SBS: enter the machinima
May 12, 2008
The island touted for SBS may have been shelved, but they are still steaming ahead with their work within Second Life.
A blog has launched on the SBS site with the focus being on helping people to make their own machinima. Documentary-maker Shelley Matulick (SL: Mixin Pixel) is behind the blog and will provide weekly tips.
It’s certainly a hands-on approach for SBS and if the blog delivers on what it’s promising, it’ll be a useful Australian resource on machinima.
Popularity: 4% [?]
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Australia Council announces ‘MMUVE it!’
April 24, 2008
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.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Babelswarm Revisited
April 19, 2008
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
Popularity: 4% [?]
Babelswarm - Australia Council launches Second Life art project
April 11, 2008
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.
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.
(Pictures: Babelswarm, 2008)
Popularity: 4% [?]
Richard Sealey Exhibition
November 12, 2007
On Telstra’s Ponden sim, an artist has created an exhibition presence. Richard Sealey (SL: Ritchey Jacobus) is pretty up-front with his intentions:
“I’m looking at creating a pemanent display of my art using SL to promote my name around the world with links to my website. Through this I hope to generate RL sales”.
The exhibition opens this Sunday the 25th November at 11am AEST (Sat 24th 4pm SL time).
Popularity: 10% [?]
Australia Council announce grant winners
October 3, 2007
Sorry, a little slow on the uptake on this - on the 5th September the Australia Council announced who it would give a $20 000 grant to for artstic development in Second Life, something we covered a while back.
Congratulations to Christopher Dodds, Adam Nash and Justin Clemens. We’ll try to touch base with one or all to find out about any plans underway.
(Thanks to SL Insider who made me realise I’d missed this announcement)
Popularity: 5% [?]
Thursday’s Fictions Q&A a success
July 29, 2007
This afternoon, the ABC Island Ampitheatre played host to the Q&A session following the ABC TV screening of Thursday’s Fictions.
The panel consisted of Dr Richard James Allen , Dr Karen Pearlman, Gary Hayes and Story Consultant Jacqueline Turnure and the discussion was moderated by Christy Dena and audio streamed. Around twenty-five people sat in-world on the discussion with lots of questions around the translation of the story into SL, the collaborative process that allowed the project to succeed and the potential for such projects to increase the engagement of the wider community with SL as an entertainment medium.
Check out Thursday’s Fictions in-world
(For more pictures: go here).
Popularity: 10% [?]
