Speak Your Mind

Every artist needs to hear feedback from people about her work to see different perspectives on the work. I encourage you to leave comments, ideas and questions on the blog.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Museum of Hyperformalism at Pirats Art Network




The Museum of Hyperformalism, hosted by PiRats Arts Management is proud to present
Josina Burgess, Werner Kurosawa and Juria Yoshikawa

Opening reception:
1PM SLT . 22h00 Fr, 8PM Utc
Friday, November 6, 2009

Where:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/PiRats%20Art%20Network/128/124/29

Curator's Statement:

Combining these particular artists together is to form a "chord", a resonant combination of the projects of each of these individual artists to form an impression of three unique branches of Hyperformalist expression in the MMO of SL.

Each of these installations represents a singular view of formalist abstraction in the virtual hypermedium. The collection of works share both site specificity and dialogic characteristics as expressed in the unique conditions of the virtual space. In the material space, contemporary site specificity has morphed from a critique of the segregated gallery and museum space to emphasis on a conceptual location or vector. Virtual site specificity has unique characteristics in its relationship to the traditional understanding of time and space. The virtual condition compresses time so that all locations are one click away and therefore it takes almost no time to go from virtual location to location. Time as a factor in transit from experience to experience has been folded into space and rendered moot.

The works in this exhibition are dialogic in that they encourage a dialog with the visitor, but an abstract dialog unlike human language, foregrounding the disembodied viewers' relationship to the virtual condition. This dialog is brought about by the literal involvement of the visitor who is required to be an active participant in the work to experience it. The participant is necessary to complete the works and all the works in this exhibition are deeply centered on the involvement of the visitor. And while the works can be viewed passively from a single point perspective as in cinema, this is only a fraction of their intended potential, which is defined by the involvement of the viewer.

The resulting dialog is of a distinctly non-anthropocentric quality. The virtual artifacts in this exhibition speak to the alien conditions outside of the physical gravity world and offer another set of experiences that enter the mind of the viewer from a non-verbal and being level entry point. While this work is all in relationship to the viewer, it is not about the viewer, but about a sense of wonder possible only in this continuum.

The Artists:

Josina Burgess is Dutch born jazz vocalist, fashion designer, painter and virtual theatrical director. Her work in this exhibition makes me think of how the microscopic is often similar to the macroscopic. The volumes in her exhibition are deeply textural abstract assemblies that are constantly in motion seemingly transferring energies from globular cluster to globular cluster. These could be new galaxies forming or molecules in the process of transmutation. Strangely enough, since Josina is a musician, her offering in this show is silent, but each assembly sings a unique visual and spacial music of its own. Each grouping establishing a new visual syntax distinct from the others, each soothing, sublime and ineffable.

Werner Kurosawa is Belgian born architect and fine artist known for work with technology inside and outside of the virtual world. Werner's assemblies are angular and crystalline, chaotically animated, monochromatic platonic solids. There are two main works in this exhibition, the first of which is a swarm of chrome solids that is controlled through a series of clickable objects on the observation deck of the exhibition. These user interface items invite the visitor to choose the frequency and dynamism of the swarming objects which wiggle and interweave in wondrous and seemingly random algorithmic patterns and while doing so produce sounds that seem to be the audio equivalent of the objects in space. Other works invite the viewer to sit on them and drag the viewers camera through a dizzying series of gyrations through the deliberately darkened exhibition area.

Juria Yoshikawa is an American born musician, fine artist and commercial art director, living in Japan. Juria's work in this exhibition is about the use of light and a riot of highly saturated colors and detailed graphic textures. Like Josina, Juria's work consists of coherent groupings of animated textured abstractions that are little universes unto themselves. Instead of darkening the whole exhibit space like Werner, Juria creates darkened spherical, tubular enclosures that barely contain the light shows within but present the visitor with an opportunity to walk through the work in a pre-determined way mediated by geometry. The work here also has an audio dimension, triggered by the presence of the avatar small bits of music and utterances bring this work closest to the borderline of anthropocentrism. The effect of these kinds of sound samples triggered by the visitor walking through, creates a unique irreproducible accompaniment for each visit.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Frolicking in Chakryn Forest


