UWA in SL on Linden Prize Short List

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University of Western Australia has been shortlisted for the prestigious Linden Prize. Also reported on The Science Network WA & on the main UWA Website

On finding out about the Linden Prize nomination Jay Jay Jegathesan (Manager School of Physics) AKA JayJay Zifanwe in SL said:
"None of this would be possible without the incredible support of all the 'Angels' who have dropped in at various points in the evolution of UWA within the Virtual world. From those in real life Professor Alan Robson, Professor Ted Snell, Professor Ian McArthur, Dr Chris Thorne, Paul Bourke to the wondrous avatars of Second Life, quadrapop Lane, Raphaella Nightfire, White Lebed and others from around the world too numerous to name. This has been an amazing journey and adventure, yet the journey has only truly just begun"

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.
Goethe

Since mid 2009 efforts have been expended daily on this project with monumental support from an international team in both Real Life (RL) and in Second Life (SL). There has been tireless efforts to promote the UWA sims in both RL and in SL. The UWA sims are mix of RL recreations of some of the University's signature buildings and distinctly Second Life virtual builds (where in Real Life do buildings hang unsupported in the sky, or where they are made entirely of what appears to be solid light?)




Projects that have been instrumental in this nomination are:

Art & Design Challenge
The year long Imagine Challenge grew out of discussions between JayJay and Prof Ted Snell of UWA in August 2009 and has grown to become the largest art competition in Second Life with over 50 entries in each monthly round. In the process this Challenge has brought together various collaborations and unlikely unions of skill. It is co-hosted by Jayjay Zifanwe and quadrapop Lane in SL. There is an impressive list of judges for both the monthly rounds and grand final competition.

UWA 3d A&D Gallery on UWA sim in April 2010

THE IMAGINE CHALLENGE (Art & Design Challenge)
(Prize amounts in SL Linden Dollars)
Monthly Prizes:
L$5,000 + RL Custom Tshirt (1st Prize)
L$4,000 Casey Cultural prize (Best work displaying Western Australia)
L$1,250 + RL Custom TShirt (Best non-Scripted entry) ,
L$1,250 (2nd Prize)
L$500 People's Choice Award
Grand Prize:
L$75,000 (1st)
L$14,000 (2nd),
L$14,000 (Best non-Scripted entry)


Flagship Building Challenge

Patch Thibaud Flagship Design - winner of the December round of the Flagship Challenge

Run in conjunction with the Imagine Challenge the Flagship Challenge is to create a concept build/model for UWA's RL Cultural Precinct. This Challenge has attracted a small but loyal following of some of the best builders in SL, and given some non-architects the opportunity to display their ideas for a RL building.

FLAGSHIP PRIZES (Architectural competition)
(Prize amounts in SL Linden Dollars)
Monthly Prize:
L$5,000 (1st)
L$1,250 (2nd)
Grand Prize:
L$75,000 (1st)
L$14,000 (2nd)

Machinima Challenge



The Machinima Challenge (Machinima are videos made inside SL and shown both outside and inside SL) was open to all SL machinima makers. Their Challenge was to create a Machinima of up to 5 minutes in length that captured the 4 main elements that make up the heart of the University of Western Australia sims. These elements are: the RL architecture, the teaching, the research, and the arts. The purpose would be to show that UWA's presence in SL is comprehensive and covering all these areas, creating true bridges between SL & RL for prospective students, current students, staff, alumni & the community.

There was a lot of interest in this Challenge with the prize money more than doubling thanks to donations by interested parties within the first few weeks of the competition period. The final winning entries can be seen here.

MACHINIMA CHALLENGE PRIZES
L$65,000 (1st)
L$44,000 (2nd),
L$42,000 (3rd)

Teaching

The Skytheatre - main lecture space in UWA in SL on the Uni of WA sim

Professor Wade Halvorson of the School of Business and Professor Mark Pegrum of the Graduate School of Education are already using the second life sims as part of their courses and will soon be joined by lecturers from several other schools including Law.

Research


Tranguloid Trefoil (RL - Paul Bourke) is using the WASP Land sim as a base to explore the possibilities of 3D scientific visualisation using some 3d software to create the "sculpties" used to represent the data in SL where it can then be manipulated or discussed. John Goldsmith arranged an exhibition in both SL and RL Physics buildings of Starlight photographic exhibition which opened on 20 Aug 2009.

Image by Paul Burke of John Goldsmith's Starlight Exhibition Opening, Physics UWAinSL

Networking & RL/SL Partnerships
Memorandums of Understanding
University of Texas San Antonio and University of Massachusetts and University of Western Australia have MOUs for the SecondLife collaborative projects they are involved in - these are in effect in practice and going through RL legal process.

