Sharni Azalee's, 'Never Say Never - Love Transcends Borders', a 3D art creation inspired by a true story that is playing out across the virtual and real worlds, took top spot for TRANSCENDING BORDERS: the 5th UWA Grand 3D Art and the L$100,000 prize, winning out over Frenchman Shenn Coleman's immersive work, 'Sunrise Spirit' and "i...IO', the visually enchanting and otherworldly sculptures of Italy's Mistero Hifeng. Pale Illusion of Berlin took the UWA Special Prize with 'Paper Empire' while the Curator's Prize went to 'Universal Love' by Jedda Zenovka. For MachinimUWA VII, the irrepressible Frenchman in Pondicherry, India, Tutsy Navarathna, wrested back his crown from Vilvi Rae, with another unique love story, 'MetaPhore', making him a 4-time champion of the UWA Short Film Challenges. The flower of France seemed to be on display as another Frenchman, Erythro Asmimov, and his 'The 6th Extinction' finished in a tie for 2nd with Vilvi's 'No Man's Land', which takes us back to one shining night in the dark shroud that was World War 1. The UWA Prize for machinima went to Chic Aeon's 'The Ghost in the Machine', and Haveit Neox took the curator's prize with his machinima, 'Reading Primchords' featuring an artwork he submitted to the 3D Art portion of the challenge. Chic & Haveit were among the winningest artists across the challenges taking home 3 and 4 prizes respectively. The full transcript of the presentations which took place on the 14th of december in the presence of more than 100 people at the UWA-BOSL Grand 4-Sim Amphitheatre is posted at the end of this article.
The results show it. Love really does conquer all.
.
3D ART Winners
1st Place Award (L$100,000):
NEVER SAY NEVER - LOVE TRANSCENDS BORDERS by Sharni Azalee of Mandurah, Australia
2nd Place Award (L$70,000):
SUNRISE SPIRIT by Shenn Coleman of Avignon, France
3rd Place Award (L$50,000):
i... IO by Mistrero Hifeng of Italy
4th Place Award (L$40,000):
THE YELLOW HOUSE by Dusty Canning of Perth, Australia
5th Place Award (L$30,000):
PRESENCE by the defending champion GLYPH GRAVES of Sydney, Australia
6th Place Award (L$25,000):
OFFWORLD by Takni & Misio2 of Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne,Australia
7th Place Award (L$25,000):
PRIMCHORDS by Haveit Neox of California, USA
Haveit. ""This has been a difficult year for me in RL and I was afraid I would not have the time or energy to participate in this year's competition. However I am happy that I did regardless of any prize, as I was reminded what a joy it is to create work for SL. It also makes me thankful to receive this appreciation from the judges of UWA who have once again encouraged me to keep working. Thank you all!"
8th Place Award (L$25,000):
SAUDADE by Giovanna Cerise of Napoli, Italy
9th Place Award (L$25,000):
EVENT HORIZON by Blue Tsuki of Seattle, Washington, USA
There was a 5-way tie for 10th place.
10th Place Award (L$25,000):
INSIDE MY CHESTS by Igor Ballyhoo of Belgrade, Serbia
10th Place Award (L$25,000):
360 DEGREES OF FREEDOM by Miso Susanowa of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
10th Place Award (L$25,000):
BACULUM MURDER by Jipe Loon of Annemasse, France
10th Place Award (L$25,000):
TRANSCEND THE BOMB by Misprint Thursday of New Hampshire, USA
10th Place Award (L$25,000):
TRANSCENDING BORDERZ by Pixels Sideways of Southern California, USA
UWA Special Prize (L$25,000 - Chosen by the rl UWA judges):
THE PAPER EMPIRE by Pale Illusion of Berlin, Germany
UWA Curator's Prize (L$25,000 - Chosen by curator FreeWee Ling):
UNIVERSAL LOVE by Jedda Zenovka of Byron Shire, Australia
You have always been so encouraging and pushed me to develop my art here. I truly appreciate your efforts to encourage and stimulate the arts in SL. The truth is that love transcends borders...and we need a whole lot more of it in this 'new world' that we see developing before us. Second Life is an amazing place to nurture this as borders are non-existant as we connect with each other across this beautiful planet we all inhabit together. With Love...Jedda"
3D ART AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AWARDS:
Prizes go to any audience members who most closely guess the final judges' results. Because York University had a whole university class enter the audience event, additional prizes were added, so there are 4 prizes for the general audience and a top 3 from York University.
York University winners:
First Place Award for the York University group audience event (L$5,000):
ABISOLA OKIWOLE
Joint-2nd Place Awards for the York University group audience Event (L$2,500 each):
VICKAR TRAN and STEFANO ONORATI
Because of the tie for second place no Third Place award was given.
Regular Audience Participation Awards
1st Place Award (L$20,000):
TEMI SIRBU
2nd Place Award (L$15,000):
SUEWORTHLY
3rd Place Award (L$10,000):
SHEBA BLITZ
Sheba Blitz. "What a magnificent event TRANSCENDING BORDERS has been. I am extremely happy to have been a part of it. I exhibited and took up the challenge to be one of the UWA 3D Audience Participation event predictors, and to my surprise I came in 3rd! What an amazing collection of artworks to choose from, all wonderful and awe inspiring!"
