Second Life, (SL) the online virtual world run by Linden Labs, has become something of a 'new network frontier', a place where anyone with computer access can join for free, design an avatar and socialise with other 'residents'. There was even a lengthy report on SL on the main evening TV news program News23 here in Japan a couple of days ago. I joined SL on January 30 2007. My avatar is called Gibon Loon. Initially I logged in frequently, but have not done so in the past 2 months. I wrote about this in an earlier post. While I was there though, I began making replicas of famous art works. This was because I was without any in-world currency (so could not buy or participate in many activities), nor did I own land to build a home or business. It occurred to me that one of the things I could do for free and which was actually quite fun was building things. SL is equipped with a complex 3D modelling tool that allows any resident to build virtual objects, architectures, vehicles etc. Over two months I built and stored about fifteen replica works. Due to the block building nature of the modelling software, I found myself choosing to make work which had definite forms, often straight edges and an iconic presence (at least for those with some knowledge of modern and contemporary art). The many museums which exist in SL tend to be full of snapshots and crazy pattern graphics done by their owners. I thought that SL is in fact a perfect place to build a virtual collection of contemporary art - my logic was: if one wants to begin a collection of contemporary art today but does not have the capital resources to do so, why not build it all yourself? As the art market continues to bubble excessively, the notion of an amateur replica museum of contemporary art in SL seemed quite nice. I suppose, soon someone will commission Tadao Ando to design such a museum in SL, and fill it with slick art works....but for the moment, as far as my research extends, SL remains largely uninhabited by historical works of modern and contemporary art. As far as copyright issues go, I presume that my replicas are so badly made that they cannot be considered faithful copies of the originals. But then again, perhaps just by looking like an iconic work, I may have trespassed some law....to be honest, I really dont know. Any advice would be welcome.
Below are a few of the works in my collection. I have also decided to make it a point to include myself in the photo with the replica work. This is partly because it is good to stand next to something you built and have a photograph taken (like a tourist at a famous site), and also an homage to a work I very much like by Sol LeWitt called 'Buried Cube Containing an Object of Importance but Little Value' (1968), which is a series of snapshots of the artist burying a box in the ground and standing next to it before it disappears.
Me and a table probably by Gerrit Rietveld.
Me and an Adaptive probably by Franz West.
Me and a work probably by Langlands & Bell.
Me and a painting probably by Josef Albers.
Me and a painting probably by Brice Marden.
Me and a painting probably by Ellsworth Kelly.
Me and a sculpture probably by Anthony Caro.
Me and a sculpture probably by Yayoi Kusama.
Me and a sculpture probably by Richard Serra.
Me and a chair probably by Joseph Beuys.
Me and a sculpture probably by Bruce Nauman.
Me in an installation including works probably by John Latham, Piero Manzoni and Marcel Duchamp.
Artworks like art like this: www.artkent.com should be fused together with modernism artworks.
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