Contempo Institute shows Australian artist

The Contempo Institute is a gallery space holding an opening party on July 19th at 7pm SLT (Midday this Friday the 20th Australian Eastern time).

The exhibition is titled The Body Graffik and it showcases 2D works by four artists working with the human form. Additionally, they are showing two works by Australian artist Reni Voom: Metal Sea and the Touchable Autumn.

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Reni’s take on his work and the exhibition:

“If I had my life over again I’d be a computer programmer;
If I had my life over again I’d be an architect;
If I had my life over again I’d be a graphic designer;
If I had my life over again I’d be an animal trainer; Dogs? No, more likely ducks. (Maybe I like animation rather than animal training);

If I had my life over again I’d be a bird or a goat;
If I had my life over again I’d be a scientist who studies obscure quirks of nature;
If I had my life over again I’d be a child for life;
If I had my life over again I’d be a mathematician who could fill a chalkboard with complicated equations and formulas. And understand what I have written, of course. (I’ll need a bow tie for that job).

Second Life offers an opportunity to dabble in all these fields of experience. I enjoy environments where my learning curve is steep. The ease of building within virtual reality allows me to visually brainstorm, experiment with ideas and, if luck is on my side, bring works to a stage of resolution. It happens faster in here than in real life.

Second Life is not separate from the real world, it’s an extension. I’ve spent years working in the fields of ceramics and printmaking Both these mediums combine my interest in Visual Arts and Science. Two years ago I finally completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts. My honours year was spent exploring the nature of rust and decay.

My challenge in my first series of work, as a Second Life groupie, is to create objects that evoke the sense of touch though visuals and sound. Often in galleries in real life we have to stand back from the art and experience the work passively. I want you to walk into, touch and attempt to knock over my pieces.

Enjoy.

Reni Voom”

Check it out in-world

REA Group on the way into SL

Jana Gillespie, director of Big-Bit Australia Pty Ltd has let us know that the REA Group, best known for its site realestate.com.au, has signed on for an SL presence. There’s nothing to see at this stage but the island is present in search and is called ‘Real Estate Life’:

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The presence will represent the group’s worldwide operations and contain a community area with events and seminars planned. It’ll be interesting to see if they decide to get into virtual real estate. Will Anshe Chung and the other large land barons end up having another big player in the arena? It’d make for an even more interesting market.

(disclosure – Big-Bit are a paying advertiser on SLOz)

Ricoh’s Australian Connection

Australian Developer Inside This World has completed a striking build for the Belgian subsidiary of printer / fax / photocopier behemoth Ricoh.

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The interior of the build is a static display of current models and associated information. It’s not the sort of build that’s going to attract return visitors however that wasn’t the intention as explained by the developer on his blog. As a presentation backdrop for dealers it would certainly beat having the Ricoh sales rep turning up at your company with a Powerpoint presentation.

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Check it out in-world

The Sun Never Sets

Australian machinima auteur Skribe Forti has produced a short “avant-garde soap opera” titled The Sun Never Sets.

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Who needs Young and the Restless?

Australia Council announces first in-world artists forum

The Australia Council certainly can’t be accused of not howing interest in Second Life as a means of artistic expression. Last week we reported on the ‘matchmaker’ service for artists and musicians working in Second Life. Now, in conjunction with the ABC they’ve announced an artist forum for the 12th July:

“The in-world event, to be moderated by ABC’s Sunday Arts reporter/producer Fenella Kernebone, is for the Australia Council’s inaugural Second Life artist residency.

In an open forum at 7pm (EST) on ABC Island, Paris-based artist and architect Brad Kligerman – one of the first artists in Second Life to complete an in-world residency – will present his work, discuss ideas and answer participants’ questions.

Brad, an architect and teacher, completed his 11-week residency with US-based Ars Virtua , a new media centre and gallery in Second Life, where he questioned the idea of materiality in the rendered environment and the nature of image.

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Australia Council chief executive officer Kathy Keele said the partnership with the ABC was a great fit with the Australia Council’s Second Life initiative. ‘The ABC was the first Australian media organisation to establish a presence in Second Life and we are excited about working with them on this project.’

‘We hope that Australian artists gain valuable insight from Brad Kligerman’s successful art interventions in Second Life and that they will be inspired to create innovative works in-world that will place them at the forefront of this groundbreaking practice,’ Kathy Keele said.

The Australia Council has also set up an artist’s forum in Second Life for artists looking for other artists with whom to collaborate. The moderated artists forum can be found at ABC Island and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) Island, Esperance.”

Like any event, places are limited so drop an email to slrsvp@ozco.gov.au with your Second Life Avatar name. The event will be streamed live at a location to be announced and and a vodcast . A vodcast of the event will also be available on the ABC Sunday Arts website . Sunday Arts screens at 5.00pm on… Sundays.

