My retrospective Nature - a look back at my three years of working in virtual space - opened on December 11, 2009 on Odyssey Contemporary Art and Performance Simulator. The show is a combination of installation, photo documentation, sound and video work and it runs until March 2010 on Odyssey in Second Life.
This is an experimental machinima exploring some new ideas I am working with concerning culture and commodity. This video is an excerpt from a solo performance/installation that took place at Eastern Edge Art Gallery, St. John's and on Odyssey Island, Second Life - presented as part of the Eastern Edge Art Marathon, August 2009.
This is Distorted is an ongoing multi-media series by Liz Solo, Sherri Levesque, Steve Abbott, Glenn Tizzard, Mike Kean and Anthony Brenton. The first episodes took place September 25 and 26th, 2009 live at Distortion. Photographer Jai Me - who also acted as volunteer projectionist for the two live performances - snapped some great pics from the booth.
At the beginning of the show, feeling insecure about being in front of so many people, the troupe covered the audience in sheets. We gave them flashlights and asked them to document what happened underneath the sheet with cell phone cameras.
Here Liz Solo, Steve Abbott, Sherri Levesque and Newf, the baby harp seal, work on a scene from "The Great Newfoundland Play".
Newf, the baby harp seal, delivers his premiere stand-up performance, commenting on the clubbing scene in the city, and, among other subjects, his conspiracy theory that the weed shortage on George Street is directly related to Danny Williams' hoarding problem.
Sherri delivering an hilarious stand-up routine on the trials of being single and her unconventional solutions.
Liz, Steve and Mike rocking out at the end with "Evil Drunks" by Dogmeat BBQ while Sherri rocks out with hula hoop.
Pictured above - Lizsolo inside the Crypt as Tut's Mummy Zombie with Fau Ferdinand and Tran Spire also as mummies. The next picture is lizsolo as Tron, Guardian of the Crypt. Images taken in performance on Friday October 9, 2009. THE CRYPT was performed simultaneously live at the Eyebeam Center in NY, New York and at the Eyebeam sim in Second Life as part of Eyebeam's Second Life Performance Night.
Explorers discovered the crypt deep inside of Second Life - a crypt filled with artifacts! As Tron it was my role to protect the sacred treasures from plunder. After a fierce battle with Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider and other explorers I/Tron was defeated.
Pictured below - Man Michinaga as Tomb Raider taking over the crypt and Bibbe Oh as a Zombified explorer.
After the performance we met up on the roof of the temple to dance and to celebrate the release of our second DVD - Avvie Road. Find out more on the Second Front Homepage.
This video was created for the gallery presentation /hug opened last month at the Laguna Art Museum. This installation, a part of the show WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon - runs until October 11, 2009. The video was shot and edited by me, with script by Thomas Asmuth and featuring appearances by many /hug members.
about /hug /hug is a project of The Third Faction Collective. The Third Faction is an affiliation of geographically dispersed entities with a collective interest in exposing binary systems in synthetic environments via in-world performances, the collective operates simultaneously across various platforms including World of Warcraft and Second Life.
Third Faction members question the politics, allegiances, and narrative conventions of Synthetic Worlds. the cross-factional collective officially formed in World of Warcraft on valentine’s day 2008 in a self-declared temporary autonomous zone. see also www.thirdfaction.org
about /hug installation: /hug” [ or slashhug] is a Third Faction project which has established a non governmental aid organization in World of Warcraft. This exhibit is a mixed reality installation that demonstrates the work of the /hug collective and is inspired in part by the Red Cross. This installation encourages viewer interaction in carrying out Non Governmental Organization of Azeroth missions via hands-on participation.
The picture below was taken remotely by Sliz (my WoW avvie), participating in the opening live from St. John's, Newfoundland via World of Warcraft and ustream, along with Bowwtoxx, coming from Australia, and other /huggers present both inside of World of Warcraft and live at the Laguna Art Museum. The installtion, which features demonstrations of missions and video and printed information on the work of /hug, is part of the WoW Emergent Media Phenomenon show, currently installed at Laguna Art Museum, curated by Grace Kook-Anderson. See more images from the project on the /Hug Flickr Page
This wicked photo is by Kelowna based photographer (and great guy) Paul Lewenden. (Paul was also indispensable during the technical set-up of the Alternator installation - see next post)
So this is Liz Solo playing for bunny and Silverado Socrates with horsehead - in a limo, of course.
