University of Western Australia's "Final Chapter" Annouced: "Transformations"

It was on October 2016 that the University of Western Australia area was given a reprieve from three of it's five sims closing down. But a couple weeks ago, Curator FreeWee Ling announced that they would be holding one more event, their "Final Chapter" before the sims (save SJSU Atlantis) are shut down, which is scheduled for the end of July. The theme of the event is "Transformations." In the past, the UWA would offer prizes for the best displays and videos for it's events. This time, there is "No prizes. No judging. Just warm memories and hopes for a brighter tomorrow."

The UWA presence in SL is scheduled to cease the end of July 2017. (Details about that will be posted later. Contact FreeWee Ling if you have questions.)

Before that happens we want to have one more show! Starting immediately, we are accepting entries for the literal UWA show to end all shows. We are hoping all our old friends from the past seven years will want to be part of this last hurrah. But we also welcome entries from those who have never shown here before. It will be a regular exhibition, similar to the current IMMATERIAL show. No prizes. No judging. Just warm memories and hopes for a brighter tomorrow.

Our final chapter is  open to anyone as usual. Entries will not be judged and no prizes are offered. This is NOT a competitions, but an exhibition/celebration. As a small incentive, the show will be documented and an exhibition catalog will be published online as part of the UWA Studies in Virtual Arts (UWA SiVA) journal series.

Our final show is to be titled "Transformations" and is about beginnings, endings, transitions, change. The theme is deliberately vague in order to allow for the broadest possible interpretation.

The University of Western Australia has has a presence in Second Life for many years, since October 2009, and became known for ir's art and machinima (videos done in virtual reality or computer games) contests for cash prizes. For Second Life residents, especially fans of art and those who value the presence of universities and colleges, while they can take a little comfort there is some time to prepare for one more event, the announcement that the reprieve the UWA sims were given was just a temporary one and that the sims are set to close later this year is a sad one.

Source: UWA blog

Bixyl Shuftan

University of Western Australia Retiring Four of Five Sims

While there have been many colleges and universities which have had a presence in Second Life, perhaps the best known has been the University of Western Australia. Over the years since their begining in 2004, they have sponsored and held a number of art and video contests on their sims. But Jayjay Zifanwe and , the manager of the sims, had some bad news on Sunday September 11. Due to budget cutbacks, the number of sims held by the UWA will be "restructured" from five to only one.

UWA Virlantis will be taken over by Dr Phylis Johnson (Sonicity Fitzroy). The UWA, UWA Winthrop, and WASP Land, barring a last minute handover, will vanish on October 9. only the University of WA sim will remain, "Everything on All Sims will remain as is for the next 2 weeks... do come back for a visit as many of the artworks going back 7 years are still at various locations. Once those 2 weeks are up, our curator, Freewee Ling will start to rationalise what is on the UWA sims, so that some items from all sims are brought onto the one remaining sim."

Curator Freewee Ling had the following to say, "I am saddened by the restructuring that is happening at UWA and that the university's presence in SL will be so drastically curtailed. JayJay has done a remarkable job establishing the virtual campus, maintaining the sims and, more significantly, building a worldwide reputation for UWA's virtual presence. He has worked tirelessly to promote UWA in SL for the last seven years. There is no one at UWA who didn't know about it, and tours of the rl campus by everything from local school kids to international delegations were routinely given a tour of the virtual campus as well. Our reputation for inspiring the creation of literally thousands of virtual artworks and machinima by hundreds of artists from around the globe has helped to raise awareness of what creative people in virtual worlds are capable of achieving. Our programs have served to elevate and legitimize the work we do here. We had an inclusive open entry policy that allowed newbies and veterans to exhibit and compete on equal footing. I am very proud of all the work you submitted to our programs. I will share more of my personal thoughts in a separate post."

More details can be read in their blog post (here). Ironically enough, the exhibit mentioned in the post is "The Last Ocean," the theme being the death of a virtual world. You can check out the exhibit at UWA Winthrop (32/28/27).

Bixyl Shuftan

"Air" at LEA 27

Gemma Cleanslate was recently at the new exhibition at the Linden Endowment of the Arts area at LEA27. Here, artist FreeWee Ling, describing herself as a "kid in God's Legoland," has a number of her creations in a series of exhibits with themes such as Ancient Greece. So what did Gemma think?

Read Gemma's article in Places.

UWA's Winthrop Hall is Back

Gemma Cleanslate heard about a build at the University of Western Australia (UWA) which is back, Winthrop Hall. Previously around in 2009, it's back. Gemma had a few words with the head of the UWA area about the hall and it's return.

Read more in Places.