Video of Cornucopia Blender

Artist Comment:
I was invited to come exhibit several of my light and sound installations by Bettina Tizzy in the phenomenol, mysterious Chakryn Forest. Wandering around the dark corners of the island, I discovered pools, lagoons, mountains and glades to rezz my new and old artworks in settings like no other. This has been especially exciting as well as challenging as I am not used to installing in settings that already have such phenomological qualities as Chakryn Forest. For me creating art pieces that invite users to enter in and experience a "here and now" state is key and this forest already functions on this level. I feel this context sharpens and enhances the work. I hope visitors enjoy it as much as I did installing in the forest.


GUIDE TO THE ARTWORK
============================


"Liquid Light"

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chakryn/218/90/24/

On a grandiose scale, "Liquid Light" hovers over a lagoon on the far side of Chakryn Forest. Towers of rippling white light solidify and then melt away. Burning through and fusing with the ripples are yellow forms reminscent of the heat of the sun. An avatar flies into this passage of liquid light and she herself blends with the layers of thawing and reconstituting elements. Is this simulacra? If it is, it's linked to something more primal, sense based, an early memory of warm light on water.



"Drips & Drops"

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chakryn/22/22/43/
A whirling durvish of megaprim swirly forms and bubbles mixing in an ambient abstract space. Created to inspire fun and joy, come float in this sky painting and be a part of the composition. Positioned on a remote site of the Chakryn Forest, hovering a little rock island. The sounds were inspired by my 9 year old son's cello playing.


"Cornucopia Blender"
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chakryn/188/133/31/
As the name suggests, it's as if the artist's palette of light and color have been thrown into a giant blender turning this dark part of the forest into a cornucopia of organic sensation. Clearly not made to blend into the forest, this light installation overwhelms the senses, dilating one's pupils and assaulting your ears.


"manifestations of E"
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chakryn/59/118/52/
an unhaiku list...
multiplied
formula
cello
mass
1932
C
2
light
albert
vice versa
unfamiliar
velocity
equivalent
mind
E


The Enchantress
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chakryn/110/192/21/
She waits for you. A shining light of geometry. A vessel containing her song to you. She guards the pool not far from the naked sleeper. Rest inside her belly of the Enchantress.


Jelly Dahlia
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chakryn/186/203/21/
One of my older sculptures brought back to life for Chakra. This is not just another biological simulacra but an alien invention with undulating petals. The scale of this piece invites a visit from the top where you should pay attention to the flower blooming in the dark. A soft piece with the sounds of atmospheric chimes.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

transformation of E

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Liquid Light (Revival)



This was an installation made by myself on 9/2007 at the Princeton University in collaboration with composer and musician AldoManutio Abruzzo. More about this on my previous blog here.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Broken Rainbow Cloudy Night



I originally wrote this post for the Netfilmmakers.dk blog in which this machinima is being shown. The actual machinima is online here.


Getting Started

Broken Rainbow Cloudy Night took place in the night sky of Second Life 300 meters above the Brooklyn Is Watching sim in mid 2008. As the name suggests, it was a cloudy night and I purposely set up the installation at the level in the sky where the clouds form the thickest. I had become curious about what kind of space and visual experience could be possible using lines at 90 degrees alternating in color and translucency. As with many of my virtual works, I wanted an experience where patterns both visual and audio revealed themselves as the avatar viewer moved (in this case flew) through the work. Broken Rainbow was created incrementally, as it developed I layered new 3D shapes (prims), scripts that determined motion and random color, the outer contained pattern, animation and interactive soundscape. While I have never been much of a painter, I believe this piece developed much like an abstract painting in multiple x,y,z planes.

Use of Color and Light
I was trying to push the intensity of color and glowing light to almost uncomfortable levels using primary colors on a black night sky. And by using a native Second Life glow effect compounded by transparency, I wanted to at times overwhelm the viewer and at others fade out to negative space. One surprise was the way the layers of zig-zag patterns acidly burned through each, largely depending on how the viewer positioned herself. I was interested in how color and light could alternate between solid and transparent, flattening the viewing plane and then dropping away to reveal space beyond.

