Engineering as Art: Sayumi contemplates selected pieces from the December round

Dutch artist and ‘kinetic sculptor’ Theo Jansen has infamously been quoted (and see also here) as saying that “the walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds”, and this quote came to mind when I viewed several of the works presented for the December round of the competition. Although at first glance these pieces may seem to depict engineering wonders from the past or an imagined future or alternative universe, it brings me to consider the sometimes arbitrary way in which we may classify the products of human ingenuity and imagination. I am sure that some purists would rightly leap to query my qualifications (I have none!! There, I said it first, hee hee!) to become even slightly philosophical about the art world. But let me be a fool who rushes in where angels fear to tread…

In this category I firstly came across Crampton locomotive by the delightfully-named followmeimthe Piedpiper. This work reproduces at full size a class of British steam locomotive from the mid-19th century. As a non-specialist and someone who has no first-hand knowledge of steam engines despite living near what I am told is a wonderful tourist steam railway, I always tend to think of steam engines as grimy black industrial things from another era; but the Piedpiper’s work reveals the Crampton engineers as people who cared to add colour and style to their work. The combination of green paintwork, polished brass and shiny steel presents us with an aesthetically pleasing result visually while no doubt retaining essential functionality. I was at first disappointed not to be able to board the locomotive because the pose was set for the owner only; but this only impelled me to investigate more closely and discover that I could fly away to an SL railway yard and obtain my very own simple steam locomotive completely free courtesy of the Virtual Railway Consortium. I don’t usually play trains and I never had a brother who did, but I am sure I will return to play with mine again some day soon.

followmeimthe Piedpiper - Crampton locomotive

Sayumi plays trains at the Virtual Railway Company (and you can too!)

The second piece is one for which I have a special affection simply because it was created by my fellow Western Australian, Dusty Canning (there, I had to declare my personal bias, even though I have actually met Dusty only once!). With her Jindivik – the Hunted One (the subtitle providing a translation of the Aboriginal name) we have moved forward from the 19th century into the mid-20th, and to the parched plains of the Woomera rocket range in South Australia, where one of Dusty’s first world relatives was involved in developing and testing this pilotless aircraft. I have to admit that the Royal Australian Air Force logo with its Qantas-like kangaroo brought a patriotic lump to my throat to see it in SL, but the sleek lines and (girl’s view here!) pretty orange colour of the paintwork reveal again that aesthetics and practical application do combine. The orange paint may look good, but in useful terms it also made the aircraft an easy target, since it was designed to be attacked by practice missiles! Dusty has given us two Jindiviks, one on the ground for our close inspection and the other circling overhead. Artistically, one also finds a piece of Australian Aboriginal artwork in a classic white clay and ochre medium, on the verso of the placard.

Dusty Canning - Jindivik - the Hunted One

Finally, on one of my occasional ‘pink’ days (I have far more pink in my wardrobe than can possibly be good for me!) I approached a threatening column of black smoke rising continuously from the benignly-named Bennie by Tensai Hilra. I was unable to access artists’ notes for this piece, so I was left to let my own imagination wander freely. And wander it did! Insect-like, imposing and dominating, Bennie towered above me, his hollow, expressionless gaze and huge mandibular jaws creating a terror which may have been felt by some undiscovered race of moth-people on a far-flung planet of the Andromeda galaxy as he advanced upon their simple cocoon village. Hilra has used the natural form of the arachnidae to inspire this engineering marvel whose sole purpose must surely be to trample, tear and destroy. One wonders at the power source which would provide the energy for Bennie’s marauding, the thick black smoke making the viewer wonder if any progress at all has been made since Crampton’s steam locomotive, and whether, in Bennie’s alternative metaverse perhaps some undeclared catastrophe has forced the engineers back to the simple energy sources of a former era. Only the luminous green glow from his feet suggests that I may be wrong. Emotionally this work returned me to the fear of Spirit Radikal’s Owned, though without the sense that I would be ravaged before being dismembered; I am not fond of spiders at the best of times, and Hilra has done his work well in ensuring that the arachnophobe will not die calmly at the jaws of his creation.

Tensai Hilra - Bennie

And so each of these works has drawn from me an emotional response, not only of admiration for the creative skill involved, but in approaching the finished work and sensing something of the artist’s world and purpose in presenting the piece. Engineering does indeed overlap with the world of art, and although the pieces I have discussed here are a far cry from Theo Jansen’s strange beach creatures I somehow believe that he would endorse the way I have understood them.