4th Place Award (L$ 7,500):
ROSIE DIMANOVIC
First Place Award (L$100,000):
METAPHORE by Tutsy Navarathna
Joint 2nd Place Award (L$60,000):
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION by Erythro Asimov of Tours, France
Because of the tie for second place no Third Place award was given.
Regular Audience Participation Awards
1st Place Award (L$20,000):
TEMI SIRBU
2nd Place Award (L$15,000):
SUEWORTHLY
3rd Place Award (L$10,000):
SHEBA BLITZ
Sheba Blitz. "What a magnificent event TRANSCENDING BORDERS has been. I am extremely happy to have been a part of it. I exhibited and took up the challenge to be one of the UWA 3D Audience Participation event predictors, and to my surprise I came in 3rd! What an amazing collection of artworks to choose from, all wonderful and awe inspiring!"
4th Place Award (L$ 7,500):
ROSIE DIMANOVIC
MachinimUWA VII: Transcending Borders
First Place Award (L$100,000):
METAPHORE by Tutsy Navarathna
Joint 2nd Place Award (L$60,000):
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION by Erythro Asimov of Tours, France
This filming I started two years ago has been a great adventure for me. First of all a human adventure.
I've borrowed creations of many incredible 3D builders, musicians. Thanks to all, without them I'm nothing ;) Transcending borders is a bit of what we can do everyday within Second Life if you keep open enough and meet others.
I would also like the thank all the ones who supported me, encouraging, and made all kind of positive criticism. Thanks also UWA for organizing this contest.
We are into the fastest global mass extinction of species Earth ever faced. About one third of all 6000 amphibian species are threatened. In the last decades, amphibian extinction rate exceeded the mean extinction rate of the last 350 million years by at least 200 times. I invite anyone who wish to learn a bit more about this major concern to watch this awesome documentary. "Frogs: The Thin Green Line documentary"
http://video.pbs.org/video/1117923308/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpFmimu-u6c
A word also about the recurrent nuisance that occurred in recent weeks, I would like to publicly express my support to UWA into the "big NicoleX affair" case. If one is not pleased with UWA, one should simply pass its way. I'm bewildered that such an appalling production could develop such an over-sized ego. Please NicoleX you should consider to become a bit humble, learn how to use a mouse, how to film, how to edit video. Maybe one day your case may reach some interest, for now is really not the case.You are just another into the long list of Second Life crying babies making noise to cover their mediocrity. See you next year ;)"
Joint 2nd Place Award (L$60,000):
NO MAN'S LAND by Vilvi Rae, of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Because of the tie for 2nd, no 3rd Place was given.
Joint 4th Place Award (L$35,000):
THE CONNECTION by Karima Hoisan & Natascha Randt of San Isidro del General, Costa Rica & Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Karima Hoisan. "Natascha and I want to thank everyone involved in the Transcending Borders challenge. The theme was so exciting, vital and relevant. We just told our story, how we have connected over the miles to make 15 films together. The UWA has inspired collaborations and called us to push envelopes, borders and even transcend our own perceived limits. We want to thank all those who have given us so much support and have formed part of our International Virtual team!"
Joint 4th Place Award (L$35,000):
TRANSCENDING (SURREAL) BORDERS by Joe Zazulak (Spiral Silverstar) of New Orleans, USA
Joe/Spiral. "This year's award is very special to me. A heartfelt thanks to all those who sponsor, judge, or generally work their butts off for these competitions."
No 5th Place was given.
Joint 6th Place Award (L$25,000):
LITTLE MARIE by Pepa Cometa of Andalusia, Spain
Pepa Cometa. "This is the first time in my life that I have made something "artistic" for public viewing. Expressing my feelings through images has been a nice experience, but for me the most important thing is sharing all that with people from all over the world "transcending borders". I want to give a big thanks to UWA for giving me that opportunity. Many thanks to the organisation, members of the jury and everyone who worked for the contest . I also want to thank to the creators of the beautiful places where I filmed. Special thanks to my friend Anthonyjohnmc123 and my dear and real little Maria from Spain who gave me their voices for the movie, thanks to the lovely Raumata Tetuanui and her dad Roger who allowed me to use their cover of the song and thanks to Erythro Asimov, who taught me whatever I know, to start making machinima. I wish to share this award with all the machinima maker who participated in this contest and with those who didn't. All of them are an inspiration for me. Many thanks again and ...let's keep enjoying making machinima!!!.
Joint 6th Place Award (L$25,000):
BUTCHERY by Iono Allen of Paris, France
No 7th Place was given.
8th Place Award (L$25,000):
READING PRIMCHORDS by Haveit Neox of Los Angeles, USA
9th Place Award (L$25,000):
THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE by Chic Aeon of Corvalis, Oregon, USA
Joint 10th Place Award (L$12,500):STRIDING UNKNOWN ROADS by Lilia Artia, Haveit Neox & Mouehane Sandalwood of Berne, Los Angeles & Berne
Joint 10th Place Award (L$12,500):
DELPHINE ET HIPPOLYTE by Yepar Saenz of the Island of Martinique in the French Carribean
MachinimUWA VII Curator's Prize (L$25,000):
Selected by Curator FreeWee Ling among machinima that featured art from the UWA challenges.
