ECLIPSE Magazine October 2015

N EA DD SI RO UN

M MAGAZINE

ECLIPSE

October 2015

Introducing the grid’s most exciting, most i

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innovative and newest shopping experience.

here.

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Contents 62. ECLIPSE Women

This issue we challenged the ladies of the ECLIPSE trend squad to create outfits inspired by, “Bibhu Mohapatra.”

82. Bibbe: Being in Between

Cajsa Lilliehook interviews the SL/RL artist Bibbe Oh/Bibbe Hansen on the nexus of art in art in SL and RL and her many lives.

106. ECLIPSE Men

Never one to back away from a styling challenge, the men of ECLIPSE show us their interpretation of, “Balmain.”

118. Baby Got Swag

ECLIPSE has the opportunity to interview 3 designers, who are members of the kid community, that also happen to be part of .PENUMBRA.’s latest fashion week!

132. .PENUMBRA. A/W FW15

While the shows may be over, the shopping experience certainly is not! This fashion spread we feature some of the hottest exclusives from .PENUMBRA. Autumn/Winter Fashion Week 2015!

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172. Voices From the Grid

We take it to the streets with our monthly feature and ask residents, “How real is Second Life?”

Often times in the fashion industry, it is easy to become short-sighted and forget that fashion is not limited to that small community. Fashion is the art of expression, which is an integral part of our shared virtual world and the Second Life community as an aggregate; thus, our goal at ECLIPSE Magazine is to not only offer an aesthetically pleasing publication with a heavy fashion influence and rich in content but be accessible to all of SL.. because EVERYONE wants to look good.

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Cover Story Siddean Munro Cover Photographer Natzuka Miliandrovic Writer: Cajsa Lilliehook

24. Designer Showcase

Shining the spotlight on the very talented MISS Jones from LaVian & Co.

188. The Creative Process ECLIPSE Magazine has a unique opportunity to shed insight behind Siddean Munro’s creative process, in her own words.

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Letter From the Publisher Yes, that kiss on my cheek is from Zzoie.

She and I are thrilled with how our .PENUMBRA. Autumn/Winter Fashion Week 2015 went, and it would have been impossible without the hard work and dedication of our .PENUMBRA. Executives and our Production team. It has also been our pride and pleasure to work with such amazing designers, bloggers, models, builders and everyone in between. For us, to have such an extraordinary group of people believe and trust in our vision has been absolutely beautiful.

For me, it is another gentle reminder that everything happens for a reason...

With that, this issue certainly showcases a lot of fashion week. We have pictorial spreads featuring some of the exclusives from Fashion Week, as well as one spread devoted to LaVian & Co. This would not be an issue of ECLIPSE without our finest models taking on a challenge. In this issue, the women are styling Bibhu Mohapatra, and the men have assembled looks inspired by Balmain.

In our October edition, we shine the spotlight on RL/SL artist Bibbe Oh. We will be introducing you to talented designers from the SL kid community.

Last not certainly not least, our cover story features Siddean Munro, the talented creator behind Slink, who also gives us a behind the scenes glace at how her creative process works.

I do hope you enjoy this issue, and Happy Readings!

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Now Hiring

ECLIPSE Magazine is looking to expand their team. We are seeking self-motivated, dedicated and outgoing individuals who want to work with a team that values integrity, honesty and handwork.

We are hiring: Photographers Writers We ask that interested individuals send their resume to Trouble Dethly in-world.

Want to advertise with ECLIPSE Magazine?

Please contact Catalina Staheli.

All other queries, please contact Trouble Dethly.

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Contributors

Taylor Wassep Creative Director

Cajsa Lilliehook Copy Editor

Zzoie Zee Creative Director

Models:

Miele Tarantal Fashion Editor

Writers: Amity Sorbet Aradia Aridian Casja Lilliehook Taylor Wassep Zzoie Zee

Adonis Hansome Caesar Langer Catalina Staheli Dream Love Kayra Vemo Leezah Kaddour Locuala Madruga Miele Tarantal Scarlet Lenoirre Sienna Bellios Silly Avro Sylphia Constantine Wicca Merlin World Undercroft

Catalina Staheli Marketing Director

Photographers: Anderian Sugarplum Daffodil Crimson Grace Winnfield Jasmine Hera Natzuka Miliandrovic Sylphia Constantine Taylor Wassep Tempest Rosca Zzoie Zee ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 17

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Designer Showcase Page 24 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Photography by Anderian Sugarplum

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Dream Love LaVian & Co. - Essentials Take Care

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Dream Love LaVian & Co. - Essentials Foundations

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Sienna Bellios LaVian & Co. - Essentials Concrete Dreams

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Silly Avro LaVian & Co. - Black MidWinter

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Silly Avro LaVian & Co. - Essentials Peanut Butter Jelly

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Silly Avro LaVian & Co. - Essentials Walk With Me Poster

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The Change Agent Page 44 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Written by Cajsa Lilliehook

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Photograph by Natzuka Miliandrovic

No individual resident has changed Second Life® as profoundly as Siddean Munro.

While the term change agent originated in the social justice movement, it has been appropriated by popular culture and by business culture to mean someone within an organization who leads it in a new direction, who becomes a catalyst for change. Within the community of Second Life, Siddean Munro of Slink has emerged as one of the most consequential change agents of recent years.

Torley Linden, when interviewed for this magazine, cited Munro’s Slink Avatar Enhancements as one of the most revolutionary developments in SL in the past few years. It would be hard to deny that, though Munro is not the first or only person who made replacement parts for the default avatar. Even before mesh, there were sculpted hands and feet, including Munro’s own Jolie Pied and Jolie Mains. Still, when she released the Slink Avatar Enhancement System beginning with her mesh hands in 2011, she not only conquered the market, she also created secondary markets and revitalized Second Life commerce.

As the graphics and particularly the avatars in MMO games became increasingly more detailed and lifelike, Second Life residents became increasingly frustrated with the SL avatar and its triangulated knobby joints.

Lamentations were heard throughout the land. The standard answer was a replacement foot in a shoe with a hundred different

iterations of color change HUDs to tint the foot to an approximation of the skin. It was a process fraught with angst and haphazard success.

When mesh came to the grid, designers approached this new opportunity with excitement and the solution to the entire skin-tinting challenge diverged with Gospel Voom of Gos and Nuria Augapfel of N-Core developing traditional foot/shoe combos with skin tint databases that could be applied to the feet through a web interface. Munro, however, went in a different direction. As she explained, “I knew people liked wearing the feet, and feet in shoes from myself and other creators but I felt like I personally wanted to have hands and feet that were just part of my base avatar, and shoes you can change in and out depending on what you wanted to wear that day. Rigged mesh allowed that to happen much easier, giving me the ability to easily attach and detach new shoes without editing them into place because that was done in a 3d modelling program. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities.”

By producing hands and feet with free kits for third party developers to use to create their own textures that would precisely match their skins, she freed users from the dreaded RGB color wheel. More importantly, she also released kits for third party developers to make mani/pedi appliers to style the hands and to make original shoes to fit her feet.

With the release of her Slink Physique Mesh Body and Visage Heads, the entire avatar had been replaced with mesh. New markets for clothing appliers and makeup developed around these items.

This third party market exploded with people who had never created before using her kits to make nail appliers and shoes. People who had been happy and comfortable designing for the system avatar but who were lost the minute they opened Blender could once again go back to Photoshop and make beautifully textured clothes that were ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 47

applied like system clothing directly to the mesh avatar. Layering came back with a vengeance.

Munro had no idea that her avatar enhancements would be The Next Big Thing, and the Next, and the Next, and the Next. In her view, “I thought when I released my kits that some people would go “oh cool”, make a few sets of shoes and the whole thing would fizzle out.” That is the most common cycle in Second Life commerce, with a huge rush to purchase the new thing and then the subsequent loss of interest and moving on to the next new thing. But that did not happen because with third party content creators producing content for her Avatar Enhancements, there was a constant influx of new. Something no single creator could sustain. This kept her Enhancements front and center in fashion and commerce month after month until even the trailing edge adopters succumbed.

For Munro, it is very gratifying to see her hard work pay off and to see the explosive new markets created by her innovations.

She honors that creativity by occasionally highlighting third party developers in her store blog. “It is exciting and very cool for me to have been able to support so much creativity. I know creators who are active now who only got into creating because of my kits, and have their whole businesses structured around making supporting content for my Avatar Enhancement products. SL needs fresh, original content to not become stale and I like to think I’ve had a little hand in that!”