A Gingered Alsop Machinima of December Artworks

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A revue of some of Gingered Alsop's favourite works from the December Round. Features works by Soror Nishi, Cherry Manga, Takni Miklos, Betty Tureaud, Jadyn Firehawk, Suzanne Graves, Trill Zapatero, Ginger Alsop, Tani Thor, Anley Piers, Miso Susanowa and Pumpkin Tripsa

This is considered to be the first entry to MachinimUWA IV: 2nd Art of the Artists, for which only a soft soft launch was done (as MachinimUWA III is yet to be launched - but soon). MachinimUWA IV will coincide with the Grand Finale of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge towards the latter part of 2011.

The only rules are that the machinima must feature artworks entered to the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, with the thme as usual being 'take our breath away'.

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December Round Entries

I have uploaded the images from the December round of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. You may see them at my Picasa site or Flickr (somewhat abbreviated).



-FreeWee Ling

A Yesikita Coppola machinima of Paranormal Frottage

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A Yesikita Coppola Machinima of Misprint Thursday's 'Paranormal Frottage', which is entered to the December round of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge.

This is a personal dedication by Yesikita created for personal reasons. She was worried if I put it up on the blog too early, it might have swayed later decisions, but as with all the articles by guests etc., I feel that these types of spontaneous dedications should be shared as they are created !

Jayjay

The people and the passion: Sayumi reflects on the community of individuals brought together by the UWA 3D Art Challenge

I note two things with interest and excitement on our blog today. Firstly, the wonderful excerpt from the interview with Laurina Hawks (previous post to this one) concerning her recent win in one of the UWA art competitions. Laurina's humility as she saw others winning lesser (but of course still highly commendable!) prizes , not anticipating that she could possibly win 'the big one', illustrates what I have found in speaking to so many of the art community I have been privileged to meet - here we have individuals with talent abounding, who could be expected to be proud and aggressive in their pursuit of victory, but who instead are real, vibrant human beings with fully rounded personalities and amazingly gentle manners in dealing with others. The artists are often as beautiful as their art. I mean that in more than one way - their character and humanity is inspiring; and their creation of themselves as virtual world beings in the physical sense is as breathtaking as their works themselves.

Secondly, I note that we have a new contributor to the UWA in SL blog, Ms Rowan Derryth. I hope that I am not pre-empting an official announcement by Jayjay Zifanwe, but a quick glance at Ms Derryth's own blog will indicate that we are in for a treat on the occasions she is able to contribute here. Not only the artists, but those who manage the art world in SL and who enable UWA's competitions to flourish and grow with a wide range of contributions, all make for as rich and enriching an art experience as one will find anywhere. As a tiny and wholly unqualified contributor to this blog, may I add my personal welcome to Ms Rowan Derryth - a welcome entirely personal and without any official standing, I hasten to add!

So I continue to be excited about my university's role in the SL arts world, not only for the art's sake but also in seeing the best in people as everyone works hard at their role. I look forward immensely to the judging and announcements of results again early in January. I hope to contribute here at least once more before that time, but may I also offer my own best wishes to all our readers for the coming New Year season!

Moments of Magic - What Makes it All Worthwhile

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I saw this quote in a Laurina Hawks (pictured above) interview written by Glasz DeCuir. Its what makes everything worthwhile. The ability to be some part of the creation of moments like this!

"When the grand finale began I came with no expectations… but hearing all my collegues earning all those prizes and myself not a single one, was a bit disappointing. I never counted with the highest prize…lol. Then at last my name came up “and the winner is…Laurina Hawks”. Wheee! This felt like Hollywood and getting the Oscar. My partner cried loud behind me and my eyes were blinded with tears when I stood up for the ovation. Surely one of the most exciting moments of my life…."

(speaking of the announcement of her winning MachinimUWA II: Art of the Artists)

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Keeping it Real in the PCA

The People's Choice (PC) Award voting is now open. There is a new voting system, so I encourage you to read this information. The new system allows you to vote for as many pieces as you like, rating them on a scale of 1 to 3. You vote by touching the name board at each entry. Last day of voting for the December round is Friday, Jan 7.

The PC awards are intended to foster community engagement in the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. By encouraging everyone to come and express an opinion about the works, we hope they will really look at the art and think about it and assess how they feel about it. I sponsored the PC awards last year on behalf of my residents at Artemisia because I believe strongly in engaging the public in our work in a direct and meaningful way.

