mOb magazine
LIGHT
Photo by Choo Vegas
EDITOR’S note
Choo Vegas - Editor in chief Samyi Basevi - Creative director
LIGHT As i began to write this editorial i asked myself the question, how could you describe the light if you were asked? and i immediately thought, wow what a vast subject! Nothing in the universe can go faster and it is also the main way to discover the world around us, essential to the vision. There are two kinds of light, natural and artificial, for the first, that of the sun, simply without whom life could not have developed and all the natural phenomenas on earth that emanate from it. One could also add the one that the lightning causes briefly. And then there is the artificial light that we all know today. Light has been the subject of much research among the most brilliant scientists and over time, men have discovered its properties to then design many instruments such as the telescope, the microscope, the camera and many others to discover worlds previously unknown. From this period will unfold what will be called The Age of Enlightenment and thereafter The Philosophy of Lights in the 18th, literary, cultural and intellectual movement to promote knowledge and fight against the obscurantism of the time. Hm.. seems they didn’t finish the job! But let’s move on philosophical, scientific and technical aspects and be back to what interests us here, the light in photography, the main component for the creation of a photo. As words usually have meanings (i promise), etymology teaches us that The word “photography” was devised by John Herschel and comes from two roots of Greek origin: The prefix “photos” (photos: light, clarity) - which proceeds from light, which uses light; The suffix “graphé” (graphé: paint, draw, write) - which writes, which ends in an image. Literally: “paint with light”. Let’s see how the brilliant artists we have chosen for this issue have each in their own way painted with light... Samyi Basevi
SUMMARY EDITOR’S NOTE PHOTOGRAPHY Arnno Planer
5 9 10
Madoka Kawabata
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Meilo Minotaur
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Tati Hara
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Dodo Ahanu
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Mich. Michado
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LIGHT
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NuNox - Cyberpunk City and Drune - East of Eden
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INTERVIEW
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Megan Prumier
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Arnno Planer
Surrealism and humour walks hand in hand. Always tinged with irony and a sense of humor.
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Madoka Kawabata A fascination for the surreal in dark urban landscapes and poetic trashy wastelands.
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Meilo Minotaur
With a background in Sculpture, she has devoted since 2008 her artistic ativity to working individually and collaboratively with other artists in Second Life
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Tati Hara
Japanese artist. Humans are always seen as part of the landscape and the nature rather than as the focus of attention.
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Dodo Ahanu
Passionate german angel.
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Mich.Michabo Me? I can piss standing... prefer snow, love bluebells, like rain very much, bit shy! . 62
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LIGHT
LIGHT
Photos: Choo Vegas and Samyi Basevi
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MAKE IT SHINE NuNox - Cyberpunk City Drune - East of Eden Two cyberpunk inspired immersive playgrounds with film noir appeal. They are rumored to be places of commotion and carnal disquietude and are inspired by films like Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, Neuromancer, and Altered Carbon. So absolutely places for a special light.
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INTERVIEW
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MEGAN PRUMIER
Interview by Choo Vegas / Photos by Megan Prumier
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LOOK AT ME! Megan Prumier’s photos have a special light. They tend to evolve around the female body posed in various states of undress. Veiled behind layers of the softest shadows you will ever see, her subjects appear stark and strong, sometimes provocative. It’s like she wants to draw you in and command you to stare like a helpless voyeur. This month she is exhibiting brand new works at Dixmix Gallery and we wanted to pick her brain about that, as well as being one of second Life’s most sought after builders. Here she talks about inspiration, kink and working too hard. And the birth of business and death of creativity. “I’m never here, I just only log in and go.” she says as she invites MoB Magazine to her home, a bohemian rooftop squat full of all the details we know from her builds in Second Life. But as well as being a popular builder Prumier is one of the most strikingly original photographers of the metaverse.
The 14th if December her new exhibition opens at DixMix gallery, and anyone who knows her work will expect an orgy of soft shadows and sensuality which are the trademarks of Prumier’s images.
