post updated 20091025 18:50 CEST

8th annual Blender Conference, Amsterdam, 23-24-25 october 2009

Blender is a free and open-source software program for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering. Also for importing 3D objects into virtual worlds like Second Life and OpenSim.

2D WEB LIVE:

• 24/7 all three conference days (with replays in the nights) from De Balie - http://www.debalie.nl/live –   rtsp://darwin02.engagetv.com/debalie.sdp (video H.264 /Mpeg 4) – http://live.nu/1.pls (audio Mp3)

3D WEB LIVE:

• You can follow this event together live  at the Meta.Live.Nu Lab Camp Site in Virtual Holland in SL:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/22/222/22

FOLLOW TWEETS:

• #blender3d - http://twitter.com/#search?q=blender3d

JOIN IRC CHATROOMS:

• irc.dds.nl  #balie – http://www.debalie.nl/chat –  http://irc.dds.nl/?chats=balie
• irc.freenode.net  #blenderchat , #blenderconference

PROGRAMME:

Friday 23 october:

• 11:00 - 21:00 CEST (= SL 02:00 am – 12:00 noon PDT ) – LIVE

Saturday 24 october:

• 10:00 - 2o:00 CEST (= SL 01:00 am – 11:00 am PDT ) – LIVE

Sunday 25 october:

• 10:30 - 18:00 CEST (= SL 01:30 am – 09:00 am PDT ) – LIVE

POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION…

Kras Alter in SL: "finally getting to making some armor for myself"

Every last saturday of the month: No-Definition TeleVision

http://DeHoeksteen.Live.nU

23:00 – 03:00 CEST

[ = 9 pm - 1 am UTC (or GMT/Zulu) = SL 2 pm - 6 pm PDT]

Interactive cross-media talkshow with the usual suspects and surprise guests from the worlds of politics, arts, business, media and more!

[nederlandse versie link]

INVITATION:

Create 2D & 3D  ‘ATOMPUNK’ art for the  GOGBOT 2009 Festival! Create 3D Avatars, Vehicles, Environments, Sculptures and any other digital Atompunk things you can think of. Also photo’s, graphic designs, video’s and other  ‘2D’ artworks are very welcome to join this exhibition and contest! Digitally manipulated or not.

Invent, create and present what your idea’s about ATOMPUNK are, to the world!

CONTEST:

1. First Prize: 10000 L$
2. Second Prize: 5000 L$
3. Third prize: 3000 L$

• Extra prize by the public: 2000 L$ for most favorites in the Flickr ATOMpUnk group on sunday september 13th at 22:00 CEST  (= SL 1 pm PDT)

[ L$ = Linden Dollars, exchangeable for US Dollar's or Euro's or other currencies. 1 US$ is worth about 270 L$. To win any of these prizes you need at least a free Second Life account and a free Flickr account]

A professional GOGBOT art jury will critically review and judge the digital Atompunk entries on artistic quality, technical quality and originality. At 11th of september the 3 very best Atompunk Digital Artworks will be awarded. This will be announced during the ATOM.LIVE.NU happening in newBERLIN (SL) +  ATAK Enschede (NL) These 3 winners will also be exposed on large videoprojections to a ‘RL’ audience at the GOGBOT Festival!

DEADLINE:

Last day for submissions: 9th of september 2009

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Please upload screenshots or video of your virtual Atompunk objects and Atompunk avatars or photo’s and digital image artworks a.s.a.p. to http://flickr.com/groups/atompunk with at least these 3 tags: ‘GOGBOT2009‘ and ‘ATOMPUNKFESTIVAL‘ and ‘ATOMPUNK‘

Please also confirm Ze Moo about your participation in this festival if you are going to upload some Atompunk works. CONTACT: IM in SL or send a Flickr mail

EXHIBITION OF ALL PARTICIPANTS:

