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UWA’s art challenge completes final heat: final on the way

September 11, 2010 by 1 Comment

The University of Western Australia have just wrapped up the last heat of their 3D Art & Design Challenge (full info below), and once again the depth and breadth of the work being displayed is impressive.

I feel very privileged and anxious at the same time, to be one of the panel of judges for the Grand Final, which is coming up fairly soon. I’ve said it a few times now, but I’ll repeat it now: UWA are arguably the preeminent virtual worlds art supporter worldwide, and it’s a claim they deserve in the most emphatic way.

We’ll be bringing you a wrap of the final judging when it’s completed.

The full announcement from UWA:

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NISH & HERICK TRUIMPH ONCE MORE – AUGUST WINNERS OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

103 entries of the highest quality to the final August round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge, and what happens? Nish Mip’s powerful and enveloping piece, THE LAST OCEAN takes the top prize (L$5,000) making it an unprecedented 3rd time she has won First Prize for the IMAGINE Challenge breaking a tie with Bryn Oh & Igor Ballyhoo, both of whom won the Challenge twice. Lee Supermarine and Eliza Wierwight shared honours in taking 2nd Prize. In the FLAGSHIP Challenge, Herick Straaf narrowly beat 5 time champion Nyx Breen to take the top prize for a 2nd time. Jesse Keyes, Alizarin Goldflake & soror Nishi picked up L$6,000 each in winning Legacy Awards for their work across the year for the IMAGINE Challenge, while Nyx Breen took home the Legacy Award for the FLAGSHIP Challenge.

The final month of this year long L$600,000 challenge, August saw a record shattering 103 submissions to the IMAGINE challenge with 6 Flagship Builds pushing the total across the year to 841 entries from more than 300 artists and builders. 6 of the 7 continents of the world are represented as entrants hailed from Venezuela, Belgium, Mexico, Wales, Canada, the USA, the UK, Uruguay, Scotland,England, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Cuba, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

Commenting on the win, Nish said, “My thanks go to Jayjay and quad for putting so much work in to organising these competitions. They deserve the biggest round of applause for their efforts and to everyone else involved through support and sponsorship in whatever way and that includes the artists, judges, and the people who come along to look and appreciate this great boost for second life art. I really feel proud to have taken part in these competitions. I only came looking for a sandbox to finish my Butterfly house off, but I think everyone in whatever life they have wants to feel that they have a purpose and I’d like to make a special thank you to JJ for spotting something that I hadn’t realised I had and am still even now finding hard to believe. I can only put my success down to being a bit of a perfectionist and never being satisfied with what I’ve done. Perhaps that helps, I don’t know, but these competitions have definitely paved a way forward for me that I really appreciate. Thank you everyone who’s made that possible. I know with the dedication that the UWA in SL has put in to the virtual art world they will go from strength to strength and I very much look forward to the coming years and to hopefully participating with UWA in making our second lives so much richer. I love you all. ”

In acceptance, Legacy Award winner Jesse Keyes said, “I am honored that i managed to hang on long enough to receive the UWA Legacy prize.
Its been a long year and I look forward to making and entering more contest builds in the up and coming year. I would like to thank all the people that have worked on setting up the contest and to Jay Jay Zifanwe for puting bugs in my ears on when the build is due (they were real bugs). Thanks again UWA for hosting such a geat event”. She emoted, “gets drunk and falls off the podium, waves to every one, uses trophy to crack walnuts.”

soror Nishi, fellow Legacy Award winner, and winner of the Honourable Mention Prize for JOY for August, with ‘Dotty the Dragon’ chimed in, “It’s a great thing to feel that what you try to do as an artist, that what you try to ‘say’ has been understood. An award is like someone saying ‘yes, soror, I agree’..and it makes it possible to go on creating, trying to express difficult ‘stuff’.”

