Scenes From The Burn

On Saturday October 18, the grounds of the Burn2 art and music festival opened to the public in Second Life. After weeks of work, the Burners were officially starting the show, and promised quite a bit to see.

Arriving in Burning Man- Deep Hole, the greeter gave me a friendly hello, "Welcome home." He asked me to contact him, or any of the staff, if I had any questions.

 

Almost right away, I saw examples of their vehicles made for artistic expression as much as a way to get around a little faster (flight is disabled here for most), made by their DMV - Department of Mutant Vehicles.

There was some information available for those curious about joining the Burners.

 I also got a package of goodies from one of the staff near the entrance.

There was also a guest book to sign.

Further away from the entrance was a balloon ride.

The balloons seat up to four, and offer a way to casually look around the exhibits from above. That's Tigerlily Windstorm next to me.

 Panning around, we could see exhibits closer up, such as this "duck pond" with inflatable ducky tubes.

 Some exhibits were meant to be better seen at Midnight view.

 A couple of the sims had events were crowded due to events, and once the balloon entered there, objects became slower to rezz.

And eventually a glitch caused the balloon to momentarily vanish.

 When we recovered, we found we'd fallen off the balloon. I saw it overhead and hopped back on.

 Flying machines that sorry to say will never take flight here.

 This mutant vehicle must be a favorite for pirates.

 Tigerlily was eventually able to catch up to the balloon and resume to tour as well.

 That rock in the corner got our attention. Panning to get a closeup of a sign, apparently there's a maze inside where one can make their way to the "Hidden Temple of Ra."

 A music performance, thankfully for me on the other side of a sim boundary.

The Burn2 Temple, of which it's burning is the last official event of the festival.

And here's "The Man," the symbol of both Burn2 and the real-life Burning Man festival. It's burned the day before the Temple.

 Eventually another glitch knocked us off the balloon, and by the time we recovered it was gone. I was soon joined by a pony friend, and encountered another one of the Burners, Timothy S. McTaggart (tsmt01).

Another balloon with riders flew overhead as we chatted.

We ran into a couple of particuarly colorful Rangers, Discord (Temba), and Zalkameriu Ichtama.

 Another picture with Zalkameriu, showing more of what she was wearing.

 No end to the unusual varieties of mutant vehicles.

 "Don't pull the rope!" "BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRPP!!!"

 

 The Bedouin, a tent with a number of artwork of Arabian horses.

Happened to run into Avariel Falcon, the black unicorn from the Relay, while there.

 Of the mutant vehicles, this has *got* to be the oddest ... or is it?

 There was no end to the funny toilets around. In virtual reality, they're good only for chuckles.

I stuck around the Burn2 grounds for a while. But it would soon be time to go.

Stay tuned for more about the Burn2 festival, including the Temple Burn and the Burning of the Man.

Bixyl Shuftan

Artfest 3

By Gemma Cleanslate

Artfest 3 is beginning. This is an event that invites artists to submit builds that will be judged by the viewers who visit the sim to vote. "ArtFest is a charity art competition to raise funds for disaster relief.  Disasters cause permanent and ongoing damage, lives are lost and communities are wiped out. Massive destructive acts of Nature leave heartbreak in their wake, and while I realize not much can be done here, as they say, every little bit helps. 100% of the Linden dollars raised with ArtFest is converted to real-life money, and donated to the Red Cross/Crescent (Via their Everyday Heroes program). The Red Cross was chosen, as it is an organization that helps around the globe without discrimination (http://www.redcross.org.au/principles.aspx).” That is the mission of the Artfest . 

Since I had missed 1 and 2,  I took a ride over to the sim to see what is going on. Already artists have their submissions in place. There are plots for more available Huntress Catteneo told me. There are many categories the artist may choose and actually enter in more than one: “SL snapshots and manipulated SL pictures, RL photos, RL artworks and picture manipulations, Sculpture, 3D art. Anything not covered by others, poetry, writing, performance.“

Singers and DJ’s are welcome to fill the sim with music when there are no conflicting events. Quite an eclectic selection as you can see, and it is held coincidentally,in the sim, Eclectic Diversity. When you arrive you will be high in a castle structure from which you can view the entire sim. I suggest you look for the arrow leading to the train that will take you for a grand ride along the tracks passing most of the builds. Jump out any time you like. Have some fun at the fair that Attica Bekkers has going. Be sure to wander through the sims to look for hidden areas to explore . Be sure to visit more than once since the building of exhibits is ongoing and you will discover more art every time you go.  Voting can be done even at this time and you can vote by contributing to the sign on the plot remembering that all this money is for charity! It will continue until the end of January. 

If you would like to participate in any way or  for more information contact Huntress Catteneo, the person behind the event, who can provide you with applications and more. Of the event she says, “I love having more artists around even if it is just to look at all the great work. Currently there is 15 artists out there with 17 spots, and still plenty of room without looking crowded. I have always been lucky to have many good artists support ArtFest, some because they have had disasters touch their lives and have been aided by the Red Cross at some point.  At the time of the 1st ArtFest, four artists were actually in different disaster zones, at the time they were building, so the cause was about as close to your heart as you can get." 

If you want to take a look  and or get involved or do an early vote , here is the entry http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Eclectic%20Diversity/143/121/62  

Gemma Cleanslate