Haveit Neox: Reading Primchords
MachinimUWA VII Honourable Mentions
SciFi Film FestivalIn the UWA partnership with the SciFi Film Festival, winners have just been announced for the 2014 Project SciFi sponsored by the SciFi Film festival.
Honourable Mention Prize winner in the Machinima Category for the 2014 Project SciFi (the L$ equivalent of $200 Australian Dollars):
ABOUT FACE by AvaJean Westland & Virtual Girl Productions of New York City USA
Additional UWA Honourable Mentions
UWA Honorable Mention Prize for MESSAGE (L$15,000):
UNSEEN TRANSCENDED BORDERS by Eric Takkar & Arcane Marenwolf of New York City (USA) and Perth (Australia).
UWA Honourable Mention Prize for ARTISTRY (L$15,000):
THE EMBRYO by Ultraviolet Alter of Toulouse, France
UWA MACHIMIUWA VII AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION EVENT
Awards were given to audience members who most closely guessed the final judges' results.
1st Place Award (L$20,000):DYZO
Dyzo. "Watching all of this years Machinima entries was an amazing experience. To me, they keep getting better year after year. The quality and depth of the films blew me away and while some excelled at one aspect or another, I made a list of the ones that to me seemed to put it all together and most of these ended up being voted on by the judges as well. Picking the top 10 really was difficult towards the end as I knew I had to leave out some great films. So really, I’d like to tell all the film makers that I didn’t see one that was not a great film. They all were exceptional in their own ways."
2nd Place Award (L$15,000):
LALIE SORBET
3rd Place Award (L$10,000):
KARIMA HOISAN
4th Place Award (L$7,500):
CHIC AEON
5th Place Award (L$5,000):
ELLE THORKVELD
Elle. ""A pleasant surprise. It was fun to watch the machinima and very hard to pick only 10. Congrats to the winners and to all the participants. Well done!"
Full transcript of the Awards Presentation (JayJay Zifanwe)
Greetings everyone, and welcome to the University of Western Australia, or UWA as she is known and also welcome to the winners announcements for TRANSCENDING BORDERS, The UWA 3D Art Challenge as well as MachinimUWA VII. As is tradition at UWA, I would like to acknowledge that the University is situated on Nyoongar land and that the Nyoongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land and continue to uphold their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.Today brings to an end the 5th year of the major art challenges at UWA, with 67 artworks by 67 different artists in the running for the 3D Art Challenge and 38 machinima for MachinimUWA VII: TRANSCENDING BORDERS.
Its been an absolute pleasure for me to work with all of you over the course of these challenges, and especially to those who went above and beyond the call of duty to make all of this a success. Thank you FreeWee Ling, curator of art at UWA & RL Honorary Fellow at UWA. Thank you LaPiscean Liberty, co-host for MachinimUWA VII, champion of machinima of Second Life. Also much thanks to those who have provided support and sponsorship which sees the overall prize pool standing at more than L$1,000,000 across both art and machinima. Special mention needs to be made of all who have been such strong supporters.
These challenges are sponsored by Tom Papas and SciFi Film Festival, LaPiscean Liberty and SL Artist, AviewTV, Arrehn Oberlander and MetaHarpers, Kip Yellowjacket and Virtlantis, Taralyn Gravois and Arts Castle Gallery, TheDoveRhode and Peace is a Choice and S&S Gallery of Fine SL Art, Barbie Alchemi of Creations for Parkinsons, Jon Stubbs and UWA Student Services, as well as The UWA Virtual Worlds Project.
We will start today with the winners announcements for the UWA 3D Art Challenge followed by announcements for MachinimUWA VII and a showing of the machinima of the Grand Champion of MachinimUWA VII.
I want to thank all of you for being here today, bringing the world together. The UWA Art, Architectural & Machinima Challenges, the teaching & research have seen people from all corners of the globe involved with students, artists, builders and machinimatographers hailing from Lithuania, Singapore, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Finland, Greece, India, Colombia, Poland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, Taiwan, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, Venezuela, Belgium, Mexico, Wales, Canada, the USA, the UK, Uruguay, Scotland, England, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, the French Carribean, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Cuba, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and parts unknown. More than 45 nations with 6 of the 7 continents of the world represented.
