200 Days before the next HIE

Wait, what? Two hundred days from now? That's forever! 

Well, kinda... but time is like a train, chugging along with a regular rhythm but moving much faster than you think until it's suddenly right there, on top of you! So we're already planning ahead for the next HIE event, which will be from April 4 to April 6,  2025. Scroll to the end of this post to find out how you can stay informed about the event via the Socials.

What is HIE, or Hypergrid International Expo? 

If you're a regular reader of this blog you already know! If you're new to the idea.... it is an Opensim conference, party, expo, and art performance extravaganza, experienced live and archived on our Youtube Channel - please help people find it more easily by giving a Like and Subscribe! 

HIE gives Opensim people of any and all grids, whose first language is not English, the opportunity to speak about the projects, experiments, sims, and builds that they are proud of. They get to tell their stories in their own languages, and we provide a sort of Subtitle system that allows you to follow what's being said in English, or any one of the major languages of Opensim.

In the past, HIE has been held on Craft Grid, with the kind assistance of the lovely Licu Rau.

This year, we have a new home, a 3x3 space on the new HG Safari grid - address at the end of the page. This will resolve a few logistical issues, and means we have a brand new playground for all the HIE activities.

Nazirah Avro speaking in Spanish, HIE23

Why aren't the talks in English?

Simple - there already is a very big annual event for Opensim, where all presentations are given in English. It's called the OSCC  the Opensimulator Community Conference and this year the 12th annual event will be held on December 7 - 8, 2024. However, not everyone's comfortable giving a lecture in English, so the Hypergrid International Expo is a space for these other voices, a sister convention, if you like.

Next HIE Event

 The Hypergrid International Expo for 2024 recently closed its doors on Craft-world, with a final show by Cherry Manga of her fabulous light and sound performance "Variations monochromes autour d'une coordonnée".

About 25 people showed up to say their goodbyes to this multi-language, multi grid event.

Many asked, when will the next Expo be? Who will be the speakers, and which artists will be performing? What languages will be featured, and on what grid will the event be held in the future?

All excellent questions, and the answers will be posted here on this blog over coming months, so do not forget to subscribe! If you do not know much about Hypergrid International Expo, you may find it useful to look at our  main website, which has details of how to participate in several languages.\

https://sites.google.com/view/hieopensim/home

We can announce that the next HIE event will be from Friday 4 April to Sunday 6 April, 2025. Please save the dates in your calendar, and stay in touch so you don't miss any of the details as they emerge.

End of an Era

 This year's Hypergrid International Expo on Craft Grid was held over the weekend of April 19 - 21, as you probably know. It was a fun event, enriched by singers including the Italian Zeno Voxel, the German Wolem Wobbit, and DJ Marlon Wayne, Portuguese singer Zoree Jupiter, who did a set of Fado songs, and Thai performer Ouienanda. It was a kaleidoscope of culture.

We had two days of interesting talks on subjects ranging from education to opensim development, to personal stories of life in the metaverse. Four languages were used for the talks - plus the universal language of art, with fabulous displays by Velazquez Bonetto, Tutz Zabelin, Terra Merhyem, and Cherry Manga.

All this plus Jeff Kelley, CapCat Ragu, Lampithaler Artist, Drusus Zonenations, Gudule Lapointe,  Thirza Ember, and our Moderators, Rosa Alekseev, Tosha Tyran, Dabici Straulino, Lorenza Colicigno and Em Jannings. Plus a huge participation of people of all parts of the metaverse in our huge Expo region -103 booths this year!

Thanks to everyone who participated, we hope you will join us next time

Sunday at HIE

 The final day of HIE 2024 was on Sunday 21 April and once again, it was a mixture of presentations and performances, weaving together work in real life, with personal experiences of virtual worlds, along with some very big and impressive art.
The warm voice of Lorenza Colicigno was the first we heard as she welcomed the audience to take their seats, open the Subtitles group for their native language, and to turn on Stream.

Thirza Ember's talk was all about HG Safari, the history of the hypergrid touring group, its goals and its evolution over the past ten years, as opensim has changed and grown, providing so many interesting places to visit (and to crash in!)

Saturday at HIE

 The Saturday sessions of the Hypergrid International Expo were filled with light and magic, as we had art performances and talks by German and French speakers. 

But first a true babel of languages as our 5 person 5 language panel welcomed everyone to the conference! 

The First session of HIE 2024 was in German, introduced by Tosha Tyran, who announced that sadly, the first speaker on the program Loru Destiny, was not able to join us due to a last minute situation in RL.

HIE 2024 Friday Opening Party

 Yesterday at 11am Pacific, the Hypergrid International Expo kicked off with three hours of music. The HIE expo regions are on Craft grid, you can get to them by coming to craft-world.org:8002:HIE Welcome and use the portals to get to HIE 2, HIE 3 and HIE 4, where all the fun takes place.

And what music! The divine Zoree Jupiter kicked things off with a truly beautiful set of Fado, the traditional portuguese songs of love, passion and of course, 'fado' or fate, destiny...

Ready to Party at HIE 2024 !

  This year, the Expo Park that surrounds the auditorium, where the main conference takes place, is even bigger!

Just over 100 booths fill the three regions with color, humor, information, and art. Many of the stands have freebies - some exclusive to this event! and just about all of them have notecards, landmarks, and weblinks so you can learn more about the people and places they showcase.

The HIE event begins on Friday April 19 at 11am SLT with a kick-off party in the park, a good excuse to get out and see the sights. Entertainment will be by Zoree Jupiter, DJMarlon Wayne, and Zeno Stark. On Saturday April 20, following the conference, there will be an opportunity to revisit the park with your friends as while listening to some great rock'n'roll by Wolem Wobbit. 
Come see the regions for yourself, land on craft-world.org:8002:HIE Welcome and walk through the portals to get to the Expo Park.