A Steamy Mystery at Terradale

By Gemma Cleanslate

 
I always look forward to the opening of new LEA regions granted to the artists for a period of time. It is fun to go through them all. I do not write about each one, but choose the ones that really take my attention and keep it. This interesting region really grabbed my attention. It is not one of the sparkly artistic creations, but contains a story.
 

The tone is set as soon as you land in the sim. It is a town that is reminiscent of the old English coastal, or perhaps, New England towns. It has the appearance of a mill town, with homes and factories intermingled and the ocean with its light house in view of all. When you land you will be greeted.

 
There is an odd piece of pipe equipment looking much like a humanoid type sitting around all over town that contains the story of Sarah.  Be sure to look for him where ever you go. Sarah is missing. I turned from the welcome sign and entered the building across the way. It was an artist studio with workings on the wall incomplete for the most part. I entered the second room where I found a message giver I came to know as Perry Piper. He uttered the words of Sean, “ My Sarah --She was everything to me. My muse, my friend, my partner, my lover. We were one......”
 
I turned and left and went to the town square and began my search. There I found missing posters plastered to the Town Monument. 

There is so much to be seen in each of  the buildings and so much to learn about Sarah’s life as you move through the town.  People who knew her tell the story to you and with each fragment you build a vision of her in your mind. At least I did. I realized that all is not as it seems, and I kept hoping I would find that she had flown the coop and headed to other lands looking for a more interesting life. But that was not to be. To those who knew her Sarah lived a quiet life, enjoying her horse rides and gazing out at the ocean. 

 
Chic Aeon has created this region and the story hidden within it. His houses are decorated with so many fascinating items to inspect. I thoroughly enjoyed each of them.Each home adds a little to the story.  The commercial buildings are littered with interesting pieces too, including some games to try.bring a friend along with you . There are hot air balloons in the air and I hoped to catch a ride. But no. 

 
At the end you will know the whole story of Sarah and where she has gone. I was sorry to find the final answer but thoroughly enjoyed the experience of tracking her movements and learning of her. I am not sure whether we would have liked each other if we did meet.

The Town will be there until January . Put it on your bucket list.  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA12/152/92/21

Gemma Cleanslate

Bryn Oh's "Hand"

By Gemma Cleanslate

I met Flutter sitting quietly on a bench in a flooded subway. Describing Flit as she is known is difficult. Her face and body are shrouded in black and she carries a small battered suitcase in her hand. It is obvious she is not waiting for the train to move because it never will.  I see she is on her way to somewhere and follow her up the stairs into a barren desolate land littered with ruined building. There are a few figures moving around but they all seem to be sightseers like myself. It is quiet and dark as we cross the street to a shattered shop. Here I begin to find out the story of Flit.

I have entered Bryn Oh’s latest installation called ' Hand'.This is the first time I have had time to thoroughly enjoy it .I have been to many of her builds and in my memory this is one of  darkest I have seen. Something terrible has happened in this city . I hope I can find out what it is. 

Flutter stops by a mannequin standing forlornly, unadorned in the window of the abandoned shop. As I looked around , everything has been abandoned. There are a few lights glimmering here and there . Flutter takes the hand of the mannequin into her and leaves and I follow her. The way is treacherous and I fall a few times trying to keep up with her as we enter into a dilapidated  apartment building and begin to open doors and enter rooms. Some are empty, but others hold very strange contents.  In some rooms are sleepers lying in pods, kept alive by a vial of food attached to their pods. .

 Flit knows them and tries to communicate in her visit carrying on a one-sided conversation. 

As we move upward on the outside fire escape the way becomes harder as the entire structure is damaged. I want to follow her so do it in precarious ways. Along the way besides the sleepers we encounter strange things, drones that speak, or project messages on the walls and Flit converses with them. They try to hide themselves under a strange camouflage.   In one back room we find Juniper , still under her blanket , looking out.  Finally we reach the top of the building where Flit joins a group of other young persons gathered around a doll house....... 

 This installation hold remnants of Bryn’s past art builds and poetry strewn around the region. After I left Flutter and her friends with her newly found treasure I wandered up and down the sim looking to see how she spends her days. I found it intriguing and thought provoking. As you move through the areas with Flit you will read the story that is the experience. It helps you understand what is happening now but not why or how it came to be. Flit and her friends are learning from Dick and Jane as they live their lives. I looked for hope.. perhaps there is some in discovering treasures still there.

When you arrive in the ante room Bryn has directions for you to aid you in having a full experience  and then takes you to the subway to begin. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Immersiva/16/103/32

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Gemma Cleanslate

Bryn Oh's "The Singularity of Kumiko"

By Bixyl Shuftan

Bryn Oh, the Second Life artist long known for her three-dimensional exhibitions that tell a story, such as her "Rabbicorn" series, has been at it again. Her latest work, "The Singularity of Kumiko" is up at her sim of Immersiva. Hearing about it, I went over to take a look.

Arriving at the entrance, Bryn Oh herself was there and greeted me, "Hi Bixyl." Of her new exhibit, she mentioned I might have to make a few changes in my preferences, as well as picking up a light which is then worn on the forehead, "You will need to set up a few things and get a headlamp to see. ... You need some specific things to allow the flashlight to work." Asking her to describe her exhibit, she wouldn't say much, "Hmmm, perhaps a moral question. 'The Singularity of Kumiko' is a discourse between two people on love and choices. A question on what gives value to our lives. I don't want to give up too much of the story though. It is a non linear narrative that the viewer must put together over time and figure out what has happened to Kumiko and who she really is."

Among the instructions for better lighting on the wall was a sign stating "With Generous Support from the Ontario Arts Council." I asked her about it, and she responded, "Yes, I got a new grant a week ago. ... I applied for a new media grant and they liked the idea enough to award me one. ... very exciting, opens many doors."

Going inside was simple enough, touching the red door to the exhibit, then walking in. The scenery is Bryn Oh's classic style, dark, detailed, often  hauntingly beautiful and a little disturbing. The first scene one comes across is the aftermath of an accident: a small car stopped on the road, in front of it a bicicle on the road with a spilled napsack beside it. Near this scene, and others, are both a message in a bottle and a microphone. One can click on the bottle to read the message, or click on the bottle to hear an audio one.

There is much more scenery one comes across. Some are spots of illumination in the darkness, such as a metal mobile. Others such as a giant skeleton on the ground are hidden by the darkness and you'll probably won't recognize until you're right by it. I was trying to get the messages from Kumiko and her friend Iktomi  in order, but ended up finding some a few ahead at times. Memory is a theme in the story, and it's like you're trying to piece together what happened, much like someone struggling to remember an event.

As one goes along, the exhibit describes a future in which humankind has tried to compensate losses with machines and technology. Visitors are also likely to come across a roving robot, possibly the "Mr. Zippers" in the story. The robot will try to attack you, and as the sim is "damage enabled," if you're hit enough your avatar "dies" and reappears back in it's home location, so it's best to run if you come across the 'bot.

Going about, I was able to find the majority of the messages, enough to piece out what happened. The final scene, appearing just after the last message, was both happy and sad at the same time, with the song "We'll Meet Again" playing in the background. Exiting the scene, one is teleported out of the exhibition.

There is a trailer of "Kumiko" out that sets the tone for the story.



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I give the story/exhibit my thumbs-up. Very well done. If you have the time, I reccomend dropping by. If you're a fan of Bryn Oh's work, by all means do see it. There is a limit to how many can be on the sim at once, which Bryn Oh describes as getting about 600 visitors a day at this time. So if you're blocked from entering, try again later.

Immersiva (14, 104, 21)

Bixyl Shuftan