The Plain of Jars

On the hot, arid ground on the sim Tefa of Sand, a mysterious sight awaits: hundreds of massive stone urns and ewers spread over the ground, enhanced only by some struggling grasses and a couple of trees. This location, The Plain of Jars, a creation by Fitch Lekvoda, mirrors a real life site by the same name in central Laos on the Xiangkhouang Plateau, which may have been a prehistoric burial ground. Of the inworld location, Fitch says, "Some recall the legend of the giant king's victory banquet, believing the jars to be the leftover alcohol vessels from that banquet. Others think of a more mundane purpose, to collect rain water for passing caravans..." Whatever their purpose, the jars form a curiously beautiful and mesmerizing landscape.

The thorough explorer will discover that there's more to the build that what's immediately visible: a hidden world exists below the plain, one filed with additional sights and discoveries (middle image). A couple of teleport points are available to reach these tunnels that snake about underground. Contributions toward the support of The Plain of Jars may be left at the landing point.

Winter Trace

Several days ago, this blog covered the enchanting sim Fall Trace (read here). Its chillier companion, Winter Trace, also recently opened its doors and is not to be missed. Co-created by Kylie Jaxxon and Elvira Kytori, with contributions from Gnaaah Xeltentat, the region beautifully captures the essence of winter in a pastoral valley setting enwrapped by steep snow-covered mountains. "It's mainly from Kylie's vision," explained Elvira. "We both worked on it, and Gnaaah helped with decorations in some of the houses."

If there's a standout feature in Winter Trace, it's the dazzling sheet of ice that covers the sim: the water has frozen over, providing a firm if slippery walkway between the low-lying areas of land. On high settings in particular, with advanced lighting model on and water set to reflect everything, the gorgeous result is unlike anything that's previously been seen in Second Life. "Yes, that is Kylie's work — she fiddled with it a week. I was so excited when I saw it the first time," shared Elvira. Kylie added, "I'm kind of thrilled with how it turned out, although people keep asking me, and I don't have an answer ... I just started out with a water setting and fiddled around with it for days."

Visitors arrive at the smaller of two windmills (top image) that anchor the northern side of the sim, and where landmarks are available to Summer Trace (read here) and Fall Trace. From there, one ventures out onto the ice and through the occasional snow flurry to discover a quaint and charmingly decorated house, a farmer's market (clearly closed for the season), the second windmill, a barn (second image), some ruins, a beautifully arched bridge (image below), woodland settings, and many smaller elements such as wildlife and fishing boats. The views are superb, and photographers will find opportunities from almost any angle.

Plenty of places are available for solo explorers and couples to sit and relax. Use of the region windlight setting is highly encouraged, and it's important to have local sounds turned up to hear waterfowl, the howling wind, the creaking of the windmills, and other elements that lend authenticity. Winter Trace, which will remain open for the better part of a year, is certainly destined to become one of the most visited sims on the grid. If you enjoy your stay, please consider leaving a contribution toward its support.

The Cruelty of Peace

Opening today, Sunday, December 11, at 1 pm slt, is The Cruelty of Peace, an installation by artist Lilia Artis on LEA6. What at first seems like a charming, snowy landscape, with semi-transparent trees and plants shimmering in celadon and lilac, becomes a horrific scene as we witness what's happened: amid the pastoral setting, houses have been destroyed and burned, and bodies of families lie scattered on the cold ground nearby.

"War just never seems to end. It turned into a background noise while we are having breakfast or dinner and live our everyday lives," says the artist. "The news shows there seems to be no limit to the cruelty of what human beings do to other human beings, to men, women, children. And then there is the ongoing destruction of our environment. Hearing about ever growing pollution, a question rises in my head: what is the reality of peace? Is it only possible when the human race becomes extinct?" The Cruelty of Peace will remain on display through the month of December.

Hand

Opening today, Saturday, December 10, at the sim Immersiva, is Hand, a new and brilliant work by Bryn Oh. In keeping with Bryn's recent works, Hand tasks us with discovering the narrative of a story — in this case, that of a young girl named Flutter — by exploring our environment, looking for clues and information, but in departure from recent artworks the story unfolds in narrative rather than poetry. "This for me was different in that the story was told not in poems but more straightforwardly as a narrative," said Bryn as we talked about Hand. "I love the idea of open ended art, where you can go wherever and do whatever you want. I make things so you can find parts or walk past them. I want to tell a story which is personal to me, but what i think is important is to not force the viewer to see it exactly as i see it — I want the viewer to use their creativity too, to interpret and shape it."

