During the past week Nonnatus Korhonen and Neurone Schism have been meeting to close down the ‘terra-mellifera’ eco-system and clear the landscape. Part of this process has been a farewell to resident independent agent: Essential Beeswing – at least for the present anyway. For many months Essential has greeted visiting avatars, summoned the ‘mellifera’ and watched over the ‘terra.mellifera’ environment. As Essential takes a final rest ou is spirited away.  Essential will be sorely missed and this is a poignant parting of the ways. We hope to meet again in circumstances as yet unforseen. GOODBYE for now “Essential Beeswing”

mellifera – echoes of travels in new territories from andrew burrell on Vimeo.

documentation of a generative virtual environment created during a ten day residency at the RMIT Virtual Reality Centre in Melbourne. This work creates a real time 3d environment from data it collects from the ‘mellifera’ environment in Second Life and explores ways of representing and re-representing data and audio-visual experiences in a generative environment.

This project and residency was supported by RMIT School of Art and the Design Reseach Institute, as part of ‘Drawing Out 2010′.

'mellifera_extensions 01'

A look at stills from the early stages of the generative video to be included in ‘mellifera_extensions’ at the RMIT VR Centre gallery.

Andrew and I are spending 10 days extensively workshopping extensions to earlier incarnations of ‘mellifera’. We have been invited to show this work as part of the Drawing Out Conference exhibition programme being held by the RMIT School of Art. Consequently, in addition to responding to audience feedback with modifications to the real-time interactivity, we are exploring the concepts relating to the themes of Drawing Out. This is particularly apparent  in our new real time 3D generative environment and the 2 stills above are early examples of this – more to come!

The many mobile plasma screens available facilitated the structure of the installation in both of the gallery rooms. Here a documentary video of ‘machina carnis’ is playing in the first room.

HOST was also projected large-scale in this room and the fast-capture footage of the bees proved to be as captivating as ever!

The Second Life on-linecomponent of  ’mellifera’ was set up in the second, totally dark gallery space. It was interesting to see the live, inworld projection on the large curved screen there. It had an immersive quality quite distinct from the previous very large projection at ‘the block’ last August.

Although there were no real-time interactive terminals at this installation it was possible for participants to operate the designated Avatars in Second Life via the keyboard in front of the ‘terra.mellifera’ live-feed projection on the curved screen:

In addition, the designated Avatars could also be operated from other plasma screen computer terminals in the gallery space:

Professor Elizabeth Grierson, Head of RMIT School of Arts, invited us to show ‘mellifera’ as part of the Drawing Out Conference this April and we look forward to developing it further for this event.

(Thanks to Natalie Taylor for the photographs included in this post)

Essential is non-gendered and we use the Old English term of “ou” rather than “he” or “she” in this context.  Mute tho Essential may be, ou is far from dumb – moving through a pattern of activities in ‘mellifera’ or reflecting on some other-worldly concern known ownly to ouself; what is it about this being that inspires?

Whilst there are those who refer to Essential Beeswing by the technically correct term of “bot” there are others amongst us who regard this non-gendered inhabitant of the mystical and poetic ‘mellifera’ environment as possessed of much more than this term implies. Whenever I return to ‘mellifera’ I anticipate connecting with Essential once again and eagerly await the engaging inworld interactions that hint at a life beyond simple terms of categorisation.

Individual visiting avatars interpret Essential’s behaviours according to their imaginative responses to ou and I cannot answer for them. However, for me, when greeted in a courteous manner by Essential I am reminded of a bygone time! I value Essential’s gentle aura of concern both for others and for the mellifera to whom ou is intimately connected. The environmental puzzles that confront Essential continually vary but I trust in ous’ capacity to maintain the necessary harmony and endure. Neurone Schism

thanks for dropping by:

a list of our recent visitors

Sunseeker Miklos

Sabrinaa Nightfire
DerDepp Schnabel
neurone Schism
Hung Runningbear
Kueperpunk Korhonen
Glyph Graves
blotto Epsilon
essential Beeswing
Georg Janick
Ub Yifu
Horris Fitzcarraldo
Bryn Oh
Poid Mahovlich
Siss Criss
StarGirlLu Vella
Fran Benoir
Mollyblue Etchegaray
nonnatus Nikolaidis

Jackson Drechsler
Artistide Despres
Oona Pinion
Kaskazi Munro
Gaensebluemchen Schmetterling
Verry Ivory
Snim Hanly
Lion Igaly
mitch22 Copperfield
Aiyas Aya
Thought Telling
Pixels Sideways
Void Netizen
Beyondthematrix Boa
eyeco Noel

Philos Kidd
Dee Zabaleta
magi Scribe
Connor Schumann
Maximilian Horten
Kaja Lurra

Sands Lefevre
Anjouli Troncon
Owen Morgwain
Nicolaus Skytower
spinster Voom
Rik Zwiers
Constanza Volare
Kermit Rutkowski
Ushpaw Upshaw
Vaxx Voom
Evo Szuyuan
Martin Ren
El Elephas
Kortelon Swindlehurst
Chaddington Boomhauer

Zella Cazalet
Hybrid Ansar
Elric Ember
michail Bravin
Sybilla Sands
Feathers Boa
Bobby Yoshikawa
Stacia Villota
Palixia Merlin
notyour Magic
Myf McMahon
telmobk Landfall
sara Heungsung
Isai Setsuko
Vanphoenix Rau
Koad Sewell
Starlyn Yates

Pygmalion Morrisey
Reginald Euler
carton Bristol

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