The Machinima
Unlike most of my works in Second Life which I have copy of backed up in my avatar's inventory, due to an unfortunate event this video is all that remains of the piece. So in a way, the work only exists today in a machinima state. With the video, I intended to place the viewer in the position of my avatar to replicate as much as possible the experience of being present within the light installation. This was done by moving through the piece and capturing the immersive quality of the experience, viewing the forms and light affects in a variety of positions, and triggering the audio as a soundscape effected by the avatar's motion. It was important for this video to show the avatar's body in relation to the art work to understand the ephemeral yet architectural quality of the piece. In other machinima I have made I chose not to show the avatar in reference to the piece to take a more filmic approach. However, this video was intended to show the interaction of the avatar in time and space rather be a disembodied camera. I find this more compelling as it focuses us on the idea of an alternate space (what DC Spensley has dubbed hyperformalism) that borrows little from real life yet is still in relation to a simulated physical being and our interactions in the environment. In this way, it stretches the idea of the abstract. More important to me, the immersiveness makes us aware of ourselves in a situation, having an experience and bringing our own interpretations to the piece.

On Painting, Film and Space
As both the creator and spectator of Broken Rainbow, I often felt that I was creating a new kind of painting that had the potential of taking on any number of compositions. Then it occurred to me that the kinetic quality bordered on filmmaking, creating frame upon frame of continuous, non-narrative experience. Yet precursor to both the 2D painterly quality and the machinima was the installation and this notion that this was a virtual space that one could explore and be present inside. I believe one's perspective of the piece depends a great deal on each viewer's level of interaction and one's preconceptions of the piece. Because of these contradictions, showing the work as machinima raises questions about what we're looking at and how we think about art.

Friday, August 21, 2009

As Real As Un-Real Can Be

I originally wrote this for the Netfilmmakers blog about the Real-Un-Real exhibit I am a part of this coming weekend.

I should start off by saying that I don't really consider myself a filmmaker or a machinima maker. While I use video extensively in my work to capture a "point of view" on my installations and performance in Second Life (sl), I don't set out to make a film and certainly not to tell a story. I try to use my sl art as a medium with its own language, patterns, immersiveness and state of mind. I do this with as little reference from real life (rl) as possible (of course I break my rules from time to time). By using visuals, space, motion, sound and avatar interaction, I try to create a state of mind or situation that I wouldn't experience anywhere else, let alone a rl gallery or rl art genre. sl provides this unique opportunity that it would be a waste not to experiment with as much as can be done. Now that I have explained the virtual-native quality of my work, I should explain that it has become increasingly visual and experiential, something I would have been ashamed of in the early part of my rl art career as a conceptual artist when I cared more about the idea and the verbal, frowning on more visual artists as formalists (and recently "hyperformalists" in sl.) But the medium of a virtual world can play funny tricks on an artist and I've come to wholly embrace sensory art as a worthy experiment. Now let me try to answer Stine's questions in her previous post.

Why use the filmic language in Second Life?
As I started to say, I don't see my own machinima as machinima at all. But to say my videos are mere documentations of virtual work would be wrong too. In a strange way, they are akin to the original machinima made in early video games like Quake that documented the experiences of a player moving through levels of a game. But in place of a shoot 'em up fantasy, my videos show the avatar (an extension of the person himself) moving through an art piece either as an interaction or as a performance to enhance the environment. Simple photographic images cannot capture such a complete experience. At the same time, I was once accused by a fairly hardcore rl and sl performance artist (of the Burning Man variety) that a video of one of my performances Seeing Dots, Being Dots was overly dramatized and enhanced by the cinematography and interestingly it was created by another video artist Evo Szuyuan who I felt had taken it to another level completely and a very good collaboration. So I believe that filmic language in sl for me can be documentation, it can be an extension of sl and it can be it's very own thing that uses sl as a canvas.

