Kultivate Magazine-August 2017 Issue

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Welcome to the August 2017 Issue of Kultivate Magazine!

Eleseren and I have been enjoying a very nice long summer vacation in real life and we were able to live in the real life for awhile. The bad thing about this is that our Second Lives were put on hiatus and when we returned, we noticed many different and exciting things had taken place.

Gracemount. This issue also features an exhibition on Bryn Oh at the Serena Arts Center and a visit to the Marfa sim by Veruca Tammas. To round off things we have The Edge stylists who have presented a variety of Summer and fun fashions for you.

Eleseren and I would like to thank all of our supporters, readers, contributors, advertisers, friends, and family in both worlds, for making this issue a great one!

One of these things is Sansar, which had its beta late last month and we were able to catch up with the on goings of our Second Life friend’s various We hope you enjoy it! achievements and lives .

This issue will feature Sansar John, via an excellent article by Inara Owner & Publisher of Pey, three photo essays by Kultivate Magazine Illyra Chardin, Sandi Benelli, and Wicca Merlin, a great article by Myra Wildmist on who is an artist, and commentary on the behavior of models in the Second Life fashion industry by Stav

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

John and I are currently enjoying a well earned rest from the frenetic pace of activities we normally deal with at Kultivate. It is turning out to be a wonderful rest both SL and RL for us, and a chance to unwind, recharge batteries, and review. The summer in SL is always a quiet time, when people step away to enjoy summer fun in real life, and this hiatus perhaps gives all of us a chance to reflect on what keeps us passionately involved with Second Life.

Times indeed are changing, we hear that all around us in SL. Sansar beta opened to the public this month and people are exploring this emerging new virtual world, comparing it to the one they are familiar with, and wondering what it might evolve into. There has been a lot of talk too about the fashion and modeling scene and if and how it is/isn’t/might be dying, or whether it simply transforming into a new ‘mode’ to borrow a fashion term. There has been sad news too of big designers leaving us, though new ones are also emerging.

Life moves on and the summer break gives us a chance to think about things and plan what we want to do in the future, and where our interests lie. Do we leave behind old pastimes that no longer satisfy us, take up new and exciting projects, or see if we can change up what we currently do and move it into new directions. There is no rush in the summer, we can muse and plan for the autumn and beyond.

I am reviewing too, my Second Life, and new upcoming balances with a changing real life. I am committed with John in continuing to support and grow Kultivate. Maybe it is a time for experimenting with new ideas, or tweaking old ones into different directions. Whatever I do, whatever you do, keep an open and creative mind and see what grows from that. Have a great summer everyone.

ELESEREN BRIANNA, COO & ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER OF KULTIVATE MAGAZINE

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER’S NOTE

KULTIVATE MAGAZINE AUGUST 2017 CREDITS

John, Owner, Publisher & Editor in Chief

Eleseren Brianna, COO & Editor in Chief of The Edge Jessii2009 Warrhol, Marketing & Social Media Coordinator Inara Pey, Lead Contributor Amy Beebe, Contributor Dawnbeam Dreamscrape, Contributor

Ilyra Chardin, Contributor

Myra Wildmist, Contributor Stavaros Gracemont, Edge Contributor

Veruca Tammas Contributor Anouk Lefavre, Editorial Photographer Inara Pey, Cover Photography

THE EDGE AUGUST 2017 STYLISTS: Euridice Qork Ceasar Langar Paradox Messmer Honey Bender Aealla Gracemount

KULTIVATE ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE: Sandi Benelli, Lead Artist in Residence Pam Astonia Byrnedarkly Cazalet Slatan Dryke Tiszo Cioc

TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURED ARTICLE: SANSAR PAGE 42

INSIDE LOOK: EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST PAGE 76

INSPIRATIONS WITH ILLYRA: BY THE SEA PAGE 90

VOYAGES WITH VEE: MARFA PAGE 110

THE PICTURE OF OH PAGE 136

PHOTO ESSAY BY SANDI BENELLI: FUN IN THE SUMMER PAGE 156

MODEL BEHAVIOR PAGE p180 PHOTOESSAY WITH WICCA MERLIN PAGE 194

THE EDGE AUGUST STYLISTS PAGE 214

FEATURED ARTICLE: A SANSAR DISCUSSION ARTICLE & PHOTOGRAPHY: INARA PEY

On Monday, July 31st, Sansar opened its door to the public Creator Beta, allowing anyone to sign-up for an account and give it a go. Unsurprisingly, people from Second Life have been among the first to take a look, so I opted to start my public coverage of Sansar with a getting started guide and then some suggestions on where to go and how to interact with things inside experiences.

with Pete Linden (aka Peter Gray, the Lab’s Director of Global Communications) and Xiola Linden (SL Community Team Manager), sat down with Sansar and Second Life users to discuss such things. The following is a synthesis of Bjorn’s and Widely’s comments in the two (of three) sessions I was able to attend.

