But wait, there’s more video to see! Gary Hazlitt has published his 44 minute video of the Wall V2 Performance:

As a sneak preview, Gary has published his own video interpretation of The Wall V-2, and ironically, has placed it to a soundtrack of a live Pink Floyd performance of Comfortable Numb, a song not used in the show!

Read more about Gary’s work on this and enjoy this sampler:

Look here soon for the release of the final video.

You can catch this show for the next few weeks at NMC Campus West (127, 47, 612) every Friday and Sunday at 2:00pm PST. If you land on the ground there, just look for the comfy green/white chairs which lift you to the venue.

Be sure to turn on your music player to catch the audio stream and do lots of alt-zooming to watch the action.

Show up early, mingle, and you are invited to be active in chat during the show.

And after the closing, be sure to join the actors on stage as they launch into original music. Bring your dance animations and hop on the wall!

Again, the NMC is very excited to bring you cutting edge art and performance to our Second Life campus.

If you never had the opportunity to experience this performance, virtuoso SL film maker Gary Hazlitt (aka Gary Hayes) has published am immersive full recording of this as machinima which you can find on YouTube (because of the 10 minute limit of YouTube, he has it in 2 parts- perhaps he may post it to Google or blip.tv??).

Enjoy!

This will happen March 25 at 5:30PM PT. To get on the list, jut send an IM to Larry Pixel- the first 35 to so will get seats. They will go quickly, so sign up and show your support for the ZeroG troupe as they show us their appreciation.

Housed on Otis Island (128, 128, 0), each project challenged its creators to develop an idea, establish a production line, and translate the idea into (virtual) reality in a short period of time and with a limited budget. The students had 3 hours of in-class time and 10 hours of in-world time to complete the environments they designed. None had any prior experience in Second Life.

Each of the three classes was alotted 3100 prims for their project. The themes chosen were “Pirates and Atlantis,” “Heaven and Hell,” and “Lost World and Mythology.” Each detailed environment is a visual feast, including elements like swimming fish, molten lava flows, and soothing fountains.

According to Wright, the students found that working in the 3D environment was challenging and stimulating, if occasionally frustrating. Students cited the team-building aspect of working together on a project like this as one of the high points of the experience. Problems they encountered were related mostly to hardware and bandwidth issues.

If you missed the Buzz and would like to see the projects, visit Otis Island (128, 128, 0) to take a look around. Hurry, though: the space will be entirely cleared in about a week, and the objects returned to their owners, to make room for the next group of new worlds.

For more information, see the report of Michael Wright’s Virtual World Project in Second Life.

Plain Text Transcript | Rich Text Transcript | Photos

The museum is named after Kirsti Aho, an emeritus board member of the New Media Consortium who has dedicated her life to supporting new media and creative expression. The museum’s curator and guiding force is Tayzia Abattoir, a long-standing and much admired patron of the arts in Second Life.

Anyone is welcome to visit the Aho Museum on NCM Campus at NMC Campus (115, 88, 25). You will need to jon the “NMC Guests” group to visit this sim.

Our Collections

The Permanent Collection, housed within and around the Aho Museum, strives to provide an encyclopedic showcase of virtual art forms and includes sculptures of all kinds, interactives, prim-based recreations of real life art, computer-mediated drawings and paintings, scripted and computer-generated art, virtual photography, and machinima. Inclusion in the permanent collection is by invitation only, and generally only a single piece from an artist will be solicited, although exceptions are made for artists working in multiple forms.

Lobby of the Aho

While much of the art on display at the Aho is bequeathed to the museum by its curator or the artists, a modest endowment also supports the purchase of truly extraordinary pieces. Inclusion in the permanent collection is generally limited to one-of-a-kind works, but exceptions are made from time to time.

The Rotating Collection, housed on the island of Ars Simulacra, is dedicated to showcasing all the forms of art possible in Second Life, including art brought into Second Life such as paintings or real-world photographs. Several times per year comprehensive exhibits of the works of noteworthy artists creating in Second Life are held, as well as art events and artist forums. Ars Simulacra is also the home of the ZeroG Skydancers who perform in a special space created for them by Dancoyote Antonelli that floats 600 meters above the island.