Freeing Second Life shoemakers from the tedium of making mesh feet for their shoes was a blessing for them and for consumers who are spared the difficulty of trying to understand how to work with all the different methods they could come up with to tint the feet. This also allowed creators who did not have the capacity or inclination to make mesh feet to focus on what they did Page 48 | ECLIPSE October 2015

well – shoes.

Of course, this meant Munro and her team were responsible for the state of most of the feet in SL. “It’s quite a lot of time, a lot of work, you need to have an active scripter to work on development and for us, it’s resulted in an ongoing cycle of updates, new features, keeping up with new technology being implemented by LL, and it really is a large part of what we do, instead of making the content that I keep starting and getting distracted from.” she explained with a smile.

This does not leave Munro much time for the fun and games of Second Life. She does not get as much time for exploring as she would like. “I do adore going pose shopping with my assistant, we can spend hours and hours hopping from stand to stand and laughing but I am usually working on something that has to be released tomorrow or updated yesterday so it can be quite stressful to try and do other stuff when all I can think of is “I should be working” you know?”

With her long-term and sustained success, it made sense to ask Munro for advice for people who want to succeed in Second Life business. Her advice is intended for people who are new, knowing that those who are already in business have their “own methods and ideas about how to succeed.”

She continued, smiling, “This is what I personally do: Persevere through the difficult times. Look at what is trending, develop your skills, keep up with SL technology and features and make sure you use them to the best of your abilities. Form good associations with other creators. They may be competition and I know SL can be very competitive, but they can also be your greatest allies and I am so fortunate to count some awesome SL creators amongst my genuine friends. Don’t bring other people down - you’re responsible for your own SL backyard.

Track your transactions every week and make sure you have a redelivery/update

Photograph by Daffodil Crimson

Siddean Munro’s Tips for New Business Owners • Persevere through difficult times.

• Study the trends.

• Develop your skills.

• Keep up with SL technology and features.

• Use SL features to the best of your ability • Form good associations with other creators.

• Don’t bring others down.

• Track your transactions every week.

• Have a redelivery/update method.

• Look after your customers.

• Comply with your country’s tax laws.

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Photograph NatzukaOctober Miliandrovic Page 50 |by ECLIPSE 2015

method and always look after your customers! They may not always be right, but they are always important and good customer service will have them coming back and bringing their friends. This doesn’t mean giving your creations away, this means spending time with them to work out what is wrong, fixing stuff if it’s broken, working with them to teach them, even if it’s not necessarily your product that you’re teaching. They will remember that.

Oh and make sure you are complying with your country’s tax laws!”

Munro sees Second Life as “a little version of the real world. You have a representation of yourself which you control, you go shopping, you meet people, you make friends and have relationships, you decorate your house, you have hobbies, you create things.” SL is a creative outlet and a virtual world where she runs a real business, one that has changed her life. However, she recognizes that for others it is “a social outlet where they can dress up with their friends and run around with a bow and arrow, and I love that about it.”

As to what she would love to change about Second Life, it depends on how she feels when you ask her.

“The answer depends on how much it is annoying me at any particular time. Most of the time I love being able to create, and I love that it’s enabled me to work for myself, at my own pace, on projects that I have developed. I love that it lets me and my husband work together and build something together, and I love that it’s helped me to develop some really useful skills.” On the other hand, there are days and we have all had them, when SL is being difficult and plucking her last nerve or days when someone has, as Munro put it, “not been very nice.” We all know the feeling and her response probably sounds similar. “I hate it and never want to do anything in SL again.” However, that is not what she wants to change. “I have odd wishes about what needs to change with SL. For the most part, it’s pretty good and doesn’t bother me, but I wish there was an option to save favourite mesh upload settings. I have tendonitis in my elbow and those extra 11 mouse clicks every time I upload really do aggravate it. Less mouse clicks in general would be nice!”

With Munro, what you see is what you get in Second Life and in her first life. She has never been able to separate her first and second lives other than the first and Second Siddean do not look alike. “SL Siddean is ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 51

like.. all my ideal female types rolled together into one representation. She changes a little bit every now and again like, how tall she is, how curvy she is, but ultimately her overall look hasn’t changed since 2007 when I first created her. She is based on a character that I played and loved in a Vampire: The Masquerade game, so she has all my favourite aspects of that character. That Siddean was also a lover of art, like RL me, although she was a buyer and collector, rather than a creator.”

As for who she is, “I don’t roleplay Siddean...I talk about what interests me, I keep certain information closer to my chest in both lives but I’ve never been able to really separate RL and SL.” Munro confesses to being a big nerd who loves board games, science fiction, painting

miniatures and video games. Confesses... though that were a bad thing. Of course, takes a lot of my time and I don’t get to do nearly as much of those things as I would to.”

Continuing, she wonders why people assume SL creators are “aloof fashionista queens and it really couldn’t be further fro the truth for many of us, and especially m she adds, smiling. “I’m always a bit surpr when people tell me they’re surprised to fi out I am actually not a snob when they ta to me. I am not even sure how to put out kind of impression in the first place! I’m al very sensitive, and I take unfair criticism v personally even though I try not to. I can’t it.”

Photogr

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For Munro, Second Life came along at a critical moment in her life. She was working at a job she hated under a supervisor who made her life miserable and scraping by financially. “SL saved my life...I was in a pretty deep depression when I joined SL, and there were very low days when I wondered if life was even worth it. My devoted husband, and throwing myself into SL as a means to escape my situation were the two things that kept me going. I quit my job long before SL was supporting me, but I felt it had potential, and I had potential to be good at it, so I persevered.”

Not only has she persevered, she has prospered and become one of the most influential and consequential residents in Second Life. Much of that is due to perseverance and risk-taking since the Avatar Enhancement projects were each and every one a longterm investment of time and money. Not only were long months spent in development, but investment in hiring scripters and the opportunity cost of not creating clothes, shoes and hair that could have been churned out on a regular basis were all huge risks that paid off for her in the long run – and paid off for many others in Second Life with their enhanced bodies and their new businesses.

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Since Munro is a risk-taker, it seemed fun to ask her a few “Would You Rather?” questions.

ECLIPSE Magazine: Would you rather live one life that lasts 1,000 years or live 10 lives that last 100 years each?

Siddean Munro: One life that lasts 1000 years. I’m super excited about the future of technology, and I want to see where humanity goes in the next millennium. Will we settle Mars? Will we ever find alien life? I want to know these things and I may not know them in my lifetime!

EM: Would you rather never be able to speak again or always have to say everything that is on your mind?

SM: Never speak again! Wow. I can think of a few people who could do with *not* saying everything that is on their minds! I hate the idea of thought police, and always having to speak everything on your mind would necessitate thought police. Sometimes you think fleeting, ridiculous things that you would never dream of saying out loud because you might hurt someone, and hurting people is the last thing I want to do. It reminds me of the movie “The Invention of Lying” where everyone said every harsh, hurtful thing on their minds until someone told a little white lie to spare the feelings of someone they loved. I’d rather not be able to speak. I could learn sign language and communicate with a little notepad. Maybe my handwriting would improve!

EM: Would you rather go into the past and meet your ancestors or go into the future and meet your great-great grandchildren?

SM: Considering I have no children, or plans to have children, it’d have to be into the past to meet my ancestors. From what I know, they were pretty interesting people.

EM: Would you rather be on a survival reality show or dating game show?

SM: Do I have to answer this one? I wouldn’t last a day on a survival show, and I am far too married to consider a dating game show.

EM: Coffee or tea?

SM: Coffee. I can’t form a coherent thought without it in the morning.

Dependant? Maybe but I have trouble caring about my caffeine addiction before I’ve had my coffee!

Photograph by Zzoie

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*Munro is wearing her soon to be rele mesh head, which will offer a new lev excellence in facial express

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eased vel of sions.