• In SL september 9 – 30th, 2009, at Second Enschede sim in Second Life (during and after the ‘RL’ GOGBOT 2009 Festival )
• Exposure on the web: ‘forever’.

http://flickr.com/groups/atompunk/discuss/72157622176071466

“Another Perfect World” “in search of Virtual Paradise”

NEW FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM ON VIRTUAL WORLDS

Internet Premiere (dutch subitles edition) 31 july. Replays 1 – 6  august 2009

Holland Doc 24 TV (cable & satellite & web live stream & Livestation)

• Friday 22:09 – 23:06 CEST
• Saturday 02:49 – 03:46
• Saturday 10:50 – 11:47
• Sunday 06:12 – 07:08
• Sunday 19:14 – 20:11
• Monday 17:19 – 18:16
• Tuesday 14:27 – 15:24
  
• Wednesday 02:36 – 03:33
• Wednesday 12:39 – 14:36
• Thursday 12:18 – 13:15

More replays on this digital tv channel are possible.

INTERVIEWS: Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden of Second Life), Jae-Kyung Song of Lineage, Hilmar Veigar Petursson of EVE Online,  Raph Koster of Metaplace and Kevin Alderman /aka/ Stroker Serpentine of Strokerz Toyz

Kevin Alderman (SL: Stroker Serpentine) creating animations for his Adult Second Life business

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This documentary will also be broadcasted TV in more countries:  Probably on SBS Australia, NRK Norway, YLE Finland, SVT Sweden and other TV  stations.

TRIVIA:

In this Youtube preview there is a scene about virtual worlds money and economics there is a machinima fragment, shot by Sandwoman Petion. Of a burning Dollars sculpture and with an  ‘Euro-Avatar’ running passed. These Second Life objects were created by Herman Bergson for the Meta.Live.Nu event at the  ‘Goodbye Dollar’ party in Amsterdam, NL. This scene appears  not inthe full version.

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The festival premiere was in april 2009 at Hot Docs, Canada.

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The British TV premiere was 23 June 2009 on Channel Four /More 4

True Stories presents: Jorien van Nes and Femke Wolting’s fascinating insight into online virtual worlds. Second Life, World of Warcraft, Metaplace, U World – all virtual worlds where the user can create their own paradise, far removed from real life. People can create societies that range from the democratic to the dictatorial, have avatars that resemble their ideal and can engage in actions that their real life personality would never dream of doing, from cyber-sex to virtual crime. But who creates these worlds and are they the right people to be crafting idealised societies that pretend to address and solve the inadequacies of the real world?

The Internet TV premiere was:  june 2009, Metaworld2

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The Netherlands TV premiere was: Thursday 30 july 2009, Nederland 2

Voor miljoenen mensen is het virtuele universum een plek die steeds meer vervlochten raakt met hun echte leven. De plek waar makers en spelers hun eigen paradijs kunnen creëren, ver verwijderd van de echte wereld; geheel naar eigen inzicht, variërend van democratie tot dictatuur. Hier leiden de virtuele inwoners een leven waarvan zij vroeger niet durfden te dromen; van warlord tot succesvol cybersex ondernemer.

Maar wie zijn de bedenkers van deze werelden en welke ideeën en ideologieën liggen eraan ten grondslag? Hoe gaat het bouwen van een virtueel utopia in zijn werk? Wat zijn de economische en politieke regels in de virtuele wereld? Is er persvrijheid? Hoe wordt er handel gedreven? Moeten de virtuele inwoners zich aan wetten houden, of zijn zij daar eindelijk helemaal vrij in? Zijn het echt ideale werelden zonder aardse beperkingen?

In deze documentaire gaan Femke Wolting en Jorien van Nes op zoek naar antwoorden op deze vragen.

Zij spreken de oprichters van de grootste virtuele werelden, waaronder Philip Rosedale van Second Life, Jae-Kyung Song van Lineage, Hilmar Veigar Petursson van EVE Online en Raph Koster van Metaplace over de ideeën achter hun werelden.