One thing the Lab has always made clear about Sansar is that the July 31st opening was not the release of a polished, finished product.

Sansar is going to take time to build -out, with features and capabilities being added on a rolling basis.

Given this, what might be the Lab’s views and thoughts on Sansar’s development up to now and looking ahead?

The beta is open to everyone, but because Sansar is still growing, the Lab’s focus remains on creators – those making both original content for upload and use in Sansar, and those creating experiences using that content (regardless of whether they made it themselves or purchased it through the Sansar Marketplace), to ensure they have the tools they need to build and design. At the same time, the Lab will continue to build Sansar out with other capabilities – avatar customization, community tools and so on – which will be of benefit to all users, be they creatives or

Just ahead of the Creator Beta opening, Bjorn Linden (aka Bjorn Laurin, the Lab’s Vice President of Product) and Widely Linden (head of Product for Sansar), together

WHY IS THE PUBLIC BETA CALLED “CREATOR BETA” IS IT FOR CREATORS ONLY?

or visitors.

WHY SANSAR DOESN’T USE ESTABLISHED ENGINES? Well, first of all Sansar is built on a whole new code-base. There is not a single line of code that is the same [as Second Life]. We’ve taken a lot of lessons from Second Life, a lot of the initial planners of Second Life were involved in Sansar; but we’ve rebuilt everything. That’s why its taken time. We decided not to use Unity or Unreal; we decided to build our own platform and create our own destiny.

One of the thing for that is about users. User creation in Unity and Unreal is extremely hard; we’ve seen that. For example, if Unity were to do a big upgrade, or Unreal, all the user creations [in Sansar would break [and] they cannot fix that. That’s why we wanted to create our own destiny.

We built out own platform … its taken a few years, but now I see its been worth it. We have our own platform, we control our own destiny; user creations will look the

same after an update. That, for us, has been very important.

RUNNING SANSAR IN DESKTOP MODE Right now, Sansar is very VR headset / controller biased.

However, it does also run in a Desktop mode somewhat similar to Second Life (1st and 3rd person movement). The Desktop mode is running a little behind VR mode, capabilities-wise (you cannot really manipulate things in the Sansar runtime environment via the Desktop, for example), so how does the Lab regard the Desktop mode?

When we build things, we have to start at the top and then go down.

We start with the VR and all the features, then we’re going to bring those features, as many as we can, into non-VR as well, because we know VR is not going to take over the world tomorrow. But we can’t just make features and then add on VR; we have to make VR first and then bring it down fast. And we’re going to do it fast now, as we have

platform to build on. I want people to be able to pick up things on the Desktop and all that stuff, so it’s coming, we’re working on it very fast.

really important, unlike some apps, you can with a single press of a button or an icon, just instantaneously switch back and forth between the modes … you just smoothly transition between So I wanted to speak to that. The desktop and VR modes. And there HMD does allow a whole other are times you want to do one, level of immersion, and it’s really there’s time you want to do the great and Sansar does it very, very other. So HMDs, if well. But in the work it took us to anything, helped to make Sansar be able to do it well, we made even better for Desktop.

Desktop really good. Because VR is very technically demanding to do, AVATAR DEVELOPMENT and the desktop mode was very Currently, the Sansar avatars much the beneficiary of that effort. appear – to Second Life users – to So what that means in more be very basic: limited practical terms is the renderer is customization, fairly generic looks, very efficient, is very fast. And then etc., no ability to add anything means you don’t have to have a other than basic attachments at crazy expensive gaming PC to run present (rings, hats, sunglasses, Sansar. etc.). What is likely to happen with the avatars?