The biggest winner on the night in terms of the number of awards won was Eliza Wierwight, whose cleverly named entry, THE SATIRICAL POLEMICIST won the 2nd overall IMAGINE prize (L$3,000), 2nd Prize in the People’s Choice Award (L$500) as well as the Rain Prize (L$1,000). “What an interesting journey from working in isolation for such a long time, then the genuine feeling that I am a part of the Arts Community family in Second Life as I do now. I’m smitten. While I’ll know I will always seek time to get delightfully lost in the process of creation in seclusion, it’s a reaffirming joy when I head back to shore to find such warm welcome as has been expressed in these awards I’ve been honored with today. If I was to say that a position in the People’s Choice is like an embrace, then the Imagine Challenge Prize and the Rain Prize on top of that had me floored with delight. My huge and genuine thanks to the SL Community , the University of Western Australia, my precious friends, my muse , the delightful Miss Q (quadrapop Lane) and the genuine and astounding Jayjay Zifanwe whom I am still honing an ever developing artistic temperament on just for the sheer amusment of it. Again, for everything , my sincere thanks.”

The Non-Scripted IMAGINE prize was won back to back for the first time every, by prim wizard nessuno Myoo with THE UNICORN WOOD EDITION. “I’m really happy and I want thank all for the great opportunity to show my works alongside all this masterpieces. For me it is a great honor.” Only he and soror Nishi have more than one piece in the reckoning for the Non-Scripted Grand Prize.

Corcosman Voom, who wan an Honourable Mention for the Legacy Award (L$4,500), also took the Bohemian Ghost Prize (L$1,000 + 600 prims on the Summerland SIM). “I was very pleased to have been awarded an Honourable Mention UWA Legacy prize and The Bohemina Ghost prize in this, the final round, of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge. It has been my pleasure to be able to exhibit my art this past year in the company of work by so many talented artists. I am very grateful to UWA and everyone associated with the Challenge for the opportunity it has given to so many people. Most of all, I appreciate the dedication and hard work Jayjay and quadrapop have put into making this project a success. Thank you both for making this a great year.”

A paradigm breaking piece called ‘ANTARCTICA – AN INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE’ by Glyph Graves won the Honourable Mention Prize for Second Life Wizardry. This must see work, uses real time data from weather stations in Antarctica to create an enchanting symphony of sound and light. The technical expertise required to create such a work is mind-boggling.

Gleman Jun was also a multiple award winner as his ‘STOP FEAR’ won the People’s Choice Award as well as the Honourable Mention (HM) Prize for Emotion. Other award winners included Oberon Onmura (Legacy Award HM), Oldoak Merlin (Casey Prize & FLAGSHIP HM), Blue Tsuki (HM Prize for Immersion), Gingered Alsop (HM Prize for Scripting Magic), Pinkpink Sorbet (Anton Mesmer HM Prize).

Joining the extended judging panel for the Grand Prize are art philanthropist & founding patron of UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, Phillip Vought, Paisley Beebe, CEO of Perfect World Productions TV and Jopsy Pendragon, creator of the Particle Laboratory Learning Centerhave who have all stepped in to take the place vacated by M Linden. They will have the entire month of September to make their decisions.

UWA is grateful to Bohemian Ghost and the Summerland Estate for raising L$33,000 which was put toward the Legacy Awards. Bohemian Ghost will also be part sponsoring the People’s Choice Award for the Grand Finale, along with the Residents of Artemesia who have been sponsoring the monthly People’s Choice Awards.

The Grand Prize Round is now open, and there is a People’s Choice Vote for this. There has been a beed over the past few weeks to rezz all the past winning flagships across the grid. We would like to acknowledge all those who have given up valuable prims and space to allow UWA to put up these flagships till the end of the voting period which is the 30th of September. They include Caren McCaw & Nyx Breen (of the Annapurna SIM), Dijodi Dubratt (Toor), quadrapop Lane (Poorlatrice), Kip Yellowjacket (Virtlantis), Lilli Field (Mysten), Phillip Vought (Acquitaine), Cuwynne Deerhunter & Eliza Wierwight (Patron) and the Linden Endowment for Arts (LEA).

