TRAVEL & INSIDE SL - Pictures from Art Maze 2011 - Shon Charisma Reporting...

Last week, while traipsing through Second Life, I received a notice about Art Maze 2011. The notice mentioned evil clowns and well, I just couldn't pass that kind of notice up. I took the limo to Art Maze, and all I have to say is wow. Just the parts I meandered through made me feel like I was on a psychedelic trip of epic proportions. The colors, movements, images almost attacked the senses and definitely, at some points, had me on edge--especially the evil clowns. There was even one point where Ms. Charisma had to run...and run fast.



Art Maze 2011 ran from January 21 to January 30 on ZEXPO Island on Zindra. According to the website, ART MAZE is an opportunity for creators in Second Life (artists, builders, architects) to design and build unique 'maze section' environments that will fit together to form a collaborative maze for visitors to explore.

Check out some of the amazing images I caught while wandering through Art Maze.


First stepping into the maze environment.

Zooming out to take the picture above, I was able to see so many hands, faces within the maze's surface, and that damn fly (I think!?) was crawling around, large as life.

The exhibit was interactive. Images didn't just stay still, and you didn't just walk through the environment staying an inanimate objects. The red springy what I thought was a ruler in the above image continuously bounced.

And I took part in jogging with the crew. Even while taking in an art exhibit, one must think of her health.

As a spectator, I watched as a line of red balls rolled into the water. As a participant in the above picture, I stood near the water as the balls, one by one, ran into me and pushed me into the water.

This skeleton just tripped me out. The more I watched it, the more I took in its shape--well, its shape trying to come to fruition.

See that tunnel to the right? Yeah, I came in through there and bam, ran right into this clown, and needless to say, I screamed a little and took a big step back. The "Circus" exhibit was designed by SL artists sabra Hemingway and Bawnie Bachman.

It took me awhile to get used to standing in front of this behemoth of a clown. He was too, too menacing for me, so I eventually ran through his legs to try to escape.



But I wound up coming face to face with this weird-ass clown, and needless to say, he spooked me beyond reason. It wasn't just his looks, mind you--though that's reason enough. No, this clown moved. When I moved to the left, he lifted his knife and moved, too. When I moved to the right, he--yep, again--lifted his knife and moved, too. After one left and one right, I turned a 180 and ran up and away from him for good.

And just so you know, no, I didn't wear the antenna as a way to look as weird as the clown in the hopes he wouldn't hurt me. There were tunnels you could go through, and the light of the antenna guided your way.

In my short time at Art Maze, and by short I mean four, five hours, I saw enough color, movement, and images to last me a good long while, and it was probably my favorite exhibit in the little over a year that I've been in SL. It made me think about mood and emotion and how those RL facets of us can be so easily and strongly evoked by moving images in a virtual world.

At the Art Maze website, you can learn more about Art Maze, from the artists and happenings to videos and information on how to build a maze section.

Definitely check it out!