April 19, 2008 on wordpress

Posted by mallorydestiny in Bibliotheque Francophone,  RL / SL event,  art,  books,  gallery,  innovation,  multimedia.
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Dear visitor,

Some of you have recommended me to have a weblog without headings in Dutch. As I cannot provide that here, I have started to run the same weblog also in WordPress. You find it here: http://mallorydestiny.wordpress.com/. As each pro has it’s contra, the WordPress version is not as much provided with links as this web-log.nl version. I will keep both weblogs updated for a while and after some time I will make my choice.
Please, if you have any suggestions or commands on this, feel free to let me know, here or by e-mail.
Thank you for your visit and time.

Yours sincerely,
Mallory Destiny

Also here in wordpress: Digital perspective in Bibliotheque Francophone April 14, 2008

 The original post is to be found on sldirect.blogspot.com and is written in French by Hugobiwan Zolnir.

At Tournicoton Art Galleries a very special exibition was opened last month (21st March 2008). Who are the angels? Do they really exist. Could everyone be an angel? And what does it take to be an angel. The impression at the start, on the groundfloor is one of a ordinary photo-exposition… But things are not always what they seem to be. The poetry on the walls make the imagination run.

One day you will meet what you have sown, it will be your created flower and her petals will be the light….
Let sleep and you will meet the gold of the world under your feet….

This poetry, in French, suggest that there is more between heaven and earth and invites the visitor to explore and find out. And if he will, he might even become an angel. The  teleports to the second and third floors bring the visitors more ideas of how he could recognise an angel, and he will feel like getting lifted.

At this point he can either choose to follow the fluid-like stairs up in the sky, or for less-skilled flyers there is also a teleport, that brings the visitor in higher levels. Ascending the stairs, following poems, music and voices… the feeling of becoming an angel will be evident.

Mariaka Nishi, who is the great spirit of this exibition, is always looking for ways to express what is between Second Life and Real Life, what is matrialistic and what is immatrialistic. The friction of real and unreal, possible and impossible, makes new levels visible and shows dimensions that have not been seen by ordinary human beings. One will get aware of the new dimensions while walking in this Exibition of Angels. It is not just a walk, it is an adventure throught a new level of consciousness that will give a lot to think about.

While Mariaka gives all she can give to an exibition like this, she also gives room to other artists whose work she appreciates very much. Therefor, also the following artists made their contribution: Sacremeustache Beerbaum, Artistide Despres, Anathaniel Gausman, Domi Ahn, Coulaut Menges, Frao Ra, XaNaDu Watkin, Typote Beck and Philippe Kodekko.

I will help you to go up the ladder of light which lives in your heart and blossoms in your body.
Yes, that ladder exist in yourself, you create it, it is a cantic thing, traverse all your self…
And all degrees of creation, it’s a benediction…

Here starts the travel through the territories ascendent…
I only have a flower to offer you, it was born in my heart and it’s kingdom is in the earth and in the sky…
If you look in the water of the well, you might see it’s beautiful smiling at you in a dizzying hug.
Because her perfume was kept secret from the beginning of times.

Come and vist these new countries.
Come closer to the divine….
Let the forces go through you and irrigate the earth….
Let the chains behind…..
Come higher on the way which opens up to meet who you really are….
and allways were.

We are far away yet close at the same time….
we work together in different dimensions…
my identity is similar to a room opening on a big garden…
and here on the bottom….

The "L’échelle de l’Ange" will stay at Tournicoton Art Gallery, Kual Hele, till June 2008. So, don’t miss this experience.

My special thanks are for Philippe Chaplin who made the first two fantastic photographs for this article and even more because he was so generous as to go all the way up with me to translate a great part of the poems. Thank you, Philippe!

Weblog of Mariaka Nishi (French): http://tournicoton-art-gallery.blogspot.com
More photo’s by Philippe Chaplin: http://www.flickr.com

While Second Life is down, due to complicated issues, real life happens:

Source: http://www.racefortibet.org/index.php

Here I would like to introduce XaNaDu Watkin, an architect of the newest generation and the one who build the incredible building of the Bibliotheque Francophone in Second Life. As an architecture student in real life in Paris, France, he will graduate this year. In short, the thesis that he wrote for graduation, is about the question how architects can use Second Life for creating and designing a new way to build.

But that is not all that is new. The other reason that we talk is, that on 19th March, XaNaDu has held his lecture in the Bibliotheque Francophone, both wit voice and stream. A very innovative way to inform people and possible the new way of sharing information.