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“The exhibition hasn’t got any theme; I prefer to be free. I know that for some a theme can be inspiring, but I see it more like a limitation. I could perhaps think of a theme when I have a quiet moment and feel calm, Then I might get inspired. But it’s never calms here, I have a crazy busy SL and just manage to take pictures when I can. So, there’s too much time in-between each shoot, or they happen so randomly I would not be able to focus on a story or a theme. Is it all new work you are showing now? “Yes, all new. Dix always wants all new”, she smiles. She and gallery owner Dixmix Source are longtime friends. They met way back when Megan Prumier was doing one of her first building projects, a sim named Crimarizon. Residents who’s been around for a bit will remember it, the buildings from the sim are still for sale in Prumier’s shop. “It was a fantasy sim with a huge castle as art gallery, and the guy loved it and bought another sim to put next to it. So, it existed as a 2-sim destination for about one year. I had met Dix and asked him to help with the art gallery, and we started doing exhibitions. Since then we’ve been friends.” Like so many people who’s been in Second Life since the early days she misses the “old times” when the metaverse still bore resemblances of a new frontier: the entrepreneurial spirit where anyone could create items and start businesses in-world. Back then Megan was busier playing. She would hit the clubs with her friends and sometimes party until morning. “I used to hang out with the Ionic-guys. We had so much fun and none of us knew how to do anything, she laughs. The Ionic guys are of course the creators behind the original mesh brand Ionic, grid wide known for their buildings and objects with a signature nostalgic flair. “Wow they were sooo coooool back then, playing live gigs that sometimes lasted all night. Wow I SO miss their gigs. But I think they are too busy with their business now, once that started their gigs stopped. 96
“I was a punk when I was new here, she laughs, and we muse a while over old places and stores that were hot back in the day – now long gone and lost in favor of a brave new world of very professionally created mesh. She pulls out an old record player from artillery – Antonia Marat’s shop that used to be the premier choice for all Second Life’s pinups and rockabilly royalty. “Look, it’s sculpted and primmy, but it still kicks ass!” Do you feel SL has changed for the worse or the better? “Yeah, SL has changed a lot in all this time. Many of the old residents left. And somehow people stopped playing. How has this affected the metaverse? “I think SL was more genuine before. We started at the same level, and everyone had a chance to take part in the creative side of things. SL was about creativity, in my opinion a genius idea which unfortunately has been killed by professional businesses taking over. Now it’s mostly professional3D designers who make items in programs outside of SL and the result is les original. So, in my opinion - mesh destroyed the SL economy, professional creators and big stores ate all little cool stores.” “It was the end of the life for the underdogs who couldn’t use advanced tech programs? “Yes! And the result is a more professional but less interesting virtual world. Today you teleport between sims and they look nice but it’s all the same buildings from the same creators. Empty sims with Onsu and Fanatik wherever you go. All those small original shops we saw before that people built were often so well curated, but we don’t see them anymore.” It has also affected the way we shop – people hardly visit designers main stores anymore, it’s all about big events where only a few select designers are welcome to enter…” “Yes, it’s the end of creativity. Sometimes people call me and say: “Hey, I need a sim, can you make it look like Elysion?” I always say no. Of course. I mean why would you just want to copy someone else. So, what do you say? “I tell them to fuck off.” she says. And offer me a beer from her own bar. “I sooo hate when people hire me and tell me they want me to copy someone else. Then they can do it themselves.” 97
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Deeply artistic and aesthetic in nature, Megan Prumier has become one of Second Life’s most sought after photographers and builders. Her sim builds are like something out of dark fairytales and often evolve thematically around the gothic side of romance and sexuality. A lot of event planners like Kinky Monthly hire her, and when Serene Footman reopened Furillen he commissioned Prumier to build two of the buildings for him. The sim is a copy of a small place on an island outside of Stockholm and the buildings are copies of the real, builds that are there. “I fell in love when I saw them. That was a fun project, to copy those.” You have become the number one sim builder in SL now, what makes you agree to take on a project and what does it cost? “That depends on a lot of things. But if someone come to me and say: “I have a sim, do what you want” I could even do it for free.”
When asked to pick a favorite of her own building project she finds it hard. But the spooky theme park at Deadpool gets a favorable mention as a courtyard she designed for the sim A Little Bit of Soul.
“Valmoor is small but it’s the most curated about lights and materials that I have ever made. I think that is what makes the difference in building places now. When I designed the courtyard in A Little Bit of Soul I worked materials into all the textures of those details that didn’t already have materials in them. One by one. That was time consuming. It actually took more time than building the entire sim.” Are you self-taught? Or do you work creatively outside of SL as well? “No, I have fun with creativity only in SL. In RL I can’t take nice pics even with the smartphone.” She started taking photos in Second Life after studying what people posted on Flickr. 99
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So how do you pick what items you want to hang in the gallery? “Want the truth? I show pics to Mako. Then Mako finds me a theme and give all the pictures titles.” Mako Vitti is the co-owner of Prumier’s latest endeavor – the erotic club Valmoor. He is another old friend of hers. “I bet you know him from his old sim Days of O?“ If it was to do with kink you can bet on it. I have always loved those places in SL. Days of O was based around the famous novel “Story of O” – about female submission involving a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer named O. She is taught to be constantly available for men, offering herself to any member of an elite club. “Mako likes to write, and he always has genial ideas.” How did you get the idea for Valmoor? “Oh, another crazy story. I’m DRD collector, I buy their stuff by default. Everything and without a reason. So, when they released their fourth gothic shoppe and I had the other three, I told Mako: “Ok I sooo need to use these builds now. Let’s open a dark and kinky place!” Then Valmoor was born.” Running a club might not be what she needs in addition to all her other assignments in SL, but the exotic looking little place is gaining popularity. “I do things without thinking a lot. That can be a problem, but it can be fun too.” You have built several erotic type clubs. Is that a world you are attracted to? “I think it’s a world that people in general are attracted too, especially in SL. A spicy way to live out their dreams and fantasies. Any plans and ambitions for 2020, apart from living out dreams and fantasies? “Find a desert island. Stay there for a while. And relax!” 103
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Featured artists Arnno Planer Madoka Kawabata Meilo Minotaur Tati Hara Dodo Ahanu Mich. Michado A big thank you to all for your participation
Mob DECEMBER 2019