UWA Artists’ Choice ChallengesAn exhibition series of original digital art in a virtual world

MusicFreeWee Ling, curator

UWA Studies in Virtual Arts | March 2012 | Volume 1, Number 3ISSN: 2200-7865 (Print) ISSN: 2200-7873 (Online)

UWA Artists’ Choice ~ MUSICMarch 2012

Contents

Introduction

The Work

UWA Artists’ Choice ~ MUSICMarch 2012

UWA Studies in Virtual ArtsMarch 2012Volume 1, Number 3

ISSN: 2200-7865 (Print) ISSN: 2200-7873 (Online) http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/p/uwa-studies-in-virtual-arts.html

Jay Jay Jegathesan (SL pseudonym: JayJay Zifanwe), Project Director, Co-curatorD. A. Newton (SL pseudonym: FreeWee Ling), UWA Honorary Research Fellow, Lead Curator, and General Editor

Copyright © 2012 by D.A. Newton. All rights to the original works depicted are owned by their respective creators, and images thereof are used by their permission. All text and images by D.A. Newton/FreeWee Ling unless otherwise noted.

Contact:Jay Jay JegathesanSchool of PhysicsThe University of Western Australia (M013)35 Stirling HighwayCrawley WA 6009AustraliaEmail: jay.jay@uwa.edu.au

UWA Studies in Virtual Arts comprise exhibition catalogues, special editions, and monographs on the arts in virtual worlds. Focus is especially upon the 3D art competi-tions held at UWA’s virtual campus in Second Life.

CitationContributors retain intellectual property rights to their material and may re-publish it provided that UWA SiVA is acknowledged as the original place of publication. Material in UWA SiVA may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-profit use for the purposes of education research, library reference, or stored and/or distributed as a public service by any networked computer. Any commercial use of this journal in whole or in part by any means is strictly prohibited without written permission. Any use of this journal in whole or in part should include customary bibliographic citation.

“Second Life®”and “Linden Lab®” are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. The univer-sity of Western Australia and UWA SiVA are not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research.

Contents

Introduction

The Work

2012 is the third year of 3D virtual art challenges at the University of Western Australia’s virtual gallery in Second Life® (SL™). Through these competitions, UWA in SL is recognized worldwide as one of the most imporant ven-ues for the presentation of virtual arts.

This year we feature two separate and non-concurrent challenges: the UWA 3D Artists’ Choice Challenges, and the UWA Centenary 3D Art Challenge. From January through March and August through December, we will feature monthly sponsored theme challenges, beginning with the current theme of 3D Self Portraits as shown in this premiere issue of UWA SiVA. From April through July will be a single major open competition in celebra-tion of the Centenary of UWA, with L$550,000 Lin-dens (about $2200 USD) in art prizes and L$775,000 ($3,400 USD) for MachinimUWA V, a related animated film competition.

For the UWA Artists’ Choice challenges, a different theme is announced each month, but the core theme is personal expression. We want the artist to use this as an opportunity to explore some aspect of their personality, not only as a creative artist, but also as a critical observer.

An essential difference in these shows is the judging. When artists submit an entry they agree to serve also as a judge for the prize awards. Thus the awards are deter-mined by the recipients’ colleagues, making this a unique process of consensus among peers rather than a critical adjudication by an outside panel.

As in most UWA challenges, entries are open to anyone and no qualification is required. There are technical limits to the number of parts contained in an object and to server load. There is no size limit except to the extent that it im-pedes our ability to show other work. We accomodate me-dia video and audio streaming, sound and light emitters, etc. Often we are confronted with work that presents spe-cial difficulties in presenting it properly. But we do what-ever we can to work with artsts to support their visions.

For the third round of the UWA Artists’ Choice Chal-lenges we turn to music. The possibilities are pretty vast. We received musical instruments, music boxes, many automated sound-producing objects, as well as mute ab-stract objects inspired by musical ideas.

For the backdrop I decorated the gallery with a floral base and black walls. Against the back wall was an enormous (and unlikely) pipe organ. The pipes, while not to any reasonable musical scale, were made to be accurate in vi-sual scale, each pipe incrementing by 1/12 octave relative to its neighbors (using the 12th root of 2 as a scale factor).

We want to acknowledge the generosity of our patrons and sponsors for this project:

• JayJay Zifanwe and the University of Western Australia

• armany Thursday and Dyce Underwood for DNA Art and Music Fusion

• Eliza Wierwight and Patron• Cherry Manga and Anley Piers for Mysterious

Wave• Ginger Alsop and Phi Designs• Zachh Cale and projectZ

Introduction

The Work

There were 18 entries by 14 artists:

Apmel Goosson ~ A Rocking Island

Artee ~ Oreille

briawinde Magic ~ Mad Hatter’s Song

Winner: Third Place Award, People’s Choice Award Cherry Manga ~ Butterflies

Cherry Manga ~ Le Piano

Chic Aeon ~ Standing Room Only

Corcosman Voom ~ Wailin

Winner: First Place Award Eliza Wierwight ~ Sea of Love Music Box

Fox Nacht ~ /we

FreeWee Ling ~ SwingTones*

Giovanna Cerise ~ The Flight

Winner: Third Place Award Giovanna Cerise ~ Habanera

London Junkers ~ Listen to the Wind

Nino Vichan ~ Imagine

Winner: Second Place Award, Non-Scripted Award Secret Rage ~ Music in the Air

Secret Rage ~ Interlude

Soda Lemondrop ~ Awake

Toysoldier Thor ~ Round Up The Music

*FreeWee’s entry received the top score but was withdrawn from competition.

Apmel Goosson ~ A Rocking Island

Artée ~ Oreille

briawinde Magic ~ Mad Hatter's Song

Cherry Manga ~ Butterflies

Cherry Manga ~ Le Piano

Chic Aeon ~ Standing Room Only

Chic Aeon ~ Standing Room Only

Corcosman Voom ~ Wailin’

Eliza Wierwight ~ Sea of Love Music Box

Fox Nacht ~ /we

FreeWee Ling ~ SwingTones

Giovanna Cerise ~ The Flight

Giovanna Cerise ~ Habanera

London Junkers ~ Listen to the Wind

Nino Vichan ~ Imagine

Secret Rage ~ Music in the Air

Secret Rage ~ Interlude

Soda Lemondrop ~ Awake

Toysoldier Thor ~ Round Up The Music