XaNaDu Watkin: Architects work with autocad and other programs, all design work is done on computer now. You have a modelisation, but with the same program you can draw plans, move or create walls, doors … And work in real life is a switch between 2D and 3D modelisation. There is a big difference between real life architects working on 3D modelisations and Second Life works. In real life we are using 3D-programs to imagine the reality. But in Second Life we work directly into 3D. The design in real life is only a "document" you cannot visit it or interact with it, only the architect who is working on it, can. But in Second Life it’s different. Here a slide of a Zaha Hadid project.

There are some famous architects who affirm that it is the program who really creates the project. Architect imagine, but programs can do a lot of work by itself.

MD: Still, the execution of the modellisation is human, isn’t it?

XaNaDu Watkin:  That is true, but not always :p
Here I ‘m talking about virtual architects. Markos Novak is an architect who is  skilled in virtual architecture. In real life he doesn’t build, but He has made a lot of researchs. He also has not build in Second Life yet, but only in other 3D-programs. His work is very interesting.
But as you have noticed, nobody can visit or use his architecture. And that is the problem.

MD: Markus Novak, who is he?
XaNaDu Watkin: People like Markus Novak create new theories about architecture but this architecture has no existence.  It’s more than art, because his work is not only a picture, but the only thing for us that we can see is a picture.

Markos Novak designed an organic building, without concrete nor wood. He called it echinoderme, sea star. And this sort of architecture could be build in places like Second Life. It is the kind of thing that I would wish to build in the future.  Not that I want to copy his work, but he sure is a source of my inspiration, and he was the first architect skilled on virtuality who I have met.

Another innovative architect is Kas Oosterhuis, from the Netherlands. Oosterhuis works about links between people and the building, and moreover: he imagines an evolutive and living architecture. He considers a building like an entity who can do more, or breathe, something very living. I like this architect, as it was the first who surprised me on his reflexions and his work. In French schools we have a problem I think, as a lot of teachers give a great consideration about the work by Le Corbusier. But damn It so old, he’s dead! We must give the place to other architectural orders. And Rem Koolhaas -also Dutch- has given a new order.

MD: What is the role of Second Life in the future of architecture?
XaNaDu Watkin:  Second Life architecture could interact too on our world, as it ‘s a great program to diffuse and peer architecture visions.
MD: Yes it can, as long as it can be done technically…
XaNaDu Watkin: With domotic links you could interact on your own place directly on Second Life. Domotique is a science about home AI, Artificial Intelligence. For example the nabaztag, do you know it?
A nabaztag is a little object who can search informations on the web and can give some too, throught internet. For example: You are at your desk, but not online. The nabaztag can have a program on Second Life, that detects if somebody enters your shop. The nabaztag will speak to you or in a way inform you about who is waiting for you in your shop in Second Life.
MD: And this is really working? or in beta stage?
XaNaDu Watkin: This link already exist, you can buy a virtual Second Life nabaztag that makes the link between Second Life and real life.
MD: So if this is reallity now, what will be next?
XaNaDu Watkin: Maybe tomorow "domotic" could create a specific atmosphere in your room, like change the color of the light to create a "extended reality". A "domotic" can read RFID. RFID are these  little metal processors which are hidden in objects so that they won’t be stolen. Like in books, shoes… etcetera.
RFID processors can do much more tah be used as an alarm. They can inform about your shopping, for example. When you buy a book with an RFID, it informs the company that you have bought it.
And a nabaztag is using this link in the other way. You can buy some specifics books with RFID and when the nabaztag detect it. It could make a device reading the book, for a child for example. And these links could exist in Second Life too! Why not?

XaNaDu Watkin: Do you know Louis Khan? He has said: "If you can think it, you can build it."

Markos Novak: http://www.artstechsymposium.utah.edu/novak.html
Kas Oosterhuis: http://www.oosterhuis.nl/quickstart/index.php

To meet Alberto Salomon is to be impressed by his appearance, as his silver-grey strands give a certain flair to his Mediterranean looks.

But that is not why we meet at his gallery in Soho (SoHo Island*, SoHo (209, 148, 25)), his art is. Before entering the gallery, six ‘free gift’ posters carry the name of ‘Gallery Maeght’, which is the Real Life gallery that is owned and run by his mother in Saint Paul de Vence, France. This gallery shows and sells paintings by artists like Kandinsky, Miró and Chagall. Each poster is illustrated and provided with a historical quote.