Is it going to run at 60 fps on a three or four year-old laptop or a five-year-old laptop? No. But it will run at least as fast as Second Life does on that same desktop, and look prettier doing it. So Desktop really benefited through our efforts in VR. And people are in desktop, and we know that; that’s why it’s

People are very interested in their avatars, and attachments [as enabled when the public beta launched] is a first step. I chose to let everyone do avatar attachments because I spoke to many of you, and you wanted that in Sansar. You can’t put it in the store yet, you

can’t sell attachments, but this is focused on that. This is an area in just the first step … but it’s which – and I’ll just be up-front – working, it’s solid, it’s not crashing. Sansar is not at parity with the degree of flexibility in regards to crafting an avatar that you I’ve been spending a lot of time currently have in Second Life. You working with partners, the big can customize your avatar in corporations that have given us access to technology that no other Sansar, it looks pretty nice as you do it, but we still have a way to go platforms are using how we are there. planning to use them. So, for example, if you sell a dress, I do want to have a one size fits all; when you put it on, it should fold and crease just like in real life. We have that working on our servers so we will roll that out all these things … we will reveal more of these things in the next couple of months, actually, how it will look and feel like. And you will get full access to everything … You will have access to all this stuff [like] you have access [to it] in Second Life. Just give it a bit time to make it right! Me and my team, we’re working very hard on it!

Now, that being said, we have some stuff coming on-line here over the next good chunk of time that will I think rapidly set the Sansar avatars apart, and allow creators to achieve some effects that were impossible and are just so painfully difficult or costly to achieve in Second Life that it would be generally frowned upon. And so it’s going to be interesting times ahead in regards to avatars in Sansar.

And I think where they’ll start to really take off is as we work to Second Life has really self-selected make them more and more active for an audience that is very and emotive; improving the face interested in, and really enjoys animations, getting those to be playing with, avatars: customizing more expressive; getting hands to avatars, dressing avatars, really

actually interact with objects and look like they’re actually touching the objects; not just in the right general vicinity, but actually have the fingers in the proper grip to hold objects. That stuff is on its way.

The Sansar avatars are actually extremely, extremely advanced. I would actually go so far [as to say] they are among the most advanced avatars there is today, on any platform. Just the female avatar in Sansar has over 125 bones in the face, to make it work as we want it, to make it look realistic. That’s more than actually humans have.

I want you to build your own avatars. for now that technology we put in is so new, no-one else is using it, we’ll be able to use it for a long time, to make it look realistic, and that’s part of it. When they talk normally it’s going to look better as well, it’s going to look better, in any language, it doesn’t matter. It may Chinese, could be English, could be Swedish, could be Portuguese, Spanish. It’s going to

look good. We’ve spent a lot of time on that, and I’m super excited about these small things that make it immersive, that make us want to spend more time in there.

But this is just the start. I talked about the 125 bones in the face [for comparison, the SL avatar has around 133 bones in total], that’s part of what is so complicated; because if you move one of those bones, it’s going to break everything. So we’re working on a way so we can lock those down, and there’s still going to be a way for you to be able to create like a werewolf, so it look normal when the werewolf talks, or holds, or whatever a werewolf does. And we are working on that, it’s going to happen. Just give us some time.

I want you to be able to have talking animals, talking trolls, whatever. It’s going to be there.

The next step for the avatars is you’re going to be able to make them bigger, smaller, fatter, thinner. All that stuff, it’s in the works and it’s very exciting.

WHY CAN’T AVATARS RUN? We do get some feedback pretty often that it’s very slow in Sansar … you can’t move as fast as you want.

The reason for that is, when you’re playing a game like Call of Duty or something, or any kind of shooting game … avatars walk at a speed of 30+ miles per hour, and that’s not human. For the people in VR headsets, and we noticed this pretty early on, if someone runs by you at 37 miles an hour, it looks really weird; it’s like a lightning bolt coming through. So we decided to take it away, but I have one person working on the avatar running both in desktop and VR to make it smooth, so it looks better and works, so you can’t get up to lightning speed. So, everything has an explanation why we don’t have things, and if there’s something really missing, we are working on adding it, most likely.

We’re working very hard on getting social elements in as we can. What we see now is just a very, very first step; we have so much stuff we’re working on. You should be able to have what you have in Second Life and much, much more things to do … I’m going so deep, I’m even looking at adding … voice assistance in Sansar. So you can say, “Sansar, teleport me here”. So yeah, social is probably one of the most important items we have; it’s very, very high up on my list.

What I’m focusing in on now is, I need performance, I need social, I need community, I need commerce. So all these things are high, high up on my roadmap.

HOW DO PEOPLE STAY CONNECTED WITH ONE ANOTHER?

So, we have Voice chat and it is constrained to that instance of an experience. We have nearby text COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL chat, which is also constrained to that experience. And then we have ELEMENTS Will there be community tools and one user to another user direct text messaging, and that spans the social elements? system. You also can see the basic status of people on your Friends

list – they’re there or they’re not.

