if you see clay

Crossing the Void II, Ten Cubed Gallery in the virtual world of Second Life, 2/24/2008

This review is still in progress...

Making art about shit and roadkill obviously elicited a raised eyebrow from at least a few of my friends. But this time, even I was slightly embarrassed at what I was doing. My boyfriend, not a man who is easily bothered, was horrified.

So what? I just went to check out some art. In an art gallery. The show, "Crossing the Void" was at a place called the Ten Cubed Gallery. What is odd about it, is that it exists only in virtual reality.

Wow, what a taboo. It's not like we're technologically repressed or anything, but none of my friends have set up an account or made an avatar in a virtual reality world. There's a whole lot to say about virtual reality, but this review is about the art. Read my account (soon to be) here about my experience in this foreign land. As for the art gallery, I headed off to Second Life. I had no idea what to expect. You'd have thought I was heading off to the moon.

I didn't make it to the opening. I missed it by 3 weeks, a true shame. I discovered champagne and hors'dourves which I assume had been left over from the opening. Thankfully, food and drink don't spoil in virtual reality. I was pleased to find the champagne still bubbly.

I am fascinated by conceptual art, and am learning all I can about it. I am fascinated by virtual reality, as well. When I heard about an art gallery in virtual reality, I was excited by the possibility... is virtual art de facto conceptual art? I had never considered such a question.

It turns out the answer is "no". I was thinking that in virtual reality, because the art would not "exist" it would not have the same formal relationship to medium that other artwork has. But The art I saw was simply digital art... digital artwork shown in a unique environment. I was hoping to see artwork that would utilize the medium (virtual space) for it's unique properties... art that simply could not exist outside of this environment, or hoping for artwork that would challenge or raise questions about this new world. Sadly these art pieces were rather tame. I guess I shouldn't be too harsh. Selling visual virtual artwork is probably enough of a feat for a gallerist, never mind the weird and nebulous ideas that my mind was trying to come up with. Quite honestly, I was still impressed that the virtual world had evolved this far already. Maybe I'm also a little comforted that the possibility for artistic innovation in this space is yet untapped.

Viewing art in this virtual gallery is a different experience than just viewing the same art on their web page, and it is different than viewing the same art in their real gallery (in Ireland). Experiencing an artwork includes not only the artwork itself, but also includes the interaction with the environment and the viewer.

In "real" life, not all groundbreaking artwork is immediately embraced by galleries or museums.
My next goal: To seek out other artists in this world and other art venues.
My other next goal: To make art in this world.



Excerpts from the gallerist's blog...
Hadyn writes about the advantages of a virtual gallery on his blog:
Media-art is beginning to find an audience in Ireland but its real audience is urban anywhere. I can connect to some of that audience through a website. But what I can’t do through a website is join people in appreciating the art not when they could be anywhere from New York to Naples. Nor could many of the audience really appreciate the artwork they’d simply be viewing a 2D image. - .With Ten Cubed I can do these things. I can stand with you and admire the work and together we can analyse and criticise.What I can also do is make room to showcase art that my physical gallery could not exhibit - because of its size and because of the sheer impracticality of giving over all my space to one large work. In Ten Cubed I can show any amount of art and at scale. I can also help promote and encourage artists working in a virtual medium.What Ten Cubed is giving me is a way to work like a large global gallery exhibiting great work at whatever scale I choose.

The official press release for the virtual gallery...
Ten Cubed is a bold departure from the ordinary in art exhibition. This extraordinarily designed space, a work of contemporary art in its own right, naturally compels the art enthusiast to traverse its contours and explore the innovative creations on the walls. The theme for the inaugural show is Crossing the Void II and showcases the works of artists Chris Ashley, Scott Kildall, Nathaniel Stern, Jon Coffelt, and Claire Keating. Each of these artists uses technology to blur the boundaries between the real and virtual or to extend our idea of creativity and innovation. You are cordially invited to attend the inaugural show of Ten Cubed in the virtual world of Second Life on Thursday, January 31, 2008 or Friday, February 1, 2008.
Haydn Shaughnessy Gallery for Innovative Contemporary Artists
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/depo%20park%201/200/55/22