Inside the gallery the visitor is treated to a good overview of the works by Kandinsky and Miró and also a poem on Miró (Miró Mirror) is to be enjoyed. If you visit Alberto’s gallery, don’t forget to take a look upstairs as well, it is really worth the effort.

The best should come last and Alberto knows that. In the back of the gallery is a small room. One wall in this room is all the way filled with drawings of fish, shells and also sculptured shells, really realistic in colored pencil and watercolors.

While Alberto shows me his first album with sea drawings he tells me his story of how the artist in him woke up. Being a physicist and working as such, it had never been into his mind to explore his talent in arts. By now 11 years ago he travelled to the Seychellen to spend a vacation of two weeks. Only just after arrival it turned out that his luggage had ‘travelled’ to Paris instead. So for two weeks his only possessions were the clothes he wore and a pencil and an empty album. That’s where it all started. He started drawing everything he saw and added stories to the drawings, like a diary. Beautiful, tropical fish, shells, corals… anything. He called it "Aldebra" (1997). Inspired by the discovery of his talent, this book had a follow up seven years later, with the title "Irian Jaya" (2004). Both books are still to be purchased (Real Life) in Alberto’s SoHo gallery.

At the moment, Alberto is working on a new book. This book is about the animals that are shown in the Egyptian Museum in Turin (Torino). The text will be in Italian first, but Alberto is working on a English version as well. This book should be ready about May this year. If it will ever be available in shops, still depends on finding a publisher.

Finally we meet. I must say ‘finally’ as Ange Zanetti is a very busy man and even more a very brilliant script writer. With twinklings in his eyes, he tells me all about the huge tower, that is surrounded by all characters in alphabetical order. The tower reminds a lot of the legendary Tower of Babel.

Ange Zanetti: So one of the three versions of Project Gutenberg Library is here, but actually only this one is completly done. This is the Babel Tower. I don’t know the exact number of books that are in this one, to be honest, but something like 10,000 at least and in six languages till now. But the plan is to have 18 languages. At the moment you can choose between French, Spanish, English, German, Dutch and Finnish. The script can do it allready, we just have to modify the language selector.

All books in this library here link to the library in Project Gutenberg and with this new release, you’ll have your browser directly into Second Life, so it is really user friendly. This way the user will get an integral copy of the book on pdf-format, directly from the Gutemburg Library.
Ofcourse these are books that don’t carry copyrights anymore.

MD: I think it can be revolutionary as everyone can read all books, no restrictions from any government, no censorship. Was that your intention?
Ange Zanetti: Anyway that’s a good way to expand free culture yes! Hugo (Hugobiwan Zolnir) and I are thinking about a way to download the books directly on cell phones. There are allready cell phones with a storage of 1 gigabite, so it could be done. Well, thats all geek stuff but that’s the future.

MD: How is this project organised in Real Life, I mean in the Real Life library where these texts come from? Or isn’t there any actually?
Ange Zanetti: There is no Real Life physical structure of Project Gutenberg, only a web site: http://www.gutenberg.org This webside and database run only on volunteers and donations of users. It is an no-profit organisation.

An interestingand very innovative project of arts isnow taking place in both Second Lifeand in Real Life, in Paris, France. Theevent started on the 12^th ofMarch and will continue until the 18^thof March.

At this timewhen I write this, it’s not that faryet. A visit in the BibliothequeFrancophone, located in Second Life on theland of Ebeoplex feels like visiting ahive, where everyone is very excited tomake all preparations for the event. Still,the man behind this project and inSecond Life the manager of the BibliothequeFrancophone – Hugobiwan Zolnir – findstime to tell a lot about the project.Though the project in Second Life isdevelopped by La Bibliothèque Francophone,the whole event is developped by Adrevaand created by Carole Lipsyc. So arethe texts used for both the exhibitionin Paris and in Second Life.

This projectof arts is a constellation called ’3Espaces’ (3 Spaces).  The project concernsa new vision, a new way of tellingstories. The “Story of the 3 Spaces”is an interactive story which is broadcastfor one week on all media, such aspoetic journey, projections, flashcodes, interactiveterminals, Bluetooth terminals, audio messages,street theatre, film, Internet, luminous panelsof the city of Paris, Second Life, smsand emails.

The new genrethat these stories introduce, can be called“virtual literature”. The virtual literaturedoes not refer to books that are readon screens, but it refers to virtualstories designed to exist in differentforms. The forms can be in any sort,both traditional like printed books, butalso in new forms like ebooks,installations, games and such. The texts ofa virtual book can be read in anyorder. There is no beginning, no end,no timeline. At the same time, it canbe combinated with any kind of othermedia, as listed above. The stories changeand go depending on the point of viewof the viewer or reader.

