Welcome to MOMA

=Art in the Sky=

"Art in the Sky" is a non-commercial community arts project that explores the intersections between fantasy, reality and the digital realm: exploration occurs through arts participation and game playing around the themes of aviation, museums and art-making. You can get involved right now by simply creating an account here, then you can contribute to this wiki as you explore it. You may find other players, participants & collaborators currently online at our Discord server (where you can chat in real time, share screens and have voice/video calls if you like).

=The Museum of Moving Art (MOMA)= MOMA is a composite artwork (an artwork comprised of other artworks) that is being created by founding artist David Freedom Rose in collaboration with other artists, participants & players in the Art in the Sky project - essentially MOMA is the output (or if you like the creative outcome) of the project.

MOMA is sometimes ethereal, existing in the imagination of players and visitors, being in many places and existing in more than one place at a time. It takes form in the physical world as an expansive and evolving mesh of performance & visual art, pop-up spaces, story-telling, inter-connected role playing games (RPGs) and physical table-top games. It also manifests on device screens as interactive video games and this wiki.



=And why would you do community arts?= Having fun, socializing and being creative helps to keep individuals healthy and communities strong.

A major goal of the project is to facilitate face-to-face social interaction by using digital technology to bring people together for safe, creative and rewarding social experiences. We are not against computer gaming - far from it - we are though concerned with the escalating growth of digital media addiction and its attendant social isolation in the virtual. The recent global pandemic has highlighted the need to address the importance of psychosocial health as a key determinant in the health of individuals and the societies in which they live. We know that by playing and being creative, humanity thrives!

Art and artists always have important roles in communities and in societies, especially in times of crisis. The educated artist understands that "personal is political"; therefore accessibility, inclusiveness and diversity are key elements influencing game and project design here.

=The Island of Patonga= Museum of Moving Art (MOMA) exists in a story world, and in this world there is actually a beautiful museum built into a cliff face on the Island of Patonga in the South Pacific. Patonga is a special island with a unique history and culture. It has developed a booming economy based on organic agriculture, international tourism, aviation and education. The Patongans have done this by maintaining traditional values, promoting personal & national sovereignty and resisting colonisation. How this came to be might be one of the many stories that unfold, along with adventures, wins, loves, losses and much much more.

=How do you play?= You don't have to be an artist to play at MOMA, but if you want to, you can have fun pretending.

Entry level games allow new players to have fun exploring a variety of roles, activities and story-lines (hint: the easiest role is Museum Visitor - you're doing it already). In more advanced levels of the physical stream (in real life), gameplay is directed to the creation and placement of pop-up installations and structures which have the capacity to move. This is co-ordinated by some players acting as curators and involves face-to-face interaction and outreach to artists in local communities.

Digital art is also being created, curated and exhibited here at this wiki and on the personal devices of participants in the Art in the Sky project.

Stories created in the physical games can be played out in the digital realm, manifesting as gameplay in open world simulation games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (via the use of addons & mods created here at MOMA). The opposite is also true, narratives created in the digital realm can find their way into the physical stream manifesting as street theatre, physical artworks or as gameplay in table-top games.

To start playing now, create an account here and begin by exploring the links on the left. You may find other players currently online at our Discord server.

=Islander Communities Cultural Consultation= In developing this project David Rose (the founding artist) has sought and encouraged the participation of Pacific Islander communities and individuals in the design and development of this project. If you are of Islander heritage and wish to take a leading role, please feel free to create content at this wiki and in the Discord platform. Contact David Rose, he will be happy to help you get started.

=Developing a Core Narrative and a Tabletop Game= Currently good progress is being made researching the possibility of integrating the dramatic and cinematic potential of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 into the MOMA story world. It looks very promising!

Also the aviation theme is being developed as part of a physical table-top board game called Flying Art.

The more you play, the deeper you go... you might for example find out how famous aviator Amelia Earhardt found her way into the MOMA story world, and how she is honoured on the Island of Patonga.

=A straight-friendly Queer Space= One of the main design goals of the Get Off to Some Flying Art project, is to create a Queer Space in the international aviation community. This does not mean that the whole project is a Queer project, nor does it mean that there is to be any push towards exclusion. It is natural for any minority within a dominant society to seek out their own and find places within the whole where - for that time and place - they are not the minority; and where they are not subject to the oppression of the dominant society. It is a great honour for an "other" to be invited into these safe community spaces, and if you have been invited, it means you have been given some trust that you will be respectful and careful.

=PLAY NOW: take the Random Image challenge=

Work-in-progress on this idea....

Would you like to have your image on that wall on the welcome page of MOMA?

Can you use layers, crop and re-size in Photoshop, GIMP or some other image editing app?

Watch this space. A simple wiki art challenge coming soon ;-)

=PLAY NOW: take the Passport Photo challenge= This space is a place holder for text coming soon to describe a simple graphic arts challenge to create and upload an image to be part of the Flying Art table-top game.