Designing Worlds discovers that everything is beautiful at Ballet Pixelle

Now available on the web – our Christmas visit to Ballet Pixelle with extracts from their production of The Nut (based on The Nutcracker).

We talk to Inarra Saarinen, Artistic Director ofBallet Pixelle, Vivienne Darcy, Ballet Mistress and Company Coordinator and to members of the company as we learn about the challenges and triumphs of creating a virtual ballet company with dancers from all over the world – and then face the challenges of staging amazing ballets in a virtual world.

Ballet Pixelle – the Theatre

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Designing Worlds pays a visit to Ballet Pixelle’s Christmas production of The Nut

Ballet Pixelle – the Theatre

Join us at 2pm SLT today, Monday 17th December, for the last show in our current season of Designing Worlds at our studio in Garden of Dreams when we’ll be visitng Ballet Pixelle to learn about how they have created a virtual world ballet company in Second Life – and all about their Christmas production.

The Nut is based on The Nutcracker ballet, with music by Tchaikovsky, and is a standard part of Ballet Pixelle’s repertory – but each year something new is added – and this year is no exception!

Poster for The Nut

We talk to Inarra Saarinen, Artistic Director of Ballet Pixelle, Vivienne Darcy, Ballet Mistress and Company Coordinator and to members of the company as we learn about the challenges and triumphs of staging amazing ballets in a virtual world.

It makes for a fascinating show – so make sure that you don’t miss it! Do come and join us at 2pm!

And find out why Saffia is dressed as a Christmas Tree!

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on http://treet.tv/live – where you can now chat with other audience members and even some of the participants during the show – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds – our very own version of the iPlayer!

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Recording the Ephemeral

Dresden Art Museum

Yesterday, at the showing of the latest edition of Designing Worlds, where we explored Of Sound Mind, the new LEA region created by Lorin Tone and Friends, Lorin (I think) said to me, “You record the ephemeral.”

That’s very true. Designing Worlds, over the near five years of its existence has built up a really rich archive of Second Life and – to a lesser extent – other virtual worlds.  Today’s jigsaw is an example of that – the Dresden Art Gallery.  This was a loving and exact re-creation of the real world art gallery, with proportions and locations meticulously copied. Travelling through it not only showed you the art but gave you an idea of the dimensions and shape of the rooms.  It was the next best thing to visiting the real world gallery and, interesting, the average avatar spent slightly longer exploring it than real world visitors spent in the Museum.

But it is gone now, and lives on in our memories, in our photographs, and in an episode of Designing Worlds.

Another ephemeral location we recorded, as I mentioned in a post yesterday, was Laurel Arts Isle.  That closed probably no more than a month after we visited it.  And yet, that film stands as a memorial to not only the place but to the person who was its inspiration and owner – Circe Broom.

“You record the ephemeral.”

Sadly, we do.

Let’s do a jigsaw.

Dresden Art Museum

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Join the Christmas Conversations with Prim Perfect!

Prim Perfect at the Christmas Expo 2011 – designed and photographedby Eliza Wierwright

Following the success of our discussion / interview sessions at last year’s Christmas Expo – and at the Home and Garden Expo and SL9B, we are planning a further series at the 2012 Christmas Expo.

Eliza Wierwright is building us a pavilion in the tradition of the beautiful and very snug dacha that she created for us in 2011, straight out of an enchanting Russian fairytale, and we’ll be hosting as many sessions as possible!

Prim Perfect at the Christmas Expo 2011 – designed by Eliza Wierwright

We’re planning to host events at 3pm every day.  If you would really LOVE to give a presentation, but can’t make that time, contact us and we will see if we can fit you in.

We are happy to host talks, presentations, interviews, question and answer sessions.  It’s an opportunity for designers to share ideas, for people to meet their favourite creators, for communities to come together and talk about their culture and ideas.  We’re very open to hosting what YOU want to tell us about!

If you would like to be a part of our programme at the Expo, please complete this form with your topic and preferred dates and times. We will try to fit in as many people as we can!

Prim Perfect at the Christmas Expo 2011 – designed and photographed by Eliza Wierwright

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Celebrate Burn 2 with Designing Worlds!

You can now see Designing Worlds’ celebration of the fabulous Burn2 in Second Life on the web!

Last month we took our cameras to the amazing Burn2, the annual art festival which is, of course, inspired by the Burning Man Festival, held annually in the Nevada desert – and this show is the outcome of what we found there!

The Man at Burn2 – photograph by Wildstar Beaumont

We travel from the entrance (based on the real life entrance in the Black Rock desert) to visit the Burning Man, the temple – and some of the stunning installations on display – including something very green to find in a desert!

The theme was fertility … and we think you’ll be fascinated to see what the various artists have made of that!

One of the amazing stages at Burn2 – photograph by Wildstar Beaumont

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: A Rusted Development

A Rusted Development

Today’s jigsaw comes from a new art exhibit, launching at 2pm today, Saturday 122th May on the Linden Endowment for the Arts sims. Entitled A Rusted Development, it is built by Haveit Neox and features work by Rose Borchovski, Artistide Despres, Claudia222 Jewell, Bryn Oh, Scottius Polke, Ziki Questi, PJ Trenton, Blue Tsuki, Stephen Venkman, Eliza Wierwight, and Trill Zapatero. It’s curated by Rowan Derryth, author of the Ekphrasis column on this blog, and Prim Perfect writer!

Rowan will be writing more about this amazing exhibit – and giving details of the location and opening – very soon!

A Rusted Development, photographed by Rowan Derryth

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

Read Full Post »