Learning from Florence

Dear friends,
I would like to make some considerations about the Rinascimento virtuale exhibit. Now, two weeks after the opening, I can make a sort of balance of this project. And I can say that the two preminent concepts I am keeping in mind are the following: this project has been a start, a beginning to show SL art in a new way in RL, and that I learnt a lot from this experience. In fact, as always happens, there were the pros and cons of making a new thing.
It has been an interesting project and I worked hard to accomplish in the best way that idea. Anyway, one can easily imagine that a project like this is very complex and demanding and not all we wanted to do could be made. By the way, many things are really Not Possible in Real Life, but I ensure that I made my best to make that thing happen.
Please consider the efforts and close an eye about the errors.
The most positive issue of this project was the possibility to show Second Life art in an important context, in an historical museum in the centre of Florence, offering to the art of Second Life a sort of legitimization. That's quite important, because here, in many cases, we are not talking about the art of people who are already known in that field but about very talented people who need to be discovered.And I can ensure you that was a big challenge: in RL there is a quite strong resistance to accept those new talents. In general the gallery owners say they prefer people with a solid artistic background: I don't subscribe to this point of view, since this way we should have missed the masterworks of Basquiat.
The second big issue was to mix Second Life art and anthropology, suggesting that SL art is not just the art of a social network but a kind of social network in itself, creating relations and documenting day by day the life of a new world.
These are the focal points of the project.
Now, as I said, I consider this exhibition as a start, useful to improve this kind of project. And I am sure that this first exhibit could represent a beginning to make some other projects. Naturally, this first one should be considered a beginning to make it better. So, please be comprehensive about all the things that could be improved. We are studying them, considering many issues and making treasure of that past experience.
I don't know yet if there will be any follow-ups, thought that some people from art centers and museums in Europe expressed their appreciation for the exhibit and for the catalog.
What is sure is that I would like to define an advisory board, since I am sure that many competences are needed to define a complex field like this in the best way: Second Life art is a huge territory and it would be interesting to share our opinions, since I noticed that some outstanding theoricists and critics had not the good occasions to meet each other. There are many studies, many features, but sometimes there is not a proper dialogue. That's a pity because there would be a lot do to: define new styles, preserving artworks, creating some sort of encyclopedia or to define an historicization of SL art.
That said, I am analyzing the format of the exhibit and I am collecting all the suggestions that arrived from the artists and the visitors. And for me the complaints (I hope they are not many) are more interesting than the compliments, since with them we will be able to improve that exhibit and to make it better, to give the good relevance and visibility to Second Life art.