This is the first time LEA land is being used and opened up to the public. One SIM of the LEA cluster has been opened up for this purpose.

The machinima challenge, MachinimUWA II: Art of the Artists, is ongoing, and closes on the 20th of September. & works have come in thus far from Tutsy Navarathna,spyvspy Aeon, Bryn Oh, Megan Merlin, Missy Restless and Yesikita Coppola. These Machinima feature the works that have been entered across the year to the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge. They are all linked on the blog http://www.uwainsl.blogspot.com/.

WINNERS OF THE AUGUST ROUND OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

IMAGINE CHALLENGE – 3D ART

LEGACY PRIZE (IMAGINE): $L6,000
Alizarin Goldflake
soror Nishi
Jesse Keyes

LEGACY PRIZE (FLAGSHIP): $L6,000
Nyx Breen

LEGACY PRIZE (Hon Mention): L$4,500
Oberon Onmura
Corcosman Voom

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
THE LAST OCEAN by Nish Mip

Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L3,000) JOINT
THE SATIRICAL POLEMICIST by Eliza Wierwigh

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD by Lea Supermarine

Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L3,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
THE UNICORN WOOD EDITION by Nessuno Myoo

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE – BUILDING DESIGN
Flagship Challenge 1st Prize : ($L5,000)
CONCEPT BUILDING FOR AXS LAB by Herick Straaf

Flagship Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L3,000)
UWA AXS LAB by Nyx Breen

Flagship Honourable Mention Prize: (L$1,000)
Oldoak Merlin

Honourable Mention Prize for EMOTION (L$1,000)
STOP FEAR by Gleman Jun

Honourable Mention Prize for SECOND LIFE WIZARDRY (L$1,000)
ANTARCTICA – AN INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE by Glyph Graves

Honourable Mention Prize for JOY (L$1,000)
DOTTY THE DRAGON by Soror Nishi

Honourable Mention Prize for IMMERSION (L$1,000)
THE DEEP by Blue Tsuki

Honourable Mention Prize for SCRIPTING MAGIC (L$1,000)
QUANTUM MATRIX by Gingered Alsop

THE ANTON MESMER Honourable Mention Prize (L$1,000)
PARTLY ANTSY CHAMBER by Pinkpink Sorbet

The RAIN PRIZE (L$1,000) – Established for one of the Founding Patron of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge
THE SATIRICAL POLEMICIST by Eliza Wierwight

CASEY PRIZE – JULY (L$4,000)
BLACK SWAN by Oldoak Merlin

THE BOHEMIAN GHOST PRIZE (L$1,000 + 600 Prims on the Summerland SIMM for at least 3 months)
THE AERIALIST by Corcosman Voom

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD – 1st prize (L$1,000):
STOP FEAR by Gleman Jun

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD – 2nd prize (L$500):
THE SATIRICAL POLEMICIST by Eliza Wierwight

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Linden Lab CEO starts to turn the ship

August 15, 2010 by 4 Comments

For Second Life residents, this time of year usually generates a lot of interest due to the Second Life Community Convention. There’s no shortage of that interest this year given the tumultuous year to date and the return of Philip Rosedale to the CEO role. In a fairly relaxed presentation, Rosedale laid out Linden Lab’s plans for the remainder of this year and into 2011. Some of it he’d covered previously in communications on the official Lab blog and in-world, but there was also plenty of new information. Highlights included:

