Dead on Second Life

Here is an interesting art project:

"a second life on Second Life.

famous dead people get a second chance.

ever wish you could talk to Franz Kafka?

ever dreamed chatting about love and fashon with Coco Chanel?

fancy a philosophical chat with Karl Marx?"

"Dead on Second Life" ironically explores the possibilities offered by virtual worlds.

The Second Life virtual universe is used to give a second life to famous characters of the past,
questioning, on one side, the ways in which we use these environments to extend our lives
and social relationships, and, on the other side, analyzing the scenarios opening up
with the possibilities for interaction with digital life forms.

Special attention has been put to the creation of synthetic living entities
that mimic existing ones. The digital characters' essence is created through
the analysis and synthesis of their real-world counterparts: the traces they
left in our world (their texts, language and aesthetics) are used to deeply
shape their digital second lives.

The narrative level is used to offer a simple paradox

Particular focus has been put on the concept of identity
on sociological and anthropological levels.

Virtual platforms such as Second Life are not really
suitable to express diversity and individuality on
anthropological levels:

language limitations, avatar definitions, social acceptance
promote standards and stereotypes, more than identity.

Experiments have been performed and documented: trying to create
characters from specific cultural and geographical origins have
proven a failure.

Representing peculiar languages (such as aincent ones), body shapes
and capabilities, for example, have deeply suffered from the limitations
of the platform.