Now, as curator, it has come to my attention that the process is subject to undue influence by the behavior of certain artists and their supporters. Perhaps we have not made it clear that this is not intended to be popularity contest for artists. We don't total the votes for the artist. We vote for the works. What does it mean if you vote for a work when you haven't looked at all the possibilities? If you don't actually use some aesthetic judgment? Anyone attempting to influence the voting by campaigning or other means erodes the value of those votes. If you were to win an award by padding the voting, isn't it a pretty hollow victory? If we were to allow this, the awards would be meaningless.

quad and JayJay were vigilant in assuring correct results over the last year and I am attempting to do the same. What may not be apparent to most people is that we are able to monitor the voting quite well. We can see very clearly when someone is trying to manipulate the system. I have every reason to believe that all the final winners of all previous rounds were absolutely legitimate and deserving.

With huge thanks to GeeJAnn Blackadder, we are trying out a new voting system for the People's Choice Awards. Instead of the familiar voting board with pictures of the objects, you will now be able to vote by touching the artist's name sign at each object in the gallery. You can vote for as many objects as you want, using a 1 to 3 scale. We hope this will encourage even more community engagement and provide an easier way to manage the vote tallies.

As always, we will continue to monitor the voting process to limit campaigning and manipulation. There are a few known glitches in the new system that do not affect the voting (e.g. the notecard issue), and we will be refining it for future rounds. Please let me know if you have any problems with voting.

The People's Choice Awards are an important part of our outreach efforts. I urge you to come look at the entries, to think about them, and to participate in the voting by expressing your thoughtful opinions. If someone asks you to vote for them, please politely let them know that you will be happy to come vote for your favorite works.

FreeWee Ling, Curator
UWA 3D Open Art Challenge

Addendum to a comment: Anley Piers' "Human Energy" revisited

I was honoured and gratified following my most recent posting, which included comment about Anley Piers' piece Human Energy, to receive a little enlightenment from the artist, directing me to the amazing sim Mysterious Wave where the whole original piece is exhibited. She cryptically commented that I had correctly identified Human Energy as a piece twinned with another work, and I had assumed that she was confirming my identification of her other piece in this month's competition, Travel in the shadow of technology, as the twin of Human Energy. However, I dutifully booked my taxi to Mysterious Wave, wanting to see the work in its original context - and was astounded to find that Human Energy as displayed at UWA is indeed one of a pair of twins - but the twin is a complementary version of Human Energy!

What one finds displayed at Mysterious Wave, then, are two complementary pieces forming the whole work, arranged almost like bookends in a surprisingly stark and foreboding landscape. The complementary piece displayed only at Mysterious Wave takes the form of a yin to the yang of the one displayed at UWA. Both take the form of an incandescent light globe represented as the head of a humanoid figure composed otherwise of technical piping components. While at UWA the globe is burning, but is not connected to the power source, the complementary piece depicts a globe very much connected to the electrical grid, and yet the globe is darkened and shattered.

Anley Piers Human Energy (the other half)
(detail from the original piece in situ at Mysterious Wave)

The message of the piece becomes now even more mysterious. It is clear that connection to the wider power grid is in fact counterproductive for Piers' 'human globes'; they only operate as intended when disconnected from a wider scheme of things, giving off light and energy independently, acting unilaterally as their own inspiration. When connected to a wider network, when operating as 'intended' or 'designed', they will shatter and fail.

I circle the work, pondering, mystified, lifting the hem of my kimono to avoid the soiling of the mud, my geta sandals sticking and impeding my progress, but I am determined to penetrate this work with my mind and my soul. The globes seem to be metaphors for people, and for people who are intended to shine forth in a dark and dismal place. Yet they are people who operate against the norm, against expectations, who shine independently, and who cannot shine when conforming to a standard pattern. The mist starts to lift as the sun begins to rise, and the mist of my mind and understanding perhaps begins to clear as well. Could these globes represent the artists of this entrancing and unusual gallery, this place which by its very name declares itself a place of mystery? I sense that such as Anley Piers and her colleagues Cherry Manga and Elfe Imako would not conform to any norm, that they would be stifled and indeed shattered and extinguished by energy sources common to people of the mainstream. They must act freely and independently, and only then can they shine out their creative glow, incandescent in the darkness that populates so much of any world, second, first or many-teenth.

Have I understood this work? I am not confident. But it has spoken to my heart, it has intrigued me, and caused me to wrestle within myself. I think the artist has achieved her purpose, and may not be too displeased with my contemplations of her efforts.