  • A rebuttal of press and resident perceptions that Linden Lab are financially challenged, emphasising that the Lab have been profitable “for years” and that they remain on a “stable footing”
  • An outline of the strategy-setting process undertaken on Rosedale’s return to the CEO role (not surprisingly there was no substantive comment on the previous CEO or layoffs) – the aim is now to make Second Life “Fast, Easy and Fun”. There was an admission that currently the platform isn’t meeting those aims on a regular basis
  • The tactical plan for delivering the faster, easier and more fun Second Life involves:
    • a “back to basics”  approach to identify fundamental flaws in user experience and to fix them – lag being the biggest target.
    • a focus on “winning back the lead” that involves further innovation in-world around content creation, with the promise of software updates as often as weekly, to deliver a much-improved Viewer in addition to background improvements
    • working on “the economy” in a way that ensures growth and makes digital content delivery easier – removing the ‘box on the head’ syndrome that new residents can experience
  • Specific improvements promised by end of 2010:
    • Fixing latency of group chat and problems with region crossings / teleports
    • The time from logging in to being able to effectively use Second Life will be improved by a factor of two
    • Reducing crash rates further
    • “Markedly change” the number of avatars per region – the actual increase isn’t being committed to at this stage, but the intention for 2011 is to deliver “big, big jumps”
    • Controls on avatar complexity in order to help deliver the previous four points
  • A second list of longer-term commitments:
    • Second Life mesh-based content now that bandwidth and highly complex prim constructions make it an option performance-wise (a beta-version will be available for testing by year’s end)
    • A more sophisticated naming system including elimination of the surname restriction and further name customisation options
    • Background downloading of Viewer update
    • Teen Second Life is officially on schedule for termination, with 16 and 17 year-olds allowed to access the main grid given the clearer boundaries around adult content
    • A nod to the iPad as a potential Second Life delivery platform

You can watch the full 45-minute presentation plus all the follow-up questions below – it’s worth listening to the Q&A session as it covers key areas like Search problems, interoperability :

The take-home message from the presentation? Philip Rosedale is certainly back in the company with a vengeance, and the announcement of the roadmap and proposed changes is encouraging. That said, the Teen Grid closure and avatar complexity controls are likely to generate significant debate.

Rosedale said himself in the presentation that delivering the promises is what counts – there’s been no shortage of promise previously, with some of it delivered. The ratio between the two needs to get to 1:1 for Second Life to have a fighting chance of long-term survival. The most encouraging aspect is that Linden Lab’s CEO seems to understand that this is likely the last big strategic route change they can make before concerns on Second Life’s viability become an urgent issue for the company.

Over to you: what stands out for you as the positive and negative aspects of the Lab’s proposed direction?

Filed Under: Business, General News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Opportunity cost: not to be underestimated

July 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Here’s a true story: Like a lot of players, I have a Level 2 character in World of Warcraft that exists purely as a banking / auction house conduit (bank alt). I have another character that is leveling one of their professions and they needed a particular item sold for a measly one silver, 18 copper from one of the vendors right across from the auction house where my bank alt hangs out. 42 virtual steps in fact (yes I counted). It occurred to me to check the auction house to see if anyone was entrepreneurial enough to be selling that same item on the auction house for a mark-up. Sure enough, someone was, at 200 times its cost if bought from the vendor (around 2 gold). Not to be outdone, since that time I’ve sold a couple of the items each day for the same 20,000% markup. I’ve also started selling other items from the vendor at 1000-2000% markups.

For the regular MMO player, this is nothing new, and there’s screeds of research and opinion on MMO economies and player behaviour. I just hadn’t realised how endemic the issue of laziness is. Laziness is probably too negative a term in some respects, as for some people it’s probably just time efficient to buy everything from the auction house. If you’ve got 20,000 gold sitting in your bag and the item is 2 gold, then even at a huge markup it’s a no-brainer compared to trying to remember which vendor has it, let alone the time spent getting to them. It’s a simple example of the concept of opportunity cost (here’s one gamers perspective on it).

This issue has some obvious applicability to virtual worlds more broadly. In Second Life, I will quite often just go browsing at clothing stores that I’ve landmarked rather than try to find something new via the search function – few will argue that the Second Life viewer’s search function is a time sink. Social virtual worlds from Habbo to Frontierville have this concept down pat, making it as easy as possible to provide variety without excessive time expense. It’s a lesson that the more mature worlds are absorbing – it’s the speed of learning that will determine who succeeds and who doesn’t. At this stage, platforms like Second Life, Twinity and Blue Mars are walking the fine line between innovation and an opportunity cost too big for a critical mass of people to bear.

