Beginning today, I really want to pick a start point at SL6B and really take my time to explore each build. There really isn’t a ’starting point’ for SL6B, since there are multiple locations to teleport into. Not knowing where to begin, I picked the first sim on the list in search- Polaris. http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL6B%20Polaris/128/128/24
I landed next to one of the monorail rezzing platforms, looking at a sign that says,’Tour the SL6B regions- approx. 35 minutes round trip!’. I rode around on one of these trams yesterday, with Stuart and Itazura. They are pretty cool.. however, I really recommend exploring on foot. You can miss so many details while whisking by on a tram. I tend to follow the tracks, since I haven’t seen any real sidewalks yet. Because there is so much glow in all the builds, the recommendation is to keep set to midnight (which is the region default), to get the full effect. I don’t know if its just me, but I have enormous problems being able to figure out where I am or get my bearings, anytime I’m set to midnight in ANY region. Everytime I log into SL, I immediately set to midday, so I can see where the hell I’m going. But I love the glow here, so I’m trying to keep my setting darker to really enjoy it. Midnight is too boring for me, so I found a nice Torley preset called Anwar, that really compliments the ambiance. I cranked the stars to full, and raised the scene gamma just a bit, and now I can see a tiny bit better. The pink and blue horizon, swept with stars, makes everything even more beautiful.
Right in front of me was a huge glass dome, much like a snowglobe. Inside the dome, rain pattered down over a wheat field. At first I thought this was a build by AM Radio, because it reminded me so much of the Faraway. But closer inspection showed that the owner is Poid Mahovlich. I circled the globe, but could not find any signs or notcards explaining the build, and there was no information I could find about it or the builder. Just the parcel name, The Last Rain Maker.
The Last Rainmaker
This puzzles me about SL6B. I’m not sure what the point of the builds are, yet. I’m guessing its simply meant to showcase the work of the exhibitors, although I’m hoping that there will be more information at some of the other exhibits. I did find Poid’s blog in their profile though, which I subscribed to.
Life In The Future Worlds is the next exhibit down the line. Miso Susanowa is the artist, and provides a notecard packed full of information on this installation. Without delving too deep into the notecard, I get the sense that this build is about an astronaut on a mission in space, who has probably been there for some time. There is a telecommunications panel up, where he’s chatting with his daughter about a school project, and she wants to know when he’ll be ‘home’. Home being, the virtual world where they are able to ’see’ one another. Behind him is a computer system, and a containment chamber where extraterrestrial plant forms are held, for observation.
Life In The Future Worlds
I became familiar with Teal Freenote during the Raglan Shire Art Walk, a couple of months ago. Gallery Freenote is Teal’s build here at SL6B, where she is able to showcase some of her extraordinary sculptures.
Gallery Freenote
Your Future Will Be… by Scarp Godenot is a glowing panel filled cavern of abstract, animated designs and sculptures. When you walk over the colored panels, you will get funny audio messages about Scarp’s visions of the future.
“In the future, we will only sleep for 27.3 minutes per day, and that will be plenty. The rest of the time will be spent playing World Of Warcraft..”
“The future will be nuclear winter.. as a cure for global warming..”
“In the future, Star Trek 127, The Final Chapter, will end with the entire galaxy being sucked up into a black hole..”
Your Future Will Be..
Rancor
“Bring a friend. 1. Walk past the hate. 2. Walk past the lies. 3. Walk past the unforgiveness. 4. Walk right into love.
This build by Cienega Soon is stunning, and impressive. Step through the curtains of chains and hearts into the center of the build. It all falls away around you, leaving you to face the heart backdrop behind two poseballs. ‘Break the chains of bitterness- I forgive you- I forgive me.’
Rancor
I’m having trouble finding the name of the build by Sabine Stonebender, which is a shame because its one of my favorites on Polaris. The parcel is simply titled “Polaris”, and clicking on various parts of the build does not show the exhibition name. Its very pretty, though. Wonderful use of glow and lighting effects. Walking over the sculpted bubbles causes chain lighting to briefly flash across your path.
Sabine Stonebender
At Ad Astra, Rusalka Writer has set out a series of powerful, gripping images of the destruction of man, both on our environments, and on ourselves. Photos of devastation from Hurricane Katrina, drought, war and famine surround a group of giant sculptures of men that are crawling forward, reaching up towards a mostly gray planet.
Ad Astra
Mechatiki Research Public Lab is the creation of Magggnnus Woodget. An assortment of robot pet creatures tumble about their cages or roam loose on the parcel. I saw one of them had toppled over onto its side, and I spent quite awhile trying to bump it back onto its feet again before eventually giving up. I was afraid Magggnnus would return, and think I was griefing his exhibit. So the fallen robotic insect had to be left alone, legs flailing in its futile attempt to right itself.
Mechatiki Research Public Lab
At the Witness exhibit, Kiya McMahon displays a series of her artworks within a kiosk at the center of a geometric stone building. Clicking the thumbnails will display the photograph on the larger viewer, above.
Witness
Nebula West by whyroc Slade left me awestruck, and all I can say, is wow. An abstract mish-mash of sculptures, ambiant-trace music, shimmering glow and steam. Vastly impressive work.
Nebula West
In the Future Art exhibit, Mater Rhode has built a Cubematic Art display. The interactive art floor allows you to walk across the wooden blocks, causing them to flip around to show different sides, creating a unique work of art every time.
Future Art
Kerupa Flow is the artist behind the Living Together In This World art exhibit. I love the circling birds in one of her art displays, and the cool poem that goes with it.
Living Together In This World
Callipygian Christensen gives a such a cleverly creative spin on two-dimensional art in her Multiple Views exhibit. I was very much impressed, and really enjoyed this one a lot. I won’t say anything more about it, so as not to give anything away. But carefully read and follow the directions on the black cube at the base of the stairs, and I think you’ll enjoy it too.
Multiple Views
White Lebed’s The Entertainer
“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” Alberto Giacometti, 1901-1966
The Entertainer
When I arrived at the Walking Away From The Desktop build, there was a sign up by Jimmer Gabe stating, “Dear Visitor, due to some unforseen technical issues, the main (scripted) content of this build is offline. We hope to be back up and running sometime on Wednesday.” Well, I don’t know what the offline content is, so I’ll have to check back. But the build looks cool, so far.
Walking Away From The Desktop
Beauty In Nature by SnakeLady Melody, is a collection of nature photography.
Beauty In Nature
I LOVE Bryn Oh. Everything I’ve seen by her has been amazing. And as soon as I stepped inside the Scene From The Rabbicorn Story, I was immediately reminded of the Gashlycrumb series of art installations I saw a year or so ago. I IM’d Crap Mariner to ask if it was by the same artist and found that yes indeed, Bryn had done that series as well. I am not familiar with the Rabbicorn story, but I’ll have to look it up, now.
Scene From The Rabbicorn Story
There isn’t much to see at the Music StarMine build right now. But I have a feeling that naturalway Flow puts on a pretty spectacular fireworks display, when he’s around. With any luck, I’ll manage to see that this week.
Music StarMine
Naergilien Wunderlich takes us on a journey through time, where she explores the evolution of fashion through the ages in Wunderlich’s Fashion Through The Ages. The exhibit starts with the medieval period and works its way through to Edwardian.
Wunderlich's Fashion Through The Ages
And finally, I saved the best (?) and biggest for last. The Alien Twin Towers by Mantis Oh is a build of epic proportions. It’s really difficult for me to capture the true scale of how enormous this massive robbot is. But trust me. Its big. Real Big.
Alien Twin Towers
(Did I mention I’m afraid of robots?)
