Perhaps an avatar, our personal metaphor for ourselves, can be a virtual world too? But generally only one individual inhabits an avatar at a time, whereas populations inhabit virtual worlds. It might be fairer to say an avatar can be compared to a small celestial body? A tiny, virtual satellite moon that revolves around it’s larger host planet?

And now, here is proof that it is possible that once avatars lived in a virtual world that seamlessly meshed with the real world, albeit for a brief period of time! Take a look at The Last Debutantes on the BBC website.

Cyberloom modeling Sacha’s Designs’ (demo ) on board the S.S. Galaxy.

The art of ‘universal language’

Dear Reader (as Charlotte Bronte would have said had she been a blogger) I have recently been taking a lot of ‘happy snaps’ in Second Life™. These photos record visits to the NPIRL ‘Garden of Delights’ and my avatars (by Flea Bussy) have posed like tourists on vacation for my virtual camera. This has been both an entertaining and thought provoking exercise. I have found myself thinking a lot about imagination, and the social presence of avatars and place within virtual spaces.

Darkle Sand’s ‘Gravity’ and Flea’s Bronze Sigil Knight (female) (1). NPIRL Garden of Delights. Second Life

One thought is that virtual worlds are successful as communication platforms because they have social presence, and this is achieved by applying real world metaphors to the virtual space. I heard Chuck Hamilton, IBM’s virtual world mastermind, suggest in a talk to the Gronstedt Group, that virtual worlds provide a ‘universal language’ to people of the real world. We can have a meeting of many nationalities in Second Life and everyone will understand what a chair, table or door might be used for. This shared understanding saves a great deal of time and helps people move into deeper discussions where translation is used to address more complex agendas.

Darkle Sand’s ‘Gravity’ and Flea’s Bronze Sigil Knight (female) (2)

Now the fun begins in virtual spaces when this ‘universal language’ is exploited to communicate on other levels of perception. NPIRL explores its ‘not possible in real life’ paradigm by selecting creations that could not be realized in reality. This is a conscious play on the metaphor of reality that we use to exist within the virtual world. After all, virtual worlds are simply 3D spaces that employ the metaphor of the real world. We move through this 3D metaphor using avatars (a metaphor for ourselves).

Darkle Sand’s ‘Gravity’

The laws of physics in these representations are based upon the laws of physics of the real world. For instance, we desperately require the metaphor of gravity to help us orient ourselves to the virtual environment (otherwise we might all throw up?). But once we have gained our bearings we have a lark breaking these bonds of logic!

Darkle Sand’s ‘Gravity’ and Flea’s Bronze Sigil Knight (female) (3)

Virtual art installations, the mini-virtual worlds we can visit in Second Life run a close parallel to books and movies (see ‘Lost in Other Worlds‘ ). They establish logic systems of their own by creating a story-telling space that adds drama! Through emotional interpretation of both real, and virtual, realities another dimension (the fifth dimension?) infiltrates our imaginations and fills our hearts and memories.

For more thoughts on the role of narrative in art, both real and virtual, visit Alpha Auer ‘s blog where she writes:“What I want is unselfconscious narrative, someone getting totally carried away with the story that is inside of them and spilling it all out as visual form. Something that is not just of the “now” but carries embedded in its being a “past”. A personal mythology.”

Darkle Sand’s ‘Gravity’ and Flea’s Bronze Sigil Knight (female) (4)

The deeper the artist or 3D designer goes with their exploration of their own personal mythology, the more universal symbols they will discover. Art uses ‘universal language’ and has the potential to communicate far beyond the basic ‘chair, table and door’ mentioned earlier. Art, in both the real and the virtual world, can transcend language barriers to communicate complex thoughts and emotions; conveying the social presence of the artist, whilst also touching upon universal truths both magnificent and utterly trivial! It may even be the case that IBM can learn something from the artists of NPIRL about how to use the virtual spaces of Second Life.

If Twitter had been around, Ludwig Wittgenstein might have used it to say: ‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my worlds’ but today, we could twitter back ‘no longer is that the case Ludwig!’

∞

To see more of Flea Bussy’s avatars visit Grendel’s Children in Second Life™

This is the entrance to the NPIRL Garden of Delights! (Only just found it!) Links to this location from inside the garden don’t seem to work! But it makes sense to start here!

Lost in Other Worlds

Are we in a virtual world when we read a book, or watch a gripping movie, and get carried away by their story? We can find ourselves mesmerized by the magical spell of descriptive words and clever scenes, our imaginations captured as we willingly immerse ourselves in these other worlds.

Derek Deluca’s ‘Chaos’ from his installation ‘Other Worlds’. NPIRL’s ‘Garden of Delights’. and Flea’s avatar Leader of the Vairy Swarm.

A computerized virtual world could be described as the place where story books and film sets meet. There are different types of virtual worlds; structured gaming worlds like World of Warcraft (WOW), and the more free-form social worlds like Second Life™. I am guessing (as I have never played) that WOW is like an unfolding story, a quest that you follow. Second Life is rather more like an episode of ‘Lost’ where people invent themselves and their stories as they go along because nobody knows the plot.

