UWA Artists’ Choice Challenges An exhibition series of original digital art in a virtual world
Water FreeWee Ling, curator
UWA Studies in Virtual Arts | September 2012 | Volume 1, Number 5 ISSN: 2200-7865 (Print)
ISSN: 2200-7873 (Online)
UWA Studies in Virtual Arts September 2012 Volume 1, Number 5 ISSN 2200-7865 (Print) ISSN: 2200-7873 (Online) http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/p/uwa-studies-in-virtual-arts.html Jay Jay Jegathesan (SL pseudonym: JayJay Zifanwe), Project Director, Co-curator D. A. Newton (SL pseudonym: FreeWee Ling), UWA Honorary Research Fellow, Lead Curator, and General Editor Copyright © 2012 by D.A. Newton. All rights to the original works depicted are owned by their respective creators, and images thereof are used by their permission. All text and images by D.A. Newton/FreeWee Ling unless otherwise noted. Contact: Jay Jay Jegathesan School of Physics The University of Western Australia (M013) 35 Stirling Highway Crawley WA 6009 Australia Email: jay.jay@uwa.edu.au UWA Studies in Virtual Arts comprise exhibition catalogues, special editions, and monographs on the arts in virtual worlds. Focus is especially upon the 3D art competitions held at UWA’s virtual campus in Second Life. Citation Contributors retain intellectual property rights to their material and may re-publish it provided that UWA SiVA is acknowledged as the original place of publication. Material in UWA SiVA may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-profit use for the purposes of education research, library reference, or stored and/or distributed as a public service by any networked computer. Any commercial use of this journal in whole or in part by any means is strictly prohibited without written permission. Any use of this journal in whole or in part should include customary bibliographic citation. “Second Life®”and “Linden Lab®” are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. The university of Western Australia and UWA SiVA are not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research.
Contents Introduction The Work
Introduction 2012 is the third year of 3D virtual art challenges at the University of Western Australia’s virtual gallery in Second Life® (SL™). Through these competitions, UWA in SL is recognized worldwide as one of the most imporant venues for the presentation of virtual arts. This year we feature two separate and non-concurrent art challenges: the UWA 3D Artists’ Choice Challenges, and the UWA Centenary 3D Art Challenge. From January through March and August through December, we will feature monthly sponsored theme challenges, beginning with the January theme of “3D Self Portraits,” followed in February by “Perfume,” March “Music,” August with “Air,” and September with “Water” as shown in this issue of UWA SiVA. From April through July we held a single major open competition in celebration of the Centenary of UWA, with L$550,000 Lindens (about $2200 USD) in art prizes and L$775,000 ($3,400 USD) for “MachinimUWA V,” a related animated film competition. For the UWA Artists’ Choice challenges, a different theme is announced each month, but the core theme is personal expression. We want the artist to use this as an opportunity to explore some aspect of their personality, not only as a creative artist, but also as a critical observer. An essential difference in these shows is the judging. When artists submit an entry they agree to serve also as a judge for the prize awards. Thus the awards are determined by the recipients’ colleagues, making this a unique process of consensus among peers rather than a critical adjudication by an outside panel. As with most UWA challenges, participation is open to anyone and no qualification is required. There are technical limits to the number of parts contained in an object and to server load. There is no size limit except to the extent that it impedes our ability to show other work or impacts other activities of the university. We accomodate video and audio media streaming, sound and light emitters, motion scripting, etc. Often we are confronted
with work that presents special difficulties in presenting it properly. But we do whatever we can within reason to work with artsts to support their visions. For the fifth round of the UWA Artists’ Choice Challenge we turn to the ethereal element called “water.” The artists were given the following contextual statement:
Theme for September: “Water” We are mostly water. The surface of our planet is mostly water. It nourishes, cleans, transports, entertains, and inspires us. Too little water and everything withers and dies. Too much water and we have hurricanes, tsunamis, floods. Its weight can crush or drown us, or float a half million ton ship. Water is sweat, tears, saliva... Think rain, boats, sweat, sailing, sharks, fountains, marine life...
