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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:

UWA Art: March winners and a three-year continuation

April 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The University of Western Australia continues its 3D Art and Design Challenge, announcing the March winners. All those details are replicated in full below thanks to the indefatigable Jayjay Zifanwe and the UWA in SL blog.

What’s even more impressive is the announcement that the UWA have agreed to fund the monthly competition for a further three years, to the tune of a million Linden dollars per year for art and half a million for machinima. That equates to around US$6000 per year on top of maintaining the UWA presence, which is certainly a demonstration of confidence by the University. It also extends the life of the competition to August 2013, ensuring exposure of a lot of artists over that time.

Onto the March winners:

Fuschia & Flivelwitz snatch IMAGINE, Breen machine chugs on: March Winners of UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge

For the very first time, a collaborative work has taken the top IMAGINE Arts prize for the March round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge. The enchanting and enveloping HEATH, created by Fuschia Nightfire & Flivelwitz Alsop held off a very strong field of 55 works from artists all across SL in taking the $L5,000 first prize. Meanwhile in the FLAGSHIP building design challenge, no one seems capable of supooing Nyx Breen who has now won 4 of the 7 to FLASHIP prizes as this yearlong competition has crossed into month 8!

First time entrant, Flivelwitz and veteran Fuschia were thrilled and stunned to have taken the top gong. “Well i suspected we had won something! but not this”, said Fuschia, while Flivelwitz when asked to comment said “It is exciting to be the first to win in a collaboration at the UWA”.

The top 3 in fact were very close, and for the first time ever, a joint 2nd prize was awarded to Julez Odigaunt & Kolor Fall for their incredible works, JULIA’S WILTING HEART SHRINE & OCEANS OF LIGHT.

“Its such an honor that UWA appreciated Julia’s Wilting Heart Shrine. It is a very personal piece and I am glad it was well received. I would like to thank Ulrich Lionheart, the author of the poem. His words are so powerful and full of emotion – purely expressing what I was feeling at the time – it inspired me to create a shrine that allowed me to expose the mindset I was in at the time. It was quite healing” said Julez.

With Nyx’s back to back to back win in March to go with his October win taking his tally to 4, seems it will take some doing to dislodge Nyx who has declared that he will have one FLAGSHIP build submitted each month for the rest of the competition. It is going to take some doing to stop Nyx from having more than half of the entries that will come under consideration for the Grand Prize!

Following the announcements yesterday at the traditional winners announcement party at the UWA SIM, Nyx said, ” I would like to state that outside of developing some wonderful friendships in Second Life, that nothing has been as enjoyable as participating in an event that has truly global and groundbreaking results as the UWA Flagship Challenge. UWA has taken a small art show and made it a must see destination in the Cyber world and an event that if missed in Second Life, then one doesn’t understand the true potential of what was envisioned as the purpose of Second Life… creativity shared across a medium that brings us all closer.Great Job UWA, JJ & Quad and all that help make this possible.”

The best non-scripted entry was BLOOM GLOW by Gumby Roffo, another vetran of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge, while Sharni Azalee’s FOREST OF DREAMS was voted top for the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD!

The Artist Book Prize, being awarded for the final time, went to Miranda Mhia work, STANDING ROOM ONLY. UWA would like to thank Juanita Deharo, Victor Vezina and Juko Temple for making this award possible.

Other winners include Sundog Branner, Ichiko Miles, Gleman Jun, Betty Tureand and Nish Mip. Full list below.

Some other exciting things were also mentioned during the awards ceremony. First of all, UWA played host both in SL & RL to the Big Kahuna himself M Linden, who for the very first time in any universe was displaying his wonderful artworks. These can still be seen at a permanent exhibition within at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery which is on one of the 5 UWA SIMS.

This space has been listed as an SL destination for the Arts, which is the 2nd location within the UWA SIMS designated as an SL destination for the Arts, the other one being UWA’s Art & Design Challenge platform.

You can hear M Linden’s speech and watch some of the wonderful machinima created for the event on the UWA in Second Life Blog.

The next wonderful thing, is because of all the good news and publicity surrounding the machinima, the art & design competition and M’s show, UWA have been given funding for the Arts & Machinima for a further 3 years following then end of this current cycle in August 2010. The funding have received will allow UWA to provide L$1,000,000 per year for Art Challenges and L$500,000 for Machinima.