Over to you: what aspects of virtual worlds do you avoid because the time / expense isn’t worth it for you?

Filed Under: Business, General News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Susa Bubble: saving the art from censorship

June 23, 2010 by 2 Comments

You may have seen a story on New World Notes today about the removal of an installation from the 7th birthday celebrations for Second Life.

First, some context. The installation is titled Susa Bubble, and it looks like this:

(You can check it out for yourself in-world or you can view a higher-res pic here)

The creator, Rose Borchovski sums up the issue from her perspective:

The Kiss has been returned to me from the SL7B sims where Linden is celebrating Secondlife. I quote “The images on your build are in violation of our general rating, to be clear: Nudity is not allowed at art events with a general maturity rating.”
I would like to point out and educate Linden Lab that most of classic and contemporary art is based upon nudity. Not because of Sex, but because of the beauty and the vulnerability of the human body, the human body we all share and look at in the bathroom mirror in the early morning.

The story of Susa is a sweet but savage story, told in image and text, sound and installation. It is about our dark inside, but also shows how vulnerable and lonely we all can be. My art shows a naked body, but it is not about nudity or sex.

Art being shown at a public art event of Linden means pretty pictures that bring aesthetic pleasure void of all critical thinking. Culture must be “safe” / sterile, no matter how free of content that makes it. As implemented by LL, “Community Standards” means content so content less that no viewer has even a remote chance of being caused to think about anything, to question any of their values or assumptions. Safe in SL means safe from thought.

When I protested against it in the group chat I was shut out .I was told not to discuss it in SL7B Group Chat “because this isn’t the place” — because NO place is the place to discuss it — because we don’t even want to think or let others think about the ideas we don’t want to think about

The worst part of censorship is not that which is censored, but the climate of self-censorship it imposes on all artists. Art is about having a voice. Art is about thinking differently and about thinking from fresh perspectives. When artists are not allowed to have a voice, culture is not allowed to progress.
When I hide my susas nakedness, I have stopped telling her story.

Nothing is more resistant to authoritarian control than a naked body. Control & conformity require uniforms. Nudity is too wild and uncontrolled. When you know my Susa Bubble story you can see it isn’t really even about “nudity” but that just suggests how powerful the forces for thinking-avoidance-at-all-costs are. Better to censor the world than risk allowing in a question that could topple the status quo. Authority does not like questions. Authority does not like creativity. Authority does not like art. Authority does not like nudity.

I did not bring my installation to the celebration to publicize myself, I make in art in SL because I want to share my Susa story and touch people

Greetings Rose Borchovski

Take another look at the picture above and then explain to me how it really qualifies as nudity? And remember, Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon has had his own art exhibited in Second Life. Sure, there needs to be some boundaries around what is acceptable but is it just me that finds that boundary to be just a little tight?

If you clicked on the SLURL above you will have ended up on the University of Western Australia sim which is now hosting the installation. Jayjay Zifanwe from UWA loved the installation and offered to host it, not in protest but in admiration of the work.

Which is the sort of collaborative attitiude Linden Lab could have adopted in their dealings with Rose Borchovski.

On top of everything else the Lab have been involved in over the past week – did this need to occur?

The final word belongs to Rose:

“It would be wonderful to take this oppertunity to have a fresh look at art and Second Life and what it means to Linden, to have so many artist creating”

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Linden Dollars: where’s the panic?

June 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

I have to say I was a little bemused at the announcement by Linden Lab of their faith in the strength of the Linden dollar, after a selling run over the past 24-48 hours. On checking the current rate, it shows a 10.4 million Linden exchange throughput with the exchange rate deteriorating to 307.9 Lindens per US dollar at its worst but now bouncing back to 288 at time of writing.

Based on a rough benchmark of 285 or so (which is around half-way between today’s low and average highs over recent months), that’s a less than 10% decline. Sure the volume is up, but did it require a full expression of confidence? Like any such expression, it can cause concern rather than provide reassurance. It also arguably shows a lack of confidence in the cohort of veteran Second Life residents who are on the whole likely to sit through any short-term fluctuations like this.