And so in the sense that you can see someone’s there and then direct message them, you can stay connected in that sense.

it does in the real world, but in a slightly heightened way, because audio is all spatialized; it’s easy to pin-point people in space … And what happens is, when you have large groups of people, they behave like they do at a party; they cluster up and move in their little conversational pods … And especially when you’re in VR, you see all these natural, human social behaviors just happen. And I’m really afraid to do anything that breaks that. And then you layer in that really high fidelity spatialized voice with some of the body language you pick up through the VR apparatus … you get some body language in there, and it’s even better.

As far as larger, group-type chat, that’s not there yet, or party voice chat, we don’t have that yet. We want to be very careful with how we construct those systems [because] there’s a bit of social engineering there. You want to make sure people are involved in the actual happening around them; and groups tend to isolate. So then you have a lot of people in the same space in parallel but not necessarily engaged or really sharing it together. So, these things should come, it’s just an issue of INCLUSION AND DISABILITIES finding the best way to integrate them.

Second Life and virtual worlds are seen as levelling the playing field I mean, when people hang out, it for people with disabilities in feels like a party right now. I have feeling included. Voice can be, for concerns that we put this parallel those with “hidden” speech and hearing disabilities can be a barrier. of group voice chat within that, then we’re going to have isolated How will these issues of inclusion bubbles. By the way we treat audio be overcome in Sansar. in Sansar, it behaves very much as

It’s inclusion, it’s accessibility its equanimity. These things are really important, and we do think virtual spaces, virtual worlds and experiential platforms are an opportunity to level the playing field in so many different ways.

Fortunately, now some technologies that weren’t available when Second Life was coming up are finally starting to become a little more ubiquitous. Voice analysis stuff is getting pretty good; so we’re looking to leverage speech -to-text, text-to-speech, and not just to synthesize, or to control but using text-to-speech with animation.

something that we have right now in Sansar that is not available in other platforms; not just yet, anyhow.

And so what we we’ve found is people’s comprehension of speech goes up when you see the person actually speaking and so that’s something that’s really important to us, and eye movements. Right now in Sansar, I know my own comprehension goes up if I actually see the avatar’s face animating.

So we’re trying to find different ways to level the playing field, and part of that is going to be powered by speech analysis. and right now So you can imagine scenarios we’re already leveraging some of whereby you have an NPC [nonthat technology to get our avatar player character] that has a whole faces to animate well enough so dialogue embedded within it that some people can lip read from the user’s interacting with, and them. Then the next stage in to you’re not only getting a take that into doing voice controls reasonably synthesized voice, but for the app itself, as well as you also have the facial animations possible speech assistance. that go with it automatically – and they look convincing. So you have GENERAL ACCESSIBILITY facial animation that’s at a quality How does the Lab see Sansar that a lip reader probably could get attracting an audience in difference information from it. And that’s

to Second Life?

between that point when their interest is initially sparked and when they can actually have an This is a differentiation from Second Life and I think it has some opportunity to go to that thing. appeal to creators: each of these And we’re just trying to shortexperiences has a unique URL that circuit that whole thing with you can use to promote your Sansar. You don’t have to go experience, and it actually works. through the Linden door to get into So when a user clicks on that URL the system. You go through the on that thing, whatever it was, that door you made; you can provide piqued their interest, and they’re your own on-boarding system or prompted to download the client on-boarding experience that makes or if they already have the client, the most sense for your they click on the link – it might be experience. [Because how are we in your blog or it might be to know what your experience is embedded within a video or on a going to be? If you create a race car social platform. When they click on driving simulation, you want to that link, they’re taken immediately start training them on that when to that experience. They’re not first they arrive; not the basic ins and taken to a Linden crafted onouts of how to turn on and off the boarding sequence of tutorials a-la text chat. So we really want to Welcome Island and that sort of make this thing as flexible for the thing. creators as possible, and allow the audience that they’ve built to Because what we’ve found is very connect directly to their experience, as is technically often, there’s tones of content within Second Life that is relevant possible right now. and could be relevant and could be very interesting to people – but Now we can, and this is something they just can’t get at it, because we’ve discussed, we haven’t done there’s just so many roadblocks it yet, and that’s overlaying some

sense of some meta-games, a-la sort-of achievements and trophy types of systems. Those are really good mechanisms to use to give people ideas of things to try. It influences some behaviors, it gives people some incentive to branch out and do some things … we’ll see; it’s not in there yet. But I think the biggest, big, big difference is that you just go straight to the thing that got you interested to begin with.

