7 Aug 2009 to 23 Aug 2009
Hours : Thurs–Mon, 12-6pm
Jack the Pelican Presents
487 Driggs Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
New York, NY
New York
North America
p: +1 646-644-6756
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w: www.jackthepelicanpresents.com
Is virtual art for real? What is the nature of the medium? How do you talk about it? What are its conceptual and social-critical opportunities and limits? These are just some of the questions that Brooklyn Is Watching has been actively asking for the last year and a half.
Inside the gallery are five monitors, each featuring a virtual copy of the real space, occupied by a different virtual artwork. These are “THE FINAL FIVE,” created for this context by the nominated and elected best from hundreds of virtual artists who have exhibited in year 1 of Brooklyn is Watching.
This is an “official” show of virtual art. So much is at stake, it has already spawned a Salon de Refusés of over thirty virtual artists who didn't make the final cut.
Nebulosus Severine envelopes the virtual gallery in a luminous fortress-of-solitude-like structure -- a meditation on the nature of the self.
DanCoyote Antonelli aka DC Spensley uses the building blocks of the illusory space as raw material for an abstract sculpture stretching up into the sky.
Selavy Oh creates an interactive maze of galleries nested within galleries, featuring artists not selected by the judges.
Bryn Oh turns the virtual gallery into a ruin of glowing technological fragments infested with digital florra.
Glyph Graves creates a work that changes based on the number of people viewing it.
Visitors to this exhibition will have a chance to interact with the works and to vote for the best of the best.
Brooklyn Is Watching is a mixed-reality project by artist Jay van Buren. The stage is based in Second Life. For nearly a year and a half, artists have placed artworks there to be seen by visitors to the Real Life venue Jack the Pelican gallery--and to have their works discussed by international critics, curators and artists (including Tyler Coburn of Rhizome , and Barbara London of MoMA) in a weekly podcast and blog at BrooklynIsWatching.com. The project has been widely discussed and written up in such publications as the New York Times Magazine and the Brooklyn Rail .
Nomination and initial voting was open to the public. The selection from 70 to the Final Five was done by an expert panel that included SL art heavyweights: AM Radio, Amy Freelunch, AngryBeth Shortbread, Bettina Tizzy and Sage Duncan.
The internet these days is second nature to most of us. As technology evolves, chances are that life will become more and more a mixed reality experience, combining natural reality with its digitally augmented ghost. The possibilities being worked out now are likely to have a huge impact on the syntax of the future.
Any number of virtual worlds that have sprung up in recent years. The most popular, with over 700,000 regular visitors, is Second Life. One enters in the form of an avatar, which is a creative representation of the self, and interacts with spaces, objects and others. It mimics many of the social, physical and geological properties of the real world, including three-dimensionality, objecthood, continuous space and contiguous land masses, ocean and sky, gravity and light, and even wind. Participants can build, place and transfer objects. In addition, it boasts a real economy (over $120 million U.S. dollars changed hands here in the first quarter of 2009) and social and political unrest. The reputation of Second Life is nerdy, but its relevance persists.
All these characteristics have made this virtual world a fertile ground for the evolution of a unique culture. Of the artists working in Second Life, many are sophisticated professionals from the real-life art world. Others, oblivious to the issues of contemporary art and art history, have fresh insights. They come together from everywhere around the world to forge in their collective efforts a new and expanding medium that is still so young it has yet to settle into a firm notion of exactly what it is. Of the many, a few have emerged as leaders to set the pace of innovation and discovery. In the opinion of our experts and a jury of their peers, the Final Five are the ones to watch.
PANEL DISCUSSION AND LECTURE Panelists Lori Landay, Stacey Fox and Pavig Lok will discuss the topic of digital and virtual art on August 15th at 6pm. On the following evening at 6pm, noted futurist Jerry Paffendorf will deliver a lecture on the same subject.
PROJECT SPONSORS Popcha!, the project's premier sponsor, provided hosting for the website, the build of the BIW space, and the scripting for the project's avatar, Monet Destiny. Popcha! is a boutique media technology agency focused on making virtual worlds work for its clients. As one of Second Life's first Gold Solution Providers, Popcha! has been been singled out as a highly qualified provider who has demonstrated a high level of client satisfaction and has developed successful projects on behalf of businesses, governments, educational institutions, and other business organizations in Second Life.
The University of Kansas Department of Visual Art is providing the SL sim for the 30 Best Show and the main Brooklyn Is Watching space is now being hosted on the department's Impermanence research sim. Located in Lawrence, Kansas, The University of Kansas is a member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and is a research 1 University. The Department of Visual Art is comprised of 30 full time professors who teach painting, sculpture, printmaking, new media, ceramics, textiles, metals and art education, and has impressive studio space.
Odyssey is providing the SIM for the Final Five show. Odyssey is a simulator in the virtual world of Second Life® (SL) dedicated to contemporary art and performance. Providing services for artists and arts organizations, the aim is to experiment and work on art in a virtual 3D context and to explore the specific conditions under which art in a virtual world takes place. Odyssey artists and performers explore and experiment with this medium as a tool for art production and art environment. It is less a matter of importing existing art forms - they are interested in pushing the SL medium in new directions and exploring its full potential in a professional manner and to develop new forms out of the context of art history and in a critical view on the SL medium.
Tekserve provided the computer that visitors use at the gallery. Tekserve is a privately held company with over 200 employees, operating in New York City and serving clients worldwide. Tekserve was founded in 1987 by David Lerner and Dick Demenus to provide service for customers needing Apple computer repairs at reasonable prices. Having met that need, they were encouraged to expand the business to offer Macintosh sales and consulting services as well.
VOOS is providing seating for the gallery. VOOS is a condensed capsule of locally grown design produce, always fresh, packed with energy and creativity. They are located in a 1,500sf space at the heart of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. They are not a showroom, a store, a gallery or a venue. They are all the above and also a design hub, a center for events, openings and parties to launch new creations and new ideas.
Brooklyn Brewery is our exclusive beer sponsor. Brooklyn Brewery is the first successful commercial brewery in New York City since Schaefer and Rheingold closed their doors in 1976. Today, The Brooklyn Brewery is among America's top 40 breweries, and Brooklyn Lager is among the top draft beers in New York City.