And so sets the stage for the engaging story of Flutter and the various characters she meets along her journey — a story with a fascinating juxtaposition of darkness and joy, a contrast of otherworldliness and something deeply personal. "I am an odd mix, I think. I am playful but have a melancholy side — I find there can be beauty in melancholy," commented Bryn. A HUD, provided by accepting the experience at the landing point, captures pieces of Flutter's story as they're encountered, until all seven sections are assembled. (It's not a problem to leave Hand and to later return — the story will pick right up where you left off.)

Beyond the pleasure of discovering the story by hunting for each chapter, visitors will find that the build is a rich environment filled with sights and exquisite detail that provide all the kinds of elements necessary to make Flutter's world seem real: an underground subway station, a surreal hillside, deserted and ruined stores, a Dr. Suess-like entanglement of rusted pipes, humorous advertisements, characters involved in various activities — essentially a complete and fascinating city. Everywhere one looks are quirky and curious little things to be found. Hand also contains moments of social commentary, such as the Telephone Jesus or the Twin Towers, as one will discover.

Occasionally, visitors will be confronted with intentional navigational challenges — jumping up a stack boxes or walking along a narrow board over the ground (a fall from which might set one's journey back considerably). (A few circumstances might remind some veteran explorers of Bryn's old Avatar Games.) Knowing how to adeptly jump can be a plus, and turning off one's animation override might help in these situations, providing a more precise sense of avatar location. Bryn has made several of these areas less onerous since the beta phase of the build, but remarked, "I can't help but leave a few holes, because I am a bit evil."

Bryn plans to limit the number of simultaneous visitors to Hand to minimize lag. Use of the Firestorm viewer is strongly recommended, and visitors should be certain to have local sounds turned up, as the build makes extensive use of them. "Ambient sound is so interesting to me — one of the often overlooked things in SL," she said. Bryn was assisted in the development of Hand by scripter Bellimora and by musician Phemie Alcott, who created the score for Hand's promotional trailer. On a final note: as Bryn's work has become more and more complex, the lengthened development lead time for each new installation means fewer months and weeks when builds are actually open, lessening the overall cash flow from contributions. Even with Bryn's support from the Ontario Arts Council, the future of Immersiva depends greatly on the generosity of the Second Life community. If you enjoy your visit, please consider leaving a contribution or by purchasing some of the various objects you'll encounter on your visit through Hand, by visiting her store (teleport at the landing point) or through the gacha machine at the landing point, which dispenses many fun things.

OpeRaAnxiEty

Opening today, Friday, December 9, at MetaLES, curated by Ux Hax and Romy Nayar, is OpeRaAnxiEty, a major immersive work by artist JadeYu Fhang. As the title suggests, it's a world filled with anxiety, and a mix of beauty and horror, with much left up to the viewer's interpretation. "I don't like notecards," JadeYu said as we discussed her work. "I prefer people search in their heads — I like when people create their own stories."

Immediately visible to observers upon entering this misty world are arachnids and their webs. Towering directly overhead at the landing point is the shimmering Arachnee Temple; at the top of this structure sits The Queen, enclosed in a web and looking down to observe the scene below. Within the temple, a ceremony takes place in which an arachnid offers eggs to a humanoid female, both figures surrounded by eight green android female observers. Textured fingerprints swirl on the floor, suggesting a genetic reference.

Elsewhere, on the west side of the sim, another temple is the site of "separation," with half-constructed android bodies positioned in front of the building and a trio of television-headed female figures positioned on either side. On a nearby hillside, two large female forms, posed back to back, seem to be caring for eggs that hold blended human and arachnid embryos — indeed, the nearby spider that seems to have captured them in a web is named The Nurse. Through and around the entire build, barely visible but omnipresent, rotate transparent sheets of data.

If all of that sounds like some sort of sci-fi interspecies breeding program, JadeYu aims for a deeper meaning in the background. "The spider is a metaphor," she elucidated in French. "We're all the creators of our society. Few people are really lucid about what they're doing, and people allow themselves to become trapped. Yes, there are bad guys, the media and all that, but we're part of it too, and we weave our own web in which we're enclosed." As you visit, be sure to have ambient sounds turned up, as they're an integral part of the build. OpeRaAnxiEty will remain on display through January 30. If you enjoy JadeYu's work, consider an additional visit to her sim, DaRk TeArS, for her current installation, EgOJail.

Cerebral Fame (images NSFW)

Now open at the elegant DiXmiX Gallery, curated by Dixmix Source, is Cerebral Frame, an exhibition of photographs by Isa Messioptra. The thirteen beautifully-wrought images on display vary from monochrome to full color, and represent work that extends back over the last year and a half.

"She's a story telling photographer," said Dixmix as we talked about Isa's images. "I can enter in her pictures and tell myself a story — I love that kind of photography." As for the title of the exhibition, "It's the title of one of my pics that isn't up here," laughed Isa, "but it is unlike many of my older pics that were straight linear stories ... while the last couple of years they are more feeling and ambiguous ... like a spark ... and hopefully you feel something from them and it takes you someplace." All of Isa's works are available for purchase, and contributions toward support of the gallery are also welcome.