I only wish I had time to wrestle with each of the works displayed at UWA this month. Christmas is here and gone with all the social whirl this time involves. I have some scribblings in my notebook for a few more works, and some photos burning space on my hard disk, and the closing date for entries approaches fast. And life calls me in another world, where I also belong and love and hope and dream. I know, though, that my university's platform awaits when I can return, and that samples from endless galleries will enthrall me again. Life is so full, in this world and the other, how can I enjoy it all? And people tell me there are other worlds yet unvisited or unimagined by me... I shake my head and close my laptop sadly, knowing there is so much I will never see.

Bohemian Ghost & Summerland raise L$63,000 for Art Challenge

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Photo curtesy of Faery Sola

Once again the amazing Bohemian Ghost, owner of the Summerland Estates has topped his previous fund raising heroics, this time going well past the L$60,000 target with the number still rising at time of writing as part of an auction for a magnificent Snow Glow Gala thrown to raise prizes for the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. (Final figure was L$63,000)



The perfect pairing of Tatiana Faulkes and Barely Texan pulled in a jaw dropping L$10,000.

Commenting on this, Barely said, "I'm certainly proud to have received the high bid in the auction. Thank you to Tatianna Faulkes, who bid one me, and Bohemian Ghost and Byrnedarkly Cazelet who made all this possible. I'm excited to have helped an excellent cause like UWA!"

Rounding off the festivities, Bohemian Ghost gave "...special thanks to Tatianna Faulkes and her store fab.pony for the huge donation and all the bidders and dj's that helped with fundraising, including Ices Zapatero, Selexa Soulstar, Paradox Messmer and our live Performer Phemie Alcott and a huge thank you to Frostie Melody, Barely Texan and Am Trill for helping with everything"


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Getting personal: Sayumi's first reflections on some December entries

It has been a while since I have written here. My work in that other world we sometimes must visit has kept me extremely busy lately, but the knowledge that the wonderful world of SL art awaits me has inspired me and freshened my morale when the going has been tough. I am a little afraid that 2011 will see me dragged further away from SL by the demands of my other-world career, but that remains to be seen. For the time being I can enjoy all that SL has to offer, and it offers much! While in this UWA blog I will confine my comments to works associated with the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, I am starting to become aware of the vast range of galleries and collections of artworks in SL, and hope to sometimes reflect on visits to these in my own blog. I am also right now just a little struggling to keep it all together between RL and SL and keep my head in the right place, and so I'm a little afraid that my slightly scatty state of mind isn't allowing me to reflect or to write quite as effectively as I would like. If some of this seems a little inane (not, there's NOT an 's' missing in that word! hee hee!) please forgive me.

This time I will simply offer some reflections on a few of the pieces already entered in the December round of the UWA Challenge. I have enjoyed touring the platform this week, sometimes running into friends and making new ones, but I will admit that some of the pieces have been quite personally confronting - not in a bad way, but making me realize that it is sometimes going to be difficult to comment honestly on a piece without making myself a little more vulnerable in the process. This is not necessarily a bad thing - the artists make themselves vulnerable in every work, of course. So... it will be interesting!

I began at one side of the platform the other morning, and the four pieces I will comment on this time are all displayed in one row at that point. The first piece was Spirit Radikal's 'Owned'. This piece was especially confronting for me, given a past which has included time in the world of D/s (Dominance & submission) together with, as part of that, some exposure to Japanese 'tentacle sex' as portrayed in some anime and manga works. Having encountered some of that in SL's darker corners, it was quite surprising to come across, in the very first December work I randomly approached, what seems to be a quite clear expression of submission in the form of a very dominating, tentacle-wielding being. Standing beneath the slowly turning tentacles, for I can give them no other name, I found old emotions returning, emotions which I had thought suppressed and controlled. I knew quite quickly that these tentacles were innocuous, that their threat was to my imagination only, and a viewer who has not experienced submission to SL's weirder flora will likely not identify with my reading of this piece at all. But the piece is called 'Owned'... and I have been, though I am no longer and will not be. Therein is the lesson that we bring to each piece we view, not only our intellectual or aesthetic appreciation of the work, but also our own past and our own deeper tendencies. I have to admit, just now I can write no more about this piece, even though I feel that I have not covered it adequately.

