New World Notes

Nettrice Gaskins' Virtual Art Show in Second Life Becomes Crossover Hit

Click here to directly teleport to the MuseWeb gallery

Tuesday I told you about how Afrofuturist artist Nettrice Gaskins was supposed to show off her Deep Dream-based portraits at a conference in Los Angeles, but because she couldn't travel due to the Coronavirus quarantine, showed them off in a virtual gallery in Second Life. Since then, as it turns out, the SL gallery has been deluged by visitors, many showing up to meet the artist herself in avatar form. (Nettrice is s "Nettrice Bethune" in SL.)

The New World Notes post itself has gone mini-viral, shared upwards of 1000 times on Facebook alone. "Many people are not familiar with SL," Nettrice tells me, "so they're interested... curious, especially now." In fact, one of the people sharing the post was Monty Ross, Spike Lee's co-producer on the masterpieces Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X and (my personal Spike Lee favorite), Mo' Better Blues.

It's fair to say her art is being seen in Second Life now by more people (or at least a far wider range of them) than if she had just showed them off in Los Angeles. So while the Coronavirus is among the worst things to happen to humanity in a long time, it is also leading to some wonderful creativity and new connections. Or as Dr. Gaskin puts it, "It’s times like this when you realize the world ain’t so big."

Nettrice, by the way, is making another appearance at the gallery around now (1pm-ish Pacific time), but even if you can't meet her in Second Life, you should definitely see the show there -- and read about how she created these works here.

Unable to Present Her Work in Los Angeles While in Quarantine, Renowned Afrofuturist Artist Nettrice Gaskins Sets Up Gallery in Second Life - Today!

Click here to visit the MuseWeb art gallery in Second Life, where a special event is taking place today:  Acclaimed Afrofuturist artist Nettrice Gaskins will be there in avatar form today at around 11am and 1pm PST to show off her gorgeous artwork -- stunning portraits of black artists using Deep Dream AI algorithms as a kind of palette. (She's "Nettrice Bethune" in SL.)

Dr. Gaskins was originally planning to present this work in downtown Los Angeles at the MuseWeb conference, where she would also do a keynote talk with Cory Doctorow. But with the Coronavirus quarantine in full effect, she and the conference organizers have rapidly scrambled to turn it into a virtual event. ("Everyone is scrambling," she tells me. "This was supposed to be a face-to-face event.") 

Fortunately, MuseWeb has an island in Second Life, and Nettrice is an SL veteran, having first used it in her education and art work nearly a decade ago. So she was able to go in-world to upload her works and prepare them for a public, virtual world showing.

Once again, click here to visit the impromptu gallery and if you're lucky, meet the artist as avatar there too.

Linden Lab Sponsors Live Concert Return of Seth Regan (AKA Mankind Tracer) to Second Life Next Sunday

Update, March 26: Seth just let me know the event has now been changed to be a fundraising drive to help combat COVID-19: "This Return Concert will be a benefit with 100% of your donations going to help the World Health Organization's effort to battle Coronavirus," he tells me. "Please consider making a donation. [I] will not have any tip jars at the event, but there will be clickable banners to the WHO donation page at the event. You can also click here to donate directly to WHO." 

Here's the kind of live event we haven't seen for quite awhile in Second Life: This coming Sunday (March 29) at 2pm Pacific, musician Seth Regan (known as Mankind Tracer in SL) is returning after a long absence from the virtual world to perform live in a four sim-wide concert.  The temporary sims come courtesy of Linden Lab, which is also promoting the show on its official social media channels and in the SL viewer itself.

The sims are not live on the Second Life grid yet, so follow Regan/Tracer's Facebook page for the SLurl when it's available, join his in-world group "Friends of Mankind", or click this Destination page.

Mr. Tracer amassed a relatively large fanbase within Second Life in his heyday there, but hasn't performed in SL since 2016 -- and that was for a fundraiser to benefit the children of his good friend and manager, after she tragically lost her life to cancer. Late last year, however, he approached Linden Lab with the idea for this month's free show [now a fundraising event to help the fight Coronavirus -- see update above] with any event donations going half to the American Heart Association and half to his mother, who suffers from heart disease.

Tracer tells me Linden Lab was happy to help sponsor the show with the free sims and promotion:

This Sunday in Sinespace: Welcome, Orientation & Avatar Makeover Party for New Users & Creators!

Update, 2/7: The event will be streamed on Sinespace's Twitch here.

This Sunday (February 9) at Noon PST/3pm EST in the Assembly region (above, find by clicking Explore), the staff of Sinespace (a sponsoring media partner of New World Notes) are hosting a welcome party, orientation, and avatar makeover session for people who've recently joined the virtual world as a user, creator, or both!

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the best experience at this event, download Sinespace's 1B49 preview viewer at this page. 

The Sinespace team will be there live to answer all your questions about getting the most fun and creativity out of Sinespace's many features and creative tools, including the shop. With a special free 1 month subscription giveaway (with 600 gold total in four weekly stipends) and avatar makeover party where everyone can show off their favorite looks and their customization tips!

