Bryn Oh's "Imogen and the Pigeons" to Close

Second Life artist Bryn Oh announced on her blog that her "Imogen and the Pigeons" exhibit will soon be closing. The exhibition, which has been up since March, Bryn stated had been visited by over 50,000 visitors, and now, "I have a terrible building itch and a new idea that I have been wanting to try for ages now. … and sadly, in order to make new things, the older things must be deleted." Bryn is filming the exhibit, before closing it in a few weeks.

"Imogen and the Pigeons" is at Bryn Oh's Immersiva sim (15/126/21)

More information can be found at Bryn Oh's blog (Click here).

SL Machinima: SL9B - "Where I Found My Ivory Tower"

A machinima on Artistide Despres' "Ivory Tower" exhibit, featured in Second Life Newser last month, on LEA22 (187, 116, 21)

Return of the Trollop

While in the Linden Endowment of the Arts sims, Gemma Cleanslate came across a particularly unusual art display. Called the "Crash Bang Trollop," it is temporarily there until another exhibition can be finished. What kind of exhibit is the Trollop? Well, it may be better viewed than described, but that didn't stop our reporter from trying.

Read more in Extra.

Valentine's Day Gift

Thank you the readers for the Valentine's Day gifts you sent over. Among them was this little artistic goodie from Crap Mariner.

Guess he counts as a lover of space travel. ;-)

Bixyl Shuftan

Bryn Oh’s Immersiva's Crowdfunder-Style Fundraiser a Success

While SOPA and PIPA made headlines last week, there were other events of note on the Grid. Among them was news about noted artist Bryn Oh and her artistic Immersiva sim. A Crowdfunder - type project to fund the place reached it’s goal after only a day after it began.

To begin with, the Immersiva sim was closed in December when her patron ran out of money. She with Kiana Writer of Madpea wrote a joint letter to Linden Labs to try and convince them to let her keep the sim. It was rejected. Following that, she decided to try a crowdfunder style prioject at Indegogo.com. Set to run for sixty days, with larger donations would come gifts. A donation of fifty dollars would get one a rabbicorn scultpure for one’s Second Life account. A hundred dollars would get one five sculptures “and the private use of Immersiva on your rez day.” $500 would get one an ink drawing. $1000 an oil painting. $3,000 a commissioned painting. $500 and up would also get one listed in Imersiva as a sponsor.

To everyone’s surprise, Bryn got a large donation from film director Peter Greenway. As it turns out, Greenway’s a sponsor of art in Second Life. He donated six months worth of teir for Immersiva. Hamlet Au quoted him as saying, "In the exciting new arena of immersive Art which offers so much to the future of communications, Bryn Oh is an important, fascinating and innovative pioneer and should definitely be supported."

Not only have the donations continued, but she raised over $6,000 in a single day! This is more than the original goal of $5400. Only a few hundred more has come in since then, but the massive start ensures the fundraiser is a success.

For those who want to contribute: Click Here. Among those who’ve donated are Crap Mariner and Thinkerer Melville.

Sources: Bryn Oh, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Machinima: "Artwashers"

Artwashers from 2sense Productions

At the UWA's Open-Art Challenge last weekend, there was a contest for machinima. The one that took second place, written about by Rowan Derryth was the film "Artwashers," a clever parody about one advantage of a virtual art museum by Friday Siamendes.

"In many ways, though, this works the same way as visiting a gallery or museum. The work is physical, but we do not usually smell or taste it; and we usually don’t touch it either. In fact, virtual art is even MORE interactive–we can ‘touch’ is and be part of the work. And we don’t have to worry about caretaking and conservation in the same manner as physical work (although virtual works opens whole new problems in these areas). One of the machinima from the UWA challenge that I absolutely loved played upon these ideas was ‘Artwashers’ by 2sense Productions.

"By introducing us to the fictive cleaners at the UWA, the parody cleverly highlights how such a space is so much less complicated that a real museum, allowing the administrative energy to be focused on creativity and education. And that freedom to focus on the creative work has created a wonderful, happy accident."

Even those of us with a poor sense of the artistic can appreciate the humor. Well done, Friday.

Tyrehl Byk’s “Not a Knot”

In November, there were a number of performances of two works at the LEA6 sim by artist Tyrehl Byk. Longtime readers will probably remember him for his “Event Horizon” particle show over a year and a half ago. Besides his new particle show “Catharsis” (more on it later), there was also his “Not -A-Knot” artistic exhibit.

When I got to his “Not-A-Knot” Exhibit, high above the sim, it looked much like a nature build at first, a small fenced stone platform leading to a forest full of tall trees on a floating island of rock. Going along however, one could see letters floating with the wind through the woods. Next to a campsite was a river, with various words such as “illusion” and “prejudice” floating down, the water eventually falling over the side. With the forest thinning, the letters in the breeze gave way to words such as “apple” and “tree.”

Finally one arrived at what at first looked like a recreation of the scene of “American Gothic,” a farmer and his lady in front of their farmhouse. But this wasn’t the bald, spectacled farmer in the famous painting, but Tyrehl Byk. His voice was on, but instead of him talking I could only hear nonsensical noises. I thought he was Away From Keyboard as he never answered by questions. The farmhouse itself kept fading in and out. Next to it was the edge of the floating island, the words “Not A Dangerous Ledge” floating over it. I never did go over to test it.

Later on at his “Catharsis” set, I had a few words with Tyrehl. Asking him about the American Gothic theme, he answered “That was just one component of it. It is a very large, very complex build with much subtlety, and it comes alive more when I'm there actually doing a performance. Many folks rush through and only see the surface of it.. So much like how they navigate off-world. It's tricky to see the depth when one gets hung up on surfaces. There are also many hidden items that are in play if you look hard enough and touch/sit on many things.”

“When I'm there, there is an additional layer of confusion brought to bear and some find it very disorienting. There is an element of disconnect many people rely on when coming in-world. The meaning of the piece is constantly changing and depends on if one is there alone, or traveling with a group. The dialog changes and is sometimes private and sometimes public. It is very much like the layers of internal monologue that go on inside everyone, echoed in different ways externally.”

I neglected to ask if the “Not-A-Knot” exhibit regularly changes, but presumably it does. So perhaps next time it’s open, it will be different. The November exhibit was at LEA6 (173, 192, 501).

Bixyl Shuftan

Three-Ring Flea Circus

"A flea circus created by Miso Susanowa & Wizard Gynoid in Second Life, using dolls made by Bryn Oh. Filmed on location in the LEA5 sandbox. Popcorn not included."