Also mentioned was the work of Lili Field, an Australian RL architect who has recreated UWA’s School of Business Building. A replica created based on the original buidling plans of an incredible award winning build at UWA .

IMAGINE CHALLENGE – 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
HEATH by Flivelwitz Alsop & Fuschia Nightfire
Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L1,250) JOINT
OCEANS OF LIGHT by Kolor Fall/Patrick Faith
JULIA’S WILTING HEART SHRINE by Julez Odigaunt
Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)
BLOOM GLOW by Sledge Roffo

Casey WA Cultural Prize 1st Prize (L$4,000)

TBA

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE – BUILDING DESIGN
Flagship Challenge 1st Prize : ($L5,000)
AxS GALLERY by Nyx Breen (4th time winner)

Honourable Mention Prize for ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES (L$500)
PRIMATAR’S LOVE: THE EVOLUTION by Gleman Jun

THE ANTON MESMER Honourable Mention Prize (L$500)
KINETIC-ART ELLIPTIC THREADS by Sundog Branner

Honourable Mention Prize for ARTISTRY (L$500):
HERA’S LYRE by Ichiko Miles

Honourable Mention Prize for TEXTURE & ATMOSPHERE (L$500):
BUTTERFLY HOUSE by Nish Mip – submitted for the FLAGSHIP Challenge

ARTIST BOOK PRIZE – 1st Prize (L$2,000):
STANDING ROOM ONLY – Miranda Mhia

ARTIST BOOK PRIZE – Honourable Mention (L$500):

WOMEN ARE AFRICAS HOPE – Betty Tureand

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD (L$500):

FOREST OF DREAMS by Sharni Azalee

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

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

April 2, 2010 by 1 Comment

1. The US-based Global Kids are holding a Winter 2010 Roundtable on Virtual Worlds and Nonprofits on Monday April 12, from 12-1pm PST (7-8am on Tuesday 13th AET) on MacArthur Island in Second Life.

The purpose is presentations from six nonprofit organisations on “their initial explorations of Second Life and other virtual worlds, and how they are thinking of integrating these virtual tools into their organizations’ respective missions”. Those organisations presenting are: Child Welfare League of America, Health Consumers Alliance of South Australia, Hip-Hop Education Center, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc and V.O.I.C.E. Community Development Corp.”

2. As covered last week, the M Linden Art Show hit the University of Western Australia in Second Life and on UWA’s physical campus as well. There’s a great round-up here. There’s also a machinima of the launch by Chantal Harvey that you can view:

3. Linden Lab have announced a significant upgrade to their new user orientation experience. There’s some in-opinion on it here and here to name two. If you want to see it for yourself, you’ll need to register yourself a new avatar.

4. Terra Nova has a great piece on where social worlds like Farmville fit into the scheme of things.

5. Our Metaverse Reader iPhone app now has a userbase numbering in the hundreds. Version 2 is about to be submitted for approval and it contains some big enhancements, and we’ve already added a couple more sites to the app. Why not check it out for yourself?

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

Linden Lab CEO’s art show in Second Life: UWA scores again

March 24, 2010 by 3 Comments

Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon / M Linden isn’t the sort of guy associated heavily with Second Life’s burgeoning art scene. So it’s a little surprising to find out he’s about to have his first art exhibition.

What’s less surprising, at least to me, is that the exhibition will be occurring as part of the University of Western Australia’s presence in Second Life. I’ve said previously that the ongoing art and machinima competitions there are some of the best anywhere, so it’s a deserved location for exhibitions like these.

The momentum that has been generated and maintained by the UWA team has been nothing short of astounding, and things only seem to be growing further. Back to M Linden, here’s how he describes his history as an artist:

From the time I was 6 years old until I was 20, I had planned to be a painter. As I was contemplating graduating from college with a fine arts degree and all that being an artist entails, I decided to make a hard left turn and follow a radically different path. I changed my major to economics, graduated and went on to business school to get a graduate degree. I doodle to focus my mind and I can do it for hours. But, I prefer doodles that I can complete in one short sitting. I gravitate to repetitive constructs of unbroken intersecting lines or interconnected parallelograms…you could call them “dynamic connected systems.” I guess my art and my interest in economics shared this “connected systems” construct.

Drawing in 3D in Second Life wonderful. I can think bigger and do more in Second Life. It’s changed the way I think about art. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. said it best: “Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.

