Safari Summer... of Arts

        Plans change, and sometimes that's a very good thing. This week the plan was to spend just a little time taking a look around the Summer of Arts region on Metropolis, and then move on to a music event. 
        Apart from the general insanity, and the opportunity to make new friends, the underlying purpose of the Safari is to practice grid jumping, that's why we usually have two three or even four different destinations each week. But due to a last minute cancellation, the 72nd consecutive Safari was all Metropolis all the time. And boy, what a fantastic time it was too!
        As usual, the Safari began on Teravus Plaza, OSGrid. Teravus is a residential sim, we occupy the south west corner of it, right next to the waterfall. You will find the Group Joiner poster by the elephant. Every week a new Notecard + LM folder is prepared and you can get your copy from the sign marked LANDMARKS by the main entrance to the Clubhouse. I usually only do it at the last minute when all the panic has subsided. If you belong to the HGSafari group in Metropolis or OSgrid, you should also receive the information via group notices. Events are posted in a community on G+ called Hypergrid Safari, and a  group in Facebook, so find us there, if you use suchthings. 

Panorama of Summer of Arts

        There are about 40 artists exhibiting at the soa sim on Metro (The full address is at the end of the post) and, considering that the HGSafari visit was not part of the official Summer of Arts event calendar we were incredibly lucky to have many of them on hand to talk about their work,  making the visit feel very special.
The build is divided into a cityscape - a lovely 1920's design by Oddball O'Toole, and an open area for the bigger art which we'll call the garden. Officially they're sims called soa1 and soa2.

        Art Blue suggested we start with his camera capture seats in the garden area of the exhibition. This was a really good way to recover from the inevitable lag that 20 avies from half a dozen different grids cause when they all show up together.It took quite a while to assemble here, and ... well, not everyone's a llGetCameraPosition fan.
Selby.Evans: The chair offered to give me cam view.  I blocked it.

Wanda greets the group

        Event organizer Wanda Shigella said a few words.
Wanda Shigella: organized the Summer of Arts again this year. We make it all 2 or 3 years and you can find here different arts from artists from different grids. As well from SL and different Opensim grids Metropolis has always stood for diversity and cohesion and especially in these times where acceptance, funds and cultural diversity or its perceived threat are hotly debated, we would like to send a positive signal of cultural diversity and community today - albeit indirectly. A friend from Franco Grid, the enchanting Praline Barjowski has summed it up: "The Metaversum does not ask about borders, it is a place for everyone, with all our differences. This type of event is the best way to connect with each other. And cultural events are the best link we can share." And now here we stand in the midst of more than 40 exhibitions and are excited about the diversity and specific characteristics... and I just wish you a lot of fun with this regions :)
Spike.Sol: thank you wanda
George.Equus: The Cam View is great! I will have to come back here. Will need at least a couple of hours for this...
Thirza Ember: must have been a lot of work to coordinate 40 artists
Wanda Shigella: Hehe yes it was, but I had a LOT of very nice conversations about art and the metaverse :)
Spike.Sol: yes i think so.. with artists always
Wanda Shigella: Many artists are good friends until now from the last summer of arts. We just love to bring them together - it's alway fun to bring a project up like this
Jessica.Pixel: this auto cam is awesome

Miss Mouse Avia Bonne surrounded by the group

         I'm not going to lie to you, there were an insane number of IMs on my screen, the lag was eyewatering because internet here was playing up, and even though it wasn't my first visit to the exhibition, it was still pretty disorienting. However, then Avia Bonne came into the picture, and her simply gorgeous art made it all worthwhile. Avia was in her kinda cute rat avie, and the lag stopped me getting a better photo of it but here's a 'gif i made earlier' at one of Truelie Telling's concerts - that's Avia in dancing out front.