Does Second Life provide less restrictions compared to the making of machinima in other 3D online-enviroments?
Probably the main way that sl reduces restrictions is the fact that the sl artist can create and extend the environment itself to not resemble a 3D rendered reality of real life at all nor the game itself. Possibly even more important is that sl has the critical mass of all the artist community working together, collaborating and even competing with one another. This can be clearly seen at the Brooklyn is Watching sim, a cross reality sl and rl gallery that has attracted some interesting collaborations in the past few years. If anything the openendedness or the lack of restrictions is what sl has going for it the most. Depending on what culture you're from, a lack of structure can actually present a challenge.

Is the making of “Machinima” another way of playing with identities and virtual relations?
Myself being a female Asian avatar named Juria Yoshikawa in sl certainly means to me that I get to play with identity quite a lot. What started out as an experiment of creating a virtual female artist to interact with the virtual art world and its community turned into a subtle lesson in gender issues and how that plays into making the work and communicating about the work. While most people know that there's a guy behind Juria, there's a general tendency to ignore the rl artist identity to focus on what the avatar is trying to do. So my relations with other avatars in sl is influenced by the persona of Juria. As Juria is actually an important part of the artwork itself, either in performance or installation creation as a performative action, how she looks, dresses and acts is very important to me and is reflected throughout my work.

Does the virtual body language give way to new interpretations of physical acting or is this a kind of digital puppetry?
As I started to talk about above, creating art in sl for me goes beyond roleplaying. An alter ego is formed that cannot be described as digital puppetry. The closest thing to describe it is you may have a slightly different identity with your parents than you do with your work mates. You are both of those people and there's nothing artificial about that. But in the virtual world and especially when you are engaged in art making amplifies identity. As those who use social media regular have some idea, your actions and tone of your communications allow you the freedom to explore a certain otherness. The virtual body takes that a step further and makes the virtual identity as real as real can be. In many ways, realer than many of my rl work relationships.

Broken Rainbow Cloudy NightAre soundtracks more important in machinimas compared to the use of these in “real” films?
In my work, music and sound is a key component. This is true both at the installation/sculpture stage and the video stage. In many machinima I've seen that follow a more narrative approach, the soundtrack is used almost the exact same way as it is in "real" films. I'd be lying if I said this was interesting to me. In the alternative narrative possibilities that this exhibit attempts to show, I believe sound should be seen as more a sensory component that adds another layer to the visual and interactive elements. In my video to be shown in this exhibition Broken Rainbow Cloudy Night, the sounds are actually random sound clips placed inside prims throughout the installation that gets triggered through the use of a sensor script when the avatar flies through them. This is obviously not a soundtrack then but an interactive experience that depends on the movement of the viewer. What you can hear in the video is that interaction and the layers of musical soundscape that comes from immersing oneself in the installation.

What kind of new narrative possibilities does this genre open up to?
I believe that rl art is often very institutionalized through function of the gallery and museum. Genres are recognized to try and explain the chaos of expression and artists may find themselves taking on a certain genre to more easily be understood. Of course this is a generalization but I think that virtual art so far is more about experimentation and less about focusing on what genre a piece may fall under. And for this reason the work I like evades words and follows little what is being done in the rl art world. New narrative possibilities? Probably the participatory nature of the narrative is the most important thing. You and your avatar become part of the "scene" in which the "story" is happening. From the perspective of machinima, this can mean seeing the avatar in the film as an extension of a rl person and putting yourself in her place. A fairly complex cross reality experience can occur from the viewer's perspective and the artist effectively using this "you're looking at me looking at me" can lead to interesting new possibilities of self-expression.

To get a sense of my aesthetic, I'd like to share with you this e-book my friends at the Diabolus Art collective put together about my work over the passed few years. Also, if you have a chance to access Second Life, go check out a collection of my work currently up at the Kennesaw University sim at this slurl: slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/29/129/35/

Friday, August 14, 2009

Amethyst Rumination Cube




slurl.com/secondlife/Impermanence/95/234/20/

Amethyst Rumination Cube is a condensed, mixed sensory piece I cooked up a while ago but never found the opportunity to share. Now, at the new BiW at the KU sim, I've dug it out and brought back to life as a space to meditate, socialize quietly, be inside and outside at the same moment.

