Monday, April 2, 2012

ELIZA, SECRET, CHERRY and GIOVANNA MAKE SWEET MUSIC

UWA Artists' Choice Challenge: MUSIC

WINNERS:
FIRST PLACE: Eliza Wierwight ~ Sea of Love Music Box
SECOND PLACE: Secret Rage ~ Music in the Air
THIRD PLACE: Giovanna Cerise ~ Habanera
THIRD PLACE: Cherry Manga ~ Butterflies
NON-SCRIPTED: Secret Rage ~ Music in the Air
PEOPLE'S CHOICE: Cherry Manga ~ Butterflies

EXHIBITION CATALOG
FULL PHOTO ARCHIVE

The third monthly UWA Artists' Choice Challenge was on the theme of music. In choosing the theme, FreeWee thought Music would have universal appeal, and the variety of interpretations
that was received bears that out. We had many sound-emitting objects, but also many mute ones. Curiously, the addition of sound in an entry in the Music theme actually disqualified it from consideration for the non-scripted award. But the results were nonetheless satisfying.

While the winning scores were unequivocal, they were also very close. Only 3 points separated the top 4 winners. Since the voting is done by the participants and sponsors themselves, the judging pool is fairly small, making every vote count.

The top award went to Eliza Weirwight's exquisite undersea themed carousel music box. It's always interesting to see what objects engage the judges and the public. The music box was the smallest and and sat unassuming on a pedestal among the many far larger pieces. But it was definitely compelling enough to make people take notice.

Second place went to Secret Rage's playful and evocative rendition of a figure with multicolored winged musical notes suspended in the air. As it was also the highest ranking non-scripted entry, it won the Non-Scripted award as well.

In third place there was a tie. The perennial Cherry Manga came through this time with an immersive environmental piece showing a peaceful park with benches and butterflies and a fountain, but the atmosphere is dense with a blizzard of tiny black musical notes. There is the haunting sound of the a looping phrase by the group CocoRosie: "How they shimmer, how they glimmer, Those butterflies." This piece proved very popular with the public as it also decisively won the People's Choice award.

Also in third place was Giovanna Cerise with her lively flamenco abstract called "Habanera."

Here is the full list of entries:
Apmel Goosson ~ A Rocking Island
Artee ~ Oreille
briawinde Magic ~ Mad Hatter's Song
Cherry Manga ~ Butterflies
Cherry Manga ~ Le Piano
Chic Aeon ~ Standing Room Only
Corcosman Voom ~ Wailin
Eliza Wierwight ~ Sea of Love Music Box
Fox Nacht ~ /we
FreeWee Ling ~ SwingTones
Giovanna Cerise ~ The Flight
Giovanna Cerise ~ Habanera
London Junkers ~ Listen to the Wind
Nino Vichan ~ Imagine
Secret Rage ~ Music in the Air
Secret Rage ~ Interlude
Soda Lemondrop ~ Awake
Toysoldier Thor ~ Round Up The Music

Following is the full text of the awards presentation, announced by Taralyn Gravois:

Welcome to the third of the UWA Artists' Choice Awards!

As is tradition at the University of Western Australia, we would like to acknowledge that the University is situated on Nyoongar land and that the Nyoongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land and continue to uphold their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Before we announce the winners, FreeWee would like me to announce the publication of an exhibition catalog for the Music show. The current draft is online now and will be revised to add the award results. She also asks the participating artists to please let her know any brief descriptions or comments you would like to add to your entries for the book. It is expected to be complete within the next day or so. For this and the catalogs of the two previous shows, see: http://issuu.com/freeweeling.

FreeWee has also published the complete photo archive on her Picasa site. She has also shot some machinima of several of the entries where motion and sound were important. Soon as she learns how to edit video, that will also be made available.

The UWA Artists' Choice challenges are designed to inspire and support the work of artists. The key difference from earlier challenges is that the main awards are determined entirely by the votes of the participating artists and sponsors themselves. Who knows art better than they? It's a special honor to be acknowledged by our colleagues. Votes were collected by FreeWee Ling and verified by JayJay Zifanwe. Anyone wishing to know their particular ranking may contact FreeWee.

