Upcoming MetaGarden show
Getting ready for the upcoming show at DUM Project Space! Join us this Wednesday IRL or online starting at 19:00. Many thanks to Metaja Bucar and Vadim Fishikin (DUM Project Space / DUM Association of Artists) for co-production of this exhibition, and Maja Ciric for curating and consulting! Also Jan Kusej for helping me with the executive production, Justin M. aka “Pudding” for helping me with optimizing initial VRChat club, Saša Radić for providing his amazing tracks for the Genesis AV set, Vid Podpečan from Department of Knowledge Technologies at Jožef Stefan Institute and our SciArtLab for work on neural networks, Prof. George Poinar for sending information about the plants he has discovered in amber, Thimster for the modeling of those two plants, Kristina Bukač, Jelena Guga, Ivan Stanić, Derek Snyder for consulting, and all friends from VRChat and Sansar, I could not do it without you!
About the show: “MetaGarden Sphere4 by Tanja Vujinovic is a hybrid negotiation between the physical gallery and virtual worlds, in which real art objects are mixed with the digital UXA (user experience of art). They all belong to the artist’s user-created worlds – advanced virtual environments – in Sansar, VRChat and other digital infrastructures as original examples of contemporary art of the metaverse (meta + universe) in 2021. They consist of exemplary, luminous worlds called Love, Genesis and Club and are inhabited by joyful avatars.The virtual club and garden enable us to explore virtual reality through new forms of phygital (physical + digital) collectivity and playful modes of making and sharing based on human-computer interaction and a deeper integration with artistic production processes. These virtual environments act as original platforms for special events scheduled by the hosts. Most often, they feature a minimal techno audio-visual set and not only invite users for a classical walk-through but also to unique free-aligned, one-off interactions. Besides being inhabited by digital beings, these worlds also host generated Dyson Sphere-like devices, various biomimetic objects of snake and plant-inspired forms, and reconstructed plants from the Earth's past, representing Synthetic Others in the now. Informed by scientific research methodology, Tanja Vujinović has cultivated the MetaGarden Sphere4 by creating digital twins of several plants from the Earth's past: Strychnos electri – a poisonous flower, four Carboniferous plants (Psaronis, Calamites, Kordait, Sphenophyllum) and Chenocebus allodapus – a flower modelled after what is possibly the very first flower to blossom on Earth. Strychnos electri and Chenocebus allodapus were studied by George Poinar, one of the world's experts on plant and animal life forms preserved in amber. Alluring and essential for human survival, the first flowers may have existed up to 100 million years ago, and while many paleobotanists work on the puzzle of how the first flowers looked, the artist cultivates their Synthetic versions in the metaverse. With Chenocybus allodapus representing one of the earliest angiosperm lineages known, Strychnos electri belongs to the family of highly poisonous plants that, together with snake-like objects in Sphere4, creates twisted instances of Asclepius rods alluding to the medicine-poison dichotomy. In the MetaGarden orchids are nurtured as the most seductive and diverse flowers while the Dyson sphere-inspired objects float, encircling stars and capturing their energy to be used in this world. As new spheres of MetaGarden unfold, we can observe their elements and how entities form lives of their own. As Félix Guattari puts it, “its chaosmic Universe can be constellated with […], vegetal, animal, cosmic or machinic...becomings.”Tanja Vujinović is an artist who creates UXA by using the art-adjacent field of gaming. The artist’s metaverse as a unique ecosystem emerges from a bottom-up culture rather than from a top-down industrial model and is open to be discovered and inhabited by new users. MetaGarden Sphere4 is placed within Sansar and VRChat, a popular alternative social construct manifested as an expressive amalgam of a computer game and a social platform that offers possibilities of organizing events for avatars and publishing content in the form of virtual worlds. Sansar and VRChat could also be described as a “Non-game game”, a class of software offering the player unbound possibilities of freeform play, non-binary identity and a great degree of self-expression, exploration and interaction, without the limits of conventional or imposed goals and objectives. DUM project space is in this case more than a host: it is a facilitator for vast technological and hybrid alternative worlds constructed by Tanja Vujinović in the metaverse. Currently displayed is also the exhibition MetaGarden Chronicles 1, the first exhibition at Ultramono LABS ¯`*•.¸,¤°gallery°¤,¸.•*´¯ by Tanja Vujinović, curated by Maja Ćirić, in the new space for exhibitions and related events – Ultramono LABS ¯`*•.¸,¤°gallery°¤,¸.•*´¯ world published on the VRChat platform. LINK
Credits:
MetaGarden Sphere4
Digital images, VRChat/Sansar worlds, custom software (colour, sound), computers, screens or projectors;
Sansar link to world MetaGarden Club 2.0:
LINK https://atlas.sansar.com/experiences/tanjav-2058/highlands-template
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Sphere4 Club
https://vrch.at/wrld_57549801-1add-4bb4-a017-bd6d2c4a5e50
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Sphere4 Daylite Club
https://vrch.at/wrld_5561d855-6a5b-4805-a59d-03631b8b63c3
