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.

Lorin Tone: "I Have No Words" at HIE

 Virtual worlds have a limited impact on our senses - no smells or tastes in the metaverse at present ... but while sight is the dominant sense we use here, sound is the magnifier of sensations and it deepens the immersive experience exponentially. But like visual effects, sound effects only really enhance the virtual experience when they are done right.

One of the highlights of the Park is Lorin Tone's build for HIE - it is so elegant and appropriate, the title is  "I have no words". It's a sort of interactive sound sculpture and fits the mood of our multi-language event perfectly.  

It is located on craft-world.org:8002:HIE 2 at the Expo in the HIE auditorium park, which will be staying up until December 15, so if you didn't get a chance to visit the whole thing yet, jump over and check it out.

Sunday at HIE 2023: Spanish Session

 Crossing continents with our last session, we were delighted to have with us Victoria Logan, Nazirah Avro, and Tosha Tyran. This Spanish Session gave lovers of languages the chance to sample four different accents, and three different windows onto the world as seen through Spanish-speaker's eyes.

From pure virtual art, to a personal testimony, to a RL monument made into mesh, it was a whirlwind of emotions.

Xirana Oximoxi was the Moderator for this session. Xirana is a writer with an extraordinary talent also for illustrations. She has published several books for children, and also has this really beautiful and moving blog full of her art - please do not miss it. Xirana lives in Catalonia, while Victoria is in Argentina, and Nazirah in Venezuela. As you can imagine, getting everyone to the event on time, with so many time zones involves, was something of a challenge! But Xirana's calm and kind demeanor and her good sense of fun got us through the trickiest bits of the planning and execution of the event!  Virtual worlds pulling our global community together all on one stage!

Sunday at HIE 2023: French Session

The beautiful and elegant LadyKa introduced the opening session of the Hypergrid International Expo today, at about 6pm Paris time. Another day of fantastic speeches, all in the French language, and inspiring us all to be more active, more open to new ideas, more sensitive to the wider community and to finding ways that we can unite, cooperate and have fun together while respecting the ideas and cultural differences of our neighbors.

A lot of people took time to go and explore the huge park with its 70 booths, each one promoting a grid, a region, a project or a person active right here in Opensim. This event is designed to elevate our sense of residence in this unique hypergrid - a constellation of independent worlds that comes together when they choose to, yet operate as separate entities, creating marvels and oases of peace and fun all around the globe.

Our first speaker arrived on a dandelion seed! Kelso Uxlay gave a really fascinating speech about the KFM function in opensim scripting that allows you to make objects move in a smooth and realistic way, whether it's saloon doors swinging back and forth, or running up a ladder, or even doing a Miley Cyrus... here's Kelso in action!

Saturday at HIE 2023: Italian session

 The second session of Saturday's Hypergrid International Expo, 2023 was dedicated to Italian speakers Lorenza Colicigno and Gianni Spada,  plus one long-term resident of Craft Grid and so an 'honorary Italian', CapCat Ragu, really from Portugal, who performed the art section of the session. We hope in future editions of HIE that we can have a full session in Portuguese, or in Dutch or other languages.

Perhaps you know someone who would be a perfect candidate to give a talk at the next event. If so, get in touch on Craft grid! Use the Mail Box on HIE Welcome to leave your details. 

The session was moderated by Snowbody Cortes. To make life a little easier for our presenters, Snowbody developed a handy tool for people with rigged mesh heads - it allows you to speak in various ways, with different 'mouth styles' possible, as well as the option of pulling faces. You can either press to talk or just turn your mouth on and leave it... for those long conversations.

Friday HIE !

 HIE 2023 took off today with a fantastic party event on region HIE 4 of Craft Grid. The venue? A piece of art by Nyx Breen the renowned RL photographer and builder on such art-rich grids as Pangea and Alternate Metaverse Grid. 

Hanging in the sky above the Expo park, Nyx's build is a three dimensional treat based on the concept of crosswords, where the letters escape into the night sky. Inside the floor features a trompe l'oeil effect that will make dancers dizzy!

HIE Schedule

Hola!  Coucou!  Hallöchen !  Hi !   Ciao! Oi! 

The multi language HIE event is only days away! 

Come on over to craft-world.org:HIE Welcome and check out the Subtitle Group joiners, and use the portals to get to the auditorium.

Please bookmark our Website, it's got lots of details about this event and about how people can participate at the next event.

Here is the upcoming schedule. for your viewing pleasure...Perhaps you remember from the 2017 event, if you don't speak these languages, there will be Subtitles to help you follow the presentations.

And maybe you or a friend would like to participate at the 2024 event, someone with a tale to tell or an invention to share, but who does not feel comfortable speaking in English in front of a crowd... if so, let us know.

As you can see, during each session there are 3 presentations, two are in the normal 'Talk' format f a conference, and one in each session is an artistic display. It's going to be a colorful and fascinating trip through different cultures, grids, countries, and languages! 

Let your friends know!! 

New Promo Video for HIE

 If you are planning on attending the Hypergrid International Expo, save the date! October 6-8, 2023

n 6 October, from 11am SLT, there is an opening party on craft-world.org:8002:HIE 4  in this custom made dance platform by Nyx Breen.
Musical guests include Zoree Jupiter, and DJ Arianna Nightfire for some unbeatable international tunes.

Then on Saturday 7 October and Sunday 8 October, the main event will be happening - starting from 9am SLT (that's 6pm in Paris) so show up early and tp your friends. 

Here's a promo film for the event made by James Atlloud. This is the official HIE Expo Youtube channel, so don't forget to subscribe, as the conference will be broadcast Live on this channel, and it is where the four language sessions will be archived. What do you think?

HIE Art

 The Hypergrid International Expo is lucky to have a huge number of talented people involved with the various aspects of the event !

We have some excellent speakers, some world class virtual performers, some well beloved grids and on top of all that, some great art. If you read this blog regularly, you will know that in the park that surrounds the auditorium there are Publicity booths or kiosks that celebrate the creativity and community of opensim. 

Installation by Azi Az

But interwoven in to that long path around three regions, you will also find many pieces of virtual art. 

Among the well-known names who have contributed to the art is Azi Az with this piece that sums up the challenge and the passion that communication creates in a global virtual society.