More references:

http://raphkoster.com/2009/05/09/another-perfect-world-documentary-on-vws

Wellington / London / Amsterdam – LIVE

Critical-Digital-Matter: The 6th Aotearoa Digital Arts Symposium
June 26-28th, 2009

Matthew Fuller (London), talks with Su Ballard (Wellington) and Eric Kluitenberg (Amsterdam) and guests.

Date: Saturday June 27

Time(s):

• - Second Life:      02:00 – 04:00 PDT (after fridaynight)
• – London:               10:00 – 11:00 GMT
  - Amsterdam:       11.00 – 12:00 CEST
  - Wellington:         21:00 – 22:00 NZ

Physical Venues:
- Goldsmith College, London, UK
- De Balie, Amsterdam, NL
- Victoria University School of Design, Wellington, NZ

Virtual Venue:
- Outside Wellington Railway Station. At Koru educational sim (owned by NMIT in Nelson, NZ) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Koru/111/22/33

[The Wellington Railway Station 3D build is part of the art installation:  "In the Company of Strangers" by Mike Baker (aka Rollo Kohime in SL)]

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In “Media Ecologies”, Matthew Fuller called for an embedded approach to digital materials
as they are encountered in different cultural and social contexts. When media systems
interact with art unpredictable things happen. This remote conversation will test the
materials of digital networks, hosts and remote relays to enable an open discussion of
the materiality of the digital. Fuller and Ballard share a concern with digital matter,
and the employment of things digital in concrete engagements with art. They will discuss
the pervasiveness of digital matter, the engagement of art and the digital, and address
the problem of artists in new media art finding their time taken up with attempts to make
their work interesting to contemporary art, creative industries, humanities, etc., and
forgetting to intensify the work that directly engages the crucial aspects of the field.
This conversation is one attempt to rectify this. Through a direct focus on the
materiality of the digital we will engage a discussion of the materiality of
computational and networked digital media.

Read more:  http://www.debalie.nl/artikel.jsp?podiumid=media&articleid=324196

Debate @  Media Art Café Berlijn, Enschede , NL

+  @ Media Art Café Berlijn, Second Enschede , SL

June 12 > 15:00 – 17:00 hrs CEST ( = SL 4 am- 6 am PDT)

NEDERLANDS:

http://UTwente.nl/nieuws/pers/cont_09-065.doc

http://MACBerlijn.nl/agenda/details/157-PLANETART%20en%20UT.html

http://SecondEnschede.blogspot.com/2009/06/symposium-12-juni-2009.html

ENGLISH:

http://CreativeTechnology.eu/wordpress/?p=405

http://PLANETART.nl/now.htm

LIVE:

http://Streams.Live.nU

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Enschede/111/110/22

Our life and our relations are increasingly influenced by online social networks and virtual environments. In particular, multi-user virtual worlds like Second Life, World of Warcraft and Half Life are starting to occupy an increasingly dominant part of many people’s lives, but actually maintaining a second life parallel to their so-called real life is still reserved for the few.As a consequence, the media and public imagination harbor a number of misconceptions about how the use of virtual worlds might impact our lives as well as an often stereotypical portrayal of why someone might choose to live parts of their lives in a computer-mediated environment.

What is it really that makes some people spend hours daily in a virtual world? What are the conditions for finding virtual worlds rewarding and enjoyable? What kinds of experiences motivate people to live a second life? Is it about experimenting with that which is physically or ethically forbidden in their normal life, to play around, to meet others, to do business, or collaborative scientific or artistic work? What is the effect of a virtual life on the real, and the other way around? Will the popularity of virtual worlds increase further in the future?

We will explore such questions in the form of a panel, with 5 people around the table who have experience with Second Life as scientist, artist, philosopher, computer technologist or educator. The panelists will introduce themselves by showing different examples. Then the moderated discussion will start, with the opportunity for the audience to comment, ask questions or share (or even show) their own experiences.

