The G.B.T.H. Project

Since the Linden Endowment for the Arts is going on hiatus, this will be the perfect time to introduce you to the G.B.T.H. (Grab By The Horns) Project in Second Life.

The G.B.T.H. Project was founded in October 2017 and is a concept gallery in Second Life, founded and curated by Marina Münter and Megan Prumier. Their idea was to have a space to work together promoting art exhibitions in Second Life.

I had the opportunity to ask one of the founders, Marina Münter, a few questions about the project:

Strawberry: Hi Marina, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for me. You and Megan started this venture together, how do you sustain it? Who pays for the sim and any other expenses that occur?
Marina: Now we are three curators at the G.B.T.H.: myself, Megan and Nath Baxton. He recently joined the team and we are working on some improvements on the website and the structure of the gallery.
There are tipjars at the venue and all the donations help paying the rent. When they aren’t enough, we just pay from our own pocket. And when the donations reach the rent for the duration of the exhibition, we just send the money to the artist (sadly it happened only once).

Strawberry: How often do the art installations change/rotate? How long are they up for?
Marina: The installations last for five weeks-ish. We put a gap of three days between each installation so the artist can pick up their work and the follow can transfer theirs from their platform to our own. So far, all the artists invited didn’t need a sandbox, they used their own. In order to fulfill the deadlines, we invite them within at least a month prior to the opening to avoid having the gallery closed for a long period of time and so they can work on their installations without a rush.

Strawberry: Is there a way for artists to apply for an installation? Is there a signup form?
Marina: We have a contact tab on our website that will go straight to the G.B.T.H. mailbox ([email protected]) and they also can contact us inworld. If any of your readers are interested in doing something at our gallery, we are more than happy to listen to their ideas 🙂

Strawberry: How are the installations chosen? Is there a committee or group that chooses which installations will go up? If so, what are some of the criteria they look for?
Marina: The process of choosing an installation actually starts by selecting the artist, and then contacting them inworld with the invitation. Since an installation seems to be a bit intimidating, we still didn’t get many requests. We invite people based on their work and what they enjoy doing in Second Life (building, photography, writing, filming…). Some of the installations were a first time experience for the artists, like Hikari by Amelie Marcoud and 50mg by Nath Baxton. We also had well-known artists like Mistero Hifeng and Megan Prumier herself. Now for December, Theda Tammas, another well known 3D artist, will display the beautiful piece she created for our space. So really everyone that is interested in commit on making an art installation, is willing to talk their ideas and is ok with deadlines is welcome to the GBTH, no matter if never did it before or if is experienced. Our focus is to host and promote art installations that truly explores the creative possibilities inside the grid.

Strawberry: Is there a cost for the artists that have their installations there?
Marina: The G.B.T.H. is a collaborative project, so the costs that artists have are basically the fee to upload textures, meshes, and also acquire any objects that they need. We put ourselves up to help for anything they need during the process, and the amount of help varies from artist to artist. And no, we don’t charge them to exhibit there.

The current showing at GBTH is actually by Marina herself. It’s been up since November 11th and will be there till December 12th next week. Please take a moment to visit it before then as it’s a reflection of her thoughts on the current political environment worldwide. I also asked her about it:

Strawberry: What inspired you to make this installation?
Marina:  These are weird times for politics worldwide, and I feel that it is not brought up to the table as a discussion topic often. Since February we have a military intervention here in Rio, they are in charge of the security now, and we elected Jair Bolsonaro, that openly supports the military regimen and glorifies the military dictatorship we had here between 1964 and 1985. And I’m aware that absurdities are happening worldwide. I didn’t want to come with harsh accusations, I didn’t want to come pointing fingers, feeding rivalry, none of that. I want and try to give an empathic perspective because the ones that suffer the most are the ones with less voice.  So with this installation, I first was frightened to talk about politics here in SL, but second I wanted to give it a go. The Internet is so fantastic in so many ways, and with this work, I had the chance to talk with people from other countries with an insider perspective and not only relying on the media, so I couldn’t be more pleased. Inside there is the large figure of a black woman crying, covered with the Brazilian flag, and up the favela there are two rooms: one the most faithful reproduction I could make of a favela home, with a flatscreen with a gif from an actual footage of Bolsonaro in one of his rallies and the other I put laptops that people can click and read actual news that has been written about the situation here.

The picture you see in this post is of Marina and I standing in front of the main entrance to her installation. A big thank you to Marina for taking the time to answer the questions for me and showing me around a bit.

If you are an artist or interested in the arts in Second Life, I think the GBTH Project is a must visit. Click over to visit the blog and location and check it out for yourself. I’m going to take you guys on a quick live tour later today on my YouTube channel, join me!

Click over to go on the live tour with me:
https://youtu.be/_ZgwtJsnKLU

Links for The G.B.T.H. Project:

• Website
• Flickr Group
• Current Showing: DELIBERARE HUMANUM EST by Marina Münter (Nov 11th to Dec 12th)

 

My Style Credits can be found in this post: Berry’s 2018 Mesh Body Parts Survey