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ECLIPSE Women’s Trend “Bibhu Mohapatra” Page 62 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Photography by Jasmine Hera

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Kayra Vemo Dress: Elysium - Miss Rocha( mod) Necklace: Lazuri - Shahy

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Kayra Vemo Blouse: Lavian - Girls of Summer Pants: Royal Fashion Mansion - Ecletika Coat: Gizza - Donna Jewelry: Modern Couture - Carmela Heels: Vero Modero - Strap

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Sylphia Constantine Dress: Royal Fashion Mansion - Windme Earrings: Modern Couture - Elua Belt: PurpleMoon - Kelly

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Sylphia Constantine Dress: Ison - Leather Trim Coat: Plastix - Fur Coat Blouse: Coco - Bowshirt Heel: Vero Modero - Strap

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Wicca Merlin Outfit: Zibska - Tina Shoes - WAYNE - Raisa Pumps 3 Vanity Hair: After Dark

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Wicca Merlin Dress: Gabriel - Emma Dress Milano Shoes: WAYNE - Raisa Pumps 1 Hair: Vanity Hair - Bitter Sweet

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Photo: John E. Espinosa

Bibbe: Being in Between Page 82 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Written by Cajsa Lilliehook

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Lettuce bring art back into life Lettuce forget theaters and perform in the world Lettuce go over and around the real-estate men Lettuce move out into streets, subways and luncheonettes Lettuce perform in life with no warnings from Al Hansen’s Lettuce Manifesto Page 84 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Photograph by Cajsa Lilliehook ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 85

For some reason, writers claim their interviews rollick. With well over a 1500 “rollicking interviews” with various and sundry people of fame and accomplishment, I have to wonder did all those interviews really rollick? Am I being repetitive? Yet no other word better describes the free-for-all four hour conversation I recently had with Bibbe Oh/ Bibbe Hansen. It was a conversation that often exploded with laughter, occasionally brought tears to my eyes, and swung from serious discussion of serious things such as the nature of art and consciousness to uproarious and raucous recollections of wild times and a wild life well-lived by a woman who has no intention of ever fitting in a box no matter how many she builds.

Family Photo: Sean Carrillo, Bibbe Hansen, Al Hansen, Channing Hansen, Beck Hansen in front of Café Troy, the Carrillo-Hansen Los Angeles coffeehouse. Photo provided by Bibbe Hansen.

Cleofus Guenvere. Photo provided by Bibbe Hansen Page 86 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Bibbe Oh is a long-time Second Life® resident, an artist with Second Front and Virtual Fluxus and an habitué of The Velvet, the indie music club where I spin on Monday nights and where we became acquainted. Behind the keyboard, she is Bibbe Hansen, the daughter of Fluxus artist Al Hansen and Audrey Ostlin Hansen, a bohemian poet and exotic dancer. She came of age in Andy Warhol’s Factory, inspired one of his films and pursued her own career as an artist, performer, restaurateur, and bon vivant.

She is also the mother of three children, the musician Beck Hansen, the artist Channing Hansen and Rain Whittaker, a poet and mother of six. Her family shrubbery is filled with creatives, a greataunt who was a set designer for Ingmar Bergman, a composer ex-husband, an artist husband and a nephew who is also an artist. She also has alts, in both her first and second lives, including the very masculine Cleofus Guenvere, a first life alt in a real life punk band.

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Through it all, Bibbe is rollicking. To rollick is to revel in something, as she revels in art; it means to progress in a boisterous, lively fashion as she progresses through her performances; and it means to frolic and romp about as she does in her first and second life. She is a rollicker of the first order. High Priestess of Rollickdom. But, this is her choice. It could have been very different.

As Bibbe explains it, “I think the nature of our lives is determined by our thoughts and our actions wherever we are. The same is true of our appreciation of things. There are plenty of people talking about the general failure of culture as a whole, that all the good stuff is already done, and nothing really new is being made. I remember people talking that way when I was a kid. That isn’t at all my orientation. From the earliest time to now, I have delighted in finding great music, wonderful art, and searching out and experiencing the fantastic things being performed, created, brought into being.”

Bibbe chooses to live her life fully and positively, without rancor or resentment for past failings and without fear for the future.

Bibbe was drawn into Second Life by an Australian friend who was certain she would enjoy it. After six months of persuasion, she finally downloaded the viewer in May 2007. She stuck it out through the tutorials and conquered her denoobification in large part thanks to her friend’s mentorship. She was also introduced to several clubs and communities. “Folks come and go in Second Life, but I am still friends with many of the people I met in these initial communities.

Some music clubs like The Velvet are still in operation and are still activity hubs for residents...In other aspects, I was immediately struck and enchanted by the endless creative possibilities of SL. The idea that every tree, shirt, bush and eyelash was created by another user still delights me.“ Page 88 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Bibbe is someone who has thought a lot about art and the nature of art. As the daughter of Fluxus artist Al Hansen, that was probably inevitable. Being a Fluxus artist was and is being part of an international movement of artists who might also be called anti-artists in their desire to fracture the boundaries, definitions and limitations of art. Hansen was known for his seminal work in Happenings as well as his found object collages. If you have seen a movie about a bunch of hippies doing something psychedelic and “far out.” that may have been called a happening, but it was not a Happening. Happenings were far more intentional, no matter how nonlinear they may have been. There was a structure that planned for extemporaneous participation and spontaneity. While performed by artists, the audience was encouraged, sometimes required, to participate. And the Happening grew in the space between the performer and the audience.

Lettuce create repertory companies on shoestrings Lettuce concentrate on the portability of the Indian and the Arab Lettuce shape Lettuce dig the possiprobalities from the Lettuce Manifesto by Al Hansen

Al and Bibbe Hansen. Photo: Ronald Maker

Fluxus developed in the 1950s, founded

by George Maciunas who provided the venues and the magazine that promoted the work of Fluxus artists. In the experiment zeitgeist, Dick Higgins, another Fluxus artist and family friend developed the concept of intermedia. Writing about intermedia, Higgins suggested that the traditional boundaries of media needed to blur and merge in order to meet the demands for immediacy, “the impatience to see things done” as he wrote in his Statement on Intermedia. Music and poetry and dance and art and performance were blending and intermedia was happening in between, or as he put it, “This is the intermedial approach, to emphasize the dialectic between the media.”

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Alice Denham in 48 Seconds. Photo by Cajsa Lilliehook

Being “in between” plays a huge role in Bibbe’s work in Second Life and her first life, though she does not express it with those words.

Her works inhabit the spaces between the visual, aural and temporal planes. Re-creating some of her father’s works, even creating a performance of one of his unperformed works, she explores the space between herself and her father, between history and memory.

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Becoming even more intermedial, they also often inhabit both the first and the Second Life.

For example, her father Al Hansen composed Alice Denham in 48 Seconds in 1959 for John Cage’s class at the New School for Social Research. It is a perfect example of his great innovation the Time-Space Collage – a

Happening. There are the found objects that make noise, the intentional score based on turning Alice Denham’s name into a simple number code, the interaction of those who interpret the score, the nonlinear instruction to start in any place and go in any direction.

Bibbe recreated this in Second Life and in a first life gallery in Connecticut. Then, while she performed this in Connecticut, members of

Second Front, the SL art collective, performed it in Second Life, with video and viewers allowing the people in meat-space , as she likes to call real life, and digital space to see each other. There, in that cacophony between the first and second, the historical and the virtual, between father and daughter, that was a Happening. That was Art! ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 91

Lettuce perform on roofs, in airplanes, on ferryboats and in trees Lettuce combine life and art, overlap and interpenetrate them Lettuce give men and women credit Lettuce think theater as a painting or collage in time and space Lettuce think music as a haiku or a sculpture Lettuce think architectural works as dances Lettuce make works that open like parachutes, flowers, umbrellas and presents from Lettuce Manifesto by Al Hansen

Al Hansen’s Score for Car Bibbe. Provided by Bibbe Hansen.

Much of Bibbe’s art in Seco Second Front and Virtual F long history in SL. For her, in how she expresses hers second lives. As she explai The media are different. Pa sculpture? Or like the differe acting on a stage in a theat Is it close-up? A long or med stage? A stadium arena? Th to those dictate certain tech undertaking. The impetus a regardless of media, regard is consistent whether mani meat-space or as an avatar

As she describes it, “An art dreams and waking, conce manifestation. An artist ma intangible into physical rea description right there. Seco analog -- they are all reflect and bending back on one a Page 92 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Second Life performance of Car Bibbe. Photo provided by Bibbe Hansen.

ond Life is collaborative work with Fluxus, two art collectives with a , there is not a profound difference self artistically in her first and ins, “I find no intrinsic difference. ainting or collage, drawing or ence between acting on camera vs ter. One asks different questions: dium shot? Is it a proscenium arch heater in the round? The answers hnical responses to one’s creative and source of art is the same dless of universe. The creative self ifested as a human body in first-life r in Second Life virtual reality space.”

