Art Center

A bit of a lazy post tonight, mainly because it's rather late and I really should be in bed, rather than bashing out some words. However, in lieu of words, I have a host of pictures that I hope go some way to explaining why I love this site. Art Center is to be found on the Avignon sim, and is the creation of 2 New York artists - Annie Ok and Derek Lerner - in Second Life Xantherus Halberd and Rhizome Szydlowska

They have constructed a gallery across a number of levels, each given over to the work of a different artist, or group of artists. Both Annie and Derek have their own floors for showcasing their own work. Annie is famous(infamous?) for her amazing "travelogue" of Second Life under the guise of Destroy Television*, a tiny snippet of which can be viewed here. Other floors are used to showcase the work of other Real Life New York artists. The gallery spaces are sparsely minimalist, so as not to distract from the art works on display.

Now I've posted recently about the Cannery SLart expo, and under the (slightly disingenuous?) strapline of "I know what I like" concluded that most of the so-called artwork at the Cannery was little more than mediocre poster art. Like I say, not an objective judgement - just my own view. The works on display in the Art Center are, to my mind at least, the real McCoy. I don't claim to like them all, but I do recognise what I think of as "art" when I see it.

That said, I have to confess the current exhibition of photos left me rather cold.... or indeed, reaching for my trusty SLR. I didn't engage with them at all, thinking they lacked wit, warmth or insight. But maybe that's just me - you should go along and decide for yourselves.

Outside is a sculpture garden with some nice pieces by Annie and Derek. As this is a shared sim, they have blocked out "visual interference" from neighbouring plots by erecting high walls around the garden. However, from the outside these are transparent, and are also "phantom", which means that they do not act as physical a barrier, and do not mar their neighbours' view.

* I'd give you a link - but I'm getting mysql errors when I try to load the page. Now fixed

The floor guide:


The Sculpture Garden:



Inside the galleries:


Representative samples of the artwork:


UPDATE 21-09-07:
Fixed a typo or 2 and added a SLURL. Also, if you want more information on the amazing Destroy Television 10-day excursion across Second Life then have a read of Ugotrade's megapost!

The link is now fixed to Destroy Television.