The Exhibition is called Doodle Art and its opening is on Saturday 27th March at 3pm SLT (9am Sunday morning AEDT), at the UWA’s Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery. You can get a glimpse in Larkworthy Antfarm’s machinima here:

There’s also real world event taking place at the University this Friday, hosted by artist Len Zuks – contact Jayjay Zifanwe in-world if you’re interested in attending that.

Credits for the exhibition as supplied by Jayjay Zifanwe:

The Curator: White Lebed
UWA Owner & Co-Host: JayJay Zifanwe
The Gallery builders: The Slingshot, Nyx Breen
Logo by: Miso Susanowa
Promotional Machinimas: Chantal Harvery and Larkworthy Antfarm
RL Host at UWA: Len Zuks

Again, congrats to the UWA team for their work. Whether you like M Linden’s art or not, it’s certainly an acknowledgement of the work done by UWA to date and hopefully a good indicator of ongoing success.

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

UWA’s Machinima competition: beauty and success

February 10, 2010 by 3 Comments

On Monday the University of Western Australia in Second Life had a bash to announce the winners of its MachinimUWA Challenge. What started out as a L$10,000 prize ended up as L$215,000 thanks to the entries being viewed by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson.

You can view each of the entries below, with the descriptions all provided by the UWA’s resident dynamo, Jayjay Zifanwe. If you take the time to view each, you’re likely to agree that the overall quality of entries has been very strong. I don’t envy the 12-member international judging panel for the decisions they had to make on the shortlist of thirteen. The final results were:

Winner
CISKO VANDEVERRE, Berlin, Germany
SEEK

“The judges thought that this was an absolute firecracker of a Machinima with a brilliant and very different approach. This had wonderful humour, amazing visual effects, great quality of editing and remarkable camera control.”

Second Prize
BRADLEY CURNOW, Perth, Australia
MachinimUWA: Art Architecture, Research, Teaching

“With Bradley’s work, the judges felt this had wonderful velocity with fantastic cutting to music transients, an epic soundtrack and showed off the “4 main elements” to great effect.”

Third Prize
COLEMARIE SOLEIL, Florida USA
UWA Machinima Challenge Submission

“ColeMarie’s brilliant modern and edgy piece was another favourite. Responding to the announcement, she said, ‘I would like to thank all the artists involved in the creation of the UWA sims,and to UWA in particular, for this terrific opportunity to creatively express myself. To all my friends who gave me my space and understood how much working on this project meant to me, to JayJay for asking me to make this video, and Surrealia Anatine for getting me into machinima to start with. To energy drinks for keep me working late into the night, and Bryn Oh for ‘subtle’ yet threatening encouragements to finish this video.’ ”

Honourable Mention
MASTERDARK FOOTMAN, Dallas, Texas, USA
The Heart of UWA

(video unavailable)

Honourable Mention
CHANTAL HARVEY, Maastricht, Netherlands
University of Western Australia in Second Life

Honourable Mention
LASLOPANTOMIK YAO, Barcelona, Spain
MachinimUWA

Finalist
PYEWACKET BELLMAN, New York City, USA
University of Western Australia in Second Life

Finalist
SOPHIA YATES, Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA
The Challenge – Architecture, Teaching, Research Arts on the UWA sims

Finalist
IONO ALLEN, Paris, France
Seek Wisdom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2knumdykcAE&feature=channel

Finalist
GLASZ DECUIR, San Sebastian, Spain
MachinimUWA: UWA in Second Life, Achieving International Excellence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK0GQ_kENNI

Finalist
NOVA DYSZEL, Toronto, Canada
UWA in SL Challange

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFkr7wIwZAs

Finalist
MASTERDARK FOOTMAN, Dallas, Texas, USA
UWA Jan 2010

(video unavailable)

Finalist
SOPHIA YATES, Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA
Second Life Virtual University of Western Australia

Details of Judging Panel

1. Professor Alan Robson (RL) – Vice-Chancellor, The University of Western Australia
2. Professor Ted Snell (RL) – Director, Cultural Precinct, The University of Western Australia
3. A/Professor Wade Halvorson (RL) – Lecturing in Marketing, Business and Electronic Commerce, The University of Western Australia
4. Colin Campbell Fraser (RL) – Principal Adviser (External Relations and Advocacy),
Vice-Chancellery, The University of Western Australia
5. Kelly Smith (RL) – Director, International Centre, The University of Western Australia
6. Jon Stubbs (RL) – Director, Student Services, The University of Western Australia
7. Susana Willis-Johnson (RL) – Marketing Manager, The University of Western Australia
8. Dr Carmen Fies (RL) – Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at San Antonio
9. Torley Linden (SL) – Linden Labs
10. White Lebed (SL) – Lead of Burning Life Art Department, Curator
11. Raphaella Nightfire (SL) – CEO SW&MB Fashion Productions, CEO Evane Model Agency, Snr Writer Best of SL Magazine
12. Jayjay Zifanwe (SL) – Owner of The University of Western Australia (SL), Creator & co-host of the UWA 3D Art& Design Challenge