See a slide show of more photos taken of this piece on Flickr here.

This work was an offshoot from another installation and machinima I made called Gnossienne Groggy Deep. View the video here: vimeo.com/1953611

Best viewed with sun on midnight and sound on. Follow the landmark to tp directly into the center of the Cube.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

My SL Artist CV

For the Real Un-Real show for Netfilmmakers in Copenhagen on August 23rd, I was asked to provide an artist CV. To put it together, it was interesting looking through 2 and half years worth of virtual art exhibitions. Have a look...

SL Artists CV of Lance Shields (rl) / Juria Yoshikawa (sl)

Monday, August 10, 2009

Real-Un-Real: Imagery from the Virtual


Netfilmmakers are hosting their 17th edition of new media artists and art talks Real-Un-Real around SL machinima and I was fortunate to be invited by curator and new media artist Sachiko Hayashi to be one of the 3 artists who will exhibit a machinima on the site and give an artist talk in Copenhagen on 8/23/2009. The other artists that I feel lucky to exhibit along side are long time net artist and author Alan Sondheim and the celebrated SL artist Gazira Babel. Alan and I will be present for art talks on 8/23.

"Real-Un-Real" exhibit in the words of the curator : “The purpose of this edition is to present “machinima,” a new genre which has been on its emergence as an established art medium. The three works presented here are created with avatars, and all the artists are well active in the virtual world Second Life that has attracted much attention from artists of various fields (architecture, music, visual, performance, etc). While the selected works take advantage of possibilities with virtual world imagery in various ways, the common denominator for this selection has been their focus on alternative narrative quality not confined to filmic story-telling.”

The "alternative narrative quality not confined to filmic storytelling" led Sachiko to choose my machinima and art piece Broken Rainbow Cloudy Night. This machinina can be seen on my Vimeo page here. I'm looking forward to sharing my work and exchanging ideas with Alan, Sachiko and local Danish new media art enthusiasts while in Copenhagen. I will also be posting on the Netfilmmakers blog soon next to Alan's post. I will also post more on my blog during the event in the coming weeks.

Netfilmmakers’ 17.edition:
"Real-Un-Real: Imagery from the Virtual"

Curator: Sachiko Hayashi

Presents works by:
- Alan Sondheim
- Gazira Babel
- Juria Yoshikawa (SL) / Lance Shields (RL)

Launch and artist talk:
Date: August 23rd 2009. Time: 13:00-16:00
Place: Medical Museion, Bredgade 62, DK-1260 Copenhagen K


About Netfilmmakers
Netfilmmakers.dk
is a non-commercial net gallery and netart and netvideo which exhibits a new edition every 3 months and is curated by guest curators - Danish and international. Every edition addresses a new theme which explores content and form to explore the net as a space of art. It is partially supported by the Danish Arts Council.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

transformation of E



While everyone else is off at BiW Best of Year 1, I set up this new work at the old BiW sim. Feels good to be back making art.

RL Fans of SL Art Look Like Paparazzi!


Photo: Jay Van Buren

At Jack the Pelican Presents in Brooklyn the RL opening of the BIW BEST OF YEAR ONE FEST occurred with crowds of enthusiastic viewers as seen in this photo. I find the Paparazzi quality of this photo amusing and telling that the work at Brooklyn is Watching is really turning heads. Part of this is owed to organizer/founder Jay Van Buren (pictured on left) and much to the 30 artists chosen in the 1st years best. I am happy to be a part of this crowd of talented artists. Encore!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

"Are You OK?" - A Mixed Reality Collaboration

In "Are You OK?" as part of the Brooklyn is Watching "Best of Year One Festival", I was invited to create a virtual environment for avatars to perform in and which would then become a mixed reality installation at the Jack the Pelican Presents gallery in Brooklyn NY. The av interactions with the immersive art would be projected in the rl gallery for rl visitors to experience the art from an av's perspective. Also creating work in SL is my good friend Oberon Onmura who invited me to join the event. I adapted my own work "The Wild West of My Watercolor Set" to make a winding walkthrough to allow an av (and the gallery visitors) to experience the work from different perspectives and levels of immersion.