For more information on Ars Virtua and Brad Kligerman visit www.arsvirtua.com.

The Ann Myers Medical Center

The Ann Myers Medical Center (AMMC) is part of the Sprott-Shaw Community College islands.

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The AMMC blog lists the presence’s goals as:

“1. Assist students to become more proficient in initial exam history and physicals. The patient often reveals many important aspects of their disorder through their words if the physician takes the time to listen. In this fast-paced world, med students are not being appropriately trained to listen.

2. A second aspect to the history and physical for Dr. Ann is attempting to train her students to truly care for their patients. Dr. Ann teaches her First Life students that they can heal simply by listening and caring. She often states to her students, “Laying a hand on a patient’s shoulder and honestly listening can heal more than any medication you can prescribe for a person.”

3. AMMC is attempting to link telemetric builds (ECG, oxygen saturation machines, etc.) to real-time outputs via URLs. Thus, a student will right click on an ECG machine and be taken to a URL, where they will have to accurately diagnose the medical issue through analysis of telemetric outputs.

4. In conjunction, we will be assisting students to become more proficient in the analysis of MRIs, CTs and X-rays.

5. AMMC will also be training Psychology students in various methodologies and treatment protocols, implementing Dr.Ann’s belief and research interest in psychoimmunobiology, the body’s ability to heal itself through the stimulation of the immune system to fight disease.”

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The goals are more than worthy, and any strategy that increases the human focus of medical students is a very positive thing. The hospital itself consist of three floors and includes and operating theatre, recovery unit, birthing unit and examination cubicles. Aside from the technological learnings that could be enabled here, when SL becomes fully voice enabled the ‘bedside manner’ issues will probably provide the greatest educational gains. Of course, it’d be nice to know that Australian health professionals were being provided the same opportunities.

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Check it out in-world

Second Fest

Second Fest is on this weekend and it’s very Australia-friendly with Day 2 kicking off around 9pm AEST (4am SL time). The rumours about an avatar appearance of the Pet Shop Boys are probably nothing more than that, but hey those guys were avatars fifteen years before SL so it’s an obvious fit.

The Intel sims are spacious to say the least with multiple viewing locations:

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Check it out in-world

The PIER opens

Owned by Sydney-based Carys Dahlstrom (and virtual dog Wullie!), the PIER is becoming one of the more popular social venues. Although its been around quite a while (I remember spending some time there months ago), it’s had a facelift and a move to a new sim. The (re)opening was held last weekend:

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In Carys Dahlstrom’s own words: “I guess I just want a ‘safe’ place for people to hang out. I had this place before on another sim and had to move it as the sim couldn’t cope with the traffic. Somewhere to go without the ‘gambling and sex’ pressure. Good music, good fun and good people”.

Idlers also get to walk the plank and buy the t-shirt afterwards.

Thanks to Simon Kline for the opening pics!

Check it out in-world.

Monash University (doesn’t) join the SL contingent

We’ve been contacted by SL resident Curiosa Paravane requesting we remove the image we’d featured in this story. Curiosa has made the following statement: “The branding of the building on esperance was a mistake which has been corrected”. We’ve removed the image as it appears Monash University aren’t in fact officially in SL at this stage.

We asked Curiosa whether a real Monash presence was imminent – her response was “I can’t comment on behalf of Monash, I’m afraid. You’ll have to wait and see like everyone else :)”

At SLOz we ran the story because the Places search functionality was returning Monash University – this is no longer the case.

The original story (minus image):

“Monash University has joined USQ, RMIT, Murdoch Uni and the AFTRS in Second Life with a modest presence on Esperance Island.

We’re hoping to catch up with someone from Monash in coming days to find out more.

Check it out in-world

Interview – the SLCN TV Team – Part 2

We finish up our Q&A with the effusive SLCN TV team with a discussion on SL competitors and what’s inspirational about SL. Part 1 of the interview can be found here

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Lowell: So what do you see as the biggest challenges for the SL platform in the coming 12 months?

Starr: Living up to the inflated expectation of the broader population as they realise what cool fun they are missing out on… and leap in without true commitment to it.

Wiz: The biggest challenge for Linden Labs is to stay focused on their mission. I believe they have done a remarkable job doing that already. In fact, I am stunned at how focused they have been despite what must be an enormous industry distraction.

Starr: And all the other scandals and crisis’ happening… they have become masters of the universe, and hey, that’s a busy job.

Lowell: What are your thoughts on potential competitors like Project Outback?

Wiz: The “secret” that makes Second Life work is the economy and the intellectual property model. Many people, like Project Outback, have the mistaken impression that “it’s about technology”, but it’s not. It’s about people and their possessions and their world. That is the challenge for any competitor, and Linden Labs won’t have too much to worry about until somebody undertands how to quickly escalate the creation of a vibrant virtual society.

