ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
Retropolis is a wicked adventure-oriented sim run by Terra Volitant and Tricia Farella (pictured above) hiding gems and other treasures. When you first arrive at Retropolis, you land on the deck of a stormy ship lost at seanamed "La Gata Encantada", brought to life by Tricia. Misty waves crash over the deck as water rolls around the ship, causing it to sway in the waves while it pours down rain. Here's a machinima of the Retropolis experience:
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
Welcome to Thinis, a new Second Life sim built and designed by Djehan Kidd, who's also creator of Hangars Liquides and Shadowrun City. Owned and operated by Silua Mills, Thinis is ruins. Discarded shells of what used to be buildings, homes and hideaways now scattered and torn. Rusting away in the quiet, the mood is desolate and heavy. Upon arrival you notice there is Chaos. Nothing is in order. Everything is thrashed apart. Picked away. Worn. What was useful has now been scavaged for parts or stolen away. It might have been something very different before but, this is all that remains. This is Thinis. Maybe before, this place was alive with hundreds or even thousands of citizens moving about through their days. Though now, there is just stillness:
Thinis is a unique roleplay sim with a complex story and deep history. (Official website here.) It's an experiment in creating as immersive an environment as possible using the builds effectively to relay the atmosphere of the underlying story elements while allowing for deep character development by the players. Thinis currently is still under construction and buildings are going in over the course of the next week. They open for roleplay on May 26th, but everyone is welcome to come and visit the incomplete build.
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
As we saw with the recent closing announcement of Numbakulla, great Second Life sims can disappear with little notice. Here's five of my favorites you should be sure to see now, with SLurl teleport links and descriptions after the video:
Get out to visit Imagine Plus while you still can. Masoon Ringo and YUKO Streeter have spent much time and effort generously donating space in Imagine Plus to showcase stand-out pieces of art with the SL community. Over its lifespan it has hosted some of the most interesting and unique art in the metaverse. Sadly, from the looks of things, it will be "Goodbye Imagine Plus!" come the 2nd of April. Last chance to visit!
Roche is a desolate, dreamy place. Filled with warm textures and realistic details. As Honor McMillan writes: "Roche feels isolated, wind swept and somehow triumphant." This sums up the sim nicely. It is a quiet and peaceful area, rich with atmosphere. Owned and operated by ddsm2 Mathy and mocha Bellic.
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
A strange and beautiful flower intrigues Second Life. After an absence of nearly 8 months, the popular and beloved DynaFleur immersive art installation has returned to Second Life [SLurl here]. It spans the entire sim of StellaNova. Watch:
One early visitor said in response to the sprawling piece, “I don’t know whether I’m in awe or creeped out.” The makers of DynaFleur, Douglas Story and Desdemona Enfield, were oddly pleased by this statement.
Interestingly, DynaFleur owes its new life to academics with some of the world's greatest science universities:
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
Originalia, Amase Levasseur's sim dedicated to art in Second Life [click to teleport here], hosted a new art show opening last weekend, to an enthusiastic crowd. Sim restarts. Teleport overload. Crashing. Yet people kept coming back for more. That is because there is a little something for everyone to be seen. Whether you are a fan of photography, like more unique spots to explore, or just want to see something a little silly. There is something there for you at "Reverie", featuring new installations by Em Larsson, Scottius Polke, RAG Randt and Eliza Wierwight. During the opening, I spoke with each about their work:
I managed to steal Scottius for a few moments to speak with him about his opening at "Reverie" to get a little backstory on the build.
"Well I started playing with Scribbler last year..." Scottius began, "I loved the textures it could make and wound up creating the picture that would be the inspiration for this entire build.
"Probably the most exciting thing for me is how this build, while based on the sketch, took a life of its own. It has the same basic subject, but there is a whole new dimension to it. To be honest this place is a bit of a mystery to me still. Anyway, I don't want to wax too philosophical because I think it can take away [from the experience.]"
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
Looking for something unique, and new? Look no further than one of the most kick ass builds to hit Second Life. Welcome to "Parallel Worlds", by claudia222 Jewell: Direct SLurl teleport at this link.*
When it comes to dark surreal fantasy, no one does it better than the Swiss. I recently stumbled upon the ever-evolving project by Miss Jewell just hovering away hidden, humbly tucked away in the sky. Right away I noticed hints of H.R. Giger creeping into the organic shapes and textures that Jewell favors using. Upon comparison to Giger, Claudia asked me if I was aware that she also was Swiss. This did not come as a surprise. Although the build had clear similarities in structure, the style is very much Claudia's own.
After spending an hour or two inspecting all the fine details of the build, I began to wonder if it was part of a deeper story. From the eerie lullaby that echoes above, to the melancholic gazes of the serpent women... it seemed as if all the characters had lives of their own. So I asked her. Just what inspired Parallel Worlds?
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene for New World Notes
Hayao Miyazaki's classic anime Castle in the Sky now has a beautiful tribute in Second Life, created by a Japanese Resident named Robinn Magic. Last weekend I got a sneak preview:
Laputa was originally a fictional place from the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. His Laputa inspired Miyazaki's anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which centers on a floating city. Robinn Magic has been inspired by Miyazaki's take on the story, meticulously recreating some of the most lovable characters from the film, and adding a fun and somewhat challenging little puzzle with a nice Easter egg -- a hidden robot with wearable head -- planted somewhere in the build. Here's how to explore it:
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene from her unique point of view
Real life professional musician Tasuku Arai, who goes by the SL name Tasuku Ghost, is a magician at using computer music, as well as sampled sounds from live performances, which come to fruition as ambient, house, techno and electronica. His performances in Second Life are not to be missed, filled with enchanting, dream-like, haunting music, with beautiful visuals and relaxing particles to accompany it:
Primarily self-taught, Tasuku played in several bands, then in 2007, decided to focus on making music and performing solo. He often reflects upon the dreams and memories hidden within himself, and uses the evoked images to write music, giving it that special something that so gently but strongly captures your heart.
ColeMarie Soleil covers the Second Life arts scene for New World Notes when inspiration strikes. Before joining SL, she was a studio musician, a wandering gypsy, a graphic designer, and a solo artist who's performed at Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Apollo in Manhattan. See more of her machinima here.
ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene from her unique point of view
Enigma is a surreal circular landscape, filled with hidden stories inside beautiful sculptures. A strange and mysterious sim filled with unique artwork:
But Enigma is not just a place to come admire for the interesting landscape, it's also a place to hang out with friends. Anley has even placed out a few gaming tables for those who want to kick back and unwind while appreciating the sim. There are few sims that balance space like this with a keen eye for composition. Very open and vast but filled with emotional artwork.
Also currently hidden in the sky, Anley has shared her sim space to allow Loup Erin to create a dream box hidden in the sim. You can access this area from a teleport sign at the welcome spot in Enigma. It is more a place to see for yourself. Already quickly becoming a hangout for some very talented clothing creators and photographers, it's sure become a favorite spot for many more. [SLurl teleport at this link]
ColeMarie Soleil covers the Second Life arts scene for New World Notes when inspiration strikes. Before joining SL, she was a studio musician, a wandering gypsy, a graphic designer, and a solo artist who's performed at Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Apollo in Manhattan. See more of her machinima here.
