AM Radio at IDIA Laboratories

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

One of my favourite artists and creators in Second Life is without question, AM Radio. Well known across the grid for his installations featuring wheatfields and in support of Heifer International.

The first AM Radio installation that I ever visited in world was The Far Away (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dreamworld%20North/220/130/22). It was my first exposure to the wheatfield with all the highly detailed objects and hidden treasures to be found when clicking the correct places. The installation had an incredible horizon and sky that made it feel very realistic and certainly ungridlike.

Since the Far Away, there have been a number of subsequent installations and exhibits...The Space Between the Trees (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Welsh%20Lakes/167/71/23); Husk (http://slurl.com/secondlife/IDIA%20Laboratories/19/157/21); The Space Between These Trees (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Welsh%20Lakes/167/71/23); Beneath the Tree that Died (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Welsh%20Lakes/94/131/1028); The Radio (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Welsh%20Lakes/137/119/516); and The Red and the Wild (http://slurl.com/secondlife/IDIA%20Laboratories/94/160/545).

Flickr groups abound and alot of AM Radio-related images can be found there. Each installation typically has a Flickr group dedicated specifically to it. I have a set of AM Radio images on Flickr which can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pj_trenton/sets/72157617149336779/.

His latest installation is an interactive exhibit where visitors can tag train cars. You create your graffiti works on an interactive web site and they appear in world on one of the 5 train cars in world. It is being hosted on the Institute for DIgitial Intermedia Arts (IDIA) at Ball State University. AM Radio is their inaugural artist-in-residence.

I highly recommend taking a run through the various AM Radio installations. They offer up some incredibly detailed content creation and a great place to lose yourself on the grid.

0 comments: