OK. One more from Oberon ...

Just to add a link to this blog from Brazil about the installation. Scroll down for English.

Sunset Quinell's blog

Oberon's final post!

Our installation made SL's Destination Guide a day before it comes down! Sachiko? Should we leave it up a bit longer? Or is someone else coming to start their residency?

Topophonia: Four Realizations in Sound

Oberon Onmura's project Topophonia: Four Realizations in Sound was created during his Yoshikaze up-in-the-air Second Life residency. By basing the starting point on sound, the chosen artists Alpha Auer, Maya Paris and Eupalinos Ugajin, were able to each create unique installations that tie into a central theme. Together with Oberon's own work they comprise Topophonia: Four Realization in Sound.

Visit in Second Life

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TOPOPHONIA Exhibition

 

Yoshikaze "Up-In-The-Air" Second Life Residency presents

TOPOPHONIA: Four Realizations in Sound

Nine Rooms by Oberon Onmura

Listen ... by Alpha Auer

Bank Job by Maya Paris

Jazz on Bones by Eupalinos Ugajin

18 - 22 February 2012 @ HUMlab, Umeå University, Sweden

Opening Hours: 8am - 4pm

Opening: 18 February between 1am- 4pm

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"You will find four completely different pieces, four totally different visions of what that initial concept suggested. To me, the fact that our four versions are so different is tremendously exciting. It is further proof that the artist's mind is unlimited in its ability to make sense of the world, and to convey that sense to others."

(Review of "Topophonia" by Quan Lavender http://quanlavender.blogspot.de/2013/01/immersion-in-sounds-topophonia.html)

Between 15 October 2012 - 31 January 2013, Oberon Onmura held the residency at Yoshikaze as our artist-in-residence on HUMlab Island in Second Life, during which time he has completed a unique project entitled "Topophonia," involving three other SL artists in addition to completing his own artwork.

"The principal concept of "Topophonia" is the notion of bringing together a group of artists' to create artworks around a common concept. ….I was less interested in any sort of collaboration than in seeing how (or whether) other artists could understand and work from an artistic framework that I personally found interesting in creating a new piece….whether their resulting artworks in any way mirrored or complemented my own. So not a collaboration; rather, an experiment to test whether an artistic idea is share-able, and to see the result of each artist  independently operating on that idea in his or her unique fashion." (Oberon Onmura)

By basing its starting point on sound to guide the visitors, his chosen artists, Alpha Auer, Maya Paris and Eupalinos Ugajin, have each created an independent installation. Together with Oberon's own work they comprise "Topophonia: Four Realization in Sound."

Yoshikaze is very pleased to present "Topophonia" at RL HUMlab, Umeå University, between 18-22 February 2012.  Four machinimas filmed beautifully by Marx Catteneo will be shown on our screens alongside with four computer stations with avatars who will take the visitors to their inworld installations.

In conjunction to this RL show, Yoshikaze Studio will be open to the public.  We welcome you at http://www.slurl.com/secondlife/HUMlab/99/194/25 to experience "Topophonia" from your own loaction.

Oberon's artist statement of the project can be read on our blog at http://yoshikaze.blogspot.com/2013/02/oberon-16-artist-statement.html; about the participating artists at http://yoshikaze.blogspot.com/2013/01/oberon-9.html ; reviews at http://yoshikaze.blogspot.com/2013/01/here-are-some-blog-posts-about.html

Curated by Goodwind Seiling/Sachiko Hayashi in collaboration with HUMlab.  The poster design by Carl-Erik Engqvist from HUMlab.

Yoshikaze "Up-in-the-Air" Residency (www.slurl.com/secondlife/HUMlab/95/215/351) is a Second Life residency programme run by Sachiko Hayashi together with RL HUMlab art director Carl-Erik Engqvist, Umeå University, Sweden.  For inquiries, please contact: goodwind.seiling@gmail.com.

Yoshikaze is funded and hosted by HUMlab, Umeå University, Sweden.

Yoshikaze blog: http://yoshikaze.blogspot.com
Yoshikaze vimeo: http://vimeo.com/yoshikaze 

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Oberon #16 Artist Statement

"Topophonia: Four Realizations in Sound"

Artist Statement

The principal conceit of "Topophonia" is the notion of bringing together a group of artists' to create artworks around a common concept. I have participated in several projects loosely modeled after the Surrealist "Exquisite Corpse" idea where multiple artists gather together and, over time, collaboratively create a single (usually messy!) piece of art. In my experience, the more detailed the explanation, the more rule-bound the process, the less successful the outcome. (Success, here, meaning my subjective evaluation of the resulting art.)

