Sable Returns

 

The Fable of Sable

Deep Desertborn of Al Raqis, 

Sable the snake-huntress

studied negotiation and diplomacy

at the Araxes Senate,

trained with the Enclave Companions 

and enrolled briefly with 

the Planetary Protection Force 

which gave her first insight offworld. 

But the Desert kept calling out to her soul. 

Sable took her diplomacy, 

military & companion skills 

to deter desert smugglers 

with whom she intermitently 

traded, shared camp and hunted. 

Sable completed her coming-of-age Pilgrimage 

shortly before the Great Quake. 

Taking it as an omen 

she moved to Old Town 

where she helped with the restoration, 

opened an ethnic art shop.

A travelling StarBorn wooed from Sable 

the story of her life 

'exploring the desert on a hoverbike'

and turned it into an amazing videogame. 

Sable fell in love with a hansum smuggler

who promised her the stars,

only to abandon her in a forgotten outpost.

 

Sable survived by hunting

 reptilian-rat-things and ate moss-vines,

until another StarBorn called Dive,

named after her pilot skills

accidentally rescued her,

took her on as co-pilot

of her ship, the Re. 

The pair travelled as merchants

trading comics and art,

but usually lost in the slipstream. 

All the while Sable followed any rumours about Araxes, 

hoping someday to return to her beloved lost desert. 

She heard it had been destroyed and despaired deeply. 

One day they discovered a map

to a treasure beyond imagnation;

a time-crystal reputed to bring longevity. 

They did eventually discover it

but it was not how they imagined.

Instead of bringing longevity, 

the time-crystal instead causes 

non-linear consciousness 

along an individuals timeline. 

This results in further complications 

regarding cause&effect, free will and the multiverse.

Years passed, seemingly timelessly 

but also with time-glitches, 

until one day while Sable was out shopping, 

Dive and the Re simply disappeared

either by accident, foul play, 

or by Dive or the Re's erratic nature.  

Then, when she was at her lowest,

Sable discovered Al Raqis had not been destroyed, 

at least not on this timeline.

Now, Sable is old, her skin wrinkled with experiences 

and by the light of distant stars whose gravities warp time 

despite the time-crystal. 

Sable decided to retire to a gentle place of healing,

to paint and to write 

from her memories and imagination.

Story Village

All text & images ©2023 Ordo Octopia

All Rights Reserved

故事村

Village Story

Story Village is a place of mythology, existing wherever there are people. 

Its features are found throughout every culture and every era 

of our peoples long history and longer future. 

This particular insight into Story Village came from several sources;

- An exhibition outlining the concept,

- that the exhibition was banned 

from a 3D digital art space Virtual Reality platform 

because the owner is prejudice 

against use of AI art generators to augment storytelling;

- my reaction to that, 

which is to embellish on the themes 

indicated by that series of images 

and their arrangement in the exhibition. 

- The art utilises subject matter as symbolism familiar to the observer. 

Stories grow with the telling. 

They reinvent themselves as necessary. 

Their purpose is entertainment and education. 

Stories require Audience, lest they are forgotten. 

"A picture tells a thousand words." 

故事

兄弟

Story Brothers

The Brothers Grimm dedicated their lives

to collect, reinvent, invent, European folk tales.

They are Storytellers on par with Shaharazade 

in their cultural impact and significance. 

親日

Shinnichi

Falling in love with all things Oriental, 

as many Westerners do,

especially seen amongst subcultures 

of the petro-plastic & digital generation, 

comes discovery of the themes of 

Chinese and Japanese folk tales, 

fairytales and ghost stories

also historic, traditional and contemporary daily lives. 

森林村

Forest Village

The village is in a glade surrounded by a Great Woods. 

The way a forest grows.

A natural place for everything.

Connecting for integration.   

Reaching for diversity. 

A river runs through the village. 

The way a river flows.

Path of least resistance.

Always finding the lowest point.

If a way is blocked, 

grow in size and layers, 

find another route to flow. 

