"The Long Kiss Goodnight" UWA Announces Results of Last Machinima Challenge

On Sunday March 25, the University of Western Australia sims held the awards ceremony of what will probably be their final major art competition, the SLArtist@UWA Machinima Challenge. Seventeen entries were made by various artists such as Bryn Oh, Secret Rage, Chic Aeon, and others, for a total prize pool of 430,000 Linden dollars. The winner was Glasz DeCuir. who took the grand prize of 75,000 Lindens.



"This is not a continuation of the MachinimUWA series, which ended in Dec 2015," their blog stated earlier, "but is a special event that has a life primarily thanks to LaPiscean Liberty, who wants to nourish the dynamic partnership between artists and filmmakers."

"Jay Jay announced that after 9 long years of helming art and film challenges, that this would be his last, drawing to a close the UWA chapter in leading art and film challenges in Second Life, with hopes, the baton will be taken up by others, in the same way he and UWA stepped in when some or the original luminaries of Second Life were pulling back."

The second place prize went to Tutsy Navarantha for "Serendipity." Third place went to Natascha Randt and Karima Hoisan for "The River of Forgetting." Fourth place went to Isabelle Cheren for "Before the World Was Made." Fifth place went to Bryn Oh for "Cerulean."

The sims themselves will remain up for now, though it seems they are likely to vanish after mid-2019.



JayJay Zifanwe gave a speech at the ceremony. He expressed sadness not just for this being the close for the final event, but for the recent passing of Alizarin Goldflake. She was one of the first artists at the UWA, and her "Maze" can still be seen at the sims. Of the closing, "it brings to an end the grand art and film challenges run by UWA, which started almost a decade ago in 2009, with Alizarin and other pioneers, who included Soror Nishi & Oberon Onmura. In the past there had been tough times and moments when it looked we wouldn't make it this far, but we scrambled and pulled through."

"Its been an absolute pleasure for me to work with all of you over the course of these challenges, and over the years, and especially to those who went above and beyond the call of duty to make all of this a success. ... More than 50 nations with 6 of the 7 continents of the world represented."

"It has been an honour for me, the accidental art and film caretaker over the years to work with so many of you and have the privilege of viewing your art and film. The relationships built here have crossed over to RL as well, as I have met a number of artists and filmmakers from SL in RL, with FreeWee Ling spending a few months at UWA on an Australia-US Fellowship as well. The people of SL have helped my older son win a number of Peoples Choice events, as sometime over the past 2 years he suddenly became quite a successful filmmaker being selected for 4 Academy Award qualifying festivals, and when I travel to Denmark this July with my younger son for the World Triathlon Championships, another SL artist has offered to put us up for a while and show us around. Life has been definitely richer because of my involvement with SL, and I hope the friendships created will last well beyond the middle of 2019, when the digital night is likely to set on the UWA sims themselves. Thank you one and all."

To see the full list of videos, and read the transcript of the ceremony in full, check the UWA blog here.

Bixyl Shuftan

University of Western Australia Sims Saved, For Now

Last month, the manager of the University of Western Australia sims announced that four of their five sims would be retired following budget cuts at the real-life university that owns them. One, UWA Virlantis, would be handed to another owner. Three others, UWA, UWA Winthrop, and WASP Land, would be abandoned and allowed to vanish. Only the University of WA sim would remain after October 9.

Thankfully, the sims are still up. JayJay Zifanwe announced the sims have been given a reprieve, thanks in part to people writing to the university. None of the sims will be vanishing, although UWA Virlantis is still being handed to Dr Phylis Johnson (Sonicity Fitzroy).

Following a lot of work in the background at UWA in RL. The UWA presence in SL has been extended through 31st July 2017. Thank you to the many who have written in to UWA central providing support as well as the many who have worked to preserve a lot of the art and grounds in film. Thanks especially to the Desinging Worlds team with AviewTV and TreetTV for their incredible work on their tribute programme, and to Secret Rage (AKA Vee Marie) for her excellent videos documenting nearly everything on the 4 UWA sims. See links below. 4 of the 5 sims will remain part of the UWA cluster, and the 5th SIM (UWA Virtlantis) is being taken over by the University of San Jose & Sonicity Fitzroy, who have been occupying it for the last couple of years.

When sims are so often gone too soon, it's good news to hear about some given a new lease on life.

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

SL Video: "The Drax Files : World Makers (Episode 32: Jayjay Zifanwe) "

(Click here if the video fails to play)

Published by Draxtor Despress, September 23, 2015, "The backbone of the our university's presence in the virtual world is the art and the film. It keeps things alive at all times!" says Jayjay Zifanwe from the University of Western Australia in Perth.

"With the blessing of his Dean Jayjay is actively promoting immersive art and machinima made by Second Life residents from all walks of life all the while emphasizing giving voice to creators with disabilities or chronic illness.

"The relationship between UWA and the SL art scene illuminates how a major university can use the creative and social aspects of virtual environments to enhance their mission of inclusive learning on a global scale.

"May this be a model for other educational institutions to follow? With the resurgence of interest in VR JJ's efforts may just be a template to emulate in the future...

"More information on UWA in Second Life is at http://www.uwainsl.blogspot.com

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"This episode features the films of Iono Allen {showcasing "Obedience" by Rose Borchovski, Jo Ellsmere and Bryn Oh with music by Luca d'Alberto}, Tutsy Navarathna, Celestial Elf, Hypatia Pickens, Erythro Asimov, Rysan Fall, Pepa Cometa, Chic Aeon, Karima Hoisan, Natascha Randt & many immersive artworks displayed at the UWA sim in Second Life.

"The Freedom Project art works can be seen in the official book for the event here http://issuu.com/freeweeling/docs/uwa_siva_3.1_-_the_freedom_project_

"Thumbnail is composed from a still from Spiral Silverstar's "The Mirror Lies" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA0Fp...]

"Many thanks to Skyspinner Soulstar, James Atloud, Mike Denneny and Foxy Haddison for participating with their RL puppeteers.

"Special thanks to FreeWee Ling for her wonderful work making sure the art is properly featured in SL and Hava Zhang for doing some fabulous "real life" acting.

"Lastly: big thanks to Natalie Jagals, Micah Foster and Paris Javid for filming on physical location in Australia."

SL Video: "Adventures of a Cyborg Part II - MachinimUWA II "

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Nina Camplin on Sept 2010, staring Fuschia Nightfire and JayJay Zifanwe, "A spoof parody of a Science Fiction adventure, referencing all my favourite sci-fi movies and TV series including Star Wars, Star Trek, Red Dwarf, Dr Who, Alien and Aliens. Filmed at UWA as part of the MachinimUWA II Challenge."

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.