Bibbe has worked with several artists collectives in her career. She worked in theater as a child, as a participant and audience member in the experimental art underground, and with Warhol at The Factory. In Second Life, she has worked with Second Front and Virtual Fluxus with Patrick Lichty. “I think there are some places that are catalysts for certain people coming together in time and space creating sparks that blaze bright right into history. In Europe: Lapin Agile, Cabaret Voltaire; in NYC: Andy’s Factory, Judson Church, Cafe Cino, CBGBs, Sidewalk Cafe; and in LA we had the Masque, The Vex, Self-Help Graphics, and Troy Cafe. Within Second Life this space is filled by Odyssey Contemporary Arts. Currently administrated by Liz Solo, it is at the same time home and a vital exhibition/performance space for several generations of Second Life artists.”

tist lives in a liminal space between ept and realization, ideation and anifests the incorporeal and alms -- that is pretty much the job ond Life and First Life, digital and tions of consciousness, overlaying another.”

As she explains further, “I think art collectives are about community in general, as well as about power and access. A group multiplies its opportunities for access times the number of its members. They also provide cross-fertilization of ideas as well as support and encouragement for its individual members.”

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Earwax Venus by Al Hansen. Photo provided by Bibbe Hansen.

Lettuce work like velvet c Lettuce understand as m Lettuce bravely face the c Lettuce be noble colleag Lettuce accept the limita Lettuce destroy all limita Lettuce reverse the Broad Lettuce do the hard thing American education

From Lettuce Manifesto by Al H

Al Hansen Venus. Photo provided by Bibb

“Fluxus events inevitably included a potluck supper of some kind. Art and social life and everyday life mixed and overlapped. One sometimes struggled to find the edges. Like the time I was left alone to fend for myself in my father’s loft for a few days and ended up eating several cans of chicken soup that were actually a signed edition by Andy Warhol. May I sit in that chair or is it a George Brecht artwork? The answer was usually: both.”

She continues, “I find Second Life generally consistent with First Life.

Anything true in “realspace” is generally duplicated in digital realms.

I don’t find any limits to artistic expression with any elements -- in or out of Second Life. You are talking to someone whose father made art out of cigarette butts, matchsticks and earwax. There isn’t any element anywhere that cannot be subverted to make art.”

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clocks with soft friendly rules much as possible challenge of anarchistic situations gues and work for the best good of each piece ations and work within them ations in us and around us dway tradition and emit love towards the audience g and make pieces that say what’s wrong with

Hansen

be Hansen.

She knows this is true better than most.

Her father came from a working class background and poverty was the necessity that mothered his inventiveness. “Unable to afford big studios, large canvases and expensive paints, he evolved an art practice that used readily available detritus that could be attained for free or cheaply.” From his Army experience in World War II, he was familiar with Hershey bars, their ubiquitous presence in care boxes made them quintessentially American to Hansen. He stalked the candy stores and candy machines of New York for Hershey wrappers, plentiful and free, and used them to create some of his most famous art. After moving to California where car-culture eliminated the pedestrian litter that fed his art, he began to work with cigarette butts and matchsticks. “He felt himself an alchemist, turning shit into gold. It was his way of embracing limitations, working with the most ordinary things.”

Many Second Life artists struggle to gain first life recognition for the work in our world.

It does not help that much of their work is pseudonymous, though that is not an issue for Bibbe, having made her SL avatar look and dress like her first life self and annotating her profile with first life photos and information. Being part of a community of artists has made it possible for her to bridge that space between SL and the first life art community. However, she points out that in terms of access to distribution, exhibition and promotion there are always gatekeepers.

“That is simply a fact of human existence, that a certain populace feel compelled to control and judge and limit and keep doors shut as tightly as possible. I find not buying into these kinds of limitations is an essential part of flourishing as an artist.”

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the racist assumption that “Mexicans can’t do fine art, just crafts.” Three ASCO artists responded by painting graffiti on the front of the Los Angeles County Art Museum for their first “exhibition.” Forty years later, at a massive ASCO exhibition at that same museum, the 400 page catalog featured a photo of that graffiti. “Tenacity and persistence eventually pays off. In the meantime, they created venues and opportunities for themselves, performing in schools, community culture centers and often in the street.”

ASCO Graffiti at Los Angeles County Art Museum. Photo: Harry Gamboa Jr. Page 96 | ECLIPSE October 2015

The same was true for her father and the Fluxu artists. Locked out of the uptown galleries who were promoting Abstract Expressionism, the created their own spaces. “My dad always told young struggling artists who felt isolated and shu out of the established art community: “Make you own gang.”

Andy Warhol made his own gang – The Factory Coming out of the graphic arts field, the fine arts gatekeepers turned up their noses and turned their backs. But rather than rejecting

us o

clubs and ask the stage manager if he could play a song or two while they were changing the stage between bands. He played in several different bands with friends and also worked wretched part-time jobs to support himself. He worked on his music every spare moment, playing, writing and selfBibbe sees that same persistence and resistance recording.” to rejection in her son Beck’s career. “As a young Lettuce develop the new idea of politics that Kennedy musician, my son Beck struggled with the same demonstrated power systems. He played in the street and on Lettuce drop planeloads of ham sandwiches in cellophane, and mirrors and buses and in parks and he would even go into

graphic art, he elevated it. As Bibbe said, “He then took that very thing that they were expelling him for and he made that his oeuvre.

He made that his process and shoved it up the art ut world’s ass.” She continued, “By embracing your ur limitations, you defeat them.”

y.

beads on the Viet Cong Lettuce drop planeloads of National Geographics and Playboy magazines on the Viet Cong Lettuce drop planeloads of Australian rabbits on Viet Nam and get all that jungle eaten up Lettuce then drop recipes for rabbit meals in Vietnamese Lettuce drop portable radios and flashlights and Martex towels and Hershey bars and jigsaw puzzles and checkers sets and gold sneakers and go games and playing cards and Popular Mechanics huntinglodge plans and how-to- build-a-pirogue kits from Lettuce Manifesto by Al Hansen

Again and again Bibbe experiences the process of wabi-sabi as an essential element of her worldview in art and life.

“The embracing and finding beauty and appreciation for the impermanence and imperfection of all things. It’s a wonderful way of being an artist. “ She described her father’s process “When my father would be working on a piece and he would spill some wine or spill an ash, he would brush it off and say “hand of the artist” and keep on.”

In the art scene of the Fifties and Sixties, wild things were happening. Al Hansen and the Fluxus artists embraced their limitations and found in them new art forms. “With no hope of commercial success you have freedom to experiment. They came together, re-discovered Dada and founded Fluxus, but would have done it without Fluxus. It was sort of neo-Dada, accessible, cheap, something you could do on the ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 97

move. It was an art of ideas, slapstick with Zen.” Meanwhile, up at Warhol’s Factory, there was, “an insider gang of outsiders sewn into a crazy quilt of different social positions and backgrounds, ballet dancers, rock and roll kids, street hustlers, junkies, fine artists, politicians and society matrons all partying together.”

This informs Bibbe’s beliefs about art. “I think we are all artists, but most people aren’t willing to engage with existence on that intense a level. The majority run from their feelings. I feel this has more to do with whether one is an artist or not than any other accident of birth or reaction to upbringing. I believe to be an artist is to make the decision to live consciously.”

As she describes it, most people know they need art in their lives; they long for culture, but they participate as an observer. They are afraid of doing it wrong, of not being good enough, of not having ideas. They are missing the point. “What we make is not so significant as being awake in the universe, feeling. What we make, the artifact, is more like a postcard from the road.”

“People think if I had a great idea, I would do it. But that’s backwards. You don’t get inspired and then make something. You make a bunch of stuff and inspiration comes. Just start making without any judgments. Throw out the judgments because that is what kills art. Just make and make and make and it will be there. The simple process of making and doing, it will flourish and your art will be there. Your art will speak to you and the universe will start this incredible synchronicity.”

While Bibbe’s performative art is a vigorous nonlinear aural and visual event, she also produces art in meat-space that is its complete opposite.

Just as her father used found objects like Hershey® bar wrappers and cigarette butts in his collages, she mines the internet for found images - of banal objects like a ham sandwich or gruesome morgue photographs of wounds. She prints them with archival inks and paper and then embroiders the outlines of these objects, elevating them from the matter of fact with the alchemy of art and mindfulness.