Before announcing the winners, I do want mention a few other exciting things that have happened with the UWA presence in Second Life. THE FREEDOM PROJECT run in 2014, was ia 2D/3D art & film event, organized jointly by the University of Western Australia, along with members of the Virtual Ability group, and the Centre for ME/CFS and Other Invisible Illnesses group in Second Life. Here we called for artists and film makers from all over the world who self-identifed as having a disability or a chronic illness, to create an artwork or a film/machinima on the theme of ‘Freedom’, showing how virtual worlds have in some way helped them or those around them. None of us who organised it could ever have imagined what a landmark event this would turn out to be, and what a profound effect it would have on many, not only those who participated. With thanks to FreeWee Ling, the book of the Freedom Project was printed and sent to all who took part around the world. An online version can be found here:
http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/uwa-freedom-project-book-now-available.html
Also, in a fitting acknowledgement to her incredible contributions to global and trans-pacific art, FreeWee received a letter from the Australian Minister of Education, Christopher Pyne, informing her of her selection as the recipient of the 2015 Endeavour Executive Fellowship which will allow her to travel the University of Western Australia in Perth for 4 months...... and as I understand it, FreeWee will begin this journey on the 18th of January 2015!
There was also an exciting partnership between the artists exhibiting at the UWA Transcending Borders 3D Art Challenge and students of York University, Canada. In this York Uni-UWA exercise, students from the 2nd year humanities and culture course "Other Worlds: The Arts in 3D Multiuser Environments" wrote 500 word 3D Artist Media profiles of various artists after interviewing them, including screen captures of their work. I think this was a very valuable exercise, and I thank all of you artists for being so willing to spend your time helping the students.
Second Life, and the UWA journey through virtual world culminating in The Freedom Project was also on Australian TV, with an episode of Fred Mafrica's 'The Couch' on Aurora Channel 138 & Foxtel carrying a significant interview on SL. The interview with Neesha Seth begins at the 39 minute mark of the episode, and features an adaptation of the award winning Machinima by Bradley Dorchester who subsequently won MachinimUWA II, alongside Laurina Hawks with "Art of the Artists". The episode can be seen here: http://youtu.be/RehRCNhmpnk
It was also an honour to be invited to Melbourne to speak at 'The Other Film Festival', and was requested by ABC Radio National to front up for a discussion with Jonathan Green where an 8 minute interview which was carried on 'The Sunday Extra' radio program, and this can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sundayextra/the-other-film/5947432
One more tribute and thank you which needs to be given to FreeWee Ling.... which is in fact a tribute to all of you.... FreeWee is working on an RL book which will be more than 200 pages long which will feature all the art and all the machinima that is part of the Transcending Borders Challenges.... an incredible amount of work to put together and we hope this is ready within the next 30 days!
Before moving on to the awards, I want to thank the amazing judging panel across both challenges. All in there were 30 judges, some of whom served on both panels and some for either the Art or Machinima only. SO, I would like to thank:
Professor Ted Snell (RL) - Director, Cultural Precinct, The University of Western Australia
Lyn DiCiero - Editor, WA Artist's Chronicle
Kelly Rowe (RL) - Associate Registrar, Berndt Museum, UWA & Curator of Original Transcending Borders Exhibit at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
Len Zuks (RL) - West Australia Artist & Sculpturist
Merle Hearns (RL) / Briarmelle Quintessa (SL) - Senior Lecturer, Foundation Studies Department, Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
Marylou Goldrosen - Professor, School of Art, Arizona State University
Binu Jayawardena (RL) - Founder, WASTV
A/Prof Katarina Damjanov (RL) - Communication & Media Studies, School of Social Sciences, UWA
Caine Chennat (RL) - Digital Engagement Coordinator, Cultural Precinct, UWA
C.Steele (RL) / Rasaec (SL) - Lecturer, York University, Toronto, Canada
Dr. Phylis Johnson (RL) - Media Professor, Southern Illinois University, Author - Machinima: The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking (a.k.a, Sonicity Fitzroy, SL Virtual Journalist)
Dr Helen Farley - Senior Lecturer (Digital Futures), Australian Digital Futures Institute - University of Southern Queensland
Debora Kaz - Director of Kaz Filmes e Produções
Lumiere Noir - Creator of the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives
FreeWee Ling (SL) - Curator, UWA 3D Open Art Challenges
Kip Yellowjacket (SL) - Co-creator, Virtlantis
TheDove Rhode - CEO & Owner of Peace Is A Choice & S&S Gallery of Fine SL Art
LaPiscean Liberty (SL) - CEO AviewTV and UWA Virtual World Technical Media Advisor
Mal Burns (SL), Metaverse News Aggregator and Broadcaster
Victoria Lennoire - Editor of BOSL Magazine
Quan Lavender - Journalist & Blogger
Tom Papas - SciFi Film Festival & Screen My Shorts, Australia
Saffia Widdershins (SL) - Owner and Editor of Prim Perfect Publications (ART Only)
Inara Pey - Journalist & Blogger
Honour McMillan - Blogger
Kara Trapdoor - Journalist & Blogger
Eleanor Medier - Editor of The Sim Street Journal
Ziki Questi - Photographer & Blogger
Thinkerer Melville (SL) / Selby Evans (RL) - Journalist & Blogger
Bevan Whitfeld - Avatar Designer & Member of the Board of Directors, Rockcliffe University
PatriciaAnne Daviau - 3D Artist
And expert paper pusher and filing cabinet user, Jay Jay
OK…. We move to the awards. We start with the 3D Art
First, the Audience Participation Prize for art, which has a prize pool of L$62,500, in which anyone in the world who was not on the official judging panel was invited to provide what they thought the top 10 would be as decided by the actual panel. Not an easy job as there were so many amazing works. The reason we have audience participation prizes like this instead of a people's choice award, is because when we had those in the past, audience members always felt pressure or obligation at times to vote a certain way as they knew a few artists... this way, anyone who wanted to take part would have to see all the artwork before providing an educated guess..... with no pressure on them or the artists.