Directed by Bianca Ahmadi and Juan Rubio
Jeff Ertz : Live Sound
Virtual Art: Oberon Onmura and Juria Yoshikawa

More about this can be found on the BiW blog.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Retrospective Book: CARP 1-6

A good sl friend of mine Velazquez Bonetto in Germany who runs a virtual art space and event called CARP put together this e-book of my work that spans two years. It's a really nice favor he's done for me and makes for a great record. Thanks Vela!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Photos: Memespelunk Revival Studio



Location in SL: slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/29/129/35/

Welcome to an adhoc attempt to recapture the fun and color of Memespelunk, the original studio sim of myself Juria Yoshikawa in 2007-2008.

Friday, April 24, 2009

In Boston Cyberarts Blog

In Boston Cyberarts Blog

http://bostoncyberartsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/im-not-here-by-juria-yoshikawa.html

Cyber-Flavor-Mashup at CounterpART Gallery

"Cyber-Flavor-Mashup"
April 26 - May 9 2008
Reception Sunday, April 26 5 - 8 pm
CounterpART Gallery

128 Merrimack St. 2nd Floor, Lowell, MA 01852
781-541-0470

A mixed reality mashup of immersive, 3D and 2D artworks created and inspired by the virtual world of Second Life for the 2009 Boston Cyberarts Festival. Featured artists, Misprint Thursday, Juria Yoshikawa, Bella Renfold, Filthy Fluno, Esch Snoats, Lily and Honglei, and Anna Shapiro will show how they are utilizing virtual worlds to create new artforms and engage new audiences. Participants at the gallery will have the opportunity to interact with both real and virtual art happenings and artworks for the festival.

Live cybersound artists and musician "Active" from Brooklyn NYC will be performing throughout the evening, as well as SL musicians via the gallery’s multimedia sound system. The island/art community of Artropolis, Boston Cyberarts Festival's inworld portal to the virtual exhibition, will also be on display throughout the evening.

Gallery website
About the exhibition in Boston Cyber Arts
Location in Second Life

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Art that Functions on Many Levels

I'm Not Here (rerezzed) - Snapshot

My virtual installation "I'm Not Here" is about to officially open at RL venue CounterpART Gallery which is a part of Boston Cyber Arts Festival starting April 24. I've taken countless images in the two light space-sculptures since I first rezzed it two years ago. This is a new shot taken in the rerez at Kennesaw State University sim located here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/80/216/24/ One of the ideas of this installation is that the art functions on many levels: virtual installation and space, 2D photos taken within the spaces and shown on the wall panels in SL and more recently starting in two days actual prints of the images shown in the RL gallery in Lowell, MA. If people buy some of the prints, they will be hung on their home or office walls and this will be another level. All of these are experiences in themselves and raise such questions as what is here and now, what is art, what is this experience I'm having right now?

Monday, April 13, 2009

Lucky Shot from Scratchy Night

Scratchy Night (2009)

One of my favorite shots taken inside Scratchy Night this morning. This virtual space is like a machine for making abstract expressionist images. But the piece in full motion is the best. http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/59/110/35/

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Scratchy Night Re-rezzed at Memespelunk Revival

As part of Memespelunk Revival, I've brought Scratchy Night back to life.
Scratchy Night portrays a nocturnal world alight with star-shaped scratches, all akilter. An installation inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, Elros Tuominen and my 9 y.o. son. One eared Van Gogh for his Starry Night (always worth a look.) The jolly basque Elros for his impressive "inside road to ovetum" ( a tip of the hat.) And my struggling artist kid for his invention of scratch through black and color crayon drawings (clever lad.) Also as always sounds so turn up your volume. Music was partially sampled from the band Animal Collective.