Speaking of orientation, there's a new Sinespace avatar customization guide available in .pdf -- click here to download. Download Sinespace Avatar Customization Guide

This Weekend: SL's Legendary Wasteland Celebrates 13 Years of Post-Apocalyptic Creation & Roleplay

Photo credit/location: Teh Mayo in The Junkyard

Starting today and running throughout this weekend, Second Life's beloved and beautifully ugly Wasteland roleplay zone celebrates 13 years as a roleplay community: Here's all the details, with links to live DJ/music events and assorted fun.

The Wastelands is among the best and most creative communities of SL, and while the virtual world might seem overwhelmed by fashion and the latest mesh skin, the fact that this realm inspired by Mad Max, Fallout, and freshly deranged dystopia still thrives is a testament to its members. Here's some of my favorite Wasteland-based projects over the years:

Tomorrow: Second Life Memorial to Fran Seranade, Pioneer of Using Virtual Worlds for Parkinson's Therapy

Click here to attend the memorial tomorrow (Saturday) at 11am PST in Second Life to Fran Seranade, who helped pioneer the use of virtual worlds to treat Parkinson's symptoms, and who died recently at the age of 91. Held at the Creations sim in the Savoy Ballroom (Fran loved to dance in SL), the tribute will feature live music from some of SL's best singers. Here's the Facebook invite page.

Fran was a beloved and remarkable Second Life user and the tribute will sure to be packed, so get there early. And read New World Notes' coverage of her pioneering efforts:

Register Now: Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference in SL

There's still time to register for the 12th annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, held every year in Second Life:

The VWBPE Conference is a completely virtual conference that is conducted using simulated environments. Participants experience the conference through a virtual reality type setting including conference rooms, theatres, exposition halls, meeting spaces, and other types of venues similar to a brick and mortar type conference.

Launching this Thursday, keynote speakers include UC Irvine's Tom Boellstorff, who'll be talking about (among many other topics) his government-funded work on the use of virtual worlds for physical therapy, which he pioneered with the help of the late Fran Serenade. The conference talks are also being streamed on YouTube (a best practice for virtual worlds in itself), so I'll be embedding the stream later this week.

Today Some Second Life Users Are Performing a Live Virtual World Musical Inspired By Kevin Costner's Waterworld and I Don't Know What to Say

Showtime is 1:30pm Pacific, but arrive early to get a good view of the wet (and tuneful!) apocalypse:  Click here to teleport.

Yes, you read right: A live virtual world musical featuring dancing avatars, with a story and water-borne stage inspired by the Kevin Costner movie*, from SL users based in Italy. I am constantly surprised by the variety of creativity in Second Life, but a musical adaption of a disastrous, widely-mocked 90s Hollywood movie produced by a troupe of Italian avatars is still pretty stunning. (To be fair, Waterworld's received some respective reconsideration lately).

Read more about the Second Life adaptation on Virtuality:

Explore a Randomly-Generated Maze of Mental Anguish -- Coming Soon from Bryn Oh in Second Life

Bryn Oh is an acclaimed artist who's used Second Life as her canvas for many years, even earning a grant to do that from the Canadian government and patronage from master filmmaker Peter Greenaway. "Eloise and Jane", her next Second Life-based installation -- expected to launch this Saturday -- is featured in this sneak preview above. 

"Jane and Eloise was inspired by the medium really," Bryn tells me. "I wanted to tell a story in a very SL way.  In real life, you stand in a gallery and look at things on a wall while rarely interacting with them.  In fact, if you do, a security guard will give you stink eye if not worse.  So you are a passive observer to the art.  Separate. 

"In Second Life we can be active participants to art and so I wanted to make something that stretched the idea of what art can be.  So this is a hybrid between an environment, narrative and a game.  The story itself is quite dark, but should you find the exit then you get an alternate ending which is happy."

As that suggests, the installation is a maze which, she explains, "symbolizes the mental anguish and survivor's guilt of the sister named Eloise, who must preserve herself at the expense of her sister Jane, after a storm sinks their canoe.  The maze and its monsters represent the terrible thoughts that plague a person in bed at 3am, eyes open in the dark staring at the ceiling.  The work is meant to be conceptual yet also something that can be fun to do with friends."

Dark and fun! The maze itself is also quite cool in concept, generated randomly each time through complex scripting:

Join SL's Peace on Earth Hunt for Globes, Free Ample Avi Avatars

Starting tomorrow, NWN partner Ample Avi is participating in the Peace on Earth Hunt (POE 11 for short, since it's now in its eleventh year running), billed as the longest-running grid-wide hunt in Second Life. (Ample Avi has participated in the POE Hunt every year since its beginning.)

"This is a L$0 hunt, and hunters will be looking for a small globe of the Earth," Ample's Xme Xme tells me. "There are no decoy globes, and designers are required to hide their globes within a reasonable distance of the landing point.  A hint for hunters is provided at the landing point." 

For the Hunt, Ample is also offering a Winter-themed gift in partnership  with Junior Avi, for creating family scenes like this one:"Bringing the Tree Home". The avatars depicted here are available for free via these SLurls:

• Go here for the Junior Avi. 
• Go here for Ample Avi.

Looks like much fun for hunt fans. This one runs from December 1st to December 31. More about POE 11 on the official site.