I had a brief chat to Tateru Nino this afternoon and she made the great point that supply of Linden Dollars on the exchange does tend to rise when there’s a decline of faith in Linden Lab – it’s not a lack of faith in the currency itself. This has been acknowledged to some extent in Linden Lab’s announcement, but perhaps a better tack might have been to provide some more transparency around its recent changes. There’s also another angle that could have been taken: that any fluctuation in the exchange rate can bring benefits as well as challenges. If any government expressed confidence in its currency every time it fluctuated 5-10%, there’d potentially be a lot more fluctuations.

Expressing faith in any currency can set alarm bells ringing, so here’s hoping for some more information in coming days to show that faith as justified. For mine, I did log in to look at buying some Linden Dollars if the decline had been significant. That’s the type of reaction that you’d expect from a Second Life resident with a longer-term view, who’s also happy to make a buck 😉

Filed Under: Business, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

May 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. Car manufacturer Ford has started using a virtual human to improve the ergonomics of its manufacturing plants.

2. In a month’s time, Second Life’s 7th Birthday celebrations kick off.

3. I hadn’t stumbled across the world of Tinier Me until received a press release from their PR company announcing the debut of “popular Japanese anime character, Gloomy Bear”. Now you know.

4. Crisp Thinking, the company behind the NetModerator platform for MMOs / virtual worlds, has announced multi-language support with the addition of French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Russian. Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin) and Korean are on the way as well.

5. Prolific machinima creator Draxtor Despres has created a nice overview of an upcoming iteration of the Amputee Virtual Support System on the SL Enterprise platform:

Filed Under: General News, Health, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Body image study: last chance for participation

May 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Back in January we promoted a study being undertaken by Doctorate student Jon-Paul Cacioli on body image in virtual worlds (the study participants need to be aged 18 or over and be male). Click here for the survey link

The response over recent months has been good be Jon-Paul needs a few more people to take part in the survey:

We have introduced an amazon gift voucher of $100 which will be randomly drawn from all participants who entered after data analysis is complete. If individuals have already entered prior to the prize they can email me at jcaci@deakin.edu.au and I will add them to the draw.

Thanks for your help

So why not jump in and assist in developing the body of knowledge in an area we all know fairly well – the results could be interesting to say the least.

Filed Under: Australian News, Education, Non-Profit, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

UWA Art Competition: April Winners

May 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The relentless creative behemoth that is the University of Western Australia’s 3D Art & Design Challenge continues its journey, with another large number of entries and interesting judging results. The full results can be read below, but the other noteworthy aspects are the creation of the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, a space “dedicated for not-for-profit Art, Education & Charity events”, the creation of a Science and Art competition in partnership with some Italian academics, and the selection of UWA’s Second Life presence as one of 100 treasures for a book to published as part of the UWA’s centenary celebrations.

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it a lot more times, the UWA presence in Second Life would have to be one of the most dynamic, inclusive and expansive virtual worlds projects around. The yearly judging on the art competition is going to be one large challenge and it’s a privilege to be involved.

Also, Iono Allen has created a great machinima showcasing all the April winners:

For the dedicated, here’s the full announcement of the April winners:

Julez torments IMAGINE! Lili pips Nyx at the line: April Winners of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge

A chilling work where a demon captures your soul, by Julez Odigaunt has taken the top IMAGINE Arts prize ($L5,000) for the April round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge. The piece, JULIA’S MAGIC MIRROR – DEMON, beat out an amazing field of 67 international artists, including past IMAGINE winner Glyph Graves who took out 2nd prize with his incredible immersive work, ORGANIC RECURVE. Meanwhile in the FLAGSHIP building design challenge Lili Field’s EYE OF THE BEHOLDER managed to stop an unprecedented 5th win for Nyx Breen, whose UWA AxS Lab was pipped at the post into 2nd place.