WHY NO ADULT CONTENT?

For now … we won’t allow any adult content in Sansar; that very well might change in the future.

Part of this is because we don’t have permissions [e.g. Maturity Ratings] yet. There’s no locks to any experiences, there’s no locks to anything. There will come a day when we have permissions and we will review that again. but currently, the adult policy is zero; there’s nothing. If we see something [of an adult nature] we will take it down right away.

NATIVE BUILDING OPTIONS

Sansar doesn’t offer native building options in the way Second Life can.

Objects building requires external tools, and so on. However, the big attraction for many in Second Life has been the ability to move from consumer user to designer / builder using the tools provided within the viewer, and then grow to more advanced content creation through external tools like Blender and Maya et al. Will Sansar offer this kind of opportunity for progression for users?

Building! Fun! And that transition from consumer to hobbyist to serious creator. That is an important progression for us, and that’s something I’ve been thinking about for a real long time with regards to Sansar, so let me just hit on a few notes for that.

We are currently building the ground work to allow for collaborative editing. That is coming; devs are on it, they work on it every day. We find that this is one of the things that made Second Life so great. Building is

un, and building with friends is even more fun. Just look at Minecraft, look at SL. So that’s that – and I don’t mean to diminish it; it’s incredibly important and it’s going to be really great.

Now, someone who wants to be creative, they want to build things, but they don’t know Blender. What do they do? Well, in SL you can build with primitives. Well, we will eventually provide some primitives. Not in the same kind of way they are in SL. Here’s a box, here’s a cylinder, here’s cube, you can scale them and what have you, apply materials to them – but that’s probably about as far as we’re going to go, and there’s a reason for that.

together and did Boolean operations, there was no Z Brush, there was no Mudbox or proper sculpting tools, so you worked that way. What they build was basically a rudimentary 3D modeler, and good on them!

What we’re doing is, we’re saying we’re going to make it super easy for you to snag things off the Marketplace, you can combine them, you can kit bash them. I’m a big proponent of kit bashing where you buy stuff on the Marketplace, you bash it together, you Frankenstein it together into new stuff that suits your purposes. And then you combine that with our terrain tool, which is coming very soon1, and some other things that are also coming soon that I don’t want to speak to too much. And It’s not necessarily the most then all of a sudden, you kind-of efficient way to build; so there’s that issue. It’s also somewhat of a have the easy-to-use, highly philosophical thing, in that Second streamlined, create it from scratch within Sansar options that are Life is basically building in a 3D currently not there. But for all modeler; that’s what it is. And if intents and purposes, you do the you look at 3D modelers at the kit bashing with the primitives time, that’s how you modelled, with prims. And you bashed them mixed with stuff off the store, and that casual creator, they’re in

in business, they’re going to be able to make some really interesting things.

CLOSING COMMENTS

that the terrain tool will be in the next release.

With thanks to Pete and Widely Linden for their additional input in putting this article together. KM

Throughout the sessions I attended, what struck me is that the Lab does have a roadmap for Kultivate would like to thank Inara Sansar which covers at least the for this article and Peter and next several months, if not longer.

Widley Linden for their input.

At the same time, the weekly meet -ups (formerly office hours) in Sansar allows the Lab to delve into feedback from creators, review issues and take ideas on-board – much as is the case with the various technical meetings the Lab hosts in-world in Second Life with users. And this feedback is being folded back into the Lab’s plans and influencing thinking – so while there is a roadmap, it’s not necessarily tablets-in-stone; which is a good thing.

I’ll hopefully have more updates of this nature in the future, including updates from the weekly meet-ups.

At the Friday, August 4th Office Hours meeting, Widely indicated

INSIDE LOOK: EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST ARTICLE : MYRA WILDMIST PHOTOGRAPHY:

Do you want to be an artist but don't feel you have the talent?

create is up to you.

Do you think you're not creative?

That's not unusual.

You might tell yourself you have to be able to draw or paint. You might tell yourself you have to be talented, born gifted, or you need to go to art school. You can't chisel the Pieta from a block of marble or paint the Mona Lisa. How could you possibly call yourself an artist?

That's your human nature talking, "creating" artificial barriers, false walls, walls so high and imposing why bother trying to climb them.

There's no higher wall than the fear of failure, is there?

