Virtual Renaissance - Second Life goes to Florence

In less than two weeks, the 2008 Festival of Creativity (Festival della Creativita) will