Lonely ruins of ancient buildings surround the village,

many are inhabited. 

The way a village grows.

Generations came before, generations yet to come. 

Our place in the world. 

To decide our role in todays community.

What do we bring? What do we need?

Ways of Trade. 

A Road runs Yonder 

A road runs 

North and South 

Through a village

Cold and Heat, 

Ice and Fire, 

Death and Life, 

Pole and Equator. 

Those are obvious roads 

Well traveled and known. 

Roads worn by many through ages. 

Roads of extreme. 

A road runs 

East and West 

Through a village 

These are the twin roads of 

Separation and Unification. 

These are roads of nuance. 

These are the roads of many paths,

Through worlds and throughout time,

Entwined. 

 

For many Travellers

the Road itself is home. 

The village is a crossroads, 

A melting pot for distillations. 

Temporal distractions for some, 

A place of its own. 

Strangers in the Woods

Guardian and Vigilante,

Bandit and Faye.

Do we trust them?

Do we trust ourselves?

Interchanges of communication

Compare against our Intuition.

Both are primal, lest we forget our survival.

For they are questing too,

All in the Forest are questing.

All here are a part of the Forest

Because they are not of the Village.

How do my own experiences relate directly to the Story Village? 

加美位置

Kami Place

When a river hits a rock,

it grows.

It brings silt to grow a strong tree there. 

It develops diversity,

going two ways around 

instead of ceasing,

instead of remaining,

a singularity of purpose. 

It evolves. 

This is how a river grows. 

It overcomes difficulty,

It continues to flow. 

If it is stilled it grows in depth, 

develops levels, retrospective, reflective. 

Becoming so big it overflows the obstruct.

What once was a trickling stream of optimism

becomes a wise river. 

Water knows;

there is always another way. 

To find the path of least resistance

Must first encounter resistance. 

童夢

A Dream of Childhood

Wild creatures spoke directly to our emotions, intuitions, translated by our minds,

Because our minds were working, then. 

We remembered they were spirits as our own, connected. 

A choice to love or hunt was made. 

As adults we too often forget

This simple awareness. 

The animal souls led us on adventures,

Through paths unknown to those

Who taught us Civilised Ways.

In the Art School I was told; 

"The creative adult is the child who survived." 

I ask; 

"Do you know any real artists?"

I ask again; 

"What is the purpose of Art?" 

It appears

Only the Shamen have the answers. 

The ones who live around the village are called Wizards and Witches.

Those who have cause to pursue their studies semi-civilised. 

I chose my path long ago

Even while others chose it for me.

Living in two worlds,

I became the Bridge.

[TBC]

UASL EXHIBITION

UNITED ARTISTS of SECOND LIFE 

EXHIBITION

Riannah Avora, the manager of UASL

explained about the group: 

“UASL is a relaxed group of artists of all kinds and others who support the arts in SL. 

Designed to be low pressure, easy-going and welcoming to everyone in the group. 

Its purpose is specifically to be pro-artist and support the artist in any way possible. 

We do have some land, not a lot, in which we build and exhibit art 

upon that has been donated to the group. 

UASL is for artists, by artists. 

We are a very pro-artist group.”

I was lucky;

there was a slot the verysameday I rediscovered this sim. 

Notecard > Riannah Avora > 

confirmation response > RA manually added rezzing privileges > 

I booked the slot > I uploaded some pictures

These pictures are some-not-all of a series 

I made recently 

which have now come into focus 

as being the purpose here. 

Creativity is something I am driven to do.

It is an innate need. 

If I cannot or do not do something creative, 

I feel like a bottle of pop which has been shaken,

too much pressure, explosive. 

It is internally painful, emotional and mental. 

Being like this, it means I can draw cause-and-effect

between the stuff I am compelled to make,

and the external world where it fits in.

Nature is holistic. 

Working with creativity this way,

gives a sense of purpose.

Fulfilling, because it is a relief. 

To finally find somewhere I am useful, where I fit in. 

