The Heterocera Embassy Opening, And A Glance At The SLEA

 

Gemma's been getting back into business from her recent leave by diving into a few events. After a stop at the Cuban Cafe, she headed over to the Second Life Endowment for the Arts, her first visit in a while, and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw. Then she attended another Bellisserian Embassy opening, this one in Heterocera.

Read Gemma's story in Events.
 

Tyrehl Byk’s “Catharsis”

Tyrehl Byk, whom made news last year with his groundbreaking “Event Horizon” particle show last year, was a busy artist in November with his shows at the LEA6 sim. Besides his “Not-A-Knot” exhibit, Tyrehl had another particle show, “Catharsis.” It offered all of what Event Horizon had, and then some.

I was with Chantal Harvey when she was sent a location to go to see Catharsis. She invited me to go along, and I went with her. But getting there, we found ourselves in a cavern. We looked around, things slowly rezzing, and eventually one of us found a passage to a door. Clicking on it teleported us to a triple overhead platform. I noticed a few other familiar faces there, such as Gemma Cleanslate and Eymerich Lane. For a while, the radio had a robotic voice greeting the crowd, then it began making snide remarks about Tyrehl Byk. It was cut short by a gun shot, followed by Tyrehl apologizing for being late, giving a few hints to properly view the show, such as setting the view to Midnight, and telling those who hadn’t to take a seat.

And before long, the music started, along with the colorful particle flashes in the night sky.The particles were a little more sophisticated than last time, taking on the shapes of buildings, roads, yards, even entire pictures. After a while, the show took on a certain theme, more so than it did with “Event Horizon.” The first segment after the introduction could be called “Jesusland” after one of the songs played, a look at the American south known for it’s churches but becoming more and more around discount shopping malls. The second segment could be described from the line of one of the songs, “Buy it now!” There were a few money themed songs, with plenty of particles of dollar signs, pound symbols, and other currencies, with pictures of avatars living it up.

Segment three was a brief play of American Indian music along with a scene of a desert mesa. Then the music changed to “I Wanna Rock an’ Roll All Night,” and the screen was filled with lots of splashes of particles. Then came a sunset, with more American Indian music, and images of pairs of faces could be seen. This was followed by arrows flying across the screen, splashes of red, then the screen turning to night. And as the night went on, the bleak landscape began to bloom.

The show ended after about 24 minutes. When our eyes fell back to our virtual surroundings, we found another surprise, the floor was covered with pink flower petals. Tyrehl received plenty of complements, “Thank you for the great show, Trehl.” “Gotta say, came here not knowing what to expect... good thing too because I wouldn't have come close.“ Chantal thought of the old Event Horizon show, “but it is so much better now.”

“Catharsis” is over now. Chantal and I had come across one of the final showings in November. But it may appear again on the Grid again.

Bixyl Shuftan

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