'An overt commentary on society and politics'

Ziki Questi commented on 'Us&Them' on her blog. Thank you. Ziki!

TANALOIS: SperiMenta e Tanalois Art presentano "US&THEM-t...

TANALOIS: SperiMenta e Tanalois Art
presentano

"US&THEM-t...: SperiMenta e Tanalois Art  presentano  "US&THEM-the re.rebirth of the demon" di  Moeuhane Sandalwood From W...

Alo Congrejo of Tanalois Art has translated the interview Nino Vichan took with me into Italian. Great Job and many thanks! Here is the English version forthose of you who do are not as fluent in Italian:

Nino Vichan: What brought you in Second Life?
Moeuhane Sandalwood: I read a lot of things about this world. But for many years I did not download the viewer. When I finally did, I stayed for two days. Everything looked dreadful and I was hardly able to move, like most of us in our first days. It took a second turn another two years later until it finally stuck. Like many of us, I travelled across the grid for many weeks, before I realized that this world holds a huge potential for creative people.

Nino: What is art for you in Second Life?
Moe: Art in Second Life is my means of expression. I can speak my mind in 2D and 3D. In RL my means of expression is words. Here I can tell my stories in pictures. Tiny ones and huge ones. I have hardly any limitations to size or form or color. It is definitely a form of magic, if one can create a little piece of plywood out of air and bring it to almost any form of life imaginable.

Nino: What prompted you to make art in Second Life?
Moe: I don’t remember what the trigger was. I started very early on to zoom into objects very, very closely and experimented with the windlight settings. What came out were photographs that looked like paintings.  That fascinated me – and I just went from there. Creating my own scenes or objects, exploring the many options in our build menu. But I have to name one person here, also. Meeting Ally Aeon (nintin) took everything to a different level. Ally bringing me into the Aeonia Artist Group and providing me with feedback, studio space and prims was probably the turning point.  So once again: Thank you Ally!

Nino: What inspires your creations?
Moe: Life. Real Life and Second Life. It’s as simple as that. Be it my own experience, the beauty of nature, the brutal side of nature, all aspects of the human life, history, current issues/affairs.

Nino: Are you an artist in rl?
Moe: I am in a creative business, but art in RL is just a hobby

Nino: Is there a site where we can enjoy your creations?
Moe: My newest work can be seen in many galleries on the grid, as I usually create new work for the gallery that invites me. My own gallery, where I show a wide selection of my (mostly 2D) work is on mainland: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gariepy/112/211/1995

Nino: What are the creative techniques that you use in your work?
Moe: I use a wide range of techniques. From prim torture, to sculpt, to mesh, to scripting, to SL and RL photography, sometimes altered with gimp. I do like to keep it simple though – kind of a boards an nails approach. Content and message go before design.

Nino: Any projects for your artistic future in Second Life?
Moe: I have a few shows in SL-Galleries coming up, some also with Lilia Artis. But nothing big like “The Machine” on LEA 6 last winter. In the near future I would like to go back to full-sim shows – as RL permits.

Us & Them - The Re-Rebirth of the Demon

The theme for 'Us & Them' has bugged me for quite a while.
Many years of my adult life I had the feeling that the people of the world started to mature. That they would open up - and start to accept eachother more. That gender, race and nationality mattered less in the relationships between people. National borders became more open and the world in many parts started to grow closer.
But in the past years I started to realize that most of this appears to be wishful thinking. Proof for this, if I needed any, were the elections to the European Parliament. Nationalist parties drew alot of votes in their repective countries. And thus formed the paradox, that in a parliament of a multilateral union the voice of seperatism grew stronger.
Europe is not the only continent, where nationalist movements gathered strength. In fact, it seems that the segregation of the world into smaller and smaller parts is on the rise. And conflicts along national, cultural, religious or even clan border lines increase.

For quite some time I wanted to create an installation around that theme. I experimented on 2D-pictures, but I had this distinctive image in my head.
The invitation by SperiMenta and Tanalois Art to show on Solaris Island came at the perfect time.The venue provided me with plenty of space and prims to develop 'Us&Them - The Re-Rebirth of the Demon'.
The installation is essentially a two-way-mirror, which is not apparent at the first glance. Only the explorative nature will be able to see the whole picture.
The installation will be on Solaris Island until the end of July 2014, in case you would like to take a look.
This is the text that accompanys the installation. It is also in the notecard you will find on the landingpoint:

"We lock ourselves into golden cages. Our discussions run in circles. We forget that we are connected. What comes from the outside is evil, they tell us. It wants to take from us, what we paid for with our own blood, sweat and tears.
We have heard those voices before. The false sirens had sung and we had followed. And it gained us nothing. But suffering, death and destruction.
Yet we seem to be ready to listen to them again. Aware that they don’t offer solutions. But their false promises glide down our throats like sweet honey.
It’s not them who will pull the trigger. They might say, thereafter, that they never wanted it to happen that way. But by then, no one will be there to hear.

The Project “Us&Them“, by Moeuhane Sandalwood, is not a work of fiction. It is an image of our time. Taken one of these days in one of those nations. And peculiarly enough: Whoever visits the exhibit, will find him or herself already part of it. Only thing to decide is: Which one in this image is you?"

The opening at Solaris Island on July 2, 2014 was fantastic (Thank you Duna Gant for taking pictures!). Many friends came over - and also many people I hadn't met before. And I think I struck a chord in many of them.

My sincere Thanks go out to Sarabell, Nino Vichan and Alo Congrejo for giving me this opportunity and space. I would also like to express special gratitude to Gem Preiz. He showed me how to perfect the resolution for the 'imaginative curtain' in the center of the piece. Looks magnificent thanks to you, Gem!
More Pictures of the show are on Flickr and Facebook.