To view this large immersive space: fly up into the sphere and move around within. Be sure to have your volume turned on to enjoy the ambient sound. Collective.

Location in SL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/59/110/35/

Video collection now at Memespelunk

Memespelunk Revival Studio now has a selection of my SL art videos that load in a video viewer to watch by clicking "video menu". While these videos can be seen on my account of Vimeo, I thought it would be cool to let visitors of the sim see a selection of past works on video while in-world. This of course doesn't replace experiencing the actually immersive experience but gives an idea of the variety of work I have done. Also, the viewer has a collection of photos accessed by clicking the "web controls" title. There are even more videos linked to the web by clicking the purple ball at the top right. The video viewer was custom made by Beau Markova (SL name) who is currently building an interesting new art and culture sim called Humanitas Nova. He has invited me to set up a few pieces at his sim and will also be showing my videos there. Thanks to Beau, I have a richer experience on exhibit at Memespelunk in April and May. I also should thank Evo Szuyuan for doing the videography for many of these videos. She did a great job on Being Spots, Seeing Spots.

Video collection at Memespelunk

Friday, April 10, 2009

Artwork Reviewed on Rezzable.com

SL advocate and expert Thinkerer Melville just posted a really nice blog post on my work at Memespelunk Revival on the site Rezzable.com. I appreciate his comment that the work is "immersive". Thanks Thinkerer!!!

http://rezzable.com/blog/thinkerer-melville/juria-yoshikawa-immersive-art

Rezzable.com blog post on my work

Thursday, April 9, 2009

First Time to Sell SL Art in RL!

Gallery Mockup - Prints for RL Gallery

Photo Grid - I'm Not Here

I'll be showing and selling my SL art in real life for the first time during the Boston Cyber Arts Festival at CounterpART Gallery. My SL installation "I'm Not Here" will be featured in Boston Cyber Arts, shown as a SL-RL link up in the gallery allowing viewers to experience it in SL. The images being sold are of the same work.

CounterpART Gallery is run by Jeff Lipsky (Filthy Fluno in SL). If you're near Boston, come check out the show April 23 to May 10.

Why not buy a print and be one of the first people to own a real life Juria Yoshikawa artwork?

Also here's a news release from Boston Cyber Arts with mention of my work.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Memespelunk Revival Studio - Poster

Memespelunk Revival Poster

Location in SL: slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/29/129/35/

Poster announcing my retrospective of SL art for 2007-2009. Six of the artworks featured are shown in the poster. The poster is being give out to friends to post on their own land.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Seeing Spots, Being Dots (Dance of Mayhem Plus Homogeneity)

This is a performance that took place in SL and was shown live in Berlin on Feb. 15, 2009:



Seeing Spots, Being Dots (Dance of Mayhem Plus Homogeneity)

Best quality video here.

Visual Art - Juria Yoshikawa (Lance Shields)
Sound - Nnoiz Papp (Tobias Becker)
Videography - Evo Szuyuan (Brigit Lichtenegger)

Juria Yoshikawa: Kinetic environment and participatory performance
Nnoiz Papp: Musical composition and musical performance
Olga Wunderlich: Curator in rl and sl

In SL: 02/15/2008, part of the CARP3 Show, Diabolus Art Space
In RL: 02/15/2008, a part of the Directors Lounge Festival in Berlin, Scala in Friedrichstr

Let us suppose that we’re all just a temporary mishmash of dots on a screen. All of our energy, personality and uniqueness is just a collection of bouncing color dots creating seemingly meaningful patterns we call a virtual world. Zoom in and you are a sea of dots with no form. Zoom back and you’re just a spot on the map.

In celebration of all of our dottiness and spottiness, virtual installation artist Juria Yoshikawa joined up with composer-artist Nnoiz Papp to perform “Seeing Spots, Being Dots” at Diabolus Island as part of the art show CARP3. The performance was simultaneously shown at at the Scala in Friedrichstr. 112A as a part of the Directors Lounge Festival in Berlin.

