Chinita's Fair in Second Life~!!

Heaven knows I'm not a religious person, but when duty calls, you can't say no. I find myself working with my teammates in perhaps the most anticipated celebration of the State calendar and certainly one of the most important religious festivities/movements in the Latin America region. It's something called "Feria de la Chinita" or "Chinita's fair" in english; Chinita would mean "little  chinease" and the term it's use to call the local appearance of the Virgin Mary in Zulia state, Venezuela. 

So as part of our non conventional learning methods of english classes (and I say that in a good way), the whole group of students had to elaborate a cultural and promotional campaign in Second Life to bring attention to this local Feir and make it more present in the SL community. Also, It's the perfect way to apply our design and english knowledge and make something beneficial out of them. Here's what I've been working on.

The concept behind this design was to bring the musical aspect of the Fair, with gaita (Traditional music) instruments, like maracas, cuatro (a small version of a guitar) and drums playing and bringing festivity and colorful joy to the Fair and to our exposition in SL. ;)

Here's other thing I've been working on:

Can you see the resemble?

A miniature representation of Rafael Urdaneta Bridge. For me it was very important not only to bring the religious imagery but also the musical and architectonical elements that our State it's famous for.

Adding the final details.

These whole 3 months of learning and experiencing Second Life have been a great adventure. I thank our english tutor not only for giving us tools for learnig advance english, but also for being creative and having the vision of merging experimental methods with traditional teaching. 

UWA 3D art experience in Second Life.

The University of Western Australia has an open 3D art challenge that allows anyone with a SL account and some knowledge in 3D model construction to participate for a chance in winning some money and recognition within and out of the Second Life virtual world. This project is also supported by The University of Texas, SL Arts, and many more groups and organizations. So as an assigment for my english level 7 class I went to check out the expos. What an amazing experience!

This is the exhibition I choose to comment about. To see the whole piece in movement in front of your screen it's something really great, and the sound and visual effects create a very inmersive atmosphere.

The exhibition have lights and sounds that seemed to simulate stages of life or momments of pureness. Like for example, the section with green lights seemed like fungus growing in a lush enviroment under the rain. And in the red lights section, it seemed like the inside of a dolphin's womb, even a 'Hatch' option was given to sit there and... experience, I guess. 

All in all, it left me thinking about the self-impose restrictions of my studying field, graphic design. Why an industry base of technology and innovation wont try to work with interactive pieces like this? I just imagine the possitive effect something like this could bring to a consumer (and to the brand) if it were done right. I guess it's something people will have to experience for themeselves to fully understand the concept.

Some more images.

How great would be to learn how to do this 3D conceptual art  pieces and apply them for advertising purposes?