It took a longer time than usual to think through this latest video, Art Tartaruga, for two reasons. One was a significant actual world injury which restricted my computer use for nearly three months. It is bliss now to get back to doing things both physically and creatively. The other was a more familiar one – I see some great things in Second Life, but I don’t just want to record them. I want to add something – a layer of reinterpretation. And it took a while for this idea to emerge.
In this case it was remembering Godley and Creme’s Cry . Released in 1985, it is music that’s stood the test of time. However, at that time, music videos were not yet common, and Cry was innovatively edited and worked. One face fades into the next, time and again. So I picked that up as an idea to work with, although the context and appearances are very, very different.
Sometimes creativity throws an expected connection to work with. In looking for the music, I was thinking of something like Godley & Creme, but not getting very far in finding something. Looking wider, I returned to Blue Dot Sessions on Free Music Archive – I’d used a track by them in my last but one video, Waiting Edges. This track is quite different, and is perfect. What’s it called? Tartaruga. I had to look up the meaning, and this came up on wiktionary:
Portuguese
Noun
tartaruga f (plural tartarugas)
- turtle (any reptile of the order Testudines)
- (colloquial) cat’s eye (traffic retroreflective device)
- (colloquial) (a slow person)
Well, a double play on words – with ‘art’, and the statue-like figures are ultimate slow persons.
And it has got the right musical feel.
This exemplified how every art work references something else, in some way(s). It’s a question of whether the artist willingly recognises it, or pretends to be an original true genius to gain extra status.
So here is the work.
The G.B.T.H. Project is hosting some of the most interesting art and exhibitions in Second Life currently. This was the first edition of Contaminated, which opened in January 2019. It was curated by Marina Münter, Megan Prumier and Nath Baxton. Individual works were by 37 Second Life artists: Ash, Ashlynn Cruz, Belle Des Champs, Daze Landar, Gabriel, Hills, Hope Something, Jack V. Yuitza, Josef K, Junn, Kato, Kiki Ergenthal, Lan, Luc, Luk Renoir, Mako Vitti, Maloe Vansant, Marina Münter, Mavi Beck, Megan Prumier, Mich Michabo, Mistero Hifeng, Miu Miu Miu, Mr. S, Mrs. S, Nat, Nath Baxton, Owen Landar, Oyo, Prarie Kawashima, Praline, Sein Loire, Theda Tammas, Titzuki Yuitza, Toodles Telling, Tralala Loordes, and Tutsy Navarathna.
Every artwork is shown in the final section. I didn’t get shots of all the work which I could include in the earlier section, which was partly because I wasn’t sure what I was going to make and how I was going to use them. Contaminated stands as a very good exhibition, and a demonstration of the potential of Second Life creativity.