My trip to Kelowna was totally great. Jen Pickering - gallery director of the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art- was a wonderful host and arranged many exciting outings and workshops during my stay out West. One of the events was a road trip, in a limo, through the mountains and deserts of the Okanagan. A video of this trip - "Great Friday" - is coming soon from the Alternator folks. Can't wait. I am halfway through writing a song called "Kelowna Rocks" and thinking about another new song called "Bunny in a Limo".
These photos are from the performance of "Live Home Alien Birth" that took place at the Alternator Centre for the Contemporary Arts in Kelowna B.C. in April 2009. Performance by Second Front and the Avatar Orchestra metaverse. Much more documentation from this project coming soon. These photos by the amazing Bibbe Hansen of the Second Front
Caged and suspended , Fau Ferdinand & Lizsolo Mathilde are looking for something most people take for granted ..
Second Front have just released a new machinima made by Osprey Therian. The video was conceived by Fau Ferdinand with Bibbe Oh. Losing It was performed at RMIT Creative Media in Second Life by Fau Ferdinand and lizsolo Mathilde. Sound by Zeb Vindaloo, a.k.a. Robert Gilks. Special thanks to Pyewacket Kazyanenko.
More on the avatar body. My avatar has been pregnant. Several times. She has given birth to many creatures but in these images she is nursing her tiny avatar baby on Odyssey Island in Second Life. This theme of birth is both a part of the Machine I Am Project as well as being explored in depth in my upcoming piece "Live Home Alien Birth" - with Second Front. Live Home Alien Birth is a Second Life based performance and Gallery Installation. It is programmed at Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art - in Kelowna, B.C. - a joint show with Networker Mez (a.k.a.) Mary Ann Breeze of Ars Virtua for April of 2009. I am working on a new virtual instrument and composition for the Birth Piece with Avatar Orchestra Metaverse.
I have been playing in Photoshop again, quite fascinated now with manipulating images from Second Life. Am looking into making prints in the coming months. Here are some experimental images taken while hanging out last night with Fau Ferdinand. I find the inner structures of the avatar body very interesting.
The following images are from the upcoming "Machine I Am" release. This little blue fairy - my main avvie in SL - plays an important role. Here she is dancing at the Last Art Center in a scene from the piece.
Here are some images I created for a group show curated last summer by the amazing Jo Cook. The show took place at Lucky's Gallery in Vancouver. These images document the many divination techniques I used in virtual space in efforts to make contact with the dead. The video piece below, "neila ni" was also a part of this show.
The work from the show has been published in an artist's book - here is the description from the publisher's page at Perro Verlag - Books by Artists
"Documents of Psychic Amateurs is the first volume in a quarterly publication dedicated to the dissemination of research by both faculty and students at the Institute for the Science of Identity. Volume 1 no.1, 2008, is 58 pages, 8.5” x 11”, perfect bound with 24 full colour pages and 34 black and white pages printed on various coloured papers. The first issue represents the work of 20 artists: Aby W. Blake, Mark Connery, Jo Cook, Mily Goodden, Claudine Hubert, Sally Ireland, Doug Jarvis, Malena Kirlianova, Chris Lloyd, Ross Angus Macaulay, Billy Mavreas, Michael McCormack, Tammy McGrath, Wesley Mulvin, Florentine Perro, Sally Rees, Liz Solo, Julie Voyce, Matt Warren and Frances Zorn. Published on the ocassion of the exhibition, International Psychic Amateurs Work/Study (iPAWS) at Lucky’s Gallery in Vancouver, Canada. Printed in a limited edition of 50 numbered copies. Perro Verlag, Vancouver."
Video by Liz Solo and Teri Snelgrove. Song from my "alien" CD release.
I have been working in Photoshop with images captured in Second Life and am in the process of creating a full series themed around the Avatar Body. Here are a few early experiments.