You're probably more creative than you realize. In fact, daily life is full of activities that, while mundane, require you to be creative. Writing a report for school or work is creative. Taking a snapshot of your friends is creative. Cooking a meal is creative. Every one of these activities requires you to create something new, something no one has ever seen before. These activities might not rise to the level of "high art," but they are still creative.

Everyone is creative.

Well, get out the ice axe and crampons, because it's time to scale that illusory fear-of-failure wall.

And everyone is an artist.

To create something artistic, you simply need an idea, a different No, you don't have to be a brilliant way of looking at the world, or painter or a skilled sculptor to be something to say. an artist. You don't have to be "gifted," whatever that means. An You have ideas, every single human artist has to create, make has ideas. You have a different way something new, but the way you

of looking at the world simply by virtue of the fact that you're a unique person - no one else is you.

And is there anyone birthed from a woman who doesn't have something to say?

Let the world hear you, see your ideas, your singular way of looking at life. You just need to choose your medium, your way of expressing yourself. You don't need to draw or paint or understand photography. You just need a way to create your art.

Your choice of medium is up to you. Whether it is stone or charcoal or Photoshop or Blender or dirt, you can create from anything. Work in what feels comfortable, what works for you.

How you create and what you create is up to you.

Sol Lewitt, a minimalist and conceptualist, often had others create his work. He provided the idea, the instructions for making his work, but let others build "his" works of art. Dan Flavin made

minimalist sculptures from fluorescent light tubes, sometimes nothing more than a single tube on a wall. But Flavin's work explores light and darkness, and demonstrates the beauty found in even the simplest of objects.

Barbara Kruger creates collages of typography and images from mass media, but her work addresses and highlights important cultural issues. Warhol took images from mass media, copied them, and made silk screens out of them, barely changing them in many cases.KM

PHOTO ESSAY: BY THE SEA PHOTOGRAPHY: ILYRA CHARDIN

VOYAGES WITH VEE: MARFA ARTICLE & PHOTOGRAPHY: VERUCA TAMMAS

Marfa - The Last Forever http://maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife//181/97/23 I love when I come across a sim in SL that is based on a RL place and especially one that is dedicated to the arts. The Last Forever was created by Oobleck Allagash and Nodnol Kameson along with Kai Mannequin, Brooke Barmy, Rooky Yootz, Trilin, Misty and Jack Hanby and is inspired by the real town of Marfa, Texas.

In the 1970’s an artist named Donald Judd moved from New York to the sleepy desert town of Marfa. Using the large expanse of desert as his background he created some large art pieces and major installations. Since that time the art experience has expanded with an annual art festival, new artists living and working in the area galleries and studios, gathering inspiration from each other and the town itself. You can read more about the RL town here�

here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Marfa,_Texas and here http:// www.visitmarfa.com/

As with the real Marfa, the builders of the SL Marfa have focused on the design and art elements as the key feature of the town. Galleries and art installations are dotted on the streets and in the fields. Around the town square there is the Marfa book store where one office wall is covered with a huge pile of books that are in complete disarray (a librarian’s nightmare), a tattoo parlor, restaurants, shops (Kraftwork and BigBully) and coffee houses. Some of the iconic structures are the Palace Theater, the Ballroom, The Marfa Contemporary Gallery and the fake Prada store. Yes, Prada Marfa is a huge permanent sculpture created in 2005 by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset that is the size of an actual building including purses and shoes.

But just like any desert town in Texas you have the dry dusty atmosphere with tumbleweeds swirling down the road and across the open

open fields. There is a gun range set up on the outskirts of town beyond the railroad tracks and some long forgotten abandoned buildings that have succumbed to the elements. Some of these have poses built in so you can take some interesting photos. There are opportunities for posing and photography all over town and if there isn’t a pose you like – bring your own.

Two of the more unusual places in town are Ronnie’s Sex Shop and Taco Garage (where else can you find one stop shopping for both appetites) and the vintage trailer park across town. The trailer park site is based on the real El Cosmico campground where you can rent a trailer, a tepee or Mongolian yurt for your accommodations. The camp also provides opportunities for creating and learning about art techniques in their community space. One real life event was called the “camp design build adventure”.

