One of my ‘New Years resolutions’, if you can call it that – as I never really do those – is that I want to visit more art in Second Life. All kinds of art. And so this means I will also be going to exhibitions of Second Life  Photography. As I have written often, I always find it difficult to fully enjoy Second Life photographs when on display in-world, I prefer to watch them full screen on Flickr.
Visiting an art gallery in Second Life, however, isn’t just about looking at photographs on display,  of course. It is about the whole ambiance and the experience of walking around and getting to meet the artists and other visitors.

My first visit this year was to Kate Bergdorf’s Berg by Nordan Art, which currently has two amazing exhibitions: Penumbra and lacrimioare. As I was not able to attend the official opening today at 9AM SLT, I want to thank Kate for allowing me a preview visit for my blog!

Penumbra by Meilo Minotaur and CapCat Ragu  is a 3D installation on the groundlevel – complete with sounds and interactive elements (some objects hand you an avatar as a gift!). An artwork to walk in and around, full of wonderful details and textures.
The story of Penumbra is somewhat explained in the note-card you can obtain at the landing point, and also in Kate’s blogpost in which she announces these exhibitions and gives more background information about the artists.

I’ve enjoyed wandering around Penumbra, it felt a bit eerie but also magical and the sounds really add to the whole atmosphere. For the pictures in this blog-post I have adjusted the recommended region windlight a bit (old habit, I can’t help myself!), but not too much!

lacrimioare by Huckleberry Hax is a collection of  Second Life photographs, which Huck has taken specially for this exhibition and they are therefor not published anywhere yet. (To get to this, intimate, collection you have to take the teleport at the landing-point)

lacrimioare to me sounds like a combination of lacramioare (Romanian for the Convallaria majalis or ‘Lily of the Valley’) and Mozart’s Lacrimosa, though I have not asked Huck if this is what he means with it. The subtitle of lacrimioare is ‘the new absence of someone loved‘ and it comes with a poem called ‘Lily’. All this – together with the abstract photographs in Hucks well-known minimalist style, of delicate lilies – gives it a feeling of a lovely, caring tribute.

Both exhibitions are on display in Berg by Nordan Art till the end of March, so plenty of time to go visit!