Hi, 

Further to an earlier discussion on museums and SL, I thought that you
might find this post interesting. There is also an interesting
discussion on the relevant blog about the potential 'vandalism' of works
of art in SL. 

-----Original Message-------------------------------------
From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mark Tribe
Sent: 28 April 2007 12:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Open-Source Museum Opens in Second Life

Open-Source Museum Opens in Second Life
http://www.3pointd.com/20070427/open-source-museum-opens-in-second-life

Posted Friday, April 27th, 2007, at 10:32 am Eastern by Mark Wallace
Tags: art, culture, design, Second Life

A group of students from Brown University have launched an open- source
museum in the virtual world of Second Life. Known as OSMOSA, the
Open-Source Museum of Open-Source Art, the museum is located >in Second
Life's Eson region< and features a mess of artworks that anyone can
copy, modify, alter or otherwise contribute to. The museum itself is
open to alteration as well, which is a fantastic idea. The modding got
under way at the opening party Tuesday night: an already- altered image
of Manet's Olympia (with space helmets added to make it more excellent)
came out the other end of the night with some interesting additions and
adjustments...

I dig this project. You can read more at OSMOSA's wiki page, but
basically, according to one of the students, "By "open source," we mean
that OSMOSA is in the public domain: visitors can add, modify, and
remove art from the museum. In addition, the OSMOSA building is also
open source, in that anyone can modify, add to, or delete parts of the
structure." Love it.

The museum was organized by Deborah Abramson, Kiera Feldman, and Davis
Jung (aka Deborah Maertens, Koco Furse, and Jinsaedavis Jun in Second
Life, respectively), and built out with help from SL residents Kenny
Hubble, Soupcan Tomsen, and "the Loyalist College Team."

As a living art-structure, OSMOSA could be very cool. One thing the
project is lacking at the moment, though, is a good way to record the
changes going on there. I'm waiting at the very least for an OSMOSA
blog, or perhaps a Flickr set where the OSMOSAns could record the
evolution of the site. Regardless, I think it's a great idea, and I look
forward to seeing what comes out of it. I'm not saying an open- source
museum is any better or worse a way to produce art, I'm just interested
in watching things bubble.

-----------------------------------------------------------

All the best, 
Areti 
___________
Dr. Areti Galani 
Lecturer in Museum/Heritage Studies
International Centre for Cultural & Heritage Studies
University of Newcastle 
Tel: +44 191 222 3857
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/staff/profile/areti.galani

 

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