This is the second of a sub-series of elemental themes, begun last month with “Air” and to continue next month with “Fire” and then “Earth.” The final theme for the Artists’s Choice Challenges will be “Triptych,” to be shown in December. We want to acknowledge the generosity of our patrons and sponsors for this year’s projects: • Jay Jay Jegathesan (JayJay Zifanwe), Prof. Ted Snell, and the University of Western Australia • Flora Nordenskiold for Nordan om Jorden • Fiona Blaylock and artFiona • Armany Thursday and Dyce Underwood for DNA Art and Music Fusion • Eliza Wierwight and Patron • Cherry Manga and Anley Piers for Mysterious Wave • Ginger Alsop and Phi Designs • Zachh Cale and projectZ
The Work There were 19 entries by 17 artists (including 1 collaboration): Aquaglo and MellyDee Macfanatic ~ All Creatures Need Water; Conserve! Barry Richez ~ Koi Charles Hera ~ Maelstrom Corcosman Voom ~ Big Fish Dragon Lord ~ Erechteion of Poseidon Dusty Canning ~ Row, Row, Row Your Boat Emily Elegy ~ Fountain with Dolphins PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD: Finn Lanzius ~ Evening Shore “A Living Painting” FreeWee Ling ~ Square Waves FreeWee Ling ~ Toroid Waves FIRST PLACE: Hypatia Pickens ~ The Bathing Ladies of Voynich JarooUK ~ Waterfall Krystali Rabeni ~ Back To Nature Krystali Rabeni ~ Reaching Out. THIRD PLACE: Lilia Artis ~ Thirst SECOND PLACE: Secret Rage ~ The Waters of Life Secret Rage ~ 75% Troubled Silene Christen ~ Last Hope Violetta Carolina ~ Silent in the Mind Because there were no non-scripted entries in the WATER show, no special award was given in the Non-Scripted category. * As in previous challenges, curator FreeWee Ling elected to withdraw from prize consideration, but remains a participant in the exhibitions.
Aquaglo and MellyDee Macfanatic ~ All Creatures Need Water; Conserve!
Barry Richez ~ Koi
Charles Hera ~ Maelstrom
“Life beckons. Dangerous but seductive it challenges us to abandon our restraints and give ourselves to the moment.�
Corcosman Voom ~ Big Fish
“A sculpture inspired by a painting by Arshile Gorky.”
Dragon Lord ~ Erechteion of Poseidon
Dusty Canning ~ Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Emily Elegy ~ Fountain with Dolphins
“Building is my passion , i love to create new projects and look for new solves of problems connected with building. Now i try to create sculpts and still make textures:)). I am from Poland.�
Finn Lanzius ~ Evening Shore "A Living Painting"
FreeWee Ling ~ Square Waves
“‘Square Waves’ and ‘Toroid Waves’ are experiments in illusory motion. In Square Waves, the motion is achieved by the flexible prims affected by ambient winds. In Toroid Waves the motion is entirely the result of an animated texture on a specially constructed sculpted prim.”
FreeWee Ling ~ Toroid Waves
Hypatia Pickens ~ The Bathing Ladies of Voynich
“To say I based this on the undeciphered Voynich Manuscript is to say enough. Those who don't know it can find out about it by touching the manuscript book to the side, but the build should speak for itself and for the viewer who finds in it what he or she will. I like to think I've expressed something here about the moist and cyclical regeneration of life. Or perhaps the healing properties of water. Almost all the textures in this build have been reproduced by me either in colored pencil, paint, or Photoshop.
JarooUK ~ Waterfall
Krystali Rabeni ~ Back To Nature
“Both of these pieces show my passion for nature and art, both similar but different.�
Krystali Rabeni ~ Reaching Out
Lilia Artis ~ Thirst
“Earth is also sometimes called "The Blue Planet". Looking down from space the huge amount of water lets it appear in this colour - and yet, even in 2012 with all our modern technological abilities and global infrastructure there are still people dying of thirst and starving because the fields are dry ...�
Secret Rage ~ The Waters of Life
Secret Rage ~ 75% Troubled
Silene Christen ~ Last Hope
Violetta Carolina ~ Silent in the Mind
The sim was set with a central landing pad and separate “lily pad� islets for each entry. Various water craft were placed to provide transport, including inner tubes, fantasy boats, and submarines, but it was expected that most visitors would simply fly from one to the next.
The UWA sim was flooded to 100 meters for the duration of the exhibition. The normal water level is 20 meters, and the UWA campus buildings and trees sit on land just above that, rising another forty meters, leaving 40 meters of water depth available for the show. We installed a false sea bottom at 60 meters to hide the campus below, but there was a portal that allowed visitors to explore the submerged campus as a sort of Atlantean ruin.
Above the sunken campus a sea floor was constructed to serve as the base of a fabulous undersea park, with many aquatic features, including corals, fish, stingrays, shipwrecks, and ruins. A perfect space for mermaid parties.