"Topophonia" is not, however, an "Exquisite Corpse" project. I was less interested in any sort of collaboration than in seeing how (or whether) other artists could understand and work from an artistic framework that I personally found interesting in creating a new piece. And then, if that first step was possible, whether their resulting artworks in any way mirrored or complemented my own. So not a collaboration; rather, an experiment to test whether an artistic idea is share-able, and to see the result of each artist  independently operating on that idea in his or her unique fashion.

The concept was simple (or so I thought): create an installation in which a visitor progresses from the beginning toward a goal using sound only to guide them, avoiding the use of visual clues. The idea is, in a sense, anti-curatorial. A curator starts with a concept and assembles an exhibition of artworks that support the concept. This process also starts with the concept, but assembles artists to create works to illuminate the concept from multiple perspectives, not knowing in advance what those works would be.

It turned out to be extremely difficult to effectively explain the concept to the artists! I selected the three participating artists for their effective use of sound in their Second Life artworks, thinking that at least they all understood how sound is used in an installation setting. But, as it turned out, the idea of using sound as the primary artistic medium and using it to guide visitors through their installations was a foreign notion.


My own piece ("Nine Rooms") turned out to be a variant of a maze of nine rooms. Each room has two doors: one leading forward to the next room, one sending the visitor back to the beginning. Each door emits a sound, and those sound cues are the only means by which the visitor can determine which door to open. There is plenty to look at on the way through, but nothing visual can be used to determine the best path through the maze.

However, I didn't want to use a maze metaphor to explain the concept to the artists, simply because I didn't want to end up with four variations on mazes. So I tried to use words like "guide", "sound cues", "goal". And then, wanting to avoid hard-and-fast rules, I also wanted to leave considerable space for the artists to consider their own interpretations of what I was trying to convey.

The results are, for me, very exciting. You see four entirely different works, all rich with sound, and yet all completely different in their approach to the initial concept. As an experiment, I suppose this result shouldn't be surprising at all. Artists will, after all, generally find their own path toward the goal. And thank goodness for that!

I want to thank HUMlab and Umea University for offering me the Yoshikaze "Up in the Air" residency, and to Sachiko Hayashi for her patience and assistance during these past few months. I am tremendously grateful to Alpha, Eupalinos, and Maya for agreeing to participate in this adventure, and for their good cheer and hard work over these few months.

Oberon #15

Finally, four image links from Alpha Auer's installation "Listen ..."


"Listen ..." 1

"Listen ..." 2

"Listen ..." 3

"Listen ..." 4

Oberon #14

Links to images of Eupalinos Ugajin's installation "Jazz on Bones"

"Maison Rouge"

"Lightbox" 

"The Art of the Cannon" image by Cica Ghost

"Parachute Eye" image by Moti Moody

Oberon #13

Here are images from Maya Paris's build "Bank Job".

Oberon #12

I'm gathering photos from all four builds now. Plus, we have found a machinima-maker to document the entire installation. He's starting to shoot today (Maya, me). The following few posts will mostly be photos.

The first shot is outside the main build.

There are, of course, nine rooms. Each has a "room sound" plus two doors. Each door emits a sound which the visitor uses to determine which to enter. One door always leads to the next room, the other always leads back to the beginning. You are looking at room 3 here.

Here's room 1.

Room 6. Note each is slightly different, yet fundamentally the same.

Oberon #11

Here is an album of photos from the Topophonia opening. These are by Kandinsky Beaumont.

Oberon #10

Here are some blog posts about the Topophonia installations:

Honour MacMillan

Lennart Nilsson  (Swedish)

Quan Lavender

Today, January 27, is the "meet the artists" event at the site. The time is 1:00 PM SLT. That translates to 4:00 PM Eastern US, and 9:00 European time.  I hope to see everyone there!

Oberon #9

I'll try to get some good photos for the next post. Meanwhile, here are the bios of the participating artists:



Oberon Onmura ("Nine Rooms")

Oberon Onmura has been making art in Second Life for over four years. In that time, his unique approach to exploring the capabilities of physical objects has attracted international attention of blog sites, Second Life and “real life” galleries and publications. Oberon's "real life" person lives and works in New York City.