Our Support of the Arts

The Aho Museum is owned by the New Media Consortium (NMC), a real world not-for-profit consortium of leading universities and museums. From its earliest beginnings in Second Life, the NMC and the Aho have been committed to supporting the arts and artists in Second Life, and do so through purchases of art, through art-focused events and programs, through alliances with leading artists and arts organizations in Second Life, and through direct support. The museum provides fellowships to promising artists who need studio space or other forms of assistance.

Our Building

The museum’s current structure, designed and created by architect CJ Holden in the summer of 2007, is the second home of the Aho Museum, and was built on the same spot within the NMC Campus as the museum’s first home.

Kirsti Aho Art Museum on NMC Campus, designed by CJ Carnot

The museum’s first building, an iconic structure that is now archived, was inspired by Mayan pyramids and the Art Dec movement. Designed and built by Forseti Svarog as part of the original NMC Campus, that iconic structure was home to the museum for nearly two years.

Like the original Aho, the museum’s new building features a one-of-a-kind design intended to provide a fitting setting for the artworks which fill and surround it. The galleries in the museum are supremely flexible, and provide a variety of ways in which to display, light, and experience the art of Second Life. The building itself is an interactive piece of art, and over time, the exterior walls slowly change in response to their environment.

Artists in the Permanent Collection

• Nomasha Syaka – Icarus on Ice
• Sunn Thunders – Kokopellis Sculpture
• Ravenelle Zugzwang – Three Metal Horses
• Ravenelle Zugzwang – Lily
• Rezago Kokorin – Ice Age
• DeltaDharmaDawn Aubret – 3da- Farewell Angelina
• LeVey Palou – LHD_GEISHA
• Cubist Scarborough – Hologram of Clive Egginton
• Morris Vig – Multicolor Twist
• Cheen Pitney – Bullrider
• Charlot Dickins – A Boxer Feeling Blue
• Lash Xevious – Severed Connection
• Art Laxness – Squirl black
• Seifert Surface – Moving Hyperboloid
• Mika Korhonen – Hearts
• Solkide Auer – Radiazioni
• Random Calliope – Guardian – Ode in Crimson and Golden
• Damanios Thetan – Primetic II
• Stormy Roentgen – Solitude
• Xenophile Neurocam – XN Self.DeconSphere
• Sasun Steinbeck – Morphing Sculpture
• Nand Nerd – ss-dode
• Shellina Winkler – PURPLE KNOT
• mikeG1 Schuman – Kinetic Sculpture #4
• Elros Tuominen – night flower
• Meleni Fairymeadow – Buddha at Ease
• Damanios Thetan – Primetic
• Sunn Thunders – Schweifen Sculpture
• Vlad Bjornson – Plant Deco
• AM Radio – Marat_AM Radio
• Squirrel Zuhal – “Lilies”
• RacerX Gullwing – Snails On Holiday V2
• Stella Costello – Reflection
• Light Waves – Ballerina
• Meleni Fairymeadow – Grace in Prayer
• Elros Tuominen – fractal flower
• Daruma Picnic – 19 Prim Click Color Art
• Red Randt – Maura, who licked her knee and shamed Zeus
• Forseti Svarog – Primming Diebenkorn
• Stella Costello – The Scream
• Ub Yifu – Don Quichotte
• Nomasha Syaka – Michelangelo’s David
• Stella Costello – The Ship: Moded
• Ub Yifu – Sancho Panza
• Red Levitt – Victoria 13
• Red Randt – Sip Lemonade
• Rob Escape – Mermaid Statue on Rocks
• Rob Escape – Bosk Standing Tall
• Pumpkin Tripsa – Diana the Huntress
• Nomasha Syaka – Sculptie Horse
• Light Waves – Sculpted Skull
• Qarl Linden – fruit plate
• Seifert Surface – Torus Knot
• Random Calliope – One Prim Double Knot
• Morris Vig – Intertwined
• Vlad Bjornson – Sculpted Thoughts
• Fratine Petrova – Polarity
• Vlad Bjornson – Black Hole w/ Tube
• Stella Costello – Primolution
• Shellina Winkler – Crescent Moon
• Jenne Dibou – Automaton Workers
• Jenne Dibou – “The time is all he left.”
• Ravenelle Zugzwang – Women in Hats
• Meleni Fairymeadow – Red Shawl
• Meleni Fairymeadow – At the Window
• Seifert Surface – Moving Hyperboloid

Exhibition of Real Life Paintings/Digital Artwork by Second Life Artists

• Wolk Writer
• Michaelanglo Montague

On entering PARSEC (a giant seeming infiinite white dome), each of seven avatars dons a collection of gestures, each set is different. Apparently our use of voice chat generates musical tones and animates certain objects.