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Lettuce fight the war with experimental Happenings and time-space-art criteria Lettuce drop fancy swagger sticks and chromiumplated bicycles and shiny wrist watches on Viet Cong privates Lettuce drop how-to-start-a-small-business pamphlets in Vietnamese and their money in each pamphlet.

Lettuce drop fill-in-the-numbers painting kits of Tuesday Weld and Sylvie Vartan Lettuce drop plane tickets and expense money for holidays to fancy places Lettuce drop films of Laurel & Hardy and Chaplin enclose $50 in Buddha, Christ, Mao, Pamela Tiffin, and W. C. Fields and Ben Turpin and especially the inscrutable Buster Keaton from Lettuce Manifesto by Al Hansen

Ham Sandwich by Bibbe Hansen.

Sewing is a contemplative act. It is quiet, thoughtful and meditative. It is also very linear, particularly the running stitches that outline the elements in the photos.

This brings us to what I believes is her most moving Second Life artwork inspired by the children of Houla. On May 25, 2012, Syrian government forces and Assad-affiliated Shabiha militia attacked the town of Houla in Syria killing 108 people, 49 of whom were children. Bibbe printed pictures of these slaughtered children and metaphorically bound their wounds with her stitches. Again, Bibbe was refracting her father’s history.

He wrote in his Lettuce Manifesto, “Lettuce fight the war with experimental Happenings

and time-space-art criteria,” and many of his happenings engaged the issues of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, in the now, Bibbe fights today’s wars with her own art.

In this, she is influenced by Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Buddhist teacher from Vietnam who coined the term Engaged Buddhism, a form of Buddhism that sees responding to human suffering to be part of the mindfulness and meditation practice, not standing apart from it. For Bibbe, art is the practice of living consciously and listening. “When you open yourself to an art practice, the world sometimes tell you what to do. These images spoke to me as a mother and a grandmother. They horrified ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 99

me. I took about ten of the images and sewed on them. Later, I paired the images with sounds and created a playable visual collage of images. I have not performed this. I am still not sure how or if I will perform it, but I was compelled to build it.”

Part of what shocked her about these images is that the children were killed at close range by people who were present, who saw them, heard their screams and felt their bodies as they were massacred. That required her to be present, to be mindful, thoughtful, engaged.

First Life Al Hansen with Second Life Bibbe Oh. Photo provided by Bibbe Hansen.

As Bibbe clarified, “One of the ways young

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monks are prepared to rid themselves of fear of death is to spend time in meditation with a corpse. One of these things we do in being alive is to avoid pain and seek pleasure. We like people who back up our story about ourselves and reject people who don’t back us up. Finding ways to embrace cognitive dissonance, not running from it. To sit with it, to breathe and be present with this. Sewing the little clothing and the terrible wounds. It’s loving. It’s decorative. It’s female. It’s binding of the wounds.”

Interacting with the boxes with their wounds bound by her mindfulness, I pressed a box and

a child giggled, that innocent cheerful giggle of a toddler. I don’t know what I expected, but it was not that. The contrast between the aural innocence of what should be and the visual assault of what is, was painful and shocking. I pressed more boxes and children sang “Happy Birthday!”, blew noisemakers, and chattered with the joyful delight that is the birthright of every child, not just American children.

Bibbe kept talking about her process and I was in another place. It was a Happening, a very painful one. I wondered if others would respond as viscerally and dragged people over to experience this piece for themselves. It has

a profound effect, silencing chatter, quieting the heart while the dissonance between sound and sight, that painful in between forced us to focus, at least for a brief time, on how we as a species are failing our children, how we betray them.

Not everyone will receive it this way. The work is visually shocking and painful. Bibbe said, “Artists create and then others experience that as they will. In the same way, my virtual and digital work is received by audiences as any art is received by any audience. There are people who recognize it, like it, get it and people who don’t.”

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I think this betrayal of childhood innocence and how Bibbe forces us to confront it so viscerally is a product of her own life. Her own story is of innocence betrayed, of childhood interrupted by adult failures.

While she chooses to focuses on what her life experience has given her and minimize the pain of the past, that pain drives her desire to bind up those children of Houla and give them the sounds of the life they should have had.

There is no one word that can describe Bibbe’s life. Even before she was old enough for conscious memories, she was racking up experience points in the game of life. Being sent off to be raised in Africville, an all-black community in Nova Scotia while a toddler, kidnapped before she was three during a bitter custody battle, not seeing her father again until she was nine and then randomly running into him on a beach, she leveled up by the time she was thirteen to living on the street, getting into trouble with the law and spending time in a juvenile prison. This was not the Milton-Bradley Game of Life® and I look forward to her telling it in the memoir she is writing now.

In her own words, “My paren not very good parents. I still a I absolutely adore them both as parents....But you get wha things from my parents. Brea with my homework wasn’t on place to live and grow up was was introduced to Diane di Pr happenings and sing classica be in a rock band and make m Andy Warhol when I was four

Bibbe recognizes her parent loves them anyway and gra did give her, experience and how you play them. You get w you do with it? It’s all ideas. A we experience of life has ever we tell ourselves. If we are tell glorious gorgeous adventure

Here there is no in between Bibbe is telling herself that l gorgeous adventure. It will b

When she was released, her father took her to Stark’s Coffee Shop where he sat down to lunch with Andy Warhol. When Warhol asked him what he had been up to, he mentioned picking her up from prison. Warhol asked her about it and was inspired by her experience to create his film Prison in which she starred. She became part of The Factory, a juvenile of fourteen living and working in this avant-garde, very adult world.

As is clear, she did not experience that childhood innocence that she evokes with her sounds in the Houla art work. However, she is not bitter. She focuses on what she gained from this wildly inappropriate childhood. Life gave her lemons and she made limoncello. She focuses on being serenaded to sleep by her neighbor Charlie Mingus’ piano playing, on learning ballet, opera, classical music, on being part of Happenings, on forming a girl band with Janet Kerouac and Charlotte Rosenthal and recording “I Want to Talk to You” in response to The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

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Bibbe Oh. B

nts were nuts and arguably adore them both as people, h, but they were messed up at you get. I got really great akfast wasn’t one of them. Help ne of them. Safe, sane, a calm sn’t going to happen, but I rima poetry and got to be in al music in cafes and clubs and movies and collaborate with rteen. You get what you get.”

ts’ failings, accepts them and atefully exults in what they d art. “It’s not the cards, it’s what you get, but what will Art, what we do in life. What rything to do with the stories ling ourselves it’s a fun, mad, e, it will be.”

Still from Andy Warhol Screentest. Photo provided by Bibbe Hansen.

n. Bibbe has made her choice. life is a mad, glorious, be.

Bibbe Hansen. Photos provided by Bibbe Hansen.

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Photograph by Cajsa Lilliehook

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LINKS AND RESOURCES Bibbe Hansen: http://bibbe.com Second Front: http://www. secondfront.org Fluxus: http://www.fluxus.org Red Dog for Freddie Herko. In October 2014 I created this to commemorate the 50th year anniversary of avant garde dancer and Warhol star Freddie Herko’s performance-suicide in October 1964.

And this is a real time animation video of my Fluxus Sound Collage Concert.

An “inter-universe” performance of the Fluxus Sound Collage at 6:02.

A mixed universe Second Life and First Life co-performance of Al Hansen’s “Alice Denham in 48 Seconds”. Al’s original was created and performed in John Cage’s 1958 New School class and it was also performed in one of the first Fluxus concerts in Wiesbaden in 1962.