Oberon cites as his primary influences American minimalist art of the 1960s and 70s for its precision of form, Stephen Wolfram’s “A New Kind of Science” for its analysis of complex systems, and Indian classical music for its manifestation of unseen physical reality in art.


Alpha Auer ("Listen ...")

Alpha Auer is one of the Second Life avatars of Elif Ayiter, who is a designer and educator, as well as the editor in chief of Metaverse Creativity, a peer reviewed academic journal with Intellect UK. Alpha is the CEO of the SL fashion store alpha.tribe and has participated in several SL exhibits, such as "SychroniCity," curated by Marc Moana and "Further Along the Path" curated by Bryn Oh. Together with MosMax Hax and Selavy Oh she has co-authored the" LPDT2/3" series of sim wide installations that were based upon Roy Ascott's concept of distributed authorship and La Plissure du Texte. Both LPDT2, as well as LPDT3 have been exhibited at international, curated art exhibitions such as ISEA2011, and at the 2010 multimedia festival at Tomorrow City, Incheon, Korea in 2010.


Eupalinos Ugajin ("Jazz on Bones")

My work explores the relationship between gender politics and midlife subcultures. With influences as diverse as Munch and Roy Lichtenstein, new variations are distilled from both traditional and modern meanings. Ever since I was a postgraduate I have been fascinated by the essential unreality of relationships. What starts out as triumph soon becomes corrupted into a cacophony of distress, leaving only a sense of unreality and the chance of a new beginning. As subtle forms become distorted through diligent and critical practice, the viewer is left with a statement of the corners of our condition.  http://www.artybollocks.com/ and http://eupalinosugajin.wordpress.com/

Maya Paris ("Bank Job")

Maya Paris likes to unleash scissor-wielding superheroines, explode popwrecktastic potential, ninja-wax your inner trollop, dangle upside down like a common weed, throw a banana on your head and shimmy on a cactus. http://mayaparisbluestocking.blogspot.co.uk/

Oberon #8

Hello again after a long hiatus. Another artist's computer crashed, delaying us a bit more. But now everything is in place and we are about to open the site for in-world viewing.

We created a neologism for an overall title - "Topophonia" - which we like to think means "an audio experience in a 3-dimensional metaverse space". Or something like that.

Here's the poster for the installations:

Note that we are having a "meet the artist" event on January 27. Please feel free to log in, visit the installations, and meet all four artists.

Oberon #7

We're finally all up and running! Maya is back - thank heavens - and all four of us had a meeting to decide certain housekeeping items, such as TP mechanisms, new in-world exhibition date, and promotional materials.

I'm excited that our four versions of the primary concept are shaping up to be so different. And different in more than merely stylistic ways. My task now is to write an explanatory note that ties it all together. That's always  a challenge since most people don't read anything at all! I am going to place a temporary kiosk with the current LMs for each of the four installations, in case anyone reading this blog would like to see the works in progress.

The new date for the in-world opening is Sunday, January 13. I don't know the time yet - we're all in different time zones so, as always, it's complicated. Alpha will design a poster with "listen ..." as the show's title.

Oberon #6

I have pretty much completed my installation. I'm now at the tweaking stage, which for me could go on ... well ... forever!  The tweaks are mostly with the sounds at this point.

Maya's computer died again, so her progress has stopped for now. Fingers crossed. The others are progressing in their own ways. Alpha had some questions about bots - she intends to use 3 bots which I will host on my Linux box at home. Eupalinos has had one or two script questions which I think we resolved.

So,a t this point, except for Maya's computer problems, I think we're more or less on track. We have started to talk about the flow from one installation to the next. Nothing decided yet. I do know that the TP point in the kiosk on the ground will have to change. Or perhaps the kiosk itself will have to go away for a while to make room for one built for the intallation. But we'll see when the time gets closer.

Oberon #5

More progress ... all artists are now at work. As we go along, I'm thinking that the real challenge here is getting others to buy into - to embrace - one's own ideas and goals. It's so interesting to experience the difficulty of expressing what seems to me a simple concept in terms that others can understand. And not understanding in the normal "Oh yeah. I get it." sense, but to a degree where they can conceive of and create unique art works reflecting that concept, which I would argue is entirely another level of understanding.