This idea isalso visualized in an installation in theBibliotheque Francophone in Second Life. Asshown in the photo, there are differenttext lines on each screen. These linesare the products of writing by about 10autors in a blog on the internet during2 years, in which each author has hisor her own character. Depending on theplace where the viewer stands (litterally)he can read the lines in any orderfom the center of the installation tothe border and in any direction. Thestory changes in any direction.

Still anyvisitor (who understands and writes French)can contribute to the stories. This canbe done on the website of the project:http://www.3espaces.com/accueil.htm Inthis way, new interactive and virtualstories can be written by anyone. Thestory can continu and change with everyadding of lines. The number of combinationsand possibilities is endless.

Anyonewho is in the opportunity to visit the“Forum des Halles” in Paris and iseager to explore new media andpossibilities, should not avoid the chanche.For those who are not that lucky asto be able to visit the Real Lifeinstallation, should at least visit both theBibliotheque Francophone in Second Life andthe according websites of “3 espaces”.

Sources:http://www.3espaces.org |http://www.3espaces.com |http://www.3espaces.net

Second Life is , next to many other definitions and descriptions, mainly art in itself and is about art. Graphic art in its purest form. To make the inhabitants of Second Life familiar with the more exceptional creations that are to be seen, I will explore the lands until its outskirts and serve the special things I found, here in this magazine . 

It takes very talented and intelligent artists to create graphic art that is designed specially for Second Life. Or to say it differently: art within art. Daruma Picnic is one of the bright spirits who reinvented art for existence in Second Life. Art that is only meant for and can only exist in Second Life.

The first piece from his hand that I stumbled into by surprise, when I visited the Bibliotheque Francophone (Bibliotheque Francophone, Ebeoplex (47, 199, 124). “A cappella”, as the creation is called, looks like colored shields that are slightly transparent. The point is to walk through the shields like they were a field of corn. The result is a choir or angels like singing voices. They must be heard to be loved. And they will be loved, once they are heard.

Triggered and excited as I felt by this remarkable artwork, I was very eager to meet the artist behind the creation and to learn more about his work. After some IM exchange, time zones are sometimes a pain, I finally met Daruma Picnic. Daruma works in an art-library in Chicago. Info island provides the location in Second Life. Daruma says: "I am part of a group "ArtsLib Group" that has agreed to curate and schedule shows at Info Island in a small parcel called Library Gallery, Info Island. Info Island has a small parcel which is used to showcase art. His avatar, that he designed himself, is as special as his work. He said about this creation: ”Yes the design is my own it is a felt tip drawing of a daruma.” A daruma is a Buddhist monk.

As soon as I entered the sim, he asked me to turn of the music, turn on the sounds and set the light to ‘midnight’. The teleport device in his beautiful garden took us to almost complete darkness. Almost, as in the black darkness turned up a group of round and colored spheres, hovering like soap bubbles. They looked like the ‘A Cappella’ that I saw in the Bibliotheque Francophone, but these were floating together and we were just in the middle of them. As soon as we moved, some beautiful music started to caress our ears and most of the elements started to move or change sizes. Remarkably and definitely brilliant.

The next spot we tele-ported to is Library Gallery, Info Island. this is the current exhibition by Adam Ramona which will be up until March 28th- this spot is I another garden and this one had a number of installations, all with the remarkable half-transparent forms and interactive. Every sculpture has a notecard-giver that supplies the visitor with instructions for and explanation about the work. The music that is used in the creations is composed by the Australian composer  Adam Ramona (Adam Nash). All of these sound sculpture are interactive, meaning that your avatar triggers the sound and or movement in the pieces.

One sculpture reminds of a clock and sounds when the spectator clicks the yellow ball on top, that drops another ball onto the wheels below it, that start to sound like a symphony from an distance planet. Another was in shape of an orange cube and gave dark male voices.

Anyone with a little piece of love for art in their hearts, should go and see,
but mostly adventure the art of Daruma Picnic.

For Librarians and people interested in Information and its potential in Second Life, please visit this url to familiarize yourself with Info Island http://infoisland.org/ "for artists.

Published before on 13 March 2008 in in-world magazine "Life Abroad Magazine" #1
Online also at: http://www.lifeheartbeat.com/magazine/