Running in Space and time at the Grand Planetarium - Ginsberg Arts Ctr

I recently read Adam Frank’s interview with cosmologist Max Tegmark in the July 2008 issue of Discover Magazine. Frank introduces Tegmark with these words:

His grand theory posits parallel worlds in multiple dimensions of space and time, infinite realms where our doppelgangers live alternate lives. (Adam Frank)

This is one of those far-fetched imaginative places where we can all play with ideas alongside the likes of Einstein. Multiverses, with their realms of space and time have something in common with dinosaurs. That is, we don’t know what color dinosaurs were, or how they sounded, or what they did everyday. This lack of information allows imagination to be unleashed yet contained within what is known. A happy paddling pool where what is imagined can also be considered possible.

'Blue Eye' by Nyth Morgwain at the Mountain High Gallery

Multiverse First Level - All you need for a level 1 universe is an infinite universe - go far enough out and you will find another earth with another version of yourself. (Tegmark)

It is intriguing to contemplate how creative minds influence each other. Creative writers inspire mathematicians, philosophers and cosmologists inspire composers and artists etc (there is no order or sequence to who inspires who of course). All dip into abstract thought and return with new ideas. Tegmark suggests the ‘universe is really nothing more than a mathematical object’. And ‘Every mathematical object is in a sense its own universe’.

elros Tuominen's 'Moon Garden' at the Tubular Gallery

Multiverse Level 2 - This level emerges if the fundamental equations of physics, the ones that govern the behavior of the universe after the Big Bang, have more than one solution… There could have been ‘other Big Bangs. These would be parallel universes with different kinds of physical laws, different solutions to those equations. This kind of parallel universe is very different from what happens in level 1. (Tegmark)

A few years ago I found a little exercise book that I had used when I was about 8 years old. Scrawled in the back of this book in blue biro ink was a table: 0+1=2, 0+2=3, 0+3=4 etc. This was then followed by another table: 1+1=3, 1+2=4, 1+3=5 etc and 2+2=5, 2+3=6, 3+3=7 etc. Underneath these tables I had drawn some basic diagrams representing zero with a dot and I had written ‘All sums are wrong because 0 = something.’

You will not be surprised to learn that I had a few problems with mathematics at school. I was put into a special class with three others who were also ‘bad’ at maths. This class was taught by our Latin master who had a big, black, bushy beard that held samples of his meals all day long, cornflakes, grains of rice, odd sticky substances etc. One day our food strewn teacher said he was leaving to become a missionary in Africa (where there was apparently a shortage of Latin teachers or was he going to farm his beard?) I have wondered, once or twice, whether we were responsible for his turning to religion? But of course that is pure ego-centric thinking, seeing cause and effect through the very narrow lens of my remedial maths class.

elros Tuominen's 'City Lights' at the Tubular Gardens

Multiverse Level 3 This is a radical solution to the measurement problems proposed by the physicist named Hugh Everett in the 1950s… Everett said that every time a measurement is made, the universe splits off into parallel versions of itself. In one universe you see result A on the measuring device, but in another universe, a parallel version of you reads off result B. After the measurement, there are going to be two of you. (Tegmark)

As it turned out no teacher showed up to funnel equations into our brains at the next class. We waited, and waited, and began to realize that the school had overlooked our small class of arithmetical disasters. We made a pact to keep quiet and not draw attention to ourselves; when it was time for our class we discreetly disappeared to an empty music room and read magazines or did homework. The shocking thing is that we did this for over a year! By the time we took our final exams the school must have realized the oversight but also opted to say nothing! So, when I read that Tegmark suggests that we live in a mathematical universe I feel a little nervous. I prefer to think of it this way: the universe is really nothing more than an imagined object and every imagined object is in a sense its own universe. That works don’t you think?

Earth in the Grand Planetarium - Ginsberg Arts Ctr

Multiverse Level 4 - The mathematical universe. ‘Galileo and Wigner and lots of other scientists would argue that abstract mathematics “describes” reality. Plato would say that mathematics exists somewhere out there as an ideal reality. I am working in between. I have this sort of crazy-sounding idea that the reason why mathematics is so effective at describing reality is that it is reality. That is the mathematical universe hypothesis: Mathematical things actually exist, and they are actually physical reality.’ (Tegmark)

Perhaps I am a doppelgänger that got lost? I am simply applying the laws of the wrong universe to my sums! Easy to do and completely understandable. Now, is Second Life a doppelgänger multiverse? After all, if we can have parallel universes and parallel selves, then perhaps we can have a parallel Second Lives too? Maybe I am more real in Second Life because I am generated by zeros and ones? Maybe my avatar is more real than me? Maybe it is good at maths?

Slurls to locations in Second Life™:

Grand Planetarium - Ginsberg Arts Ctr
Mountain High Gallery - Nyth Morgwain
Tubular Gallery & Tubular Gardens for elros Tuominen

Experiencing virtual self-perception

How we think about ourselves effects how we interact with the world around us. We can easily accept that there is a link between how we feel and how we behave. Now, for those of us opting to enter virtual worlds, there is a new dimension of self-perception available for exploration, our avatar.

How do we perceive ourselves when we use an avatar? Our symbolic self-representation can carry out actions, and conversations, whilst being simultaneously observed by ourselves. We do not see a mirror reflection of our physical self we see instead an idea of ourselves. This visual idea of self is strangely powerful even though we do not quite understand it. What we see, and how it makes us feel, is of huge interest to bloggers and researchers alike.

Take a look at The Center for Connected Health site which reports on research examining the dynamics of avatars, and the ensuing impact they have upon our self–perception and physical world behavior. Connected Health links to a Time Magazine report that covers a number of intriguing studies carried out by Stanford University researchers and quotes Jeremy Bailenson (of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab) who says “When we cloak ourselves in avatars, it subtly alters the manner in which we behave,”

Connected Health also links to a Boston.com report on neurologist, Dr. Daniel Hoch who is researching the effects of teaching the Relaxation Response in Second Life. As he observes, ”There are an awful lot of people creating their own meditation spaces”. This is true! There are many, many virtual cushions with meditation scripts embedded in them waiting to trip up un-mindful avis! All these cushions point to people seeking inner peace, even if only on the level of watching their avatar help land aircraft while seated in the lotus position.

These studies examine how our avatar’s appearance and actions affect us later when we are ‘off-line’. It is intriguing to read in the Time magazine article that people who observed their ‘look-a-like’ avatars exercising on tread mills in Second Life, were more likely to exercise later in their physical life compared to those who just observed their avatars lounging around.

I am now sending my avatar off to exercise in Second Life to encourage me in my first life. I wonder about the effect of wishful thinking here? When I was at school I tried sleeping with my French verbs under my pillow in the hope I would wake up knowing them. (Sadly, it did not work! I suspect a lot of English school children have tried this approach, perhaps this explains why the English are so bad at foreign languages?) Still, it is worth considering the subtle levels of how our avatars affect our self-perception. At the very least this puts a whole new spin on the saying ‘fake it till you make it!’ Maybe it should be ‘Rez it, watch it, do it?’

Demo ball gowns from Sacha’s Designs

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 be 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 funnels 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.

♦

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 to 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 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!

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™

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’s 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™

♥