The experience has, so far, heightened my appreciation for the three artists who agreed to participate in this experiment. It takes a bit of bravery to offer a new work to the public in the "normal" way. After all, artists generally understand that, in the eye of the art consuming public, you're only as good as your last piece! So, to risk one's shaky reputation for the sake of someone else's idea is doubly brave.

Oberon #4

Today, I met with Eupalinos Ugajin, the third and final artist (well, the fourth if you count me!) in this project. He will begin building soon.

In the next post I'll provide brief bios of each of the artists.

Meanwhile, here is an image of the beginnings of Alpha Auer's installation at 1600 meters:

It features a "custom" sky which the visitors must set manually at the moment. I'm checking into the Windlight settings for various viewers to see if I can figure out how to set different skies in the same parcel, but at various altitudes.

Oberon #3

Yesterday, I met with Alpha Auer, the second of the three artists who will realize versions of my (very abstract) concept. Alpha lives in Istanbul and has been a very active resident of the metaverse (in many of its forms) for years. You can visit her build at 1600 meters.

I expect the third artist, Eupalinos Ugajin, to begin work at the end of this week. You will be able to view his work at 2100 meters.

Just to remind you, the end result of this project will be four unique artistic versions of the same concept.

My own version, which you can see at 350 meters, is taking shape. Here is an image of its initial phase.

In this image, you can see the entrance and the 9 modules that comprise the work so far. The working title is "9 Rooms." Each room is similar, and yet ... different. The differences are subtly visual, and, in a more pronounced way, auditory. Each room has two doors. One leads to the next room, the other leads back to this beginning point. Here's an image of room 1:

Each door has its own sound, and selecting the correct door will depend on your ability to decode my little scheme. Until you do, you may find yourself starting over at room 1 many times! You can't hear the sounds yet, but you will when you visit the space "in person."

Oberon No. 2

When I initially conceived of this project, I intended not to build anything myself, but simply to curate the guest artists, act as an advisor and technical (i.e. scripting) assistant during their building process, and to then stand back and watch it all happen.

Well, as it turns out, I can't resist a good challenge. So I began working on my version of this concept at 350 meters. Meanwhile Maya Paris has begun building at 1000 meters. Alpha Auer and Eupalinos Ugajin have yet to start, but I expect they will begin soon. Please feel free to visit and poke around to see how the various builds develop between now and the end of the year.

Note to myself: keep a close watch on the prim count!

Oberon No. 1

Hello everyone. I thank you for the opportunity to participate in the Yoshikaze Up-In-The-Air residency program, and for the chance to post on this blog!

Oberon's "person" lives in New York City and is, sadly, no longer a practicing artist. In Second Life, my usual art practice has been moving physical objects through space, or within a defined space, all interacting with each other and in response to visiting avatars. You can read my bio in Goodwind's post below.

For this residency, I have decided to try something completely different. I have asked three artists each to do their own unique version of a concept that I introduce to them. Namely, that they construct a piece with a starting point and an ending point, and that the only way to progress to the end is by hearing and responding to sounds. Sounds alone ... no visual cues at all. I'm not sure that idea alone is so interesting. But I think it will be fascinating to see how three very different artists solve this particular "problem." I'm hoping that the experience might even be enlightening. But that's for you all to judge ...

I'll try to post here regularly during the course of the residency. I don't think we'll get started actually building anything for a couple more weeks. So if you come to visit, don't expect to see anything for a while.

O.O

Oberon Onmura - Yoshikaze's Next Artist-In-Residence

Yoshikaze is very pleased to have Oberon Onmura as our next artist-in-residence.  His residency starts on 15 October and extends to 31 December.  We look forward to the wonderful work he will be doing at our Yoshikaze space.

[Project Description]

For the past several years, I have been occupied with designing and creating huge, sim-sized installations. These works share in common my interests in Second Life physics, order and disorder, and interactive automated systems. The results have been large visual spectacles best experienced over several long visits. (At this point I want to acknowledge the Linden Arts Endowment for kindly granting me the personal use of an entire simulator for nearly one year.)

Looking forward, it is time for me to refocus my efforts on other aspects of the Second Life environment. For the Yoshikaze Residency I want to explore a much simpler idea - that of using sound alone as the material for creation. Specifically, to use sound cues in a stereo field, with no visual elements, to guide avatars from some starting point toward a final goal.

