PHASE TWO: The Paper Tower Court.

Photo: Trial placement of the Paper Observatory at the base of the Paper Tower. Until the Tower is safely removed to Inventory on April 10, I will have to wait to tweak the proper fitting. It is very hard to tell exactly how it will look as the two buildings overlap for this temporary trial. The following months will undoubtedly see additional adjustments. 

PHASE TWO of the Paper Observatory Project has begun on the ACC Alpha sim. On Feb 19 and 20, the four connected studios composing the Studio of Builds Arena (now called the Paper Tower Court) were replaced by the four new independent standing studios. They are in the style of the sim, and increase the amount of air space circulating in the court. This open architectural feature is meant to create a gesture, like arms reaching skyward toward the hovering structure above.

PHASE ONE was in two parts, beginning in December and continuing into January. Along the perimeter of the shark aquarium on the ground floor of the Studio of Builds, three paper crescent buildings were erected. Soon after this, the Paper Observatory was rezzed on LEA 21 during the month of January, and refined as the weeks rolled on. It was the test area to see in 3D how the ideas in my head really appeared in the context of a city.

PHASE THREE will dramatically unfold on April 10, 2014. On this day, all the preparation that has come before will yield the result. The Paper Tower will be taken into Inventory, and replaced by the Paper Observatory. As this 4 year old build has much nostalgic value to me, it’s unlikely that I will trigger a collapse. Instead, the links will be taken into Inventory with care and respect. But a show will follow, beginning at 2 pm SLT after the Paper Tower will have been removed. Instead of destruction, it will be an imaginative play on construction, in which the public is invited to participate in this interactive festival. Read below for the event description:

CARNIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE

    

     The Paper Tower, the enormous landmark of the ACC Alpha sim, vanishes. On April 10, the 4th anniversary of the Paper Tower, it will be taken into Inventory and be replaced by the new Paper Observatory. This will take the form of a spectacle: the Carnival of Architecture. Visitors to the event can choose to wear selected architectural features and fly around dressed in walls, pillars and domes, joining others in collaboration to build a humorous version of a restless Observatory. At a certain point, the new Paper Observatory will descend onto the festive revelers, bringing the anniversary into a raucous finale of performance art.

Where:

At the Paper Tower Court, on the ACC Alpha sim.

Click here for transport.

When:

THURSDAY, April 10, 2014.

1 pm SLT. Paper Tower is taken into Inventory.

2 pm SLT. The Carnival of Architecture begins.

2:30 pm SLT. The public participates. Free vendors with architectural parts will be placed on site for the public to dress in building parts. At this time, the new Paper Observatory will descend onto the scene for the finale.

A NOTE OF APOLOGY:

As I will be working at the controls for this event, my chat window will most likely be closed. I need full concentration to bring on the performance. I'll get back to people who wanted to speak with me when I bring up the chat window again after the performance. Thanks so much for your patience!

Remember to check this blog for updates:

accalpha.blogspot.com

XXX

AN OPENING / A CLOSING

     Arranging an exhibit’s closing for last night, at the same time as an opening for today, gave me plenty to do! If you read previous posts, you’ll see that two major projects dominated my time for January. I sweated it and loved it! Instead of writing about them in chronological order, I’m going to start with the opening, since that is the most current for later today.

OPENING 

This poster courtesy of Quan Lavender

  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shekhawati/237/41/34

     Quan Lavender invited me to exhibit at Art India, on the Shekhawati sim. Aside from the honor of being invited to display in this sizeable room, long like a landscape painting, it also has a personal history for me. It’s probably no surprise to people who know my cities at Sparquerry and ACC Alpha, that I have a great interest in India. A couple years ago, I actually rented a little gallery on the Shekhawati sim. It felt magical to be a part of the Indian virtual world. Now, years later, I am back.

About my exhibit:

"THE MINIATURE GOAL"

     What if our physical world shrunk in proportion to the resources we drain from it?

     
     We deplete resources all across the globe, yet in our homes we may feel few repercussions. Though we don’t actually visit the oil spills, the cleared forests, or the mines, let’s imagine how it would appear, were our everyday life reflected proportionately to the current depletion. If our bedroom walls were to shrink at the same percentage as the forests or the extinction of species for instance, how high exactly would our walls become?

