Friday, November 25, 2011

Launch of a UWA Treasure: The Somerville Auditorium

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On the morning of the 23rd of November 2011, UWA's Somerville Auditorium was officially launched in virtual space by Jay Jay Jegathesan, Manager of the School of Physics (Jayjay Zifanwe in SL). Created by Sharni Azalee (of Western Australia) with assistance from Marcus Inkpen, this makes it the 12th of the 100 Treasures from UWA to now be present on UWA land in Second Life.

The Somerville Auditorium plays host every year to the Lotterywest Festival Films as part of the Perth International Arts Festival, as such, the launch of the Somerville in Second Life was christened by the screening of a selection of machinima that have formed part of the growth and development of UWA in virtual space. The very first Machinima shown at the Somerville (SL) was Bert Jedburgh's October Round Winners Machinima of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge. Ironically, it will be the last of the monthly winners machinima that have been created over the past 2 years for the UWA 3D Art Challenges (as the monthly challenges evolves to something else).

Those attending the launch were also treated to a most incredible show of light and magic amongst the Norfolk Bay Pines, by the wizard behind the wonders of Catharsis, Tyrehl Byk.

Other machinima playes included Cisko Vandeverre's SEEK (winner of MachinimUWA), Bradley Dorchester's Art of the Artists (joint-winner of MachinimUWA II), Tutsy Navarathna's Journey Into the Metaverse (joint-winner of machinimUWA III) and Kobuk Farshore's Requiem (MachinimUWA III Award Winner).

2011, 2012 & 2013 are  centenary years for the University of Western Australia, and MachinimUWA V, which will be held in 2012 will be in honour of UWA Centenary. A theme will be selected loosely corresponding to the centenary, with a rule being that at least one of the 100 Treasures of UWA has to feature in the Machinima.


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