Aside from the Lindens, the first prize winner will also be invited to be on the official judging panel for next major UWA art challenge.
There was a maximum of 100 points that any viewer could get, and this is if they were spot on with every single selection and matched the exact order as well. For example, if you listed an artwork in 1st place, and it actually won first, you would receive 10 points (there is a difference of ZERO between your selection and the actual). If you listed an artwork as 1st, and it got 10th, then you would get one point (difference of 9 between your selection and actual).
Now the average score achieved was 35 out of 100, with 60 being the top score, and 15 being the lowest score. 2 of the entries had 8 of the eventual top 10 in their lists, and 2 entries only had 2 of the actual top 10 as part of their lists.
Due to the fact that York University had a whole university degree class enter the audience event, we decided to add some prizes and have 4 prizes for the general audience and a top 3 from York University. I will announce the York University winners first.
In 3rd place for the Audience Participation event, is very surprising as this is a name very familiar among the ranks of past winners at UWA Challenges, and that person is none other than:
NOBODY
Yes there was a tie... and so, in joint-2nd for the York University group audience Event , with 41 points and winning L$2,500 each are:
VICKAR TRAN & STEFANO ONORATI
The winner of the York University group audience event, taking home L$5,000 with 44 points is:
ABISOLA OKIWOLE
On to the audience event proper, finishing in 4th place for the Audience Participation event for Art on 44 points with 6 correct predictions from the top 10 winning the L$ 7,500 prize, is:
ROSIE DIMANOVIC
In 3rd with 45 points, also with 6 of the top 10 correct, winning L$10,000, is
SHEBA BLITZ... one of the finest mandala makers in the virtual world!
In 2nd with 57 points with 8 of 10 correct, winning L$15,000.. is
SUEWORTHLY
And now for the winner of the audience event for the UWA 3D Art Challenge for Transcending Borders.... winning L$20,000 and a spot on the official jury ... correctly picking 8 of the actual top 10 with 60 points is:
TEMI SIRBU
An amazing journalist from Japan, and she also was 4th in the audience event last time!
Now on to the winners of the competition proper. When the winners are announced, it will be done in 1 minute intervals. We do invite everyone to comment and congratulate the winners and for the winners to respond before the next announcement (and if they could please use the SHOUT function - which I don't know how to use on Pheonix Firestorm). Hopefully we can get pictures of you attending the event. Anyone taking good pictures of today, please email them to me at jayjayaustralia@hotmail.com
Now to explain how the judging was done. Each judge listed their top 10 in order of preference. 8 points was allocated for a 1st place vote, 6 points for a 2nd place vote, 4 points for 3rd, 3 for 4th, 2 for 5th, and 1 point each for 6th – 10th. Straight aggregates were then used so that no single judge had more influence than any other.
As in past years the judging proved that taste in art is very diverse, with 55 of the 67 artworks being selected into the top 10 by at least one of the judges. Even the winner, was selected into the top 10 by 16 of the 24 judges, so the spread was very big. and really drives home the point that beauty really is in the eyes of the beholder, and why it’s important to have a large, diverse panel. The maximum score possible is 192 (8 points for 1st place x 24 judges) and the winner finished with 56 points.
Now the countdown starts with 10th Prize for the 3D Art Challenge. Ok in the past we always have had ties close to the top of the list, sometimes joint 1st, joints 2nd and so on... this time for art, I am happy to say that we managed to avoid any ties for the top 9..... however, at #10, something amazing happened. Why amazing? we will see.
Yes we have a tie for 10th place.
And so, the winner of the JOINT 10th Prize with 21 points is:
TRANSCENDING BORDERZ by Pixels Sideways of Southern California, USA
JOINT winner of 10th Prize also with 21 points is:
TRANSCEND THE BOMB by Misprint Thursday of New Hampshire, USA
JOINT winner of 10th Prize also with 21 points is:
BACULUM MURDER by Jipe Loon of Annemasse, France
JOINT winner of 10th Prize also with 21 points is:
360 DEGREES OF FREEDOM by Miso Susanowa of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
AND FINALLY JOINT winner of 10th Prize also with 21 points is:
INSIDE MY CHESTS by Igor Ballyhoo of Belgrade, Serbia
Was really unexpected and has never happened before. A 5 way tie and each will receive L$5,000. In a way I am glad, as it would have been a shame for any of these works dropped out of the top 10. And goes to show the important one even 1 minor placing given by any member of the panel leading up to the final count.