The final word from Jayjay Zifanwe:

“In the words of Torley Linden as he was being TP’ed out at the end of the ceremony to attend to Viewer 2.0 matters, ‘This has been awesometastic!’. Yes Torley. It has indeed.”

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, User-generated, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

February 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. One of Second Life’s most innovative content creators, Ordinal Malaprop, has shuttered his business. Find out why.

2. Forterra have had some business challenges over recent months including laying off staff at the end of 2009. Their OLIVE virtual environment has been bought out by the Science Applications International Corporation. All the details here – this will hopefully be a positive outcome for a virtual environment under somewhat of a cloud.

3. Twinity continues its expansion with a growth in Virtual London: “These areas will include famous buildings and monuments, from the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace to the Millennium Bridge, and the Trocadero. With this, Virtual London, will have grown to the east and south of its present spread, while also marking a foray across the virtual Thames.”

4. Virtual World Best Practices in Education 2010: the call for presentations has gone out. Their website contains all the information you need.

5. The University of WA have announced the finalists of their Machinima Challenge. You can read all the details on the excellent UWA in SL blog, but here’s the list of finalists:

MASTERDARK FOOTMAN, Dallas, Texas, USA
The Heart of UWA

COLEMARIE SOLEIL, Florida, USA
UWA Machinima Challenge

PYEWACKET BELLMAN, New York City, USA
University of Western Australia in Second Life

CHANTAL HARVEY, Maastricht, Netherlands
University of Western Australia in Second Life

CISKO VANDEVERRE, Berlin, Germany
SEEK

SOPHIA YATES, Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA
The Challenge – Architecture, Teaching, Research Arts on the UWA sims

IONO ALLEN, Paris, France
Seek Wisdom

GLASZ DECUIR, San Sebastian, Spain
MachinimUWA: UWA in Second Life, Achieving International Excellence

LASLOPANTOMIK YAO, Barcelona, Spain
MachinimUWA

BRADLEY DORCHESTER, Perth, Australia
MachinimUWA: Art Architecture, Research, Teaching

NOVA DYSZEL, Toronto, Canada
UWA in SL Challenge

MASTERDARK FOOTMAN, Dallas, Texas, USA
UWA Jan 2010

SOPHIA YATES, Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA
Second Life Virtual University of Western Australia

The winner announcement is coming up on the 8th February at 1pm SL time, with Torley Linden making an appearance.

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

UWA Art 3D Art and Design competition: December 2009 winners

January 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The University of WA’s 3D Art and Design competition continues its significant momentum, with the December 2009 winners now announced. The full announcement below, plus you can view pictures of all the entrants on the UWA in SL blog.

As on of the finalist judges, each month makes me more nervous as I realise the depth of talent amongst the artists that have submitted so far. As always, have a look for yourself – the range of art and sculpture is astounding. The December round saw more than 70 entries across the different categories, so it’s an understatement to say there’s lots of interest.

The winners announced:

Igor Ballyhoo & Patch Thibaud truimph in DECEMBER ROUND of UWA 3D Art & Design

Two incredible works took out top honours in the December Round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge announced on the 10th of January at the University of Western Australia’s IMAGINE Challenge Art Platform. On the tie-breaker ‘Chaos In Order’ by Igor Ballyhoo took the top IMAGINE art prize over Anyunie Daviau’s ‘Araucaria Artist Book’ (which won the Artist Book Prize), and renowned architect Patch Thibaud’s submission called ‘UWA Cultural Precinct Nexus’ beat all comers and set a new standard for the FLAGSHIP Challenge.

Igor also took the People’s Choice Award in another close battle that saw over 300 votes cast. This time it was neck and neck with ‘The Cub Rescue’ by Really Scrabblebat and came down to the final hour of voting. An amazing double by Igor, becoming the first to top both categories!

