"Dreams & Nightmares" @ Kelly Yap's

The last weeks I have been busy setting up different exhibitions and I participated in a few contests. But at the center of my attention was the new Aeonia Artist Group exhibition at Kelly Yap's Art walk.

Togehter with Ally Aeon, lala Lightfoot, Harter Fall, Nik Gandt and Sea Mizin I set pout on a journey that should at some point lead us to the next big thing after the "AntVegas"-Trilogy.

This group exhibition should serve as a brainstorming for an exhibition that might end up as a full sim installation on the theme "Dreams & Nughtmares".

The notecard I wrote for the exhibition starts with a poem-like introduction:

"After a long day of hassle, we sink into our bed. Our head finally rests on that soft warm pillow. A fuzzy feeling spreads in our head as our muscles soften. Darkness falls heavily on our eyes. Our bedroom grows lager and larger and spreads out into our world of dreams….and nightmares…"

Kelly Yap allowed us to fill her whole gallery at Healy. All of us created new pieces and mixed them with older stuff we had on the theme. 

I created four big boards with scary faces, all featuring different aspects of yours truly. I also made a big string figure or marionette. I added one of my old weathered gods as well as the minimalistic art-piece "upright dream in black and white(almost)" I recently made for Asmita Duranjaya's contest.

Please come by and visit this fun exploration: "Dreams & Nightmares"

Burn2'11 opens on Saturday, October 1

It was just a few weeks ago that I packed my trailer and drove up the dusty road to the playa. Not much more than a few clouds of sand and some dried out plants waited there for me. I drove past the lonely ranger station and to the far end of the desert. At a suitable corner I layed down my first prim and claimed our plot for this year's "Burn".

Gradually prim by prim was hauled in over the coming days by many gifted residents. And the plots around me exploded in colors and movement. And also our plot slowly came to live.

Just a few hours before the opening of "Burn2'11", the Second Life version of the Burning Man Festival, the plot looks as finished as it could ever look after the short weeks of preparation. And I am excited to present it to you.

Together with my friends from the Aeonia Artists Group we created an installation called "In-Decisions" - in accordance to this year's Burn theme "Rites of Passage". Our approach is to present the path of live with its many waypoints and intersections. The viewer will have to take decisions at every step of the way - decisions that will affect their course of life.

The installation is dark - and colorful, earnest - and funny, sad - and happy. Just as life might be.
We are very excited about it! And I hope, you will like it too :)

So come visit us between October 1 and 9! See you at the playa and burn on!
Aeonia-Plot "In-Decisions" at Burn2'11

Fire Ants move to Western Australia

"Ant Vegas: Migr-Ants": The Red Fire Ants had to leave their world once again, after having wrecked it for the second time. The ant people migrated to a land called Western AUstralia and rebuilt their famed but sinful "Fabulous Ant Vegas".


The Aeonia Artist Group was invited to do the July-Show at UWA Virtlantis, a full sim presentation sponsored by the University of Western Australia in Second Life. This is already the third installment of "Ant Vegas" - an installation first created for Burn2 in October of last year. Since then new members joined Aeonia Artist Group bringing fresh ideas and knowledge to our community. Hence it was more than feasible to try and explore our famous theme once more - and even go deeper. 


After "Welcome to Fabulous Ant Vegas" and "Ant Vegas - the ant-ology" I proposed the as a title for the  3rd sequel "Ant Vegas: Migr-ants" and wrote the story for it (see below). 
It just so happens that Australia has a big problem with an invasive species called Red Fire Ants (Solenposis invicta). This was the best basis for our Ants - who had faced their second apocalypse - to migrate to this part of the earth. 

Within two weeks our group rebuilt Ant Vegas, using parts of the first two installments, but also adding alot of new themes to it, like a mining facility (by yours truly), a poppy field, a teen-vegimate-club, or a crocodile swamp. New creatures are introduced, like the mentioned crocodiles, wallabies and antaboriginals. And loads of new fun and story.


Read more: http://www.aeoniaarts.com/news/


Visit Redrock Mining Facility @ UWA Virtlantis: 
http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA%20VIRTLANTIS/115/135/22


The story of  "Ant Vegas: Migr-ants":

“They were merely settled in their new desert home, when all hell broke loose.  Fire broke out at every corner of their hive. And as if – from one moment to the other – the laws of gravity wouldn’t exist anymore, parts of their hive were floating through the air.
The queen gathered her flock in the temple and asked them to pack whatever they can carry and meet at the entrance of the desert metropolis.
The prophet had told them long before, that they were a travelling people, not meant to settle down and enjoy the fruits of their land forever…”

So it was written in the ant-ology, the mystical book preserved by the priests .  And so the story is still told by the elders to remind the young of the disastarous fate of their forefathers.

Yet, little they had learned over the course of the years. And it came upon them just the way the prophecy foretold. The city their great-great-mothers had built after the exodus from the desert many moons ago, was once again in peril.

The new queen saw what was fortold by the priests who had fished at the moon pond. The promised land they had called “Aeonia” was turned once again into a sinful metropolis – exploited and soiled, and no more a welcoming place for future generations to live in.

The queen – along with the priests – knew that their dream of rebuilding the perfect ant-society, as it was described in the scriptures, had once again failed.

As her great-great grandmother and the great-great-grandmother before had done, she gathered her flock and once again started a journey with an fate yet unknown.

The Messengers – their beloved gods – once again had mercy on the failing souls and led the people to a great new land. Thankful to their creators and in honor of them, the and-folk called their new home “Australia Occidens”.

The queen was disillusioned, but yet eager to show her gratitude to the Messengers. So she rebuilt the great temple in their honor with her bare hands. She had a last bit of hope, that her people would be grateful for therenewed promise their gods had made to them.

The ants on the other hand, went about their ways as their fathers and grandfathers had done. In their strive to pursue the path towards individuality, they fiercely started to rebuild all the tempting ventures their forefathers had discovered in the desert.

Despite the eager warnings of the priests, that their world may – once again – face an Apocalypse, the ants recreated  their beloved yet sinful “Fabulous AntVegas”.

Second Life's 8th Birthay approaching - and I'm in!

We are just two days away from the start of the 8th Birthday Celebration of Second Life SL8B. The sims open on June 20, 10 am SLT. All in all 21 regions will show many aspects of Second Life. The past two weeks artists and builders have been busy setting up their plots for the viewers. And yours truly was among them.
To follow this year's theme "The Magic of Second Life" I decided on an installation named "The Magic of Second Life is: YOU!!!". As this title says, I tried to portray those who make Second Life what it really is: the Residents. Without them the grid would just be a bunch of servers that run a highly complex software. But, the residents are the ones who bring it all to life.
I don't want to give too many spoilers here. I will only say as much, that my build is full of little scenes, which will only come to life, if you step inside. So, if you visit my plot, don't just cam around. Go inside and take part in the magic world of Second Life. And on the way out, don't forget to take the t-shirts with you.
I had a lot of luck with placement this year around. My plot is on the Astonish-sim, right behind the Auditorium. You can easily find it, because it's the middle one of three installations on seaside, which are all held in the prime colors RGB and yellow.
Admittedly, there are fancier builds than mine. I tried to keep it simple and focused on the message. So i went with very basic texturing, forms and figurines.
It was a lot of fun building the installation - and I hope the visitors will enjoy it as much as I do.