Australia Council announces ‘MMUVE it!’

Hot on the heels of Babelswarm, the Australia Council has announced its next opportunity for virtual world artists: MMUVE it!

Like the previous funding, it’s available for three artists but this time the platform has been widened to any virtual world:

“With more than 73 million participants in MMUVE’s such as EverQuest, Second Life and World of Warcraft, and the recent introduction of motion-sensitive controllers such as the Nintendo Wiimote, there is great scope to develop innovative artworks in a highly networked environment that incorporates body movement and its relationship to real and virtual environments.”

There’s 30 thousand dollars on offer for development of “an inter-disciplinary artwork engaging the human body in a MMUVE of their choice.”

All the details are here.

The expectation of the successful applicants is that they ensure there’s cross-over between their virtual world creation and real world participation by the public – the Australia Council calls it “developing public exhibition opportunities”.

Applications close on May 16, 2008 and only Australian citizens or permanent residents need apply.

Babelswarm Revisited

As we’ve previously mentioned, Babelswarm is a fascinating installation developed by writer Justin Clemens, visual artist Christopher Dodds and musician/artist Adam Nash – all from Australia.

I did a walk through Friday evening and grabbed some pictures though the impact of it is well and truly best experienced in-world.

We’ve also featured a video walkthrough in this week’s Weekend Whimsy

Check it out in-world.

Weekend Whimsy

1. Second Life: BabelSwarm

2. Second Life – SEVENTH HEAVEN – Windlight

3. Club Penguin – inf315e extra credit – Jay Willingham

4. Hiccup!

Babelswarm – Australia Council launches Second Life art project

An Australia Council project that was initially announced nearly a year ago, has come to fruition.

Babelswarm is the final product of writer Justin Clemens, visual artist Christopher Dodds and musician/artist Adam Nash and it’s being launched this evening at 5.30pm, Friday 11th April. It’s a simultaneous launch in Second Life and in Lismore, NSW at the Lismore Regional Gallery.

The Australia Council describes Babelswarm:

The installation, a metaphor for the Tower of Babel, uses voice recognition software that converts the spoken word of real and virtual participants into 3-D letterform images in an evolving tower of words. The artwork is a simultaneous installation in Second Life and in a real world gallery, where visitors can be involved directly in its creation via a computer interface.

Babelswarm installation

The Australia Council’s chairman, former QANTAS CEO James Strong, is upbeat about the use of Second Life for artists and the Australia Council’s support of such endeavours: “Virtual worlds like Second Life are fast becoming mainstream platforms for artistic interaction; we are keen to provide pathways for artists to continue to innovate in these rich digital environments. The Australia Council supports artist residencies in many places in the real world; it is only natural for us to help artists explore the creative possibilities of residencies in virtual worlds.”

The Lismore Regional Gallery is located at 131 Molesworth Street, Lismore, NSW. The exhibition will run until April 23, 2008. The Babelswarm blog has much more detail of the installation.

Check it out in-world

(Pictures: Babelswarm, 2008)

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