Stunned by the awards win, Igor said, ” I thank all people that voted for my work and I thank the amazing J.S. Bach for inspiration”

The Flagship Build of Patch Thibaud is true masterpiece and has already received a lot of attention in architecture circles. Frolic Mills, a judge for the Grand Prize and CEO of BOSL & CO said, “Patch has been an inspiration to many here in Second Life: From his first build, ‘The Best of SL Boulevard’ to ‘Ciudad de Mexico’ he has received outstanding critics even from people like SL CEO: Mr. M Linden. But what is trully remarkable about his University of Western Australia enty is that Patch was able to build something that can totally be executed in Real Life and that fits right in with the purposes of the University. I would love to see this art gallery come to life in the real world some day! Well done Patch and congratulations!”

Commenting after his win, Patch said, “The University of Western Australia is doing a wonderful thing, in their Flagship Challenge, for architecture in Second Life. The idea of encouraging creations in SL that could be used for a real world building is an innovative and exciting use of Second Life as a design tool, and further strenghthens the relationship of SL with real world applications. And I think the inclusiveness and openness of the process is an inspired and fertile platform for encourageing the arts in SL in general.”

The build can be seen here through the end of January: http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20WA/70/128/1999

A record total of 69 entries were submitted for the IMAGINE challenge for December and 5 entries to the FLAGSHIP. Professor Ted Snell, Director of the UWA Cultural Precinct (RL), Chair of the judging panel, had this to say about the entries this month:

“The range of works submitted in December was extremely impressive with a much larger number of entries moving on from technical competence in rendering images and objects to speak with an original voice and engage audiences in a conceptually challenging and intellectually rewarding encounter. The winning works were reflective and thought provoking, using the medium as a means of exploring ideas and concepts rather than merely re-presenting borrowed images or reworking existing concepts. They remain vividly in your memory after the screen has been switched off.

The architectural winner displayed a high level of sophistication and combined extraordinary technical competence with intellectual rigour and practicality. ”

At this point, the Challenge has reached 6 continents of the world, with only Antarctica out of the mix. Canada, the USA, the UK, Scotland, England, Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan and Australia are all represented!

A number of other awards were also presented including the the ‘Best Non-Scripted Art’ prize taken by Sistagrlro Wei with ‘Black Soils Plains Running Through My Veins’. Other winners included Miso Susanowa, Jedda Zenovka, Nyx Breen, Scottius Polke, LollyPop Congrejo, Asmita Duranjaya and Oldoak Merlin.

The competition is now receiving entries for the month of January. Location is http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/64/132/250

A new prize has also been added to the IMAGINE Challlenge, and this is ‘The Casey Cultural Award’, which encourages artists and builders in all disciplines to research Western Australian historic OR contemporary Culture and present a piece which demonstrates aspects of Western Australian culture, ecomony or society.

A Machinima Challenge with a L$60,000 1st prize, closing on the 31st of January has also been announced.
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2009/12/machiniuwa-uwa-machinima-challenge.html

WINNERS FOR THE DECEMBER ROUND

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
CHAOS IN ORDER by Igor Ballyhoo

Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L1,250)
AURACARIA ARTIST BOOK by Anyunie Daviau

Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)
BLACK SOIL PLAINS RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS by Sistagrlro Wei

Honourable Mention Prize for TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE (L$500)
VECTOR BEEHIVE by Scottius Polke

Honourable Mention Prize for SERENITY (L$500)
RADIANT STALLIONS by Miso Susanowa

Honourable Mention Prize for MESSAGE (L$500)
SPRAY ADDICT by LollyPop Congrejo

Honourable Mention Prize for BODY OF WORK (L$500)
WORKING FOR YOU & ME, DEVOTIONAL TRINITY & MECHANICAL BIRDS by Oldoak Merlin

Honourable Mention Prize for IMMERSION (L$500)
HEART SEED by Jedda Zenovka

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE – BUILDING DESIGN

Flagship Challenge 1st Prize : ($L5,000)
UWA CULTURAL PRECINCT NEXUS by Patch Thibaud

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

ARTIST BOOK PRIZE

Artist Book 1st Prize : ($L2,000)
AURACARIA ARTIST BOOK by Anyunie Daviau

Artist Book 2nd Prize: ($L500)
ASMITA’s PHILOSOPHICAL BOOK DISPLAY by Asmita Duranjaya

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD (L$500)
CHAOS IN ORDER by Igor Ballyhoo

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

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

January 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

1. Forterra have fallen upon hard times, laying off around half their workforce, according to an email we’ve received and as reported here. It’s a shame to see any company lose so many employees – her’s hoping Forterra are able to continue their work ongoing.