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Sphere4 Love at the Edge of the Playspace
https://vrch.at/wrld_75c0752b-7325-42ef-9cf3-992b2591bf6a
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Sphere4 Genesis
https://vrch.at/wrld_f2e1b77b-1996-4f3e-b259-0a8ca0458139
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Ultramono LABS gallery
https://vrch.at/wrld_eb9aa7dc-1e43-4950-bc49-b57851e7b7ff
3D modelling, Unity3D world building, sound: Tanja Vujinović
3D objects of carboniferous plants: Dariusz Andrulonis for edukator.pl
Chenocebus allodapus and Strychnos electri plant 3D object modeling: Thimster, Graphics Design Master
Unity3D world building: Tanja Vujinović
Unity3D world optimization: Justin M. aka “Pudding”
Sphere4 Club ₲Ɇ₦Ɇ₴ł₴ AV set: Tanja Vujinović (visual material from Universal Objects and MetaGarden series) and Saša Radić (sound); Tracks: Jackal, B3, Mind Drive, Vertical, Push it, Rolling 3.0, Never Ending Story (published by Vozotonik Records, Triple Vision Record Distribution / Smashed Records. Proton Distribution)
Training of deep neural network: dr Vid Podpečan, Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute
Coproduction: SciArtLab, Jožef Stefan Institute
Coproduction:DUM Association of Artists
Production: Ultramono, 2021
Consulting: Maja Ćirić, curator and art critic; Kristina Bukač, Informatics Engineer; Prof. George Poinar, College of Science at Oregon State University; Dr. Jelena Guga, Researcher; Thimster, Graphics Design Master; Dr. Vid Podpečan, Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute; Ivan Stanić, Curator and Artist; Derek Snyder, Researcher and Editor; friends from VRChat.
Project is supported by the Department for Culture of the Municipality of Ljubljana, and The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
🐍🌺🌞• 👽 •💮🐉
#contemporaryart #mediaart #digitalsculpture #metaverse #VRworlds #VRevents #VRart #techno #ultramono #sphere4 #metagarden #techno #paleobiology #artandscience #tanjav #tanjavujinovic #deepneuralnetworks #futuristic #artwork #idm
Genesis
This year's MetaGarden consists of three major components: Genesis, Club and its few versions, and Love on the Edge of the Playspace. Elements intertwine and appear in all parts, connecting this virtual landscape, and it all started with Genesis, audio visual seed sown in the club, and unique digital sculptures, my proto machines that have multifunctional roles in this virtually real, imaginary and factual world of the possible and the apparent, the sensual and the meditative. Biomimetic objects take control of space, work in the background and inspire us to think about the spaces of the future, where entities like proto machines will play key roles in maintaining the systems in which we live. Synthetic agents, living-non-living things from our surroundings seduce, provide comfort, control, emit sounds, like biomimetic internet of things, in the space of the Metaverse.
MetaGarden Sphere4: Genesis is a small virtual garden that enables us to immerse ourselves into an ongoing soundscape generated with the help of custom-made artificial intelligence software. A deep neural network was trained to generate sound through samples of minimal techno music.The world of Sphere4 Genesis is placed within VRChat, an amalgam of a computer game and a social platform that offers its users possibilities of organizing events and publishing content in the form of virtual worlds and avatars. VRChat could also be described as a “Non-game game”, a class of software offering the player unbound possibilities of freeform play, identity and a great degree of self-expression, exploration and interaction, without the limits of conventional or imposed goals and objectives. All Sphere4 worlds published on the VRChat platform contain “seeds” of the MetaGarden ecosystem, with the addition of newly developed ones made especially for Sphere4.Ž
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Credits: MetaGarden Sphere4 Genesis by Tanja Vujinović
World for VRChat online platform
VRChat world MetaGarden Sphere4 Genesis link: https://vrch.at/wrld_f2e1b77b-1996-4f3e-b259-0a8ca0458139
In case of events, host name: TanjaV (add to friends, than request invite) https://vrchat.com/home/user/usr_4451c61f-3595-4be1-a95e-72d4ff8eeac3
3D modelling: Tanja Vujinović
Unity3D world building: Tanja Vujinović
Sphere4 Club ₲Ɇ₦Ɇ₴ł₴ AV set used for training of deep neural network by Tanja Vujinović (visual material from Universal Objects and MetaGarden series) & Sasa Radic (sound); Tracks: Jackal, B3, Mind Drive, Vertical, Push it, Rolling 3.0, Never Ending Story (Published by Vozotonik Records, Triple Vision Record Distribution / Smashed Records. Proton Distribution)
Sound: LUZ1E https://soundcloud.com/l-v-z-1-e
Training of deep neural network: Dr Vid Podpečan, Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute
Coproduction: SciArtLab, Jožef Stefan Institute
Production: Ultramono, 2021-ongoing
Consulting:
Dr Jelena Guga, researcher
Thimster, Graphics design master
Dr Vid Podpečan, Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute
Ivan Stanić, curator and artist
Derek Snyder, researcher and editor
Friends from VRChat
💮🐍💮🐍💮
#contemporaryart #mediaart #liveart #digitalart #metaverse #VRworlds #VRevents #sphere4 #metagarden #techno #neuralnetwork #vrchat #tanjavujinovic #futuristic #ultramono #tanjav #artwork #idm #vr
MetaGarden Sphere4 in VRChat
Become part of a work of art! MetaGarden Sphere4: Love on the Edge of the Playspace is a virtual alchemy garden rich in foliage, flowers and sentient objects that soothe our senses. It is a virtual reality world dedicated to unity, closeness, love and intermediary devices.