What I love about Second Life Marfa – The Last Forever is that it makes me want to visit the real Marfa. Well done! KM

PICTURE OF OH IN SECOND LIFE ARTICLE: & PHOTOGRAPHY: INARA PEY

Picture of Oh, which opened on Thursday, July 27th, 2017 at a skyborne gallery space at Serena Imagine Art Centre, is a celebration of Bryn Oh and her art, as seen through the eyes of photographer aldiladeisogni. On display are nine very large format images featuring Bryn and / or elements of her installations.

possibly unsettling experience: just how does one address so exotic a creation? This dichotomy – the apparent exotic aloofness mirrored by an open, approachable nature – is beautifully captured in the individual studies of Bryn presented herein.

Bryn’s exotic looks also make her an idea model to sit within the Small in number, large in size, images of her installations, where presented in an environment she appears very much both the which somewhat echoes aspects of observer of the scenes and a part some of Bryn’s past installations, of them. Her presence doesn’t in this is an exhibition that plays both any way detract from the stories easy on the eye and subtle on the involved in the pieces; rather, she mind. Those familiar with Bryn’s adds a new layer of narrative to immersive installation will each the story; her character fits doubtless recognize from which with the scenes so perfectly. pieces the images have been drawn – but seeing them Of course, capturing this depth of remembered in this exhibition is individual takes skill from behind only part of the experience. the lens of the snapshot floater, and in this aldiladeisogni Bryn herself is highly photogenic; demonstrates a mastery of there is a wonderful air of beauty composition that is to be greatly and mystery about her. She is at admired. Not only does he capture once approachable in nature, yet the essence of Bryn’s work and the her appearance sets her almost mystique of her avatar – he also physically apart, making any captures something of the approach in a first meeting a personality and thoughts behind

All told, a beautiful, captivating exhibition focusing on a captivating and enchanting artist and her work, presented by a master of the photographic medium.

SLURL DETAILS Picture of Oh (Serena Imagine)

PHOTO ESSAY: FUN IN THE SUMMER PHOTOGRAPHY: SANDI BENELLI

BEHAVIOR BECOMING THOSE IN THE MODELING INDUSTRY: ARTICLE: STAV GRACEMOUNT PHOTO ESSAY WITH WICCA MERLIN THE EDGE AUGUST 2017 STYLISTS

BEHAVIOR BECOMING THOSE IN THE MODELING INDUSTRY

ARTICLE: STAV GRACEMOUNT

We've all had those times when we've been in the midst of people that we don't like. We know the discomfort of having to work with someone that you consider an enemy. How do we handle it?

Each of these divisions would be the end of it, so one would think.

However, there is a lot more to it than that. There are companies, agencies and just friends among these sectors that have This is one of the largest problems connections. Some of them good, in the modeling industry. It's all some of them... Not so much. about professionalism. I myself have been in this situation recently There are times when I have to and it wasn't difficult for me. For work with someone I don't the other person involved it was. particularly like, but I do it, without pause. We as a Sometimes it's difficult for people community have learned the art of to accept that you don't want to the backbite so well, that there are speak to them. There are also some that do it without thinking. people that think you are This my friends, is the reason that constantly speaking of them. Then people are afraid to come to our there are those that think we don't community and be a part of it. talk to each other, for those that Now before you say I'm jumping think this, you are very wrong. the gun and saying the fashion world is dying, stop. That isn't the The modeling community is like a reason for this article. This family that has different heads. behavior has put me in the middle There are those that center of a lot of others arguments. around blogging and photography.

There are those that do poses, Not a place anyone likes to be, but creative clothing or art. There are when you are friends with both those that coordinate things sides of an argument, sometimes behind the scenes. Lastly, there intercession is needed. You have are those that walk the runways. to, in these situations, take one of

two stances. One is where you are Fort Knox and not letting anything in or out. The second is playing the part of Switzerland. (No offense to the Swiss, I appreciate neutrality) Sometimes I can help mediate an issue, but there are other times where I stay out of it. In mediation you have to keep a level head where others are not. Their arguments may be filled with emotion and angst. There is sometimes tears, shouts and plots behind the words. You have to learn when to involve yourself and when not to.

This can all be avoided if we could all just get along right? This is something, I will say is an impossibility. Though we all have one common interest, fashion. We are all very different personalities and people. This does not give you or anyone else the right to think you are better than them.

These differences also do not give you license to disparage people in public or private. If you are going to be critical of an individual at least go to the individual or even entity as a whole, and make the effort to

be understood.

Learn to critique, and not be critical. If you found a fault, find something just as nice about them as you can to compliment. Look for the good with the bad. Remember, there is another person at the receiving end whose feelings you may hurt, if not tactful.

These methods are not an agreement or even a compromise.

