This may not be exactly the type of place I plan on dealing with in this blog, but I figure I would talk about it because I think it is truly neat. It’s a place in SL called The Far Away.
I wouldn’t say that this place is mind-bogglingly innovative or high-tech or anything like that. In fact, it seems rather simple when you first see it. And if you are looking for something “exciting” to do, The Far Away may disappoint you. But it’s what I would consider a great example of less-is-more.
I don’t know all the details behind The Far Away, but I gather that the creator is an artist in real life and the build is based on a real wheat field that he came across. The artist is AM Radio in SL and I believe he has done or is working on other projects as well.
What I like about this place is that it definitely creates a cool mood. AM has created a wheat field with some 3-d objects in it, which he has surrounded by walls and a roof which are textures made of real photos of a wheat field. So you are standing in a wheat field and feel like you are surrounded on all sides by field and farm buildings. He has also sprinkled some objects around the field that help with the atmosphere. He has done a really good job of interspersing 3-d with 2-d to create a place that seems much larger than what it is. And all you have to do to get a sense for the effect is to walk through the phantom walls and see what is outside to realize that this parcel really does seem like a place removed from the rest of the grid. If you look back in one corner you see some prim buildings a few meters in front of some buildings on the wall texture, and the effect is to make it seem as though there is much more depth than there really is. I also found this effect especially well done on the one side where AM has placed a prim fence just in front of the wall.
As a side note, I’ve noticed one really big benefit of having a 3-d virtual world. If you were to put a real life model in front of a picture background, it still wouldn’t look quite right in a photo. You can still tell there is a contrast between the two. But in second life, since it’s all rendered on a flat screen and the 3-d objects and the 2-d textures have basically the same resolution, you don’t get a sense that there is that contrast. From some of the “photo” exhibits I’ve seen in SL, I think it’s obvious that you can use it to quite the advantage. Add to this the fact that you can use poseballs instead of trying to explain how you want a model positioned, and it makes me really wish, as a serious amateur photographer in real life, that I could do the same thing outside of SL.
But back to The Far Away. Three things I would highly recommend to add to the immersiveness of the place. First, turn on the parcel music. It was not chosen accidentally. Second, make sure you play around with the windmill toward the back of the build. Third, make sure your draw distance is like 128m or so, so you can take in the whole thing at once. With very little imagination, it’s not too hard to get lost in the place, at least for a little bit. Add to all of this the way the artist has added some chairs, tables and cupboards to the field (often with people sitting in them) and you end up with something that seems awfully surreal.
One last note that I’d like to add about this place. AM has made it possible to purchase copies of various parts of the build for your own use and the proceeds go to charity. With all of the commerce going on in SL (which I’m sure I will be blogging about at some point) I always find it refreshing to see people donating their proceeds to charity. I mean, really, SL doesn’t have to cost you anything at all if you don’t want it to, so there is no real need to have money. Why not create something for others to enjoy and do some good in the world, too?
I thought about posting some pics I took of The Far Away, but I really think it’s a lot better if you go see it for yourself, even if you just pop in for a moment and look around. Oh, and watch out for those pesky dragonflies.
Mathaios Brandenburg [e-mail]
July 28, 2008 at 5:25 pm
The Far Away is very much a popular place, a sort of “living immersive art exercise” done by AM. If you want to see some of the art photography this place has inspired, as well as more of AM’s work, check out the Flickr photos of Hitomi Mokusei. This links to her Far Away set, but there are lots more that she’s done; just choose the full stream and see what’s available.
July 29, 2008 at 7:43 am
“Living immersive art exercise.” I like that description.
I checked out those pictures and I really like some of them. I especially liked the one of the person who is floating over the steam engine. One of the things I find interesting is the idea of using someone else’s art as the basis of your own. I used to enjoy taking pictures of sculptures, and yet I always had this nagging feeling that I wasn’t doing anything artistic, because it was someone else’s work I was taking pictures of. But then, art is about seeing, isn’t it? Someone saw something and made a sculpture. I saw something in the sculpture that they may not have seen or I saw it in a different way. So are pictures of someone else’s work art in their own right? Is that stealing or copying? Is it collaboration? I’m curious what other people think.
Anyone know what else AM Radio has done or is working on? Any other builds like this that you know about? Please share them.
August 3, 2008 at 3:06 pm
AM Radio has done two other installations I’m aware of. The Quiet is in the Princeton West sim, and Husk is in the NMC Arts Lab sim, at the ground level. I don’t have SURLs handy, but that should help you find them.
August 7, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Oh, AM has also put up The Refuge and Extension, which is actually a rebuild and addition to a short-term exhibit he had earlier this year. The man is definitely influenced by Andrew Wyeth in his stark yet moving simplicity. Hitomi is covering them as well, and has established a Flickr group for people to publish their own pictures.
August 8, 2008 at 5:46 am
Thanks. I also saw a write up on Not Possible In Real Life about an AM Radio project. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to do any exploring yet. I’m interested in seeing if his other projects are anything like the Far Away.
August 12, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Mathaois:
Your question about ownership and attribution strikes at the heart of one of the hottest debates amongst content creators today.
If you film a machinima, for example, in AM Radio’s work, is that a derivative work? I side with yes, absolutely. Now, one of the issues with SL, or an issue to some in any case, is there’s no mechanism in place to clearly mark the creator’s intent around derivative work. The Creative Commons license system is the best known example of this, although I have issues with it and its execution. But think of Flickr – you can post your photos using the CC license system and make clear your intent: yes, allow derivative works non-commercially, no derivative works, or commercial derivative licenses.
In the absence of such a system in SL, folks who “use” content need to be very careful about whether that content is ‘fair use’ or whether it comprises a separate and derivative use.
In other words, take a photo of yourself and your partner in the AM Radio sim and that might be fair use, it’s a like a tourist snapshot. But create a secondary work based on the sim and it’s derivative.
I lean towards erring on the side of caution and suggest a few things: one, that content creators post their intent in their parcel descriptions, and 2) if I’m unsure, I ask the creator.
By the way, you mention NPIRL. They’re very active on this topic. I recently completed a survey for them on this issue which I hope to post shortly! In the meantime, Bettina posted at length about it here:
http://npirl.blogspot.com/2008/06/dear-m-linden-please-help-content.html