One of the projects UWA collaborated on with Uni of Massachesetts was the Through the Virtual Looking Glass, one part of which being the exhibition in both RL and SL of M Linden's art (Mark Kingdom - CEO of Linden labs) at UWA and in UWAinSL's Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

M Linden at the opening of his DoodleArt exhibition in the UWA in SL Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery

Also a part of the same exhibition was the collaboration between UWA's Len Zuks and SL resident Miso Susanowa - recreating 2 of Len's RL sculptures in SL.

Miso Susanowa's "Lil Eizenstein" and "MegaByte" on display in February 2010.

Also a wonderful mooting space created by Nyx Breen for the the Faculty of Law (UWA), led to a collaboration with the University of Western Sydney who sought to film an SL moot in the virtual world to display at an international conference.

UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre

The UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, stage on one sim, seating on the three adjoining sims

Frolic Mills - SecondLife CEO of Best of Second Life (BOSL) combined forces with Jayjay Zifanwe and architect Patch Thibaud to create a huge 4 sim meeting place - the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre which is capable of hosting up to 200 avatars across the 4 sims. The Amphitheatre was opened on 8 May 2010 by Frolic Mills, Jayjay Zifanwe and Patch Thibaud with entertainment by one of SL's leading live performers Mankind Tracer. The Amphitheatre is available free to any non-profit event that promotes the arts, sciences or education. Bookings to the Amphitheatre Director, Taralyn Gravois in SL.



Second Physics Italy

Scien&Art competition - UWA is hosting the nanotechnology entries on UWA Winthrop - as part of a collaboration with: Second Physics, SL Art (Marjorie Fargis) and Experience Italy. More information about this competition available in SL at the Second Physics sim



SLEnglish



Kip Yellowjacket from SLEnglish is heading up a sim wide language teaching laboratory with language teachers from around the world using the sim to teach people across the globe various langauges. The UWA VIRTLANTIS sim was opened on Sunday 14 March 2010 and features the tallest sculpture in SL DanCoyote Antonelli's "Tower of Light."

Sponsorship
There are many individuals and companies who help sponsor the activities of the University within SL. What follows is a list of the biggest contributors in time and/or money, other than the University itself, the list if far from exhaustive but indicates the large numbers of people who help make UWA what it is.

in no particular order:
In SL
Phillip Vought
MidnightRain Glas
FreeWee Ling
Taralyn Gravois
Raphaella Nightfire
quadrapop Lane
White Lebed
Nyx Breen
Lilli Field
Ourania Fizgig
CaptainCrunch hax
Sasun Steinbeck

In RL
Prof Ted Snell
Prof Alexandra Ludewig
Colin Campbell Fraser
Frank Roberts
John Barret-Lennard
Paul Bourke
Oron Catts
Prof Alan Robson
Prof Ian McArthur
Prof William Ford
Casey Family of Western Australia - sponsor
Prof Wade Halvorson
A/Prof Mark Pegrum
Evgeni Sergeev
Chris Thorne
David Gaze
Minh Tran
Bradley Curnow
Micheal Flynn
Greg Salotti
VR Shed Pty Ltd
www.etshirts.com

and many, many more....

Taralyn Gravois Appointed Director of the 4-Sim UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre

Taralyn Gravois Appointed Director of the 4-Sim UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre



The University of Western Australia is proud to announce the appointment of Taralyn Gravois, as Director of the 4-SIM UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre. As described during the launch, the Theatre is a space that is offered free to groups wanting to hold events linked to the Arts or Education so long as the events are altruistic in nature and not business oriented. The space is also available free to all groups wanting to host events for charity. Taralyn would be the first point of contact for anyone wishing to use the theatre for any of these purposes.

Commenting on the appointment, "UWA's interaction with SL's art world is what brought me to the campus. Once I met the staff, I knew I would love to be a part of this visionary process. UWA has made it a point to bring the international flare, available in SL, to its students and faculty. I'm really looking forward to helping groups hold events at the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre.", said Taralyn.



A true lover of the arts and an avatar collector, she has been in Second Life since August 2008. "I came here to see if it would be a good venue for a friend of mine to sell her artwork. I found that not only is it a great place to sell art, it is a wonderful place to display ones creativity in general. I love how each SIM is a glimpse into someone's imagination. The technical aspects of being able to create almost anything you can dream up, is amazing. Not only do you get to see 2D art from around the world, your ability to interact with 3D art is out of this world. I wish I had the art collection I have in SL in RL."

Coupled with her previous experience of running 4-SIM Theatres in SL is her RL work where she was a television producer in a broadcasting career spanning 16 years. She also worked in public relations for politicians and state agencies, and her incredible diversity also spread to her work in promotions at the Columbus Zoo, in the US, which spurred her life-long commitment to conservation.

The UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre is located here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA%20Winthrop/243/242/1638

It was built by Patch Thibaud as part of a collaboration between the University of Western Australia and the Best of Second Life (BOSL), led by Frolic Mills.

A stunning Iono Allen Machinima of the April winners

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Iono Allen has made another record of the latest set of winning entries in the UWA Imagine Challenge.





You can see the video here.

Julez Torments IMAGINE! Lili pips Nyx: April Winners of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge

Julez torments IMAGINE! Lili pips Nyx at the line:
April Winners of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge


A chilling work where a demon captures your soul, by Julez Odigaunt has taken the top IMAGINE Arts prize ($L5,000) for the April round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge. The piece, JULIA'S MAGIC MIRROR - DEMON, beat out an amazing field of 67 international artists, including past IMAGINE winner Glyph Graves who took out 2nd prize with his incredible immersive work, ORGANIC RECURVE. Meanwhile in the FLAGSHIP building design challenge Lili Field's EYE OF THE BEHOLDER managed to stop an unprecedented 5th win for Nyx Breen, whose UWA AxS Lab was pipped at the post into 2nd place.

Going one better than her runners-up prize in the March round, Julia said, "What a great honor! I was quite shocked. The initial Mirror was inspired by a dark yet whimsical gypsy circus which Atomic Gaffer built. Then I decided to go darker, more haunting and it is the exact reaction that I aimed for that folks received when they interacted with the mirror. Thank you UWA for this wonderful honor and acknowledgment."

Following the announcements yesterday at the traditional winners announcement party at the UWA SIM, Lili was shocked at her win, and the ever gracious Nyx said, "Once again UWA is an exciting wonderful experience all should partake in. To the artist and builders a wonderful job."

Two-thirds into the year long challenge, the judging panel had a very tough time of it with amazing pieces across the board. Sharni Azalee, whose piece, THE ABYSS, won the non-scripted prize said, "A woman's handbag, the mystifying abyss, where the bravest of men fear to tread. I was honored to receive the award for non scripted exhibit and overjoyed that so many men took the challenge and entered the dark realms of a woman's handbag ;) it's ok, we wont make u carry them :). Thank you to all at UWA, your support and encouragement has allowed me to find a place that I can express myself in a way I never knew possible."

"I would like to thank the Academy... oh sorry. wrong award. I'm humbled and thankful and now I'm motivated to try to top this work.". said the Wizard Gynoid, ever the joker in romping her way to the Honourable Mention Prize for Synchronicity with her piece ANIMATED E8,

Italian artist Gleman Jun (Honourable Mention : 10 SECONDS OF SL), on the other hand was philosophical, "Creation becomes art only when it meets the recognition by those who appreciate it. Wining this prize means discovering that one has taken the right path towards the realization of oneself."

Samara Borkotron and Gumby Roffo were the winners of the$L4,000 Casey Prize (artworks representing an aspect of Western Australia) for March and for April, while The People's Choice Award was won by the effervescent Miso Susanowa, and her LADY WITH FAN. "I am very honored that my Lady, who danced into my world, pleases so many people as she did me when I saw her first in a single prim. I am also honored to be among such great artists and the wonderful and heartening work and support of Jayjay, Quadrapop and the UWA for all artists."

Other winners include Ivy Lane, Daco Monday, Maya Paris and Glamorama Flux (whose work ART ATTACK was the first ever piece she has had on display)

Some other exciting developments with the UWA presence were announce at the awards ceremony. First of all, the Universiy of Western Australia in RL celebrates its centenerary in 2011. For this 100 year anniversary, a special hard cover glossy book is being produced called 'UWA's 100 Treasures' and the 'UWA presence in Second Life' has been selected to be one of those treasures!

Also on the 8th of May 2010, the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, a space dedicated for not-for-profit Art, Education & Charity events was officially launched. Built by Patch Thibaud, this beautiful new venue has been set up jointly by Best of Second Life (BOSL) and the Unversity of Western Australia (UWA) as part of UWA's and BOSL's aims of community service and support of Education and the Arts.

This space will be available free of charge for anyone wanting to organize such events.

Taralyn Gravois has been appointed as Director of the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre. She has run a 4 SIM theatre in the past, and has a deep love and respect for the arts. In RL she was an award winning television producer for more than a decade. Anyone wanting to run events at the theatre, please contact her.

A partnership has also been formed between UWA, Second Physics and SL Art and Experience Italy for a Science & Art Competition for which registrations close on the 12th of May. The Competition aims to create artworks that communicate scientific concepts, with this first edition devoted to Physics. This is very important to UWA, as the UWA's SL project is led by the School of Physics. Anyone interested in taking part do send registrations to Majorie Fargis by the 12th of May. Professor Franco Fabbri (RL), a Visiting Scientist at CERN who works on elementary particles, is one of the key people behind this effort.