Sky Gallery

Over the summer, artist Giovanna Cerise opened her own gallery space, The last harbor, on the sim Southern Marvel (read here). Now, in a significant expansion, she has opened the Sky Gallery, situated far overhead, which serves as a space for both two- and three-dimensional works, including some featured in her recent LEA build, Monochrome (read here). While all the artworks can all be purchased, visitors who prefer to simply enjoy them in exhibition space are welcome, and contributions toward the gallery's support are accepted. A teleport is available to transport visitors down to the Art Open Space ground level.

Fall Trace

Fall may be rapidly vanishing in the Northern Hemisphere, but it's alive and abundantly well at Fall Trace, a new twist on the tradition of changing seasons at The Trace (read here), originally developed by Kylie Jaxxon in 2013. Beginning in 2014, Kylie was joined by designer Elvira Kytori, and the two have collaborated over the past couple years, changing the seasons at The Trace every several months. Now, rather than delete the old season, the pair have opted to add two additional sims, so that the Summer Trace remains, and Fall Trace and Winter Trace are new additions, with each setting remaining on display for a year before revision.

Elvira was the lead landscaper and decorator on Fall Trace, with Kylie and Gnaaah Xeltentat credited as co-decorators. The sim is a stunningly beautiful setting in which fall colors — rich golden browns and reds — are brought to life under a dreamy sky. Visitors can make their way around the sim by a system of wooden walkways that cut through the tall grasses — foliage tall and thick enough that it's hard to see through it, until suddenly a majestic view opens up, perhaps with a brilliant view of the horizon. The walkways weave about and connect various small buildings and homes, many of which contain charming interiors and places to relax.

Be sure to have local sounds turned up, as the abundant wildlife on the sim — especially birds — creates a rich sonic environment, and be sure also to accept the sim's default windlight settings, as shown here. This is a sim that's sure to become a classic for photographers, explorers, couples looking for a spot to cuddle, and wanderers looking for some solitude. If you enjoy your visit to Fall Trace, please consider leaving a contribution.

La Digue du Braek

Now open for exploration is La Digue du Braek, a new creation from Serene Footman and Jade Koltai. Visitors might be struck by the similarity to the expansive feel of Serene's well known sim Furillen (read here), with its contrast of open space and industrial areas, and, like Furillen, La Digue du Braek is modeled on a real life area. It's "inspired by La Digue du Braek, a 7km long road near to Dunkerque, flanked by a beach on one side, and heavy industry on the other — a perfect tension between nature and machine," say Serene and Jade.

The landing point is situated on the north side of the sim, where a long strip of beach provides a few places to relax and take in the view, but it's not an entirely idyllic one — we spy wind turbines off to the west, ruins toward the east, and a fairly gloomy brownish-grey sky that covers everything in a blanket of haze. A road runs along the interior edge of this sandy strip of land, and leads to the southern half of the island.

And it's here on the southern section that we spy industry everywhere: cranes dot the skyline, and refinery tanks and cargo containers fill the cement-covered ground. A large warehouse is delightfully decorated on the inside and includes an impressive assortment of adult furniture. If you enjoy your visit to the beautifully evocative and slightly surreal La Digue du Braek, please consider leaving a contribution toward its continued support.

StormEye

Lemonodo Oh has invited artists Douglas Story and Desdemona Enfield to show a vintage artwork, StormEye, on the ground below his artist residency installment at LEA24. Absent from the grid for many years, this classic immersive environment is a delight to see once again, and has been rezzed essentially just as it was when last on display in another location. (Certain scripted things may not work well or not at all — for example the Bryn Oh umbrella dispenser at the entrance and the various cushions within the build.)

It's essential that visitors turn on the streaming media (instructions are posted at the landing point) that brings the artwork to life: upon entering the gently undulating StormEye tube, depending on your timing, it might be a tranquil display of gently moving clouds floating through a deep blue sky, or gathering storm clouds, or violent lightning and lashing rain, or gradual clearing, all as shown here in a sequence of static images. (My partner, Kinn, was never able to get this to work, so it might be a challenge for some visitors, and in real time the images are in constant motion.)

"Douglas said yesterday StormEye is the favorite of his children," remarked Lemonodo. "He and Desdemona have done amazing work creating responsive scripted environments over many years, which is why I invited them as guest artists to share the LEA24 region in the short time left in my LEA air grant residency — I invited them only a few weeks ago, which precluded them from presenting new work if they didn't already have something in the making." After you've weathered the storm, click on the small tornado within StormEye to teleport back down to the ground — and you'll land on a simple if delightful surprise. (Click on the nearby spike to teleport back up.) StormEye will remain on display through the end of December.