NEXT in 9th place, with 23 points with a L$25,000 prize is:
EVENT HORIZON by Blue Tsuki of Seattle, Washington, USA
On to 8th place for L$25,000 with 24 points is:
SAUDADE by Giovanna Cerise of Napoli, Italy
7th with 27 points, also winning L$25,000 is:
PRIMCHORDS by Haveit Neox of California, USA
6th with 29 points winning L$25,000 is a creation in 2 parts, where you don't expect at all what you see at the end while standing at the start. 6th place goes to:
OFFWORLD by Takni & Misio2 of Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne,Australia
Before we go to the top 5, there are 2 special prizes to give. The first is the UWA Special prize which was chosen by only the UWA Members of the judging panel.
And so, the winner of the UWA Special Prize of L$25,000 is:
THE PAPER EMPIRE by Pale Illusion of Berlin, Germany
Speaking for the panel, Kelly Rowe, Associate Registrar, Berndt Museum & Curator of the Original Transcending Borders Exhibit at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at UWA, said, "The Paper Empire is a literal representation of the theme transcending borders; transcendence between physical space, political views and race. Paper Empire shows that love will push us across these physical and mental boundaries. The work has a soluble message and the installation sits well within the gallery."
Now for the CURATORS PRIZE which also carries an award of L$25,000. FreeWee has prepared a statement as follows:
As always, I want to strongly encourage everyone to spend quality time with the art that you see around you. It is my greatest hope that the Curator’s Choice recognition will encourage you to revisit not only my choice, but also your own choices, and to experience them deeply.
I had a long list of "favorites" from this show. Many of them I knew might not be prize winners, but they are outstanding pieces worth noting. There was Daco Monday’s sensual candles dancing a tango. Corcosman's flights of butterflies. Lilia Artis's anguished figures escaping from their boxes. Lalie Sorbet's fairy figures dancing within dewdrops on a branch. Soror Nishi's organic form expressing the unity of all people. Elegant abstract forms by Bamboo Barnes, Secret Rage, Charles Hera, Eliza Cabassoun, Myhns Mayo, and Slatan Dryke. The dreamlike surreality of Seraph Kegel’s figure tethered to the drawers that define her. The peculiar surrealism of Jipe Loon. The dark place of Pixels Sideways and the bright space of Nino Vichan. There were expressions of freedom from Luko Enoch's powerful figure bursting with energy, from Miso Susanowa’s wheelchair-bound figure finding and creating new worlds of the mind, from Penelope Parx’s stairway made of books, from Kicca Igaly’s office. We had exuberant flights of fancy and imagination from Shenn Coleman, Giovanna Cerise, iSkye Silverweb, Takni, Misio2, Ama Avro, Ginger Lorakeet, and Haveit Neox. We had profound or complex emotional statements from Sharni Azalee, Igor Ballyhoo, Yepar Saenz, Misprint Thursday, Dijodi Dubratt, and Pale Illusion. I considered every one of these for the Curator’s Prize.
What’s not to love in a show with such energy and diversity? I want you to know that my choice is merely a representative of all of the passionate and generous artists who shared their work here and in no way diminishes my appreciation for what each of you has done.
The entry I selected blends energetic design, impeccable technique, an original soundtrack, and an intriguing mystical face that may be Buddha, or a Mayan god, or a beneficent deity from some other reality in an otherworldly temple of psychedelic mystery. I find myself returning to look at it often.
The UWA Transcending Borders Curator’s Choice Prize goes to:
UNIVERSAL LOVE by Jedda Zenovka of Byron Shire, Australia
OK... things heat up and we take a leap as we move to the top 5, with only 4 points separating 2nd through 5th.
In 5th, with 42 points, with 2 first place votes, 2 second place votes, ONE 3rd place vote and ONE 4th place vote, taking home L$30,000 is:
PRESENCE by the defending champion GLYPH GRAVES of Sydney, Australia
In 4th, with 43 points, with 2 first place votes, 2 second, 3 thirds, 1 fourth and 2 fifth place votes taking L$40,000 is:
THE YELLOW HOUSE by Dusty Canning of Perth, Australia
In 3rd with 45 points, with 3 first place votes, 2 third, ONE fourth and one fifth place vote, taking L$50,000 is:
i... IO by Mistrero Hifeng of Italy
Just pipping Mistero and grabbing the L$70,000 available to 2nd place with 46 points, with ONE 1st place vote, FOUR 2nd place votes, ONE 3rd, TWO 4th and being on 12 of the 24 judges top 10 lists is:
SUNRISE SPIRIT by Shenn Coleman of Avignon, France
The next announcement will see the end of the reign of Glyph Graves as as Overall Grand Champion of the UWA 3D Art Challenges, who followed in the steps of past Grand Champions, Nish Mip, Misprint Thursday and Lollito Larkham.
The final ART award for the night, is the new Grand Champion of TRANSCENDING BORDERS, the 5th UWA 3D Art Challenge, who will take home L$100,000. There was a clear gap between this and the creations on 2nd - 5th place with 18 points separating the them. Finishing with 64 points and featuring on the top 10 lists of 16 judges, it garnered FIVE 1st place votes, ONE 2nd and TWO 3rd place votes. Ladies and gentlemen, the Grand Champion of the 5th UWA 3D Art Challenge is:
NEVER SAY NEVER - LOVE TRANSCENDS BORDERS by Sharni Azalee of Mandurah, Australia
The most remarkable thing about this work though, that it is not only a piece of art, it is semi-autobiographical. The title says it all, as across the oceans, and through SL that is what Sharni found of Love! Congrats Sharni!