2. The dynamos at Kzero have updated a couple of their forecast charts. Active virtual worlds users is one of the most interesting ones:

3. A prim has been rezzed at the highest ever altitude in Second Life – here’s the proof.

4. The first machinima to be presented to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been produced by Pooky Amsterdam. It was produced for Alissa Moreno, who performs her song ‘Every Day’. Have a look for yourself:

5. The University of Western Australia’s Second Life activities continue to expand, with a machinima competition announced:

WHAT: MachinimUWA : The UWA Machinima Challenge

WHEN: Submissions are open 18th December 2009 – 31st January 2010
All entries will be displayed on the University of Western Australia (UWA) Second Life Blog. http://uwainsl.blogspot.com

Winners will be announced during a ceremony in February

WHERE: In front of Winthrop Tower (Main SIM of the UWA presence) & starting point of all Machinima

THEME: Architecture, Teaching, Research & Arts on the UWA sims

THE CHALLENGE
Create a Machinima between 2 and 5 minutes in length that captures the 4 main elements thats make up the heart of the University of Western Australia SIMS. These elements are the RL architecture, the teaching, the research and the arts. The purpose would be to show that UWA’s presence in SL is comprehensive and covering all these areas, creating true bridges between SL & RL for prospective students, current students, staff, alumni & the community (this is the snapshot – more details below). Note that there are 3 SIMS making up the UWA presence, namely UWA, Uni of WA & WASP Land, and this challenge covers all 3.

Method of Entry:
* Load the Machinima anywhere, and provide the link to both Jayjay Zifanwe & White Lebed (co-hosts of MachinimUWA)

Closing Date:
* Midnight 31st January 2010 (winners annouced in Mid-Feb 2010)

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

UWA 3D Art and Design Challenge – November round winners

December 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

uwa-nov2009-winnerThe latest round of winners in the University of Western Australia’s 3D Art and Design Challenge have been announced. The momentum of this competition continues to grow, with a huge number of entries and the addition of Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon to the final judging panel.

All the details on the November winner from Jayjay Zifanwe:

Glyph Graves & Silene Christen take the NOVEMBER Awards by Storm

A sublime submission called ‘Tendrils‘ by the jewel in the crown of Australia, Glyph Graves took out top spot for the IMAGINE Challenge for the november round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Competiton. Not to be outdone, some incredible work by Silene Christen of the Balears Islands in Spain saw her winning the top non-scripted IMAGINE entry for ‘Jackob’s Stairs’ as well as the FLAGSHIP Challenge, where the challenge is to build and Art Gallery that could perhaps be built. With this, Silene became the first person to win the major prizes in both the IMAGINE & FLAGSHIP categories.

A total of 58 entries were submitted for the IMAGINE challenge for November and 7 entries to the FLAGSHIP challenge of the University of Western Australia’s 3D Art & Design Competiton. Co-hosts Jayjay Zifanwe and quadrapop Lane were astounded by the rise in entries month to month and the also how the entries coming in were spread across the globe, with artists and builders taking from Canada, the USA, the UK, Scotland, England, Spain, France, Brazil, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, Tunisia, Germany and Australia.

With the year long competition growing from strength to strength, it was announced during the award ceremony that the judging panel for the Grand Prize which already included Second Life personalities from the art, architecture & journalism world, including Frolic Mills, Will Dreadlow, Sasun Steinback, Lowell Cremorne and White Lebed was boosted by the CEO of Linden Labs, M Linden joining the panel!

An artist book prize was also awarded for the month of November. This was won by Oldoak Merlin for his work Offenes Buch (Open Book). Book prize panel chair, Juanita Deharo commenting on the piece said ‘The words and print won’t stay on the page but float and swirl, sometimes forming words, sometimes not. The work asks us to consider the nature of words, story and text, while staying within the known bounds of ‘bookness’. The dedication to Ramon Llull gives us an indication of the creator’s intent. It is a very well concieved and aesthetically pleasing work that operates on a number of levels, and is well deserving of the prize.