Participation welcome:
The “dance” was open to all attendees of the virtual event. People received a dot costume and large kinetic sculptures to wear to take part in this improvised performance.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Memespelunk Revival Studio

poster memespelunk revival studio

Location in SL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWDEV%20ITEC%20ISLE/29/129/35/

Residency/exhibit runs from April to May 2009.

Welcome to an adhoc attempt to recapture the fun and color of Memespelunk, the original studio sim of myself Juria Yoshikawa in 2007-2008. Thanks to the kindness of Kennesaw State University, I will be able to experiment with the virtual art medium and share it with the thriving SL art community. Feel free to wander around the sim exploring new and past artwork. I recommend viewing with your sun on midnight and with your sound on.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Metagumbo Filmscape


Metagumbo Filmscape from Juria Yoshikawa on Vimeo.

Some experimental audiovisual art at BiW and a chaotic interplay of sights and sounds. I used a variety of media from old art photos, words, reverse-played music, and megaprims roaming the sim. The text is based on a quote by Marshall Mcluhan. I suppose the work was meant as reaction to the many small, self-contained artworks on the BiW sim and I felt the need to comment by breaking down perspective and a sense of direction within the sim (ie. more sl, less rl connotations of ground and sky.)

Here are some stills of the work:

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Drips and Drops


Drips and Drops from Juria Yoshikawa on Vimeo.

Drips and Drops is an abstract fantasy space full of gigiantic swirlies, happy bubbles and my sons eerie cello noises. This is about joy, plain and simple. I originally built this installation in December 2007 and recently rerezzed it Brooklyn is Watching on March 2009. More photos up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lancesh/sets/72157603551616394/

Up in sl for a week at 150 meters above Brooklyn is Watching in SL.
slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/72/140/27

A Mess of Artwork (Week #52)



150 meters above Brooklyn is Watching in SL.
slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/72/140/27


Unlike the previous two weeks at BiW which seem focused on collective themes like rainbow stripes or window/walls, it's been a random week where I created various artworks scattered throughout the sim among other artists random works. Nonetheless, it's been a lot of fun.

The first piece in this set is called Intersection at BiW and is made up of thin black megaprims that randomly glide across the floor of sim with a brush-like texture animated in each to make them appear to strech and contract.

The second piece is a "art is anything you can get away with" and based on a quote by Marshall McLuhan. The piece is a combination of animated textures and distorted words in the surface of the water of the channel close to the entrance gate of BiW. The motion of the piece has a strange feeling of being alive and feels a bit "alien planet" to my eye.

The third piece is an older work Drips & Drops rerezzed at 150m above the sim. I've enjoyed bringing this piece back to life.

Friday, March 20, 2009

A Window Into Your Mind



An installation in direct response to podcast #50 at Brooklyn is Watching in Second Life. This piece considers the meaning of "otherness" of rl art critics looking at sl art work from the outside and uses samples from the podcast to show the underlying tones of the speakers.
location: slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/72/140/27

Here's the #50 podcast I was responding to:
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.brooklyniswatching.com/podcast/biw50.mp3

Also the #51 the following where different artists-critics respond to this piece:
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.brooklyniswatching.com/podcast/biw51.mp3

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Big Rainbow Ichibot Retaliators



Improv art in response to Ichibot Nishi's rainbow turf at BiW. I'm the one in the striped costume and who made the huge animated replicas of myself posing in different gestures.

location: slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/72/140/27

looks best in sunset mode

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Collection of Artwork by Juria Yoshikawa, 2007-2008


A Collection of Artwork by Juria Yoshikawa, 2007-2008 from Juria Yoshikawa on Vimeo.

A retrospective slide show of selected virtual artworks Juria Yoshikawa (a.k.a. Tokyo-based artist Lance Shields) created in Second Life from 2007 to 2008. This is documentation of immersive installations that an avatar could enter and interact with in SL. Photography by Juria and music by MGMT. More about the artist's work can be found at memespelunk.org and flickr.com/photos/lancesh/collections/72157613007188738/