Second Front videos: PONG HALEDOL DREAMS OF THE MINOTAURE THERAPY CAR BIBBE II GRAND THEFT AVATAR ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 105

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Photography by Jasmine Hera

a ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 107

Adonis Hansome Hat- Shi: Quilt Cap Jacket- VIKA Designs-malejacket2664 Trousers-:GB-Heavenly Warrior Pants Footwear-GB- Gladiator Sandals Bag- Faenzo Leather Messenger Page 108 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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Adonis Hansome Hat-BODY FACTORY -SteamPunk Goggles Cap Jacket- ZEN- MEN’S MESH STRAIT JACKET Footwear-:GB- Gladiator Sandals Trousers- GB-Tight Harem Pants Page 110 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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Caesar Langer Hat: *viscon* - Mesh Bonnet Cappy LB LR (re-colored) Hair: *ARGRACE* - Hunting “Very short” (edited) Shirt: Lo’s - mens Shirt White TMP Applier Shirt crossed laces: [Wan Eye] - Straps Loops Mesh (edited and textured) Jacket: Meli Imako - Mesh_Mens Biker Jacket (Self textured) Pants: ::K:: - Drape Sarrouel GrayishPlain, AshGray Male Shoes: ::ZED:: - MESH Orange Sneakers Sandals Bag: *FIR & MINA* - The Curragh Satchel, Yellow Patent (re-textured)

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World Undercroft OhmEga Men’s Mesh Cargo Shorts Khaki A:S:S - Idol II jacket - Black alligator lassitude & ennui - Wanderlust - black boots *ARGRACE* Equestrian Cap TuTy’s_LIMBO_Wet look hair Drowned Blue eyes Dead apples ~Tableau Vivant~ Noctis skin - bald -Tone 06 GizzA - Coat with Scarf [LaVian&C0] FW2015 In These Shoes Pants Maitreya Stagioni Xtd Leather Bronzeboots Drowned Blue eyes Dead apples *ARGRACE* Equestrian Cap TuTy’s JUICY - chic wet look ponytail Page 114 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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Baby Got Swag: The Stylish Life of Kids on the Grid Page 118 | ECLIPSE October 2015

Written by Aradia Aridian

Photography by Zzoie Zee

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Second Life® is, first and foremost, a place of imagination.

Linden Lab-™ has always occupied a dichotomy at the center of this notion, by designing Second Life with all of the necessary tools for creation built right into the client, but at the same time providing a very homogenous default experience. Creativity in the early days was driven by the ingenuity and spirit of the residents, and while some sought to transform their environment, others focused on transforming themselves.

The ability to appear as something other than the default anything is part of the promise of a virtual world; to be a robot, vampire, werewolf, glowing sphere, dragon, or elf is to release the burden of mundane humanity and virtually transcend to another state of consciousness. In some cases, it is simply a visual exploration of that which looks pleasing, or a badge of entry to a community; but in others it is a direct expression of the true inner self. To be a furry, scaly, or a child avatar in Second Life is, for many, an opportunity to give voice to that which is silent, suppressed, or oppressed in real life.

Peering into these worlds within our world reveals the same spirit, the same desire for community, individuality, expression, and commerce that exists in the world of adult human male and female avatars. The experience of being a child avatar in Second Life today, is to have a plethora of available options in business, entertainment, and fashion. As Sammi PanCake, owner of BabyBurp puts it, “The kids community is most of the time a drama free zone, where you can be who you are with a lot of fun and true souls that you call your friends and family. We are not worthless, just because we are little, we do have our own fashion, our own businesses, clubs, malls, adventures, and even camps!”

The world of adult Second Life fashion is often very much about high style and haute couture, and while fashion for child avatars can live in that world, it offers an even broader creative exploration of the opportunity to turn to whimsy, and to bring high quality craft to objects that immediately evoke the impression of childhood. Child avatars and fashions for them have been around for a long time, but are beginning to see a crossover into the mainstream Second Life experience.

Designers such as Sammi PanCake, owner of BabyBurp; SammyJo Secretspy (Heslop), owner of The Soda Pop Shop;

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and Kenzie Thomas Numbers, owner of MeshMerized, are making the leap to creating and commissioning fashion shows using the same agencies as adult designers, and are participating in the same creator trends as the rest of the grid such as monthly and gacha™ items.

of her main store. Numbers takes part in the “Sidewalk Gacha Event,” where he sells outfits, toys, and accessories.

Social media plays a large part in any enterprise today, in real life as well as Second Life. As any astute business owner knows, a key part of any marketing strategy Secretspy (Heslop) began designing for kids is engagement with consumers. The child about a year ago: “Shortly after creating a child content creators are also savvy in this regard: avatar, I did become interested in designing, all have a Facebook® presence, and many but mainly for myself. After making a few spread the word of their creations through outfits I couldn’t stop as I loved it so much. Then their own blogs as well - or the blogs of I thought, ‘Hey, others may be interested in others. Secretspy (Heslop) comments that she buying what I make.’ Then boom, my store was loves her bloggers, and attributes much of born.” her success to them. In a similar vein, PanCake began working with a few bloggers this past Numbers began designing for child avatars December, is always happy to work with about three-and-a-half years ago, and even them, and thankful to have them onboard. back then, he knew many already established Numbers notes that Facebook is a key designers of kids items. He now designs skins marketing tool, along with his family’s blog, & shapes, toys & furniture, which he sells in his “We’re Running with Scissors.”

MeshMerized store.

Kids designers and their creations also make All three designers make items for gacha, and regular appearances at the increasingly take part in various gacha events. PanCake popular Second Life hunts. Secretspy (Heslop) takes part in the Little London Kids Mall gacha takes part in the Lightning Video hunt. events and also has machines in her store.

PanCake’s work can be found in many hunts, She additionally runs her own gacha event, including: The Kidz HuntZ - Lucky Leprechaun called “Brick Lane - A Monthly TD Gacha Story.” Hunt, The GREAT Hunt for last Easter, Let’s Secretspy (Heslop) makes gachas such as Hunt, as well as the upcoming Happily binkies, huggies, Paris-themed decor, purses, Haunted Hunt, and The Playdate Hunt that is cloud decor, and many more items, which she powered by ToddlTeez. Kenzie takes part in sells in gacha machines on the second floor Halloween and Christmas hunts.

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Returning to the imaginative side of the business, a pattern emerges from talking with the creators about the most fun aspects of creating for child avatars. There’s a freedom and a playfulness inherent in the category, the expression of which radiates directly from each designer’s inner child. Beyond any depth of role-play, the authenticity of their innocence informs their sense of what makes a good product.

When asked about the most enjoyable items to make, PanCake enthuses “EVERYTHING THAT IS PINK!” before highlighting the playful and cute aspects of kids item design. “Sometimes I see something from the biggies and I wish it would exist for kids too, so I try to make it suitable for a kid, more cute and sometimes a bit cheeky.”

Numbers takes a different tack, focusing on skins, children’s toys in mesh, and prank kits “because I can spread the mischievousness but not get grounded for it.”

Secretspy (Heslop) in turn, leans on her own instincts for inspiration: “I get to create things that I want to wear; then when I’m finished, I put it up for sale in my store and people buy it! I’m always so happy and amazed when designs that I make are bought by others. It’s a very good feeling.”

What’s clear in all of this is that engaging with Second Life as a child avatar can be as rewarding, quirky, joyous, confounding, and wondrous an experience as with an adult avatar, with the advantage that the permission to be enthusiastic is inherent, and the sometimes jaded eye of the adult is replaced with a fresh perspective scrubbed clean of expectations.

PanCake summarized the experience beautifully: “A lot of you ‘big’ readers out there and even the ones that won’t read this article, think that the SL kids aren’t too important. A lot of you think we are weird maybe, but as a kid I have to say that when I started SL, I couldn’t ever imagine being a kid myself! If you never tried to be a kid, then you shouldn’t judge, never! As long as I am a kid, and that’s now a good amount of 5 years, I have never looked back to be an adult!”

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“One of the best souls in here that I ever met, (her name is Kiley),” PanCake continues, “said ‘If you are beautiful you will see beauty, if you are innocent - you will see innocence.’ Those few words contain so much more, but what I want to say is before you judge the people that choose to be kids, you should try it for only one day, and I promise you, you will understand the heavy weight of those words!”

Child avatars have been a fixture in Second Life for a number of years, and for much of that time have represented a lesser known segment of the virtual community as a whole, but now their innocence and simple joy are crossing over into the mainstream.

On Monday, October 19th, and Tuesday, October 20th, 2015 at 4:00 PM SLT, two exclusive PENUMBRA Autumn/Winter Fashion Week ‘15 shows highlighted the inspired creations of the talented designers featured in this article as well as a number of others. This debut represents a new foray for these kids creators into the exciting world of fashion show runways and appreciative audiences!

Click here for a link to their Look Book from their fashion week shows.

Click here for the SLurl to their fashion week retail areas.

Click here for the SLurl to Baby Burp.

Click here for the SLurl to MeshMerized.

Click here for the SLurl to The Soda Pop Shop.