Commenting on his win, Glyph said ‘There was a lot of high quality work in this month so I wasnt expecting anything. My piece, Tendrils is a portrait of a person … both closed and open to the world showing a different facet of themselves depending on who and how many are around them. Theres an undocumented feture that I’m not sure many saw .. the sphere will change colour depending on how many people are inside it. Oh and of course it sends out tendrils .. of sound and colour’

Stunned by the double award, Silene said, ‘I’m happy, and surprised. Suprised for several reasons. Jackob’s Stairs is..very conceptual very ..in my style..and I didn’t think it would be ‘in vogue’ in SL at the moment. So I was really suprised. The FLAGSHIP prize… well, this is an honour. To see people dancing and walking and looking at the things in it makes me feel … extremly happy. I made things for people, and is very great for a builder to see poeple using them::)))’

A number of other awards were also preented including the People’s Choice Award taken by Dusty Canning’s ‘Letting off Steam’. Other winners included Miso Susanowa, Jedda Zenovka, Sledge Roffo, RAG Randt, Sabrina Nightfire, Nyx Breen and Ichiko Miles who took 2nd prize in both the Imagine Challenge and the SArtist Book prize (full list below).

The competition is now receiving entries for the month of December. Location is http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/64/132/250

WINNERS FOR THE NOVEMBER ROUND

IMAGINE CHALLENGE – 3D Art
1st Prize: Tendrils by Glyph Graves ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
2nd Prize: Consolation of Philosophy of Ichiko Miles ($L1,250)
Best Non-Scripted Entry: Jackobs Stairs by Silene Christen ($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)

Honourable Mention (Simple Beauty): Budding by Sledge Roffo ($L500)
Honourable Mention (A Short History of Everything): Offenes Buch / Open Book by Oldoak Merlin ($L500)
Honourable Mention (Immersion): Sweet Sid & the Singing Sidlets by Jedda Zenovka ($L500)
Honourable Mention (Behind the Veil): Primary Emotions by RAG Randt ($L500)
Honourable Mention (Atmosphere): Turbulence by Sabrinaa Nightfire ($L500)

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE
1st Prize : Art Galery by Silene Christen ($L5,000)
2nd Prize: FUTURELab by Nyx Breen ($L1,250)

ARTIST BOOK PRIZE
1st Prize : Offenes Buch / Open Book by Oldoak Merlin ($L2,000)
2nd Prize: Consolation of Philosophy of Ichiko Miles ($L500)

THE EXCALIBUR AWARD (for new / returning artists)
Miso Susanowa: 1000 prims in perpetuity at Excalibur Aquitaine compliments of Phillip Vought

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Letting off Steam by Dusty Canning ($L500)

—-

With thanks to iono allen (via the UWA blog), here’s a machinima of a number of the November works:

The University of Western Australia 3D Art & Design Challenge from iono_allen on Vimeo.

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

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

November 26, 2009 by Leave a Comment

uwa-dustydiorama 1. The University of Western Australia’s presence in Second Life continues its dynamism with the ongoing 3D Art & Design Challenge. The picture to the left is an amazing miniature diorama with 15 events going on. It’s something you need to see for yourself to appreciate, so take the time if you have it.

2. Singapore-based ExpatFinder.com are offering those moving to Berlin the option of a pre-arrival tour in Twinity‘s replica:

“From a home or office computer, expats and their families can download a free guide, meet at a personal guided tour and get an idea of the layout of the city, the distances involved and the amenities in the new location before they arrive. With Twinity expats can become acquainted with local networking groups and community meet-ups prior to arrival.”

3. Applications for the 2010 Linden Prize are now open. The US $10000 prize will be awarded to the person who is judged to have done:

– Work in Second Life that also achieves tangible, compelling results outside of Second Life.
– Distinctive, original work using Second Life that clearly demonstrates high quality, execution, function, aesthetics and technical sophistication.
– Work that has the capacity for inspiring and influencing future development, knowledge, creativity, and collaboration both inside and outside of Second Life.

4. Mario Gerosa is putting together a book on virtual worlds memorabilia. If you have something you’d like to share a picture of, you can send it to virtualcollectibles@gmail.com:

“Action figures, invitations for exhibitions, books, brochures, press kits, works of art made in real life and inspired by virtual worlds, comics, conference pass, dvd, cd, posters, business cards, etc.

Here are some examples:

– The invitation by Dior for the jewels collections in SL
– The issue of Business Week with Anshe Chung on the cover
– The T shirt made for the anniversari of Parioli in SL
– The World of Warcraft action figures
– A famous avatar business card”

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

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