A Rose Heard At Dusk (2007)

A Rose Heard At Dusk was an interactive audiovisual sculpture for Second Life by Adam Nash, 2007, commissioned by Gary Hayes for Big Pond.

Using many of the possibilities unique to the Second Life medium, A Rose Heard At Dusk is a participatory artwork that turns visitors into performers.

It was designed specifically for the cavern space under the Opera House on Big Pond Island. The work is designed to be "played" by visitors' avatars.

Walking, flying and jumping through the space, avatars create a unique audiovisual composition, different every time. Colours and sounds combine to create a spatially immersive musical and visual experience.

The work can be played by single avatars, but it really comes alive when friends play it together.

It blends the different meanings of "play". By playing in the space, visitors are actually playing the space like an audiovisual instrument, creating endless variations of sound and vision.

It looks different at different times of day, the light reacting differently with all of the translucent colours. It sounds different from different positions - all sounds are attached to shapes in the space, some sounds stay still while others move, some sounds are triggered by avatar proximity, while some are constantly sounding. Combined with the movements of visitors' avatars, this creates an endlessly changing immersive audiovisual experience.

Adam Nash (Adam Ramona), Melbourne (Second Life)
2007.