So you know what the future is to bring, beginning April 1 the Artists' Choice Challenges will go on hiatus for 4 months. Starting tomorrow we will be accepting entries for a major competition.
The UWA Centenary Art Challenge will be a single round lasting three months. Prizes totaling more than 500 thousand Lindens will be awarded. Anyone can enter a single entry of up to 100 prims. The official announcement with details will be made tomorrow.

Look for the Artists’ Choice challenges to start again with a new theme announced in early July for an August show.

Please remember also that MachinimUWA V: Seek Wisdom is accepting entries with a staggering 725 thousand Lindens in awards to be given. There is also a sponsored Poster Challenge associated with MachinimUWA V being run by Ginette Pinnazo & LaPiscean Liberty
on behalf of the SL machinima Poster Archive & AviewTV. Full details are on the UWA blog.

Today represents the end of the Music show. We received 18 amazing entries for the Music theme by 13 artists. We had a total of seven sponsors for Music. L$20,000 was donated by our sponsors this month.

Clearly, none of this would have been possible without the tremendous support of UWA in SL, and most especially the imagination and vision of JayJay Zifanwe. We also express our deepest gratitude to the other sponsors for this event:
  • Armany Thursday and Dyce Underwood for DNA Art and Music Fusion
  • Eliza Wierwight and Patron
  • Cherry Manga and Anley Piers for Mysterious Wave
  • Ginger Alsop and Phi Designs
  • Zachh Cale and projectZ
  • and special donations by Secret Rage and FreeWee Ling
Anyone wishing to support future challenges, please contact FreeWee Ling.

Now to the awards. In choosing Music as a theme, FreeWee hoped it would have universal appeal, and the variety of interpretations that was received bears that out. We had many sound-emitting objects, but also many mute ones. Curiously, the addition of sound in an entry
in the Music theme actually disqualifies it from consideration for the non-scripted award. But I think you'll find the results nonetheless satisfying.

The People's Choice voting received 209 votes total. The voting was clear, with 17 points separating the winner from its closest competitor. The People's Choice Award (L$2000) for UWA Artists' Choice Music goes to:
BUTTERFLIES by Cherry Manga

Rounding out the top five were: SWINGTONES by FreeWee Ling, /WE by Fox Nacht, HABANERA by Giovanna Cerise, and AWAKE by Soda Lemondrop.

Next we go to the Non-scripted Award. This was determined by the highest ranking in regular voting for a piece that is non-scripted. The Non-Scripted Award (L$3000) for UWA Artists' Choice MUSIC goes to:
MUSIC IN THE AIR by Secret Rage

Other entries ranking highly in the Non-scripted category included LE PIANO by Cherry Manga, WAILIN' by Corcosman Voom, THE FLIGHT by Giovnna Cerise, and ROUND UP THE MUSIC by Toysoldier Thor.

Now for the top three overall awards. Because of FreeWee's peculiar position, she has decided to again withdraw her entry from consideration for a prize. She thanks all who voted for her and is pleased to have been able to participate in this show.

For the Third Place Award we have a tie. The two third place winners with share the L$3000 prize. The Third Place Award goes to:
BUTTERFLIES by Cherry Manga

and also to:
HABANERA by Giovanna Cerise

That’s the last of the ties for this round. The top two awards stand alone.
The Second Place Award (L$5000) for UWA Artists' Choice Music goes to:
MUSIC IN THE AIR by Secret Rage

There were only 3 points separating the top 4 winners. Since the awards are determined by individual votes by the participating artists, rather than by a panel deliberation, the result,
while close, is clear, though with such a small pool of voters, any of the prizes could easily have turned out differently if only one or two people had voted differently.

The First Place Award (L$7000) goes to:
SEA OF LOVE MUSIC BOX by Eliza Weirwight

Other artists who ranked strongly in the voting, in no particular order, included OREILLE by Artee, LE PIANO by Cherry Manga, IMAGINE by Nino Vichan, and STANDING ROOM ONLY by Chic Aeon.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all who participated in a great show! Please take a final look around before you leave today. The MUSIC show will all be gone by this evening to make room for the CENTENARY CHALLENGE! Thank you all for coming! Have a great day!

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