The University of Western Australia would like to thank the Cultural Precinct at the University of Western Australia, ShedworX.com, the Casey Family of Western Australia, www.etshirts.com, MidnightRain Glas, Sasun Steinbeck, Galea Yates, Tranguloid Trefoil, Lowell Cremorne & Phillip Vought for their continued support of the UWA3D Art & Design Challenge

WINNERS OF THE APRIL ROUND OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

IMAGINE CHALLENGE - 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize:
($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
JULIA'S MAGIC MIRROR - DEMON by Julez Odigaunt




Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize:
($L1,250)
ORGANIC RECURVE by Glyph Graves



Best Non-Scripted Entry:
($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)
THE ABYSS by Sharni Azalee




FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE - BUILDING DESIGN
Flagship Challenge 1st Prize :
($L5,000)
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER by Lilli Field



Flagship Challenge 2nd Prize :
($L1,250)
AxS GALLERY by Nyx Breen



Honourable Mention Prize for GATEWAY TO THE SOUL
(L$500)
10 SECONDS OF SL by Gleman Jun



Honourable Mention Prize for SYNCHRONICITY
(L$500)
ANIMATED E8 by The Wizard Gynoid



Honourable Mention Prize for CHARITY
(L$500)
HELPING HANDS by Ivy Lane



Honourable Mention Prize for COLOUR
(L$500)
LUCE E COLORI by Daco Monday



Honourable Mention Prize for TEXTURE & INTERACTION
(L$500)
NIGHT BIRD by Maya Paris



THE ANTON MESMER Honourable Mention Prize
(L$500)
ART ATTACK by Glamorama Flux



CASEY PRIZE - MARCH
(L$4,000)
JUXTAPOSED by Samara Borkotron



CASEY PRIZE - APRIL
(L$4,000)
ROUND HOUSE by Gumby Roffy



APRIL PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
(L$500):
LADY WITH FAN by Miso Susanowa

UWA-BOSL 4 sim amphitheatre launch, 6pm SLT 8 May

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Please join us in celebration of the grand opening of THE UWA~BOSL AMPHITHEATRE, which is a large 4 sim open air amphitheatre with a seating capacity of more than 200.

Built by Patch Thibaud, this beautiful new venue has been set up jointly by Best of Second Life (BOSL) and the University of Western Australia (UWA) as a space dedicated for not-for-profit Art, Education & Charity events. This is part of UWA’s and BOSL’s aims of community service and support of Education and Arts.

THE UWA~BOSL AMPHITHEATRE Opening celebrations:
When:
6pm SLT 8th May (SLT = Pacific Daylight Time)
Where:
Note due to this amphitheatre being on 4 sims please choose one of the following SURLs and avoid crossing sim boundaries.
UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre main entry on Uni of WA sim
or on UWA sim
or on WASP Land sim



Programme:
Introduction - Jayjay Zifanwe
Building in Second Life - Patch Thibaud
Amphitheatre Launch - Frolic Mills
In concert - Mankind Tracer, live rock musician

JayJay on TonightLive with Paisley Beebe

JayJay was invited to talk to Paisley Beebe about what UWA is doing in SL - you will find the interview in the Treet TV Archives. The legendary Alpha Auer is also featured along with musician Eric Steffensen

Here are a couple of photos taken by quadrapop during the filming:



On stage with Paisley and JayJay are three works from the Imagine Challenge: Igor Ballyhoo's Cyber Shark, Ichiko Miles' Consolation of Philosophy and Gleman Jun's Flame of Creativity, and ont he screen behind Jayjay an image of Josina Burgess' Particle Bulbs Triangle.


Jayjay in front of an image Paisley took of one of M Linden's sculptures in his show at UWA's WASP Land sim.

April People's choice board

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After the addition of the new UWA Winthrop sim and the moving of the Imagine & Flagship Winner's Platform there last month, quadrapop has totally remodelled the Imagine Art & Design platform. It now covers 1/2 the UWA sim. The Flagship Teleports are to the east of the landing pavilion and the People's Choice now has a permanent home south of that.



People's Choice Board is open in April from 1st May to midnight SLT 8 may 2010. There are 66 Imagine challenge entries to view, you have 3 votes to tell us which are your 3 favourite entries.

The April Imagine & Flagship Winners Announcement Party will be held at UWA Art & Design Platform at 6am SLT Sunday 9th May 2010. After the announcemnts there will be the usual dancing and music at the winning Flagship build.