As an internet aficionado myself, I do not know whether to be impressed that the Australian Council had staff cyber-walking around Second Life with 3D avatars, or find it totally creepy.
After great reflection, I decided I am totally and completely impressed.
[For any totally uncool people reading this, Second Life is a 3D virtual world, has practically everything in real life, including currency. People take it all quite serious – virtual property has sold for as much as $100,000 of real world money]
One of the designers Christopher Dodds’s avatar “Mashup Islander” was approached last year by an avatar from the Australia Council who was researching Australian artists working in the Second Life virtual world.
Then Dodds, along with Adam Nash, and Justin Clemens, were awarded a $20,000 artist-in-residence grant from the Australia Council to create a work ‘Babelstorm’ for the online virtual world Second Life.
For those who are totally uncool, or who like me do not want to download the whole Second Life setup - there is a real life gallery show of Babelstorm at Lismore Regional Gallery.
Australian Council Coughs Up $20,000 for Virtual Art
Labels:
social networking