Now, Sharni is an at office Christmas party today and checking on her phone. I told her she did get something prior to this event,and could she prepare a statement. She did not know she won when she wrote this,but I would like to share with you:
Thank you to UWA, JayJay, Free and everybody involved. I am sorry I cannot be there to thank you in person.
So much is said about the negative soul connections in s/l and the beautiful ones are often overlooked. I wanted my piece to try and impart some of the feeling of those “magical meetings” and I hope that could be conveyed.
A few days ago the man who sat on the bench, writing to his love and inspiring my artwork, told me they are to be together in real life very soon. I am so happy for them and it is such a perfect ending and proof that we should “Never say Never” because Love does Transcends Borders.
Thank you again,
And now we move to Machinima!
First we come to the audience participation prize. No tall order to attempt to participate in this challenge, as one had to watch all the machinima. Quite amazing, as all the top 3 correctly predicted 8 of the top 10! The best score was 65 points out of 100 and the lowest was 22.
And so, in 5th place for the Machinima audience event, on 37 points with 5 of the top 10 correctly predicted, winning L$5,000 is:
ELLE THORKVELD
In 4th place on 51 points with 6 of the top 10 correctly predicted is an extremely talented machinima maker whose style I absolutely love winning L$7,500 is:
CHIC AEON
In 3rd place for the Machinima audience event, and this shows that there is a real skill in doing this and not just luck, is a previous winner of the Machinima audience event.... with 60 points and 8 of the top 10 correctly identified, winning 3rd prize of L$10,000 is:
KARIMA HOISAN (the current defending champion of the audience participation event)
Separated from 3rd by a mere 2 points and on 62, also with 8 of the top 10 correctly identified, winning L$15,000 on also a past audience event top 5 winner is:
LALIE SORBET (amazingly placed 2nd in the previous audience event)
And thus the winner of the MACHINIMUWA VII: Transcending Borders audience participation event on 65 points, with 8 of the top 10 correctly identified and winning L$20,000 is:
DYZO (and once more a past audience event top 5 winner)
Quite remarkable that 3 of the top 5, were also in the top 5 of the previous audience participation event. This shows that there is quite a science behind it, and they really are able to pick it!
Now the top 10.
With Machinima, again competition was fierce.... we absolutely failed to avoid ties, and if just one judge changed a minor position on their top 10, many among the top 6 especially would be affected. I won't say what the top score was, but the maximum number of points available was 200, as there were 25 machinima judges (8 points x 25). 35 of the 38 works were on the top 10 list of at least one of the judges. In the last challenge, Vilvi Rae won over Tutsy Navarathna 79 points to 75.... what will happen this time?
Before moving to the top 10, we have 2 additional Honourable Prizes with some last minute sponsorship we had from UWA. These honourable mention prizesare L$15,000 each.
And so, the Honorable Mention Prize for MESSAGE (L$15,000) goes to:
UNSEEN TRANSCENDED BORDERS by Eric Takkar & Arcane Marenwolf of New York City (USA) and Perh (Australia).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZWfoZlHfc
Next the Honourable Mention Prize for ARTISTRY (L$15,000) goes to:
THE EMBRYO by Ultraviolet Alter of Toulouse, France
http://vimeo.com/110502230
Before we go to the top 10, we want to mention the UWA partnership with the SciFi Film Festival, which has been ongoing for the past 2 years and looks to continue. For the SciFi Film Festival, normally there is an entry fee for 'conventional' film to enter, however for all entries the past 2 years, UWA has been covering the entry fee of any Machinima entry. Winners have just been announced for the 2014 Project SciFi, and at this point, I would liek to sher the Honorable Mention Prize Winner for machinima which is the L$ equivalent of $200 Australian Dollars sponsored by the SciFi Film festival.
Honourable Mention Prize winner in the Machinima Category for the 2014 Project SciFi is:
ABOUT FACE by AvaJean Westland & Virtual Girl Productions of New York City USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOfaEbWnSrY
Will announce the Winner of Project SciFi later.
NOW for the top 10!
And so, 10th place for MachinimUWA VII: TRANSCENDING BORDERS, on 28 points is:
DELPHINE ET HIPPOLYTE by Yepar Saenz of the Island of Martinique in the French Carribean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrHQkG8VE8U
I am not going to announce 9th place yet....
Because we have a tie for 10th place.
And so, tied 10th place also on 28 points and sharing half of L$25,000 with Yepar Saenz is:
STRIDING UNKNOWN ROADS by Lilia Artia, Haveit Neox & Mouehane Sandalwood of Berne, Los Angeles & Berne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKO7pt_UCzI
9th is just one point ahead on 29 points, and taking the L$25,000 prize is:
THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE by CHIC AEON of Corvalis, Oregon, USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F6ru7tpi2Y
Now 8th place with 32 points also taking L$25,000 is:
READING PRIMCHORDS by Haveit Neox of Los Angeles, USA
http://vimeo.com/110587218
Haveit's Art & Machinima now have both won awards, and he also won with Lilia and Mouehane. Amazing. Just as amazing as the language he crafted that inspired his works.