Derek Deluca’s ‘Heaven on Fire’ (‘Other Worlds’) NPIRL’s ‘Garden of Delights’ and Flea’s Vairy avatar.

The difference here (in the virtual world) is that you (represented by your avatar) are the central character (the star) of the story. The other difference is that the ‘virtual world’ is not described in words, it is visually presented and so bears more similarity to a movie. Yet a virtual world is not a passively watched film scene! Far from it! 3D software wraps the virtual world all around us, hugging us close within its bubble of invention. We can look in every direction, including behind us, and above, and below, and see the virtual space extending towards infinity. OK, a little poetic license here, but it can look like infinity!

Derek Deluca’s ‘Hell on Ice’ (‘Other Worlds’) NPIRL ‘Garden of Delights’.

♥

To see more of Flea Bussy’s avatars visit Grendel’s Children in Second Life™

Flea (and Bettina Tizzy and Sabine Stonebender) in NPIRL ‘Garden of Delights’ #4

Bettina Tizzy’s installation

Continuing with my ‘Ever Changing Avatar Tour’ of NPIRL ‘Garden of Delights’ I found myself on Bettina Tizzy’s sky platform standing between two liquorice trees (at least thats what I call them). One half of the platform floor looks like ice while the other half is a floor of hot lava. Prickly music notes float in a gauze around each tree giving them a cactus-like appearance. I discovered that if I clicked on these floating notes I could hear musical chords. By repeatedly clicking on the notes I actually made music! (Can’t claim that everyday!)

Seemed appropriate to change into Flea Bussy’s Icy Draconite avatar here in an attempt to color coordinate with the music notes at the chilly end of the platform.

Draconite ‘chilling’ on the lava flow.

And a Flame Draconite (male) looking rather splendid !

Flame draconite taking a ‘light bath’ in the middle of the sky platform.

I tried to find out more information about this exhibit but there was none other than the NPIRL’s hud that gave me ‘Bettina Tizzy – Treesong by Sabine Stonebender’ before I teleported up into the installations. Some of the secrets of this exhibit were revealed in stages but others remain hidden!

If you want to know more about NPIRL ‘Garden of Delights’ try these links:

Bettina Tizzy’s blog: Not Possible IRL

Press release: A Virtual Art Show that Would Not be possible in Real Life

YouTube video ‘NPIRL Garden of Delights’ by Hamlet Au of New World Notes

And for the very best way to see all the photos on FLICKR that feature the Garden follow these directions from ‘Your Photos, your world’ on Bettina Tizzy’s blog: “… try Tag Galaxy and then type “NPIRL” as a tag.”

Take time to visit Rezzable as well! The Garden was a collaboration between Rezzable and NPIRL. See ‘Delights, Wonder and Chaos: Explore the Garden!

To see more of Flea Bussy’s avatars visit Grendel’s Children in Second Life™

♥

Flea in NPIRL ‘Garden of Delights’ #3

Lily Dryad standing in Alpha Auer’s ‘Public Baths’ installation. NPIRL’s ‘Garden of Delights’.

Back to my explorations of NPIRL Garden of Delights with Flea Bussy’s avatars. (I just love these strange images!) Alpha Auer’s ‘Public Baths’ were definitely peculiar, yet oddly charming, and peaceful at the same time. Just imagine lying in a tub with gentle jelly fish wafting back and forth across your face! Alpha’s note-card provides the following information:

“Please jump into the pond to take advantage of the extraordinary cleansing and relaxing properties of the Garden of NPIRL Delights Public Baths, provided for your enjoyment through 6 bathtubs. The fact that the bathtubs are already submerged in water should not confuse you: The water inside the bathtubs is quite separate from the water inside the pond, having been piped here directly from the Black Mountain of Syncretia island – a location well known for its high levels of alchemical cleansing and rejuvenational properties.
enjoy…
😉 Alpha Auer

Oh and… please do not be irked by the jellyfish! Not only are they squeaky clean themselves but they also secrete additional chemical agents into the water for enhanced skin softness and blemish removal…”

Surface view of Alpha Auer’s pond.

Jumping from the bath water and into the feathery fire…

Next a visit to Eshi Otawara’s ‘Death of a Phoenix’. This work reinforces what I said in Flea in NPIRL’s ‘Garden of Delights’#1 that art in Second Life frequently invites us to step right into it and become part of it. In this case you click on the dress of burning feathers and suddenly your avatar is wearing it making you look like an exotic dancer. This makes me wonder about that philosophical question: ” If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Or, in this case if an art work is incomplete without you, is it visible when you are not there?

Wearing Eshi Otawara’s dress.

Flea Bussy’s avatars can be found at Grendel’s Children in Second Life™. Visit Bettina Tizzy’s blog NPIRL for more information about the NPIRL Garden of Delights.