Certain balls begin to float in the air in response to our individual forces, and there is a mysterious combination of events that trigger a rather intense result:

Somehow, our group managed to trigger the sequence in a few minutes, but we could not figure exactly what actions made this happen.

And this is the “game”. We tried all kinds of approaches, scientific, process of elimination, total guessing, and in what passed as a fast hour, we felt we got close, but never nailed the sequence (even with googling parsec for clues).

We were told groups have spent hours in this space.

Its engaging because it is a mystery; the outcomes are not tied simply to action, and it depends on a group process. The use of voice chat as a stimulus to generating audio is a nice nod to the work of Robbie Dingo’s whisper box, but this is all together different.

There is a teleport to PARSEC but according to the signs, there has been a huge demand so they are hosting it now by arranged tours. Look for more images from the flickr photo group.

It is an amazing concept… and I still feel that gnawing frustration of not being able to figure out the solution!

This is a 3d immersion installation based on two paintings by Strawberry Holiday called “Certainty” and “Reality.” When combined, they’re called “On Their Journeys.”

Strawberry Holiday, speaking about “On Their Journeys” says:

The beginning represents reality in a lot of ways for me. It’s a symbolic woman just beginning to find her way. When you reach the end of a build, you find a confidant woman in her element: where I want to be.

Strawberry Holliday is a a RL artist and plus-size woman who is an advocate for size acceptance in Second Life. Her many endeavors in Second life include her plus-size store Peachy Accessories. Her art is featured in several places in Second Life, including The Second Louvre Museum as well as her own Winged Strawberry Gallery located on Da Boom (50, 213, 38).

A preschool teacher in Washington State in Real Life Strawberry loves to show children beauty and introduce them to intellectual thought via art. Her goal is that children will hopefully seek out beauty in all forms: peace, truth, love and art. Strawberry’s own distinct art often mixes a colorful child-like style with uncomfortable subjects. Her popular Second Life art installation “A Fishbowl View” is a 3D rendition of several of her RL art pieces, including the title piece.

You can find this exhibit now on NMC Campus 9. Strawberry provides suggestions for optimal viewing:

• Stay on the Path – Everything in this build is interactive. There are sounds, particles, lights, and textures that change and interact with your avatar. But they’re all based on your avatars location. If you’re not on the path, you’ll miss the interactive parts !
• Keep Flying! It’s OKAY to fall off! Every Journey has it’s setbacks! Just pick yourself up and keep going!
• Force sun to midnight under World>Force Sun> Midnight
• Enable Bumpmapping and Shiny in Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Shaders > Enable Bumpmapping and Shiny
• Enable Local Lighting in Edit> Preferences>Graphics Detail>Lighting Detail>Nearby Local Lights

Second Spring is a completely live story performance– the SkyDancers perform in-flight choreography without the benefit of animations or gestures of any kind following cues given in real time on a private IM channel from DanCoyote. He “calls” the show to keep time with the score written and performed by ZeroOne Paz.

Working with DanCoyote, Technical Director ZenMondo Wormser has created a new dynamic stage set– the set pieces evolve, vanish and change position as the story plays out. Set pieces have been created by Second Life artists Jopsy Pendragon and Nand Nerd. The amazing “costumes” or “cascades” are all new designs by Production Designer Queue.

For a little bit more taste of the show, see the new trailer by Gary Hazlitt (aka Gary Hayes, Just Virtual Productions):

But even watching this, keep in mind even video fails to truly capture the in person experience. There are many ways to watch, move your camera from afar and watch the movement of all dancers, set your camera to follow a single dancer, sit back and enjoy a mouselook view. It is truly beyond words, perhaps beyond pictures. We tried for pictures– see our ZeroG Skydancer photos… (see also the set from Pathfinder Linden).

This performance will be available on an ongoing basis at NMC Campus every week for the first 90 days of 2008. For more info, and to get tickets, contact Producer/Director DC Spensley (415-668-6238, dc@spensley.com).

As DC says, “Expect the unexpected!”