Spirit Radikal Owned

I moved on from that first encounter to a form which I instantly recognized as being the work of Kyra Roxan, whose 'Urban Girls' I had so admired last month. The familiar curves of her sensuous execution of the female form in a dark polished granite-like texture leapt at me with a cry to the naughty elements of my heart, and I was somewhat incredulous to have this occur with the second piece I was viewing also. I pushed these thoughts aside in the interests of a more dispassionate approach to the work. However, objectivity proved impossible with this piece too. Two nude female figures are entwined on one another inside a cocoon of flimsy gossamer curtains blowing in the constant gentle breeze; the curtains hang from a small shrine of decidedly Greek appearance... ancient, perhaps Archaic, Greek, as of some Aegean island in the era of Hesiod and more particularly Sappho, and one can imagine that at times these drapes are swept by the tempests which earlier battered Odysseus on his quests. Then, as the viewer moves inside the curtains, intruding on the quiet intimacy of the two dark friends, one is suddenly confronted inescapably by the realization that these women are no simple friends, but lovers. The right hand of each thrusts unashamedly between the thighs of her companion, and one starts to feel that the sound on the breeze is more than mere rustling drapes but includes the low moans and whimpers of these passionate girls. At that moment, one particular Aegean isle leaps into one's consciousness, the isle of Lesbos, and the viewer wonders if maybe one of the women may not be a Sappho herself, at least Sappho as imagined since Victorian times. Why is the work called 'ILS'? After some touring of internet disambiguation pages, I will offer 'International Lesbian Solidarity', but I am probably wide of the mark. Again, I have to shake myself free from this piece and move on quickly, unable to remain in its spell for longer if I am to treat it as an artwork and not be entranced by its siren call.

Kyra Roxan ILS

I promise the reader that, in this piece at least, there will be no more sensual revelations, but that does not mean that the other works did not also appeal to me deeply. The other two that I will comment on today are those by Anley Piers, separate works but linked thematically by their treatment of humankind, technology and progress in the built and natural environments. Well, that's a summation of my reading of these twin pieces. Both pieces are 'powered', both in the literal and the artistic sense, by electricity, which has avowedly been the driving force of a technological society since the late 19th century. The first and smaller of the works, 'Human Energy', is at first glance a simple piece - an incandescent light globe forms the head of a humanoid figure which is about to connect itself to a power socket which my research shows me to be of a French-style 'Type E' design. It does not immediately strike the viewer, perhaps, that the light globe is glowing despite not yet being connected to the power source; but I am sure that this is the key to Piers's point, in that the humanoid figure contains its own power source independent of any man-made grid. I am sure there is something deeper here, but it as yet escapes me; the components of the limbs are of a piping which I know I have seen in some context, but that, too, will need to be teased out by another commentator. I move on dissatisfied with my own penetration of this work, wondering if its twin piece will yield further clues.

Anley Piers Human Energy

'Travel in the shadow of technology' is a much more complex piece, bringing together built and natural elements, and some which are ambiguous, inside a black ovoid which serves as a backdrop to highlight the mainly white components of the work. Here we have, again, light globes, together with a fan and also a computer USB cable, combined with plants, a bird and a low ground-hugging fog as natural elements. The light globes, as in the first work, are atop elements which are natural in origin - in this case, lively plant stems, which I admit I impulsively thought of immediately in terms of the story of 'Jack and the Bean Stalk', though I could take this metaphor no further. Three umbrellas, apparently of an antique design, mysteriously circulate within the scene; and climactically the astute viewer notes, despite an explicit invitation, that s/he is intended to become part of the work by 'posing' and then circulating among the elements - ideally, bring a friend to view this work, and participate together! One senses that the 'travel' suggested by the title is not only through space, as the movement implies, but also through time... progress from 19th century to 21st century technology is represented here. The work may have a warning message, I admit to being unsure... but participating in it for a short time does have a calming effect, and one may exit reassured that, despite all that we hear about the dangers and environmental damage caused by modern technology, there may yet exist a harmony and 'peaceful co-existence', to draw on a Cold War phrase, between humankind, technology and the natural world. I interpret it as a positive and optimistic work, despite the lack of vibrant colouring, and yet in offering this interpretation I am desperately afraid that I have missed the point and the artist intended something quite different.

Anley Piers Travel in the shadow of technology

So I end my tour of this small corner of December a little less sure of myself, having been confronted and puzzled, soothed and challenged, but looking forward intently to seeing more and thinking more on this month's growing volume of offerings. Yesikita's Coppola's wonderful machinima of the November winners reveals to all of us the beauty of the range of works we are being privileged to enjoy each month, and December looks set to continue our pleasures.

[I took multiple photos of two of the works discussed here, and the full set of photos for December where more than one photo was taken is in this album on Picasa]