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Posts with tag info island

Mashup Islander Exhibit: A Journey into Real-Time 3D Art

Posted Oct 15th 2007 5:53PM by Amalthea Blanc
Filed under: Educational, Events, Exploration, Arts and Culture



Mashup Islander, or Christopher Dodds in real life, unveils connections between literature and real-time 3D art through his virtual moiré sculptures. His exhibit opened recently among a sea of enthusiastic visitors who immediately began exploring the interactive pieces. You may experience the work yourself on Info Island until November 15th, 2007.

Many thanks to Daruma Picnic, Elizabeth Rookwood, and Rookie Voyager for showing me around!

Continue reading Mashup Islander Exhibit: A Journey into Real-Time 3D Art

Writing About Music is Like Dancing About Architecture

Posted Aug 24th 2007 8:01AM by Akela Talamasca
Filed under: Great Builds


Some attribute the titular quote to Laurie Anderson; some to Steve Martin. Whomever said it may have been thinking (or anticipating, actually) this series of exhibits in SL. The Reflexive Architecture project, created by RL 3D Experience Architect Jon Brouchoud (Keystone Bouchard in SL), is an attempt to change the way we think about the until-now static nature of architecture in virtual spaces. When people naysay about SL, saying that it's just a glorified chatroom, I point with pride to locations like this one.

All of the pieces in Keystone's skybox react to an avatars presence -- some with sound, some with color, all with movement. As art, it's immersive. As function, it's easy to see how many of these structures could be adapted to provide hidden access to areas before tucking themselves neatly away to maintain a unified look to a room.

I visited the site and was fortunate to meet Keystone and his wife Kandida. They pointed me toward several great links of Jon's blog The ARCH. Here's a manifesto of sorts, describing the thinking behind the Reflexive Architecture project. Here's a video showing the pieces and what they do. And finally, the official opening is on Thursday, August 30th at 6 PM SL Time, at the Library Gallery, Info Island.

Keystone will be at SLCC -- if weather permits -- so go say hi! He's got a lot of great ideas that need to be heard!

(Thanks, Elizabeth!)
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Self portraits - aesthetics of the inner world

Posted Jun 3rd 2007 9:01PM by Tateru Nino
Filed under: Graphic Design, Entertainment, Educational, Events, Stories, Exploration

Jean Fouquet's self-portrait (c. 1450), a small picture created in gold on black enamel, is seen as "the earliest clearly identified self-portrait that is a separate painting, not an incidental part of a larger work." It's what is known as the "separate or natural" self-portrait, as opposed to insertions of the self in groups, or using a personal likeness to represent another person, often historical in nature.
Self-portrait exhibition in Second Life

The science of the self-portrait has changed dramatically since then; from paintings to photo-portraiture. In Second Life, another extension has been added; the tools used to create photographs in our Second Lives are a part of the set we use for every day Second Living. Changing camera angles, altering the lighting and quickly snapping shots with the press of a button are familiar activities to many of us; many of us spend time looking at ourselves, examining and changing outfits and body parts to create a look that more precisely reflects how we feel. Despite this, few of us would grant that our efforts are especially aesthetically pleasing, technically impressive, or precise and accurate in reflecting our inner lives.

Continue reading Self portraits - aesthetics of the inner world

National Games Week

Posted Nov 21st 2006 2:08PM by Akela Talamasca
Filed under: Odds and Ends

We are right smack-dab in the middle of National Games Week, which celebrates tabletop gaming. You can go to nationalgamesweek.net for more information, but there are a bunch of special talks going on throughout this week at Info Island. Upcoming talks include: SL Game Design, Relation Between Online Environments and Tabletop Games, and Role Playing in SL.

I'm happy to see so much being done in both RL and SL concurrently, as each such event brings the eventual convergence closer to reality. Go check these events out!

(Thanks, Eiseldora!)
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Alliance Second Life Library Grand Opening!

Posted Oct 4th 2006 4:36PM by Akela Talamasca
Filed under: News

Librarians are sexy. Anyone who doesn't think so is just remembering their childhood, well before puberty hit, when they were forced to restrain their youthful energies by seemingly over-strict librarians. I'll admit, that is a difficult image to shake. But c'mon, all that intelligence? All that passion for great literature? They're only quiet during business hours, my friends. I'll leave it to you, Constant Readers, to supply the rest of that thought.

All this is my roundabout, infuriating way of saying that I'm excited to hear that the Second Life Library is officially opening on Thursday, October 12th, with a series of events to continue through the 14th. This series of events is co-hosted by the Alliance Library System and Info Island, who've been working on this project for over 6 months. Guest speakers will include Pathfinder Linden, Professor Beliveau, and Katt Kongo. Further events include tours, scavenger hunts, and a costume ball!

The sim looks great, and this should be a fun, informative event; congratulations to everyone who've worked so hard on this project! I'll sign off now; I think I just heard the mailman drop off the latest issue of In the Stacks, which I swear I read for the articles.
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