Second Life Destinations

Anyone unacquainted with the work of Eupalinos Ugajin will have no idea of the ecstatic lunacy Second Life can host. His One Day My Cow Will Come, which I blogged about in 2011, is one of my favorites. He's produced many works in the interim, including an installation at Split Screen. He now has a build at LEA21 titled Gravity Is a Mistake, which in my book is a must-see. Like many of Eupa's works, Gravity primarily consists of a potpourri of small pieces (a few of which have appeared before) with no particular connection to each other as far as I can tell, but of course all sourced from Eupa's particular sense of surrealism and humor. (Not to mention his abiding love of the Russian cult film Kin-dza-dza!, which is why you'll hear someone saying "Kou!" -- also transliterated as "koo" and "ku" -- and see the same word inside what might be an oxygen tank on a cow.) In Eupa's builds it's essential to touch, bump, or grab everything. Often the object will transport or animate you, and sometimes it will make a sound, move your camera, or send you a gift (in the last case, try wearing it right away). Other pieces are amusing in other ways, like a giant ear with a Klein bottle earring. Gravity is structured as a dome with a central corridor, but be sure to cam outside because some of pieces including another Klein bottle) are on the exterior. At the main entrance you should receive a HUD (or if not there, then pick one up at the beginning of the corridor) which has two buttons, one to return you to the beginning of the corridor, the other to rescue you from one of the small works.

Now open is the first part of Gravity is a mistake by Eupalinos Ugajin, to which two additional components will eventually be added. As is typical with the artist's work, the installation is highly interactive and playful, with generally unpredictable and often absurd results, and includes a puzzle to solve. As visitors arrive, they should accept the experience that's offered, thereby allowing the attachment of a simple HUD.
After leaving the landing point (which is hidden away in the curious object pictured at top), visitors are deposited at one end of the base of a long canyon filled with all sorts of miscellaneous objects (image above). A good rule of thumb in any build by Eupa is to click on everything, and Gravity is a mistake is no exception — objects will teleport you, change your camera angle (the fourth image in this post is one likely to be seen), animate your avatar, shower you with gifts (be sure to visit the bar), load web pages, interact with one another, and attach objects to you. (This last effect is seen in the image immediately below, where I found myself wearing an odd hat and an assortment of lines that moved, continually changed directions. There is a simple way to remove these attachments, which you'll no doubt discover.)