This month's installation at the LEA Full Sim is by the fabulous artist, Aristide Despres, Artée, as she prefers to be called. It is a phenomenal body of work. Make sure to increase your draw distance to about 800 or so, if your computer can take it. I have taken a wide shot of the scene.
Doesn't it look amazing? You have to come see it for yourself!
I asked Artée several questions about the vast body of work and I thought her answers were insightful and intriguing.
To quote what Jayjay wrote about your title at blog, your title is a bit unusual: 'Where I found my Ivory Tower Surrounded by a Huxleyan World, Which Turned out to be an Orwellian World', far cry from its original title in early proposals, which was 'Research on Musical Instruments'. Why the long title and why did you choose that title?
Yes quite a long title. I think the installation needed such a title-explanation as I decided to avoid text or navigation on the sim itself.
I was persuaded that the world we are living in, was a Huxleyan one. You know the novel of Alduous Huxley, Brave New World, in which he describes a world where people are entertained. Amusement and fun are the way to keep the crowds from asking too many questions. Since 9/11 the world has changed to a more Orwellian type of society. Phone taping [or Wire tapping], true identity policy on Internet, drone attacks, the freedom of the press under fire, etc.
In October when I was working on the concept of the sim for UWA/LEA, I followed the news events intensively: OWS, the revolution in Libya etc. That had an immense influence on my work.
So of course, technically this is all about my instruments, but it's in a scenery that reflects my state of mind at this time.
Those red particle bugs, are those ticks?
I have no ideas what those insects are. Of course they symbolize something wrong going on. They are a bit apocalyptic, some visitors are quite scared about them.
VL: I was a little alarmed to see those insects, but they do convey the sense of something "wrong" infesting the world right now. They seem to be everywhere, kind of like the media spreads fear, a concept I remember from Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine.
How long did it take you to create the mesh crab? It looks really great. The texturing is excellent and I love how it hangs down slightly and dwarfs visitors.
The mesh crab was created in 'sculpt mode' with Blender and textured with photos I made from our fishing-holiday in Normandy. The interesting part of this mesh is that I did not try to make it clean in terms of prim count. So the mesh is much too precise and so are the textures. It also uses a new function of LSL to make it move slightly.
That flying camera, is that a Leica? I love cameras, old and new ones. I think that a camera is one of the most fascinating inventions ever created. Why does that camera have wings?
The flying camera is a recursive item in my builds. I am a photographer, and the Leica is still my favorite camera, although i mainly shoot digitally. This camera is a naughty camera, that keeps flying around and repeats, in Canadian-French: " Bravo, c'est vraiment bien! - Toutes mes ficelles de caleçon ! " - If you want to translate it, use the mocking mode and say: " Whaah! It is really good what you've done - For all the laces of my underwear " (which might seem stupid in English, but is a well-known expression in French).
I like how you used the avatar clothing templates on the giant female who is brandishing a long metal rod..
The big avatar is almost a copy of my avatar and the way i dress myself in SL since 2 years. Big Artée is supposed to defend her Ivory Tower (the small island) from the big gray world outside. The greek industrial village being a first Huxleyan layer, then the gray (financial) buildings, even more authoritarian.
I love the movement in this work. The animation you put in is always amazing and unique. There is always so much action going on. Life is in constant motion, isn't it? Would you agree that we are never really motionless? We never really stay still?
I think interaction is one of the most important principles of virtual worlds. It leads to more immersion, also caused by the sound events and the constantly changing elements. By the way, formally i do not use any animation on the sim, all the movements are created by the reaction of the avatars to the moving physicals I use. I call these physicals 'super-physical' as I can control them entirely by script. This way people can still walk while being animated and transported.
Thanks for creating! I love your work and look forward to seeing more in the future!
Voilà Victoria. Feel free to bounce your text back for more questions.
-End of interview-
So that's just a bit of information about Aristide Despres's new installation at the LEA sim. When you get a chance, definitely TP over and wander around. Watch what happens when you walk near the 'roundabouts.'
As always, have fun and enjoy the art!
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