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Photography by Catalina Staheli, Miele Tarantal, Sylphia Constantine and Zzoie Zee Page 132 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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Fashion lovers across the grid were delighted by .PENUMBRA.’s consistent attention to detail in quality show production, highlighting the latest trends for the season with a week full of runway shows and retail shopping possibilities.

From October 17, 2015 to October 24, 2015, .PENUMBRA. Autumn/Winter Fashion Week 2015 showcased over 280 fantastic outfits in 16 exciting shows from 50 talented designers.

Affirming their continued commitment to excellence and evolving as an organization, .PENUMBRA. has revolutionized the approach to fashion week, featuring everything from formal to fantasy, casual to avant garde with apparel, jewelery, accessories, skins and even designers from the kid community coming on board. .PENUMBRA. understands that fashion is not monotone, but an explosion of style, color, and texture and has taken the next step in the evolution of bringing fashion to every corner of the grid.

Reviews coming in all agree that in every aspect of the event, .PENUMBRA. has proven once again why their fashion weeks are considered to be the foremost and unparalleled fashion events of the year.

While the shows are over, it is not too late to stop by their retail and shop for some of the great outfits featured!

Click here for a SLurl.

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B. Barbie Styles - Winter Snowflake Model: Sylphia Constantine Photographer: Sylphia Constantine ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 141

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cinphul - Sahlt Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Catalina Staheli ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 143

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Empyrean Forge - Heritage Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Catalina Staheli

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Firefly - Kosem Sultan Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Catalina Staheli

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GeWunjo - BELA Belly Chain Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Catalina Staheli ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 149

Indyra - Mercy Model: Scarlet Lenoirre Photographer: Zzoie Zee Page 150 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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October’s 4Seasons - Zulay in Walnut Model: Leezah Kaddour Photographer: Zzoie Zee ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 153

Petit Chat - Break These Chains Model: Miele Tarantal Photographer: Miele Tarantal Page 154 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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PREY - Reagan Model: Locuala Madruga Photographer: Zzoie Zee ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 157

Prism - Sienna Model: Sylphia Constantine Photographer: Sylphia Constantine

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Rayne Couture - Gaga Model: Miele Tarantal Photographer: Miele Tarantal ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 161

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Tres Beau - Tux Moderno Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Sylphia Constantine ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 163

Virtual Diva Couture - GemA Gown Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Sylphia Constantine Page 164 | ECLIPSE October 2015

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White Room Couture - Wiggle Model: Catalina Staheli Photographer: Sylphia Constantine ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 167

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Voices From the Grid is a monthly survey of opinions and ideas of Second Life® residents on the salient issues of the day.

Who in Second Life has not heard the advice to get a real life? It is very annoying when it comes from someone whose real life consists of watching unreal lives on television all day. Is their life as an observer more real than an Second Life® resident’s life as a participant in this virtual world of ours? We decided to ask a few community members how real is Second Life to see what their answers might be.

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Written by Cajsa Lilliehook

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Lori Novo Lori Novo started her Second Life journey over five years ago with the intention of starting a blog of personal memoirs and just keeping a low profile. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine or plan to be where she is today. Her blog, SL: Lori Novo, has grown more than she ever imagined and it has helped her grow as well, but she can still be as shy as she was when she started SL. She loves to explore and Second Life photography is her biggest passion, followed by her blog.

I laugh happily, almost falling off my chair while other times I cry uncontrollably of a broken heart. How can these emotions be caused in a virtual world by mere avatars? The answer is very simple, Second Life is not “just a game” as many often call it, but an important part of my real life for the simple fact that my heart continues to beat after I log in just as it does in the real world. These are genuine emotions I feel and they are caused by the humans behind every avatar that I encounter every day that have a heart that feels just like mine. Our emotions, actions, and behaviors, the choices we make and our daily interaction with each other are what creates the reality in this virtual world. How we treat each other can truly have an impact, good or bad in our real lives. That comes to show how real Second Life can become. Avatars don’t cry or smile, we do, and when we do, that’s when our pixels earn their heart.

I still have a long way to go in this wonderful journey and a lot of improvement to do, but I am in no rush, I intend to enjoy every step of the way.

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Photograph Lori| Page Novo ECLIPSE Octoberby 2015 175

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by ARnnO

ARnnO PLaneR Arrno Planer has been part of the Second Life community since January 2007. He joined Flickr in 2012. He claims he is not a photographer, just a photography addict in Second Life. He is one of the founders of the Snapaholic group in Second Life. He also says he is too lazy to learn PhotoShop or GIMP, too lazy to work with poses, his pictures are always candid captures, not organized planned “shoots”.

To be nine years on Second Life, it is inevitably happens there something powerful enough for me. I say “me” because there are probably almost as many different experiences in Second Life as there avatars and people behind them.

What is at stake for me to come back every day? Precisely nothing.

I come not “play.” While my profile might say geek, it was not that of a gamer.

“I think this is the easiest way you found to form the social bond,” explains a friend, who knows me very well and to whom I spoke of this article. “Here, you know you’ll be able to meet, talk about what you want to whom you want, without having to suffer the things or people that annoy you.”

It is true. On Second Life, contacts are made as easily as they come apart, so there is no risk to reach out to people.

I love this opportunity offered in Second Life to interact with very different people around the world, from all socio-cultural backgrounds. It is extremely rewarding and that’s what fascinated me almost immediately.

Second Life embodies for me a kind of vanguard of virtual and very positive “global village”. Rather a peaceful village, festive and creative.

For those who have the curiosity of mankind, Second Life becomes a place of discovery and extraordinary stories.

So we discover a lot about others and also we discover a lot about yourself. And anonymity plays a very important role. If he allows all mythomanies to some, it also gives the freedom to engage much more than is done in real life and even with our loved ones. I often say that I am here myself 150%. This is what is in my eyes the most rewarding experience of my Second Life.

My avatar is much more beautiful than me, it is also much more free. But it’s me.

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Veenya Venter has been in Second Life for 8 years, dabbling in everything from content creation to DJ’ing. Right now she’s a fashion blogger with her blog V Is for Veenya, photographer and works as a General Manager at Delusions Fetish Club. Most of her time is spent on her platform or in the club, but occasionally she ventures out to explore a sim or play a game of Cards Against Humanity.

How real is Second Life? What is ‘real’?

Don’t worry, I won’t go all Matrix on you, but the question begs to be asked.

Second Life has many aspects that are real, whether we like it or not. It has a real currency, a real company behind it, real people inhabiting it, creating content for it and working their daily jobs in it. Their time, sweat and tears are real, just maybe not as obvious. It’s easy to pretend it’s all make believe and it’s easy to disregard other people when all you see is the virtual representation of that person.

I believe Second Life first starts to feel real when you’re making real personal connections with SL as a tool. I have met numerous wonderful friends in SL, many who have transitioned into my RL as well. Those friendships are every bit as real and as important to me as any other. When they end, I get equally upset and when they die, I mourn for them just as much. They are my friends. Not my Second Life friends, not my online friends and not my “unreal” friends. They are, for all intents and purposes, my real friends.

However, if you are a person who wants to be more guarded and not let people get private, then perhaps the reality of Second Life won’t impact you as much.

Perhaps for you, it’s just a game then. But remember, for those around you, it might be different.

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Photograph by Veenya Venter

Veenya Venter

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Page 180 | ECLIPSE OctoberArisen 2015 Photograph

by Thorn

Thorn Arisen Thorn Arisen has been a resident of Second Life since 2012 when he discovered the vast second universe.

He has tried a few things in the past , but now he is focusing on his passion for photography and writing expressing them through his Flickr and blog named simply Thorn Arisen.

I was utterly impressed by the wide possibilities of creativity in this world , I was fully captivated. And so through my experiences, exploration and feelings my passion for photography surfaced.

Being and keeping things real is a feature I take pride in, from the creation of my avatar, to my pictures and my blog which includes mostly items I love to wear.

I like to express myself , find myself through images that resonate with my deepest emotions and feelings. I find creativity, in its purest form can be such a release valve and can be so rewarding! So I guess, in a way this is, on a personal level how real Second Life is and how I connect with it . It can be just as real as you make it, just as real as the people which create it.

From my personal experience, Second Life is real if you are true to yourself; the feelings , the emotions and passions are all real the rest is pixel/virtual reality. Through my interaction with people I feel friendships in a virtual space can be real, just as in real life people connect , get together, they create a personal environment around them.