Sound in Second Life is fairly rudimentary. In contrast to the powerful 3D modeling tools readily accessible by pressing the ctrl-3 keys in the client/viewer, the SL client provides no sound creation or modification tools. The only inherent sounds are wind noise, mouse-button clicks, a teleportation sound effect, and physical object collisions. All other sounds must be uploaded as 10-second .wav files, or must be streamed in on various available media channels. Furthermore, the scripting language offers few sound functions, and those involve only various ways to play a sound file or set the URL of a stream.

These limitations present a wonderful challenge in creating a rich soundscape as the basis for creating art in SL. I have asked three artists, all known for their interesting use of sound in their work, to each create their unique version of this concept. I am hoping that each artist, in offering his/her unique solution to this challenge, will expand the possibilities for using sounds as creative material in SL. My role will be curator, mentor, scripting advisor, and major domo.

The artists who have agreed to participate in this project are Maya Paris from the UK, Eupalinos Ugajin from France, and Alpha Auer, from Turkey, living in London.

[Bio]

Oberon Onmura has been making art in Second Life for over four years. In that time, his unique approach to exploring the capabilities of physical objects has attracted international attention of blog sites, Second Life and “real life” galleries and publications.

Oberon cites as his primary influences American minimalist art of the 1960s and 70s for its precision of form, Stephen Wolfram’s “A New Kind of Science” for its analysis of complex systems, and Indian classical music for its manifestation of unseen physical reality in art. He has recently become interested in the use of scripted agents (i.e. bots) as art making material.

Oberon's "real life" person lives and works in New York City.

Recent and current shows

Recipient - Linden Endowment for the Arts Artist-in-Residency Land grant (twice) 2011-2012
Group show - "Further Along the Path", May, 2012  (Bryn Oh, Curator)
Solo show - Linden Arts Endowment Land Grant - "15k*30m*30d". February, 2012.
Solo show - Linden Arts Endowment Land Grant - "Wave Fields". December, 2011.
Group show - Museum of Hyperformalism (multiple works), October - December, 2011 (Dancoyote Antonelli, curator)
Group show - Pirats Omega Art Gallery ("The Chasm"), October, 2011 (Merlina Rokoko, curator)
Collaborating artist (with Eupalinos Ugajin) "Chutes d'Images", Cariacou sim, July, 2011
Invited artist,  "SynchroniCITY", AIRE Ville Spatial (Ecologia sim), July, 2011 (Marc Moana, curator)
Participating artist, "Light & Gravity", Cearleon, July, 2011 (Pixels Sideways,Sunseeker Miklos, curators)
Invited artist, Split Screen installation space, April, 2011 (Davidni Shostakovitch, curator)
Winner, first prize ("Chroma (Loom)"), UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, January 2011
Featured artist, INNOVATION FESTIVAL !D.A.! Digital Art - Museo del Metaverso (SL)/ Academy of Fine Arts Macerata (Italy) - Roxelo Babenco, Curator
Winner, first prize ("Transition Zone"), Gogbot Cyberarts Festival, The Netherlands (September, 2010)
Invitation exhibit - “Transition Zone” - Two Fish (Cariacou sim) curated by Rose Borchovski
Solo show - Fruit Island Arts ("Intersectors") - Lizzo Dreamscape, Curator
Group show - Invisible Museum of Post-Contemporary Art ("Plaza") - Rod Mandel, Curator
Group performance - Pirats "Arts Kahos"  Bourbon sim (Merlina Rokocoko, Newbab Zsigmond, Curators)
Group show (with Misprint Thursday) Pirats Omega Arts (Merlina Rokocoko, Curator)
Solo show - "Storm Cells" Cetus sim (Zachh Cale, Curator)
Solo show - "Light Traffic" Deutsche Info Welt (Asmina Duranjaya, Curator)
Group show - Erato of Caerleon Sim - "The Pool" -(Sabrinaa Nightfire, Curator)
Solo show - "Four Galaxies' - Lennox Hills sim (Zachh Cale, Curator)
Mixed realities performance collaboration with Diogenes Wylder (Watermill Center, NY) April, 2009

[Links to Oberon's Previous Works]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberon_onmura/sets/72157629421812551/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberon_onmura/sets/72157627169407386/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberon_onmura/sets/72157622242213714/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberon_onmura/6496564965/in/photostream

https://vimeo.com/15389093
https://vimeo.com/30389215