Now we have someone in 7th who has won numerous awards, and so, 7th prize goes to:
NOBODY!
Yes the famous nobody, which signals a tie for 6th place!
In Joint-6th, taking the L$25,000 prize with 33 points is:
LITTLE MARIE by Pepa Cometa of Andalusia, Spain
http://vimeo.com/109180780
And Jont-6th, also on 33 points with L$25,000 is:
BUTCHERY by Iono Allen of Paris, France
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_RsZCHzuZI
Now we announce the winner of the UWA Special Prize of L$25,000 which is selected by UWA members of global panel, where an additional requirement is that a number of elements from the UWA grounds needs to be skillfully interweaved in the machinima. And the winner of this prize is:
THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE by CHIC AEON of Corvalis, Oregon, USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F6ru7tpi2Y
The 3rd award Chic has taken today!
Also at this point is the Curators Choice Award (L$25,000) for machinima which best weaves one or few of the artworks in the challenge into their machinima. In the words of the curator:
For the machinima curator's prize there were several entries that included artwork from current or past UWA shows. Some were focused specifically on a single piece or two, some incorporated art as a background to their narratives, and some had only a brief sighting of a work.
I was looking for machinimas that most effectively used the artwork to tell the story of the film. The films that did that best seemed to be those by the 3D artists themselves. Among those, there was one film I thought was most engaging with the 3D art being essential in telling a story.
The MachinimUWA VII Curator's Prize (L$25,000) goes to:
Haveit Neox: Reading Primchords
Making that 4 awards for Haveit today!
Now for 5th as the prizes move up to L$30,000.
remarkable how this work got 5th, as it received no 1st, 2nd or 3rd place votes at all. In 5th is:
NOBODY!
Another multiple award winner.
So that means a tie for 4th place! so each will receive L$35,000
So, in Joint-4th place, on 46 points, placing on 16 of the 25 top 10 lists, with ONE 1st place vote, TWO 2nd place votes, TWO 3rd place votes, THREE 4th place votes and TWO 5th place votes is:
TRANSCENDING (SURREAL) BORDERS by Joe Zazulak (Spiral Silverstar) of New Orleans, USA
http://vimeo.com/108677118
Also in Joint-4th, on 46 points, placing on 13 of the 25 top 10 lists, with TWO 1st place votes, THREE 2nd place votes and FOUR 5th place votes is:
THE CONNECTION by Karima Hoisan & Natascha Randt of San Isidro del General, Costa Rica & Gelsenkirchen, Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKO7pt_UCzI
And what a connection this has been over the years!
AND THEN THERE WERE 3... or is there?
OK, I'll skip over the NOBODY joke.... and quickly tell you there is no 3rd place.... as we have one final tie, and that is a tie for 2nd place, and they will each take half of L$120,000.
You will see something remarkable that has not happened before when looking at the 1st and 2nd placings. It is hard to believe for me.
And so, in Joint 2nd (L$60,000) on 56 points, placing on 18 of the 25 top 10 lists, with TWO 1st place votes, TWO 2nd place votes, THREE 3rd place votes, TWO 4th place votes and ONE 5th place vote is:
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION by Erhthro Asimov of Tours, France
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75lb3_ME-p0
Really fantastic work by Erythro, and truly demonstrates his versatility as a machinima maker as all his previous winning film have had different styles and feels.
And now, in Joint 2nd (L$60,000) also on 56 points, placing on 15 of the 25 top 10 lists, with TWO 1st place votes, THREE 2nd place votes, THREE 3rd place votes, and TWO 4th place votes is:
NO MAN'S LAND by Vilvi Rae, of Jyvaskyla, Finland
http://vimeo.com/110528078
AND THE WINNER OF MACHINIMUWA VII: TRANSCENDING BORDERS..... on a remarkable NO DOUBT ABOUT IT 120 points, placing in the top 10 of every single one of the 25 on the judging panel, with EIGHT 1st place votes, FOUR 2nd place votes, FOUR 3rd place votes, ONE 4th place vote and FIVE 5th place votes is:
METAPHORE by the irrepressible Frenchman in Pondicherry India.... TUTSY NAVARATHNA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zby0oM5xqaE
He has emphatically reclaimed his crown, winning in total 4 of the 7 MachinimUWA challenges UWA have run. With other champs including Cisko Vandeverre, Bradley Dorchester, Laurina Hawks & Vilvi Rae.
And ONE more. Metaphore was also entered in the 2014 Project SciFi Challenge, with a completely RL judging panel, and there too he came out on top, taking the AUD$300 prize provided by Tom Papas & the SciFi Film Festival.
Thank you artists of Second Life!
Thank you FreeWee Ling (do check out the 3,000++ images on the gallery she has set up of all the artworks sent in across the year https://picasaweb.google.com/freeweel)
Thank you LaPiscean Liberty. I hand the floor to you to end the Grand Finale by playing on screen now, the winner of MachinimUWA VII: TRANSCENDING BORDERS
Thank you one and all.
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