You have simply been heard on the subject and what the other party or parties do with your input is up to them. I have encountered situations where I thought people were friendly, when in fact they are not.

These situations do not call for heated discussions, or arguments.

They need to be handled with care and consideration. These are going to be people that you will soon have to work with again. Is it really a situation that you want to put yourself into if you can avoid it?

I prefer to disconnect from people that have a negative impact on my well being. It's a stance that we should all take. It doesn't mean that we have to lower ourselves to the level of maturity of high

schoolers. It doesn't mean we have to make sure everyone else knows what's going on between you and the other party.

For the love of all that is important to you, stay away from social media! When you are upset, you will say things you don't mean.

This reflects poorly on your self control, and the community. It's a turn off for those that are seeking to join us.

others, it will get back to them.

Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually.

In the real world there is what we like to call six degrees of separation. In second life that degree of separation is much smaller.

Working with people on a daily basis is what I do. There are many different opinions, personality types and value systems that you These are all things that can be will come across in your lifetime. handled in better fashion and You do not have to agree nor choose your words wisely. There associate with them, but you may are bridges to burn, but don't burn one day have to work with them. It the whole house down around doesn't have to be a hostile work you, then realize what a mistake environment, unless you you have made. contribute in some way.

Outsiders to our community see Those that are loyal and this and they fear involvement, the trustworthy will show to be true drama, the discord. They do not over time. Those that are not your want to walk into the lion's den of friends, well give them enough their own free will. It's in fact why I rope and they hang themselves. walked away from it, as have We have to as a community band others. together to fight against this evil thing called pride and envy. Yes, Yes, I still write, blog and model these are the ugly sins that cause from time to time. The thing is, my this. You're hurt by someone's involvement in the fashion world words, you talk about them to has come to a point where I sit on

the outskirts of town watching. I listen to those that come to me and I hear the same thing over and again.

Someone's hurt their feelings, someone's done something they didn't like. Well, we won't all agree on everything, that's a ridiculous way to think. To force the way you think upon others or not stopping others from talking about others, is no different than contribution. So keeping your mouth shut, is just as sinful as participating in the conversation itself.

I don't see things in black and white. I see them in an array of colors. We are that array of colors.

We are fashion. We are the light that brings others to us for guidance, friendship and enjoyment.

If we want the fashion world to be even better than it was in the "Golden Age" of Second Life modeling. We need to make sure that we platinum people. Be good to those that ask questions, guide those that don't even know they have a question to ask.

Most importantly, be supportive of everyone within the community, whether you like them or not. Each of us has a role to play, play it with your conscience.

That girl, boy, woman or man that you are speaking about may be the next person to take the fashion industry by storm. I certainly wouldn't want to be guilty of making them look away due to what I see from the outside now.

Would you? KM

PHOTO ESSAY: SUMMER GLAMISTRY

PHOTOGRAPY: WICCA MERLIN

RISTORANTE IVANNA This free self service restaurant is part of Kultivate Art Galler restaurant. **The restaurant is not a role-play restaurant wh restaurant where you can bring your date or loved one for a

ry and is in the style of a romantic Italian here you have to pay to be served. It is a FREE quiet and romantic setting. **

EDGE AUGUST STYLIST: EURIDICE QORK

EDGE AUGUST STYLIST: HONEY BENDER

Outfit | Coer Fur Red @David Heather Hair | “Octavia” blonde @Burley Sunnies | “Glamour” in Cherry @Candy Doll

Tattoo: White Widow – Desierto (@ Cosmopolitan) Pants: Deadwool – Pleated Jeans

On Shoulder Shirt: Muschi – Restful t-shirt Regata Cigarette: PFC – Cigarette

EDGE AUGUST STYLIST: CAESAR LANGAR

EDGE AUGUST STYLIST: PARADOX MESSMER

Headpiece: Wasteland Helmet by Death Row Designs (at No21 ) Makeup: OnYou by SlackGirl Necklace: Soundless Necklace by AZOURY (at SaNaRae ) Tattoo: Coco by White Widow (at Uber ) Pose: Augmented Reality 45 by Bauhaus Movement

EDGE AUGUST STYLIST: AELLA ILLYAR

Luxe Paris Flaming Dress .aisling Dangara Tiara and earring .aisling Tortuga Princess bracers and arm band Analog Dog V hair

KULTIVAT E VOLUME

MAGAZINE

3

AUGUST

ISSUE

8

2017

W W W. K U LT I V AT E M A G A Z I N E . C O M