Thirza Ember: Avia Bonne's art is great, she is known by most of us for her 3D work, but look in her exhibit at the 2D stuff- amazing! Avia, can you tell us why you chose to exhibit the 2D art?
Avia Bonne: well, that was the first thing which came up in my mind - I just wanted to show something else I make then prims ;-) Open Sim can be used for all sorts of arts, most people only know me for my fashions, which is a minor thingie of me

Taarna Welles: Fantastic! I love the steampunk paintings on the website. Gorgeous!
Thirza Ember: is your art available in the real world too?
Avia Bonne: Ty Taarna. yes, I do sell the acrylics and my website is aviadezigns.com. The avatarArt I made for postcards
Wizardoz Chrome (it>en): are beautiful paintings by Avia, they are really special
Mike.Townsend: I like the ones on the top floor best :-)
Jessica.Pixel: i'm loving the avatars on the second floor so cool
aime.socrates: I love you tool belt avia :)
Avia Bonne: yes, that's art too Aime ;-)
Jessica.Pixel: i love the stuff upstairs that's partially hand painted and part digital collage :D

Caro Fayray

Thirza Ember: next artist is Caro Fayray, she is here with us, she needs to leave soon so let's talk to her ...Caro's exhibit is in the 'garden' sim where we first arrived, let's see if we can go back there without crashing...
Caro Fayray: feel free to dream:)
aime.socrates: wiz..you should clic on "dream" !
Billy.Bradshaw: cool stuff! unique in my experience.
Caro Fayray: all  the  photos are mine
aime.socrates: even lions and pelicans caro ? you went to safari ?
Caro Fayray: yes - and  galapagos islands:) they  were all  real and up close - wasn't so much a safari as hardcore camping trips, and like these, the trips become blurred and mixed.

Wanda Shigella: Caro, your exhibition made my dreams colorful 
Caro Fayray: for  me the  wonder of creating in virtual is that you can do anything  you can imagine. It's so great to see so many different grids  involved here too.

        Next up, Cherry Manga and Praline B, Francogrid natives whose building in the city is a cool elegant strange environment that quite literally captures you once inside.

Cherry.Manga: glad you like the small version, the final one is huge
Praline.B: This is a detail of a whole scene for Immersive Edge , an hypergrid story , you will discover it in November.
Thirza Ember: good re-use of the art work here then!
Praline.B: its not really a re use, in fact we choose to show a detail, just to give you the taste for the entire story lolol - it's a première !

Wizardoz Chrome with Ssm Binder and Spike Sol

Wizardoz Chrome was our next stop, Her bright photographs of installations from Second Life are combined with overturned barrels, creating a wet and wild feel to the gallery. Wizard, who is Italian, spoke in voice in English and for those of us who could hear her, that was a delightful addition to our experience too. 
Knowing her ties to the SL art world, it seemed natural to ask why she feels drawn to open sim. Her answer? So many people think opensim is empty - it's not. "A lot of people, a lot of art. I like to explore!"

Daco's home away from home

Up next, Daco Monday. It was fun walking the streets to find gallery number 15. Daco has, he said, recreated a little bit of his real life home/studio in this building.

 Everything is in movement, subtle, stylish, surprising. Using photos and scripts from his many shows in second life, Daco's treasure house is another one of those galleries where you could spend ages exploring all the angles.

Art Eames

Our final stop was an unexpected chance to meet Daniel, aka Art Eames, at his Mondrian inspired gallery. 
      Our last, but certainly not least stop on this whirlwind visit to SoA. Art Eames has made "an art machine generating Mondrian cubes in 3D.   The 2D version was programmed in 1979 by Prof. Herbert W. Franke on a TI 99/4 homecomputer.  We recoded a 3D version of this first interactive Art machine for Windows and for SL / Opensim. You have the chance that your own MONDRIAN creation will be presented at the IMMERSIVIA section of the Art Blue Colosseum"  

See, I was kind of paying attention.

This is a hilarious opportunity to get inside Mondrian's art and completely give yourself over to the color of joy.

Thanks to all the artists who were able to join us, and to the many who we didn't get a chance to speak to. Do not miss this show, and the events in both English and German being held over the coming weeks. Bookmark the Summer of Arts website! And see you next week for another madcap adventure with the Safari.

HG Address: hypergrid.org:8002:soa1