Museums in Second Life
This month I look at art museums in Second Life. In general, museums are interesting phenomena in the virtual setting, and you can find any number of different types focusing on an extremely wide variety of archived material. There are museums of computing history, the Playdoll Museum, a furry museum, a gacha museum, and the LGBTQ History Museum and Cultural Center in Dalton across from the historic Linden Village which is a creative and educational space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender history and culture. There are many more museums in SL, but here I will focus on three art museums, the Vordun Museum and Gallery, The Free Museum, and the famous Louvre.
Museums in virtual worlds like Second Life serve several important functions and offer unique opportunities that extend beyond traditional physical museums. For example, they provide access to a global audience with people around the world able to explore the exhibits without the need to travel, thus making art more inclusive and democratic. There is also an educational component to SL museums, offering interactive learning experiences. The virtual setting allows for innovation in art and design with curators stretching the boundaries of architectural design and multimedia instillations. The three museums featured here have these features and more.
Vordun Museum and Gallery
Owned and created by Jake Vordun. It’s structured like a real-life art museum. There are main rooms with smaller rooms off to the sides each containing digital version of classic art. From the etching of Rembrandt van Rijn to the subtle watercolors of Claude Monet and from 16th century Italian masters to the 19th century Japanese ukiyo-e carvers Including the famous “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai. Also included is a collection of Artemisia’s groundbreaking paintings at a time when women were severely restrained by social norms. A description of her story (on the wall at the museum) reads, “In the exhibition, Artemisia’s life is presented through allegorical non-linear narrative. Tracing a parallel between the characters she depicts in her paintings and her own life, the visitor gets the chance to experience real scale works by her and artists from the same period, given the chance to analyse visually the aspects of her work.” It also has virtual office space for the creator, and it even has a restroom with stalls and sinks. As well as a change station for your prim baby. There’s even a gift shop where you can purchase copies of many if not all of the works seen in the museum.
THE FREE MUSEUM
Get ready for some quaint and quirky surprises–all of which you can purchase for free. Some fun sculptures. One is a hilariously silly sea snail sculpture that moves back and forth made by Haiku who is the owner of the museum. There’s also a fun Crococar sculpture that is also a bit frightening. There’s a main exhibit floor and then upstairs there are five additional rooms with sculptures, photos, and paintings. Most of them only have a land impact factor of 1, so very small prim use on your land. I was able to talk with the owner of the Free Museum, Haiku Quan. I asked her why she made a “free” museum in SL and she told me that “I had run out of things to do in SL and thought I’d build a gallery for my RL photos and give them away. But then I realized no one would want them. lol . . . so I started buying the rights to what I thought were the best works by who I thought were the best artists in SL with the idea of giving the works away for free.” She continued, “No one had heard of the idea, but I got a few of the big names (Bryn Oh, Milena Carbone) to agree to the arrangement and that opened a lot of doors.” Now, over 30 artists are represented in the museum.
THE LOUVRE
It turns out that there are more than one Louvre in SL. The Musee du Louvre-Louvre Museum is located on the Paris Couture sim (39, 94, 22). It has four floors packed with images, pottery, and sculptures one assumes are in the actual, RL Louvre. There is a hud you can attach which helps to identify the works in the museum and is in either French or English.
There’s also the Grande Galerie du Louvre which claims to be “the most complete Second Life Museum and art gallery.” It pieces from the Classical Greco-Roman era from the 8th century to works from the Neoclassical era during the early 19th century. It a vast collection. It’s also a story to buy copies of all the artwork. The strangest “Louvre” museum might be the Subliminal Louvre Sanctuary Gallery where you’re confronted with a cornucopia of fun visual weirdness.
Yes, museums in Second Life play a vital role in making art accessible to a diversity of audiences, disseminate culture, and foster creativity and education in the arts. They are a valuable part of our virtual world and a compliment to traditional physical museums. Take some time and explore the many museums in SL!