For every one thing I make and share with others,

there are a thousand others unseen which remain in files lost to time. 

Even this space,

ability to communicate about this thing, 

words coming through at this time,

is a part of that process.

It is profoundly cathartic.

網絡：藝術
Cyber : Art

藝術：想像：圖像
Art : Imagine : Image

But then this happened: 

United Artists of SecondLife community boss does not like AI generated images. 

Riannah Avora pulled the exhibition. 

Well that cost me a day of my life.  

DISCLAIMER

I should explain, again, here, for posterity;

My AI generated images

are sourced from original art which I own the copyright of. 

As such the AI images are derivatives of my own legal property 

and are also therefore my own legal property. 

This is based on recommendations of the USA Copyright Office 

issued in 2023 with regard their opinion of how AI should be copyrightable. 

The AI generator is fed prompts,

which a human user decides and enters into the generator.

Prompts are a form of poem, slogan, 

as such they are also copyrightable should anybody declare to do so.

That certainly would somewhat stymie the system for AI art users.

The AI generator used for this series has a clause that 

'once a prompt has been published, it cannot be used again'.

 

There has been no theft nor moral crime committed here

by the creation of new artworks. 

Despite this, the prejudice against AI-augmented art is rife

Even within the cyber-art community.

I do not believe it is so much a case that History will decide.

I believe it is a case that individuals will answer the timeless questions,

What is Art?

What is the purpose of Art? 

My answer is simple: 

Storytelling;

to share experiences,

for expanding collective potential. 

vs 

Repressionism

dedicated to restriction

for fleeting sense of individual empowerment.

So, what was the story involved in the cancelled exhibition all about?

Bunker Street

BUNKER STREET

July 2023 saw the innovation of Bunker Street, 

a new gallery on the old site, 

to exhibit new art.

Unfortunately I once again forgot to pay the rental due to RL business, 

almost immediately as the site construction was complete.

No matter; it is a learning & developmental experience,

 plus there are some pictures. 

The individual Concrete Brutalism buildings will eventually be available from the marketplace;

(if my ability to upload to marketplace ever returns). 

THE STREET

THE GALLERIES

A: empty building (TBA) 

B: CPAF

C:  HOUSE of LIFE

D:  NOIR

E: EXQUIS CADAVER 

F: DANCE

CPAF

CPAF ('CyberPunk As Fuck') slang from Social Media

emerged after the long-awaited Cyberpunk2077 video game 

was finally released in 2022 

by CD Project Red. 

There are simply far too many images to exhibit each series in one go,

so I made video reels to showcase them, 

put the video reels into SecondLife in place of canvases. 

CPAF: Quadrant

CPAF: lithotypes 

CPAF: TrashCan People 

CPAF: Arches

CPAF: Tarcrete Kowloon

CPAF:  Smog Line

CPAF: Oil Slick

CPAF:  Lo Res

CPAF: Palace Dive 

There are more in the CPAF: series to follow, 

as soon as I can clear the backlog. 

HOUSE of LIFE

'House of Life' is Hieroglyphic Egyptian for 'Library'.

This building houses the catalogues of SnakeAppleTree's previous major inworld exhibitions. 

The catalogues are made from The Book Factory v1.2

They appear inward as interactive books.

NOIR

EXQUIS CADAVRE

The original concept for Exquis Cadavre is a goth/emo/harajuku street style clothing outlet. 

RL time constraints have indefinitely postponed that. 

Meanwhile the logo is put to re-use for the 

Voodoo People exhibition, July 2023.

STREET  MEETS

During the week while I was building Bunker Street,

I caught up with some old friends and made a new one. 

JeddaZen

"Needs more plants around here." Jedda Zenovka

RinzlaRiot

Alaetoric

Aleatoric Electronica 07.29.23

 

Aleatoric Electronica 07.30.23

Aeryia Wins 

This incarnation of Bunker Street has ceased to exist.

I have to accept it has served its purpose. 

Next Up: 

Bunker Street Rebuilt