Desire to connect is omnipresent throughout the Metaverse of agents that feed off each other. How does one connect with the world nowadays? Do we need intermediate agents to connect with the Other? As a place of probabilities, in Félix Guattari’s words, “its chaosmic Universe can be constellated with […], vegetal, animal, cosmic or machinic…becomings”. Besides interhuman, we are now getting into relationships with some of these becomings and their amalgams. Actors in the networks of intense connections can appear in endless varieties of forms. The suspense of constantly building up desire to connect is the constant state of being in our hypernatural world.
The series consists of two-dimensional works, a desktop application and a world published within VRChat, an amalgam of a computer game and a social platform.
💞🌞🐍💮🌺🐉
Credits:
MetaGarden Sphere4 Love at the Edge of the Playspace by Tanja Vujinović
Digital images, VRChat world, custom software (color, sound), computer, screen or projector
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Sphere4 Love at the Edge of the Playspace
https://vrch.at/wrld_75c0752b-7325-42ef-9cf3-992b2591bf6a
3D modelling, Unity3D world building, sound: Tanja Vujinović
Sound: LUZ1E https://soundcloud.com/l-v-z-1-e
Coproduction: SciArtLab, Jožef Stefan Institute
Production: Ultramono, 2021
Consulting:
Dr Vid Podpečan, Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute
Dr Jelena Guga, researcher
Thimster, Graphics design master
Ivan Stanić, curator and artist
Derek Snyder, researcher and editor
Friends from VRChat
💞🌞🐍💮🌺🐉
#contemporaryart #mediaart #liveart #digitalart #metaverse #VRworlds #VRevents #ultramonolabs #sphere4 #metagarden #techno #vrchat #tanjavujinovic #futuristic #ultramono #tanjav #artwork #idm
Weekend in MetaGarden
Thank you for attending 𝕸𝖊𝖙𝖆𝕲𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖓 Sphere4 💞🌞🐍💮🌺🐉 this weekend. Our Kiblix2021 x Ultramono LABS event on Saturday online and in the gallery was fantastic! Thank you all for really wonderful conversations, feedback, dancing, and music. Special thanks goes to Živa Kleindienst, Zala Koren, Filip Šuen, Ama Levia, RonBreIan, dnDaan, Wyatt Schmidt, AdhDJ, AtlanticTechGuy, Sašha!
Ultramono LABS and the KIBLIX festival event
Join us in one hour! Become part of a work of art! Ultramono LABS and the KIBLIX festival invite you to MetaGarden Sphere 4 by Tanja Vujinović, world in virtual reality on VRChat platform. A live event will consist of guided tours of the world by TanjaV and sound performances by DnDaan, AdhDJ, Wyatt Schmidt, Indicah, Shasha starting at CEST 19:00 / EDT 13:00. Each set lasts two hours.
You can join the event in desktop or VR mode or join as at the exhibition space KIBLA PORTAL between 19:00 and 21:00, where you can directly immerse yourself into a virtual environment. Join hosts TanjaV or Levia2501 or any of our DJs.
MetaGarden is Tanja Vujinović’s ongoing series of projects, each devoted to different subjects of contemporary life, art, science, and technology.
VRChat link to world MetaGarden Sphere4
https://vrch.at/wrld_eb9aa7dc-1e43-4950-bc49-b57851e7b7ff
Host TanjaV VRChat link:
https://vrchat.com/home/user/usr_4451c61f-3595-4be1-a95e-72d4ff8eeac3
Host Levia2501 VRChat link:
https://vrchat.com/home/user/usr_45b2f561-4f6c-4034-97b8-51c5cce4b2a1
More about the project here:
https://www.tanjav.art/work/sphere4
