SHOSHANA EPSILON

The First Major University Gallery Opens in Second Life with Exhibition by Virtual Photographer

Want to go to an art opening in an online 3D world? The University of Texas at Dallas Arts & Technology (ATEC) Island in Second Life will host an opening of its new art gallery, The Metaverse Gallery and Performance Space. This is the first major art space developed by a university in Second Life, and it is all designed and built by ATEC and Computer Science graduate students in the Online Worlds Lab. The show features Shoshana Epsilon, an artist who takes photos in Second Life of avatars, 3D representations of people in the game-like world.

Virtual Worlds Gallery

For this first show the curator, gallery designer, and UT Dallas graduate student Christi Nielsen chose to focus on an artist who makes her work exclusively within the online world, rather than importing work from outside. "Shoshana in some ways is very traditional: she is a portrait photographer - except she takes portraits of avatars" Nielsen said.

While this first show features still images, future shows will include interactive, participatory projects using a variety of approaches.

"One of the challenges of the emerging metaverse is to figure out just what you can do there, what conventions are emerging, and how much to bring from the physical world to the online world" says Dean Terry, the Online Worlds Lab director. "The focus of The Metaverse Gallery will be to exhibit work that uses the tools and dynamics of the metaverse space itself."

 

In addition to the Metaverse Gallery opening, participants will be able to view other projects under construction on the ATEC Island including the Online Worlds Lab Research Area, Offices, Graduate Studios, and the Clickstream Mixed Reality Conference Center.

The island is being developed by an elite team of students in the ATEC and Computer Science Programs at the University of Texas at Dallas including Russell Smith, Steve Petterborg, Jeff Martini, and curator Nielsen.

The opening event was held in Second Life Saturday November 4. Check out the opening pics on flickr.

Press Coverage : SLNN posted a review of the event, and the Dallas Morning News ran a story on it as well. There was also a bit in Glass Tire.

Finally, here's the SLurl (a link) to the Island. To participate, you just need to create an account and download Second Life (it's free).