     In my exhibit, I invite visitors into the miniature world we are in the process of creating. Abundance is shortly to become a historic commodity. A powerfully dangerous monster is being set in motion. Do we simply suppose the scientists can slay such a creature once we create it? Though we cannot cure the common cold, somehow we believe we will be able to cure an ailing planet. 

     Our disproportionate appetite for resources makes it clear that our progress, and therefore our goal, will succumb to a miniature plan. We will eventually come to realize that the planet's current ecosystems are being damaged to a point where we may not be able to save them. Where does that leave us when we become so small?

-Haveit Neox. 2014

     My opening is at 2 pm SLT today, Saturday. There will be the live and beautifully exotic music by Nnoiz Papp at the reception. Quan is also presenting at the same time Trill Zapatero’s “Wal Mart” in a sky gallery, and the digital illustrations of Ranadeep at the Art Bazaar. There is plenty to see AND hear at this opening of three artists. See Quan Lavender’s blog for more information:

CLICK HERE FOR QUAN'S BLOG.

……………………………………………………………………………………

CLOSING

A scene from the fiery collapse of the Paper Observatory and the metropolitan dish below it.

     30 minutes before going to a marvelous farewell party that Secret Rage was throwing for the Interim Project participants and visitors, I had begun saving the paper observatory in linksets. The strong winds outside were worrisome, because that frequently means the electricity could fail. The LEA builds would have to be removed by midnight, and I hadn’t yet saved the city below the observatory. But since the observatory in the sky and some of the statues were already safe in inventory, I joined the enthusiastic party celebrating Secret’s spontaneous idea of the interim project that worked so well for all of us. I left the party around 9:30 or so, figuring there were still over two hours to carefully pack up the city. But then, a few people contacted me asking when the show was going to start. I thought they were jokingly referring to the destruction show I’d performed for Second Libations in 2011. 

     Bit by bit, I saw people gathering in the corner of the sim, and then it hit me that the announcement I’d sent out earlier in the day must have been misleading (though I had suggested in an earlier post that I might do a tear down event, I never did get the time to entertain such a plan) . What I had meant was that the activities were portrayed by the fire and dioramas that I’d built during the month. I had no plans to perform. More people were arriving, so at 9:45, I felt compelled to announce that I would bring the Observatory down as a performance in 15 minutes, at 10 pm. My hands were shaking, my brow sweating under the pressure, because it meant relinking much of the building which was too large to make physical (only about 35 pieces can be in a link for physical effects). I rushed to delink, and relink, to simultaneously decide which parts should come down first for the performance. There would be no time to save the city in inventory the way I wanted, but this was the case of priority. So I plunged in. My friend Lilia Artis suggested I add more fire throughout the city, and I spread it all over. This looked wonderful, but the difficulty comes with trying to select building parts, because the fire has extensive invisible margins of alpha layers. I hate building around accumulations of trees in SL for this reason. It was with great difficulty finding my way around these ghastly prims. “You’re getting a good dunk in the ocean after the show!”  After the sky observatory fell, section after section, I felt that the show was over. But Lilia contacted me, and suggested that I also bring down the city. And so I did. But not the whole thing, because what remained gave a good sense of a ruin.

     As this had not been rehearsed, the process of the collapse of the city and the observatory was nearly unpredictable. I made a fast, approximate guideline in my head on the spot. But I was mostly guided by the results, each phase requiring me to consider other angles. The falling debris delighted me. When I let go of the edit window, I watched as if someone else had set the trigger. Massive walls and shards licked with fire fell down to the ocean below a sky of rich orange and dark purple, and I anticipated what might come next.

     The closing, thanks to Lilia, and thanks to the visitors, turned out to be an energetic end… quite different from my original plan to pack calmly. So, as the Paper Observatory came in with a sudden burst of Secret Rage’s spontaneous, immediate and unexpected invitation, so too the Observatory exited in a spontaneous swoosh. I… had… fun!! Thanks to everyone for that! 

     Just a side note: I didn’t end up drowning the prim fire in the ocean. Instead, I took out a book of matches, struck one, and blew out its flame with gusto saying: “SO THERE!” 

xxx