Going one better than her runners-up prize in the March round, Julia said, “What a great honor! I was quite shocked. The initial Mirror was inspired by a dark yet whimsical gypsy circus which Atomic Gaffer built. Then i decided to go darker, more haunting and it is the exact reaction that I aimed for that folks received when they interacted with the mirror. Thank you UWA for this wonderful honor and acknowledgment.”

Following the announcements yesterday at the traditional winners announcement party at the UWA SIM, Lili was shocked at her win, and the ever gracious Nyx said, “Once again UWA is an exciting wonderful experience all should partake in. To the artist and builders a wonderful job.”

Two-thirds into the year long challenge, the judging panel had a very tough time of it with amazing pieces across the board. Sharni Azalee, whose piece, THE ABYSS, won the non-scripted prize said, “A woman’s handbag, the mystifying abyss, where the bravest of men fear to tread. I was honored to receive the award for non scripted exhibit and overjoyed that so many men took the challenge and entered the dark realms of a woman’s handbag 😉 it’s ok, we wont make u carry them :). Thank you to all at UWA, your support and encouragement has allowed me to find a place that I can express myself in a way I never knew possible.”

“I would like to thank the Academy… oh sorry. wrong award. I’m humbled and thankful and now I’m motivated to try to top this work.”. said the Wizard Gynoid, ever the joker in romping her way to the Honourable Mention Prize for Synchronicity with her piece ANIMATED E8,

Italian artist Gleman Jun (Honourable Mention : 10 SECONDS OF SL), on the other hand was philosophical, “Creation becomes art only when it meets the recognition by those who appreciate it. Wining this prize means discovering that one has taken the right path towards the realization of oneself.”

Samara Borkotron and Gumby Roffo were the winners of the$L4,000 Casey Prize (artworks representing an aspect of Western Australia) for March and for April, while The People’s Choice Award was won by the effervescent Miso Susanowa, and her LADY WITH FAN. “I am very honored that my Lady, who danced into my world, pleases so many people as she did me when I saw her first in a single prim. I am also honored to be among such great artists and the wonderful and heartening work and support of Jayjay, Quadrapop and the UWA for all artists.”

Other winners include Ivy Lane, Daco Monday, Maya Paris and Glamorama Flux (whose work ART ATTACK was the first ever piece she has had on display)

Some other exciting developments with the UWA presence were announce at the awards ceremony. First of all, the Universiy of Western Australia in RL celebrates its centenerary in 2011. For this 100 year anniversary, a special hard cover glossy book is being produced called ‘UWA’s 100 Treasures’ and the ‘UWA presence in Second Life’ has been selected to be one of those treasures!

Also on the 8th of May 2010, the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre. a space dedicated for not-for-profit Art, Education & Charity events was officially launched. Built by Patch Thibaud, this beautiful new venue has been set up jointly by Best of Second Life (BOSL) and the Unversity of Western Australia (UWA) as part of UWA’s and BOSL’s aims of community service and support of Education and the Arts.

This space will be available free of charge for anyone wanting to organize such events.

Taralyn Gravois has been appointed as Director of the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre. She has run a 4 SIM theatre in the past, and has a deep love and respect for the arts. In RL she was an award winning television producer for more than a decade. Anyone wanting to run events at the theatre, please contact her.

A partnership has also been formed between UWA, Second Physics and SL Art and Experience Italy for a Science & Art Competition for which registrations close on the 12th of May. The Competition aims to create artworks that communicate scientific concepts, with this first edition devoted to Physics. This is very important to UWA, as the UWA’s SL project is led by the School of Physics. Anyone interested in taking part do send registrations to Majorie Fargis by the 12th of May. Professor Franco Fabbri (RL), a Visiting Scientist at CERN who works on elementary particles, is one of the key people behind this effort.

