Last University of Western Australia Sim to Close - Final Art Event in November

A sim that's made the news a number of times in the past will soon be closing, and will have one final event.

Longtime readers may remember the University of Western Australia area in Second Life for it's yearly art competitions, which offered prizes that once exceeded a million Linden dollars. But in December 2015, it was announced the competition then would be the final one. In September 2016, it was announced four of the five sims would be closed down. But a month later, it was announced the sims had been given a reprieve (one transferred to someone else). In March 2017, it was announced the reprieve on three of the four sims left was ending. But one of the three would get another break, so two would remain. One last prize money competition would be organized by supporters in March 2019. This would be the last time the Newser would write about the area, it's long term future in doubt. Still, the UWA area would be the scene of some weekly events for a time (UWA blog).

But it seems almost five years after the end of the yearly art competitions, the UWA area has finally run out of chances. It was announced in the UWA 3D Art and Design Challenge group that the last sim, University of Western Australia, would soon close, after Midnight December 31st . So it it's honor, there would be one last event.

One last show... let's make this a good one.
Uni of WA estate is down to one region and it will disappear at the end of the year. (yes REALLY disappear)
Jayjay, Freewee, quadrapop and all the others who have helped put together art and machinima challenges over the years invite you to take part in this event organised by Chuck Clip.

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This is a grand finale, a sad farewell to show our gratitude to UWA and all that they did for us as artists, curators, and residents of SL. Their work brought life and beauty to all of us and made the art world in Second Life a thing to behold.

The theme is "Gratitude"
This art show is open to everyone. The theme is “Gratitude” with a 150 prim limit per artwork, and limited to one entry per artist.

Why The Theme “Gratitude?”
For over a decade, the University of Western Australia has been synonymous in the minds of many residents of Second Life with the arts and the support thereof. Their work was unparalleled on the grid, and made waves in the art world that, even as they prepare to close their sim, resonate through the art world today.

There are so many people whose lives they touched in one way or another. So many artists found inspiration in their 3D Art Challenge themes, and support in the encouragement of the community they created.

I, Chuck Clip, am one of them, and I am honored and humbled to have been granted the chance to organize this event. I’ll attempt to carry their extraordinarily heavy torch, to continue to support the arts in Second Life in their stead.

Let us all come together this one last time to say thank you to the men and women of this great institution, to celebrate their achievements, their impact on our own achievements, and to mourn their departure. 

The deadline for interested artists to enter is November 1. There's a 150 prim limit per exhibit, and "Artwork entered should be able to be interpreted by the casual viewer as being representative of the theme." To enter, head to the UWA landing point at University of WA (76/227/25) or to Sinful Retreat (137/142/52). Both sims have a UWA Art Show Submissions box located there, "To submit entries, select the entry in your inventory (left mouse button) and then press CTRL & drag the entry while holding down that key to the UWA Art Show Submissions box. When the cursor is over the box (red outlines should appear around the receiver box), release your left  mouse button and the item is received. Do this for BOTH your entry and your Artist Notecard." Those who have problems doing so can pass the exhibit and the artist notecard to Chuck Clip.

The event opening is November 11, from 12 Noon to 4pm SLT. Exhibits will be taken down on Dec 31 or just before, before the sim closes.

For more information, check the notecard in the UWA 3D Art and Design Challenge group.

Hat tip: Inara Pey

Bixyl Shuftan

"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

"A Final Farewell to Half" The UWA Sims

It was almost a year ago in which it had been announced that four out of the five University of Western Australia sims would be retired and closed. But a month later, it was announced that the sims had been given a temporary reprieve from closing. Later it was announced that they would be up until the end of July. In a group chat last night, Jayjay Zifanwe announced that two of the sims, UWA Winthrop and UWA WASP, would be gone by Saturday, along with the builds on them.

Half the presence will be gone in 48 hours including some old iconic works starting with the Patch Thibaud Gallery that won the very first challenge at UWA and 4-SIM Theatre where many of the grand finale announcements were made. They will all disappear on Friday. Freewee's blog post below highlights some of these areas and provides links to them for anyone wanting to stop by to farewell them.

The UWA blog post about the two sims can be found at : https://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/ch-ch-ch-changes.html

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/UWA%20Winthrop/187/48/22

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 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

+++++++++

"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."

Press Release" University of Western Australia Announces MachinimaUWA 8 - "Pursue Impossible"

Jayjay Zifanwe: The University of Western Australia (UWA) is happy to announce the launch of 'PURSUE IMPOSSIBLE, the 6th UWA Grand Art Challenge and MachinimUWA VIII with a starting prize pool in excess of L$400,000. Sponsored by Tom Papas & SciFi Film Festival, Reign Congrejo & BOSL, LaPiscean Liberty & SL Artist, AviewTV, Pixel Bits, Virtlantis, Phillip Vought, Carolyn Steele & York University (Canada), Taralyn Gravois, UWA Marketing & Communications, as well as The UWA Virtual Worlds Project. We hope you are inspired by the 'PURSUE IMPOSSIBLE' theme to create many wondrous works of art and film as you have been through the years! (Please note the major rule & special prize guidelines as well as the Audience Participation Prizes for watching the machinima. All machinima will be highlighted on the UWA Blog & SL Artist.)

http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/pursue-impossible-launch-of-uwa-3d-art.html

SL Machinima: "The 3rd"

By Lala Larix, this SL machinima was inspired by T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."

This video, and fifty others, are finalists in a contest at the University of Western Australia, "MachinimUWA Five: Seek Wisdom."

Source: New World Notes.

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.

UWA Art Challenge

Several times I have visited the University of Western Australia in SL to see works by artists who are my friends. Every month there is a building contest for entries that challenge builders to create 3D art that is creative and original, something,”that will take our breath away," in their words. The prize is a pool of 1,000,000L.

Each artist may submit 2 entries per month. The works that show up each month are really breathtaking. The winners and all the submissions are displayed for up to a month after the judging takes place. The judges come from varied groups across SL and there are many with very recognizable names as master artists in their own right.

This month the winner of first place is Cherry Manga’s IL PLEUT SUR MON COEUR COMME IL PLEUT SUR LA VILLE (It's raining in my heart, as it's raining in the town). Her second submission, FALLEN ANGEL, also took the BOSL prize. Second prize of 7500L went to Anley Piers for TRAVEL IN THE SHADOW OF TECHNOLOGY, and 3rd prize to Misprint Thursday.

All these and so many more can be seen at the UWA in SL. You can also find information on the January challenge at the entrance. Take a walk around the whole area and enjoy the beauty of the many pieces. You can see some of the former winners of 2010 by flying over to the next sim.

See the latest here at the UWA sim (69, 128, 249).

Gemma Cleanslate

Creative Challenges and Innovative Ideas at the UWA

Shellie Sands was recently at the University of Western Australia (UWA). While there, she got a look of the art exhibits for the monthly "Imagine Challenge" From "the ethereal to the surreal to the abstract," she found a wide variety of displays up for view.

See what the artists had to show in Events.

(note, the article was edited today)