13 Most Beautiful Avatars

I've just worked with Eva and Franco Mattes (a.k.a. 0100101110101101.ORG) and James Morgan, founder of the Ars Virtua gallery, to organize an exhibit in the online game world of Second Life. 13 Most Beautiful Avatars, captures the most visually dynamic and celebrated "stars" of Second Life. The Matteses have been living in this virtual world for over a year, exploring its terrain and interacting with its peculiar inhabitants. The result of their "video-game flanerie" is this series of portraits. The 13 Most Beautiful Avatars images will be exhibited, in the real-world, at the Italian Academy at New York's Columbia University. For the Ars Virtua show, in Second Life, a 3D replica of this physical exhibition space has been recreated for presentation of an exhibition identical to the "real" one. This show is the newest installment in Time Shares, a series of online exhibitions dedicated to exploring the diversity of contemporary art based on the Internet, organized by Rhizome and co-presented by the New Museum of Contemporary Art. This link will transport you directly to the exhibition site in Second Life. Viewing the show requires user registration and a software plug-in.