The University of Western Australia would like to thank the Cultural Precinct at the University of Western Australia, ShedworX.com, the Casey Family of Western Australia, www.etshirts.com, MidnightRain Glas, Sasun Steinbeck, Galea Yates, Tranguloid Trefoil, Lowell Cremorne & Phillip Vought for their continued support of the UWA3D Art & Design Challenge

WINNERS OF THE APRIL ROUND OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

IMAGINE CHALLENGE – 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
JULIA’S MAGIC MIRROR – DEMON by Julez Odigaunt

Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L1,250)
ORGANIC RECURVE by Glyph Graves

Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)
THE ABYSS by Sharni Azalee

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE – BUILDING DESIGN
Flagship Challenge 1st Prize : ($L5,000)
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER by Lilli Field

Flagship Challenge 2nd Prize : ($L1,250)
AxS GALLERY by Nyx Breen

Honourable Mention Prize for GATEWAY TO THE SOUL (L$500)
10 SECONDS OF SL by Gleman Jun

Honourable Mention Prize for SYNCHRONICITY (L$500)
ANIMATED E8 by The Wizard Gynoid

Honourable Mention Prize for CHARITY (L$500)
HELPING HANDS by Ivy Lane

Honourable Mention Prize for COLOUR (L$500)
LUCE E COLORI by Daco Monday

Honourable Mention Prize for TEXTURE & INTERACTION (L$500)
NIGHT BIRD by Maya Paris

THE ANTON MESMER Honourable Mention Prize (L$500)
ART ATTACK by Glamorama Flux

CASEY PRIZE – MARCH (L$4,000)
JUXTAPOSED by Samara Borkotro

CASEY PRIZE – APRIL (L$4,000)
ROUND HOUSE by Gumby Roff

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD (L$500):
LADY WITH FAN by Miso Susanowa

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

ME/CFS Awareness Art Exhibition

May 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In late March we profiled some work being done by Australians in regards to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).

That work has continued, with the launch of an art exhibition occurring this Wednesday May 12th, 6-8pm SL time (11am – 1pm Thursday 13th AEST).

All the works exhibited are by people living with ME/CFS. To have a closer look for yourself, here’s where to go or you can view some pictures of the exhibition space here.

The picture leading this post is an example of the excellent work on show, so take the time to visit if you can.

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

An endless map

April 28, 2010 by 2 Comments

It’s safe to say that one of the most discussed areas of virtual environments is the link between the ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’. Like any philosophical debate, there’s a minefield of perspectives, preconceptions, research and outright conflict. So to attempt an objective discussion on ‘mapping’ the parallels between the two spheres is quite an undertaking, and that’s what Dmitri Williams has done.

I’ve spent the past six weeks digesting Williams’ lengthy piece titled The mapping principle, and a research framework for virtual worlds. Attempting to summarise the whole is nearly pointless and I’d strongly recommend taking the time to read the whole paper, as it addresses some key issues that are far from resolved.

What’s particularly appealing to me with the paper is its direct dissection of some of the hyperbole around the validity of mapping the real to the virtual, and the commitment to a research framework that may help drive some higher quality research into the future. The framework amongst other things recognises a key issue in virtual worlds research – comparing like with like:

Therefore a strong assumption of this framework is that we cannot automatically treat virtual worlds as equivalent to one another. The reasons for this lie in the concepts of code and social architecture… behavior in virtual spaces is governed by software as much as by laws, markets or social norms. In real space we take it for granted that we can walk but not fly, or talk with people who are in hearing distance. These abilities and limitations are not safe to assume in virtual spaces where the affordances and limitations of human actions and interactions are whatever the code says they are. Indeed, they may all be flipped. Code may also control who can interact with whom, when and how.

To the seasoned virtual worlds observer this may seem self-evident, but the development of well thought out research frameworks assists those for whom virtual environments are a subject for investigation and more specifically those who have no significant experience with virtual worlds but recognise their value for expanding knowledge. As Williams says: “the field of virtual worlds research is poised to take off”, and work like this is going to help ensure the momentum has some sort of guidance system.

It’s also worth spending some time sifting through the comments on the paper’s blog post on Terra Nova, as there’s some significant commentary and debate on the paper and related issues.

Over to you: if you’re interested in virtual worlds research, do you see the fleshing out of the mapping concept a worthwhile pursuit?

Filed Under: Education, General News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

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