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Photograph

by October Erika Xaron Page 182 | ECLIPSE 2015

Erika Xaron Erika Xaron’s beginnings in SL were very exciting, as most of us, meeting people worldwide, trying to learn how to move around this metaverse, and enjoying wonderful landscapes. But her PC didn’t allow her to set graphics even at medium....so she had to content herself with going to places and enjoying the wonderful views. That was in 2010.

Four years later, when she bought a new PC, she could experience how this world looks like in high graphics, and at that precise moment, she decided that she wanted to spend her time in here capturing all the beautiful moments that her eyes could perceive Her main concern in SL nowadays is learning more and more about photography and art, and keep enjoying of the wonderful spots and landscapes around.

Is this world real? More than we can imagine. I think that we project in this metaverse our desires and concerns, and we become true dreams that would be unachievable in RL. We usually have busy RL lives, stressful, and not everything is as perfect as we would like it to be....and when we arrive home, we log onto SL and we find a shelter for all our problems.....(apparently) a perfect world populated by (apparently) perfect people.

But we find also people with same or different stories, with different problems, and that makes us realise that even being here, hidden or just chilling or relaxing....we are real people with real feelings after all, interconnected with other real people.

So, for me, yes....SL is a real world, hidden behind perfect landscapes and avatars...with no hunger, hot, cold or toilet moments! but managed in the end by real people with real feelings. And this, makes it perfect... providing that we know when to disconnect from here and connect to real world, that can be as beautiful as this one, even more, if we know how to deal with it.

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Siddean Munro Explains Her Creative Process

Written by Siddean Munro

Photography by Natzuka Miliandrovic & Zzoie Zee

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From the mind of Siddean Munro herself...

Based on the average, business and real life obstacles notwithstanding, my creative process goes like this: I get inspiration from all over the place. It might be something, Caine Munro, my husband in first and Second Life®, sees and forwards to me–we have a references and inspiration folder that we can both add cool stuff to. Or I might be noodling in my sketchbook and find a strap or a heel that I like and want to build something around.

Or I might get a few IM’s about something that my customers would like to see me make–in the case of the body meshes, they were on my list, and I got quite a few messages from people that it would be a desirable object so that might be what spurs me to create something.

I go looking for reference pics to work off a lot of the time.

I rarely get the result I like if I am just working out of my head, especially when it comes to anatomy. I have done a lot of study and I have an awful lot of pictures of naked people on my computer that I’ve gathered from various sources like 3D.SK, a web site of human photo references.

I usually start by firing up Blender™, getting my own creators kit open. (Yes, I work off the same files I send out to the Slink addon creators). I add a new cube, set Blender to the front view and then I apply a mirror modifier. I absolutely prefer to model entirely on the right side and mirror to the left so my meshes are properly symmetrical.

I start with a basic box model. it literally looks like a bunch of boxes stacked in various configurations. I switch between the front and side view mostly in the beginning, getting everything lined up. Sometimes I load up some background images for reference. The basic modelling for me if I am not interrupted with other stuff can take anywhere from three hours to a day and a half, depending on what I am making. A pair of shoes which I have a bit of experience with can take a few hours to get from concept and cube to a fully modelled mesh ready for the next step. My body meshes took several weeks to get from concept and cube to a thing that represented the human I wanted to present, because the uncanny valley is so much more important in human being models than it is in shoes.

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The next step in the process is UV mapping and attaching the mesh to the avatar rig.

A UV is like...unwrapping a bear to make a bearskin rug.

It’s a 2D representation of the 3D skin. It’s the base for your texture image. UV mapping for me is quite a simple process for most meshes. Most meshes I simply work out what my texture islands will be for minimal seams, and mark the seams into the mesh and use Blender’s inbuilt unwrap system to make the UV template.

My body mesh UV’s were a massive task - to get my custom mesh to fit with the SL® avatar without stretching or pinching was lot of work and I wouldn’t even like to try and estimate how much time they have taken me. I am obsessed with not making applier creators tweak their textures to fit my mesh, although many do anyway. I have asked people to just let me know if they find something odd so I can fix it, so really my body UV’s are probably always going to be a work in progress. It’s much harder to fit an existing UV to a new mesh than it is to make a new UV. Once I am done with the UV creation, I attach the mesh to the avatar skeleton if it’s a wearable. Most of the time it’s based around my body mesh or my feet mesh, so I use that as the base for the weights and I use the weight transfer modifier or script in blender to copy a set of base bone weights. The bone weight is how much one of the avatar skeleton bones influences any one of the vertices in the mesh. For shoes for example, most of the weights will be 100% from the foot bone, however if I am making boots, the weights will be partially from the foot bone, partially from the main bones in the leg and partially from the bones that make fitted mesh work.

Shoes are dead easy to weight. Clothing much less so. A pair of shoes that only covers the feet will only take an hour or two, but an article of clothing can take hours to days of solid work to weight to make sure nothing clips or stretches in a strange way and you have no stray vertices from a bone where you don’t want it, more so now that we are working with fitted mesh - all those extra bones add complexity because they are all dependant on other bones in some way. SL also imposes limits like you can ECLIPSE October 2015 | Page 191

only have four bones influencing any one vertex, so that takes a good couple of hours to clean up once the base weights are created and finalised. Weighting involves a lot of testing, uploading to SL, wearing and testing out a bunch of poses and reworking in Blender, particularly with the body meshes because part of the point of doing them is to make sure the backside, elbows, shoulders and knees don’t flatten out the way they do on the default SL mesh. It’s sometimes a whole list of compromises, imposed by limits in SL, rather than my creative decision making process.

Texturing is the next part of the process and probably my least favourite part and I’m not even sure why. I quite like the end result, particularly when I get a nice realistic leather or something, but I tend to sit on my partially finished creations at this point for sometimes a couple of weeks or more, mulling over the textures. I think I have some skill gaps there that I struggle with but when I do eventually get to the texturing part, it usually takes me a day or two to create the basic textures - a combination of bakes, handpainting and photo sources, and from that point, it’s just a case of recolouring them to make a nice range. These days I use Zbrush to sculpt a high level of detail into the mesh, things like stitches, folds and wrinkles, fabric texture or leather texture, and I will use that to bake those details into my basic textures, and base a normal map and specular map on those details. Normal maps provide surface details to the viewer that aren’t modelled into the mesh, and specular maps provide a beautiful level of real time shine to the mesh surface. If you’re not using advanced lighting, you should! :) Sculpting all those details into a high poly mesh can be a very time consuming process.

At this point I have reached the part where I can upload, name, texture and box everything and I get my assistant to help me with that process. She has been taking my vendor pics for me lately and it frees me up to finish the product, get the marketing work done and get everything in boxes with all the right permissions.

If the product I am making is a body part - head, body, hands etc, then I will try and take a couple of weeks at least for user testing at which point I will reach out to a few of my creative supporters and ask them if they would like to help me test.

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I get quite a good response to this, and I have a couple of people who represent the customer who put the product through it’s paces in a big way. They get what is essentially the final product and they basically try and break it. They teleport everywhere, go to laggy sims, click the HUDs a million times, try and push the scripts to the limits, test it out with as many extreme poses as they can find, and try and make it stop working in some way, and then report back to me with any issues at which point we fix it if we can, or add it to a future update list if it’s not a gamebreaker and can be dealt with at a later time. The testing process can take days, or weeks, depending on what the product is, the availability of testers, how much of their time they are willing to donate to the process and how many iterations I have to make.

Once testing is complete and we’ve done the final end user checks - things like permissions, check the textures are all correct, there are no scripts in the product that don’t belong there and that we’ve not missed anything, including updating documentation, it gets released. It can take several hours

to days to get everything finalised and ready for release, especially if documentation is extensive and needs to be written from scratch.

For most products, release signals the end of the project. I upload images to Flickr®, make a blog post, post on the various social media outlets that we use, send in-world notices, and call it done.

For the body parts, the store release is really just the beginning of the feedback and iterations cycle. There is always something we have missed, that didn’t get picked up in testing for whatever reason, or improvements to be made that perhaps we didn’t think of, or did and decided it was out of scope and pushed it back to a future update.

I do try to take some time between major releases to decompress, do some chores that have been pushed aside in favour of the work, create a couple of pieces of actual creative content before I dive back into the body files for another round of updates. It is an awful lot of work. We already have a list of fixes and features for the mesh bodies lined up for the next major update cycle. :)

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