The participants

Piet Hut is Professor of Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, USA. His work in astrophysics is focused mainly on stellar dynamics. He founded a virtual institute, MICA, the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics, with a presence in the virtual worlds of Qwaq Forums, Second Life, and OpenSim. MICA is unique in being the first grass roots organization of professional scientists in Second Life. Current MICA activities include: professional journal club talks; popular astrophysics talks by professional astrophysicists for the general public; daily “coffee-time” gatherings where professional and amateur astronomers mingle; and lab-like experiments with OpenSim, where the physics engine is used to let stars fall to each other, rather than to the ground.

Anton Eliëns is coordinator of multimedia @ VU University Amsterdam and involved in setting up the Creative Technology curriculum where he leads the New Media track. His current activities focus on the application of game technology in serious applications and the development of serious games for education and business training.

Johnny Hartz Søraker is a PhD Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, University of Twente. Currently, he is doing research on the philosophy and ethics of virtual worlds as part of an International research group on “Evaluating the Cultural Quality of New Media”. He received his MA degree (Cand. Philol.) in Philosophy from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, then working on philosophy of mind and AI. Since then he has published and lectured extensively on philosophy of technology, philosophy and ethics of virtual worlds in particular.

Viola van Alphen is Multi Media Artist, Curator, Organiser, Business Consultant, Nerd and Managing director of the yearly festival GOGBOT (Art, Media, Technology, Music) and PLANETART, organization for the multi media art that organizes festivals and innovative cross media presentations. During Transmediale Berlin, international festival for Digital Culture, several international artists (i.e. the Australian bionic performance artists Stelarc) chose to participate choosing the medium of Second Life. Art is not only about showing beautiful pictures and crafts, but about philosophy, criticism, hacking and innovation. The past is a kind of future already happened…

Zsófia Ruttkay as a mathematician and computer scientist has been working in Artificial Intelligence, recently on creating engaging communicative behaviour for Virtual Humans. She has been fascinated by the new interaction, communication and expression forms the computer technology is offering – in her view giving rise to a new ideal of the Renaissance Man in the 21^st century. She has been the driving person for the design and development of the new, interdisciplinary education Creative Technology at UT.

http://MetaMeets.com

First Annual Metameets Conference

Friday, May 22 – Sunday, May 24 2009

De Zwijger, Amsterdam (NL) + Virtual Holland (SL)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland%20Business/166/66/22

MetaMeets09:  A European conference addressing the present and future of user-created virtual worlds such as Second Life, Active Worlds, Open source Sim grids and more….

Follow MetaMeets LIVE:

http://MetaMeets.wordpress.com

http://flickr.com/groups/metameets

http://twitter.com/metameets

http://events.linkedin.com/MetaMeets-09/pub/42678
http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=54240928817

http://metameets.sixgroups.com

http://MetaMeets.hyves.nl

More details coming up…

http://dfm.nu/info/news/

at: Zaal 100, Amsterdam (Location Info)
at: Resonance Concert Hall, Second Life (Location Info)

and ofcause on streams, beams, chat and webcams!

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

ALL MARKED GREEN WILL BE ON STREAM

TUNE IN OR SEE YOU THERE!

DONATE ONLINE!

20:15 > 21:15 CEST ( = SL 11:15 am > 12:15 pm PDT)

+ 23:15 > 00:15 CEST ( = SL 2:15 pm > 3.15 pm PDT)

Only a few days ago we were unexpectedly invited to do an experimental live  presentation at TWOTY 09 ( TrendWatcher Of The Year Awards 2009) in Amsterdam (NL). The theme was ‘OPEN’

So ad-hoc improvised the creation of an Experimental Live Interactive Open-Acces Web 3.0 Cross-Media Chat-Bridge:

> TWOTY09 video beam <
> SMS (cell phone txt) <> Twitter <> SL<

More images and details at http://TWOTY.live.nU ( in Dutch/ in het Nederlands)