Starr: Peer to peer is an exciting thing and if virtual worlds can run as smoothly as the full screen video for Joost, then a p2p system sounds great…. but I agree with Wiz, the challenge will be filling it with interesting people and things, because that is going to win over a better resolution suntan.

Lowell: But you’d agree that if a competitor manages to create a vibrant community whilst offering much larger concurrency per area that they’re likely to cause some concern for SL?

Wiz: True, technology supports such a society, and makes it possible. But, when you look at SL, it’s amazing the “trivial” features related to ownership, IP, permissions, that, if missing, would cause the economy to collapse. There are fundamental problems with “larger concurrency per area” that are not easy for anyone to solve. For example, no matter how much money and technology you throw at it, there is a limit to how many people you can throw into a phone booth. There are limits, based upon graphic complexity and “activity on your screen” to how many people you can actually manage in one space. I think the “limits per area”, while too low now, are not a “make or break” feature for competing with Linden Labs.

Lowell: True – but whether it’s SL or a competitor, being able to have more than 100 people in an area is likely to be an attractive proposition.

Wiz: I think the biggest “competitor” will come from those who have the vision to embrace the LL open source viewer, and create stunning and usable alternative grids. It’s a lot like the web. Embracing HTTP as a standard was essential. For virtual worlds we need a standard. and the LL open source viewer is light years ahead of any other attempt.

Lowell: Do you think that SL’s dominance now makes it likely to remain that way?

Wiz: Standards-based virtual worlds are the “holy grail” that will cause adoption to spread like lightning.

Lowell: And open source is much more likely to deliver that. Is SLCN set up to service other virtual worlds?

Wiz: Well, a STANDARD will deliver that. There is nothing even remotely close to a standard. There is the second life open source viewer in first place. Second place? Nobody. SLCN can provide virtual coverage of any virtual world. In fact, we sort of joke about the “Second Life Cable Network” name and figure that some day people will say …. “SLCN, what does that stand for?” and have no idea

Lowell: Have you done any non-SL virtual work to date?

Wiz: We don’t see any other virtual worlds as even marginally important right now.

Lowell: Why is that?

Wiz: No other virtual world allows content creation even close to what SL offers. Content creation is what CREATES people’s virtual identity, otherwise they are just “going to a virtual movie” and have no participation. People’s stories are derived from their participation. We will wait and see whether other environments accomplish that and will not hesitate to cover such worlds when they do. Sure there are “niche worlds” like World of Warcraft and we are considering whether WoW “events and news” may be potentially interesting, but that is, in my opinion (you may think me crazy) a small market.

Lowell: I think you MAY be crazy on it being a small market.

Wiz: WoW isn’t a small market…. the WoW market who ALSO will watch a virtual TV show is a small market.

Lowell: But I’d imagine the huge cohort of heavy users would jump at a virtual TV show on WoW – nothing to back that up of course.

Starr: Well there was that WoW clip on Youtube that got squillions of hits about the funeral massacre. Not wanting to contradict you Wiz! hehe

Wiz: %population-who-gets-curious-when-they-hear-the-words-second-life > %population-who-gets-curious-when-they-hear-worlds-of-warcraft …. quickest summary I can give

Starr: I think that a lot of SL users where users of the Sims online and other virtual worlds and they are looking for the next level of sophistication, which SL offers. People love the making, the selling and the interactions

Lowell: So linking to that – what events / areas in SL have excited you the most?

Texas: I’m inspired by some of the people we have met in SL. The patience and time they have shown us from day one have just blown me away. These people are creative with their imaginations, their time and their hearts.

Wiz: You’ll laugh when i say this, but somehow, SLCN has a “mind expanding” effect on people. I am very excited when I see that effect. For example…people who have been working hard to build “something they find important” in Second Life, they work, they amass friends, they blog about it, they love it. Then, they participate in an event where their “loved thing” is brodcast on SLCN, in-world maybe, to other sims, or archived so tht experience is “captured” so they can tell their story better with pictures. It opens their minds to new possiibilities, the world seems bigger. Suddenly what seemed SO hard seems easier because they can share the experience with others not in-world. The Best Practices educators were the best example of that, and I am inspired by every one of them.

Starr: I get inspired by seeing people jump up and perform when the camera on them, just like in real life. People have such avvie-empathy, they want to be up on the big screen as much as the next avvie. I do think media plays an important role in-world like it does “out” here.

Wiz: Absolutely. One analogy I make alot is that Second Life is like a “new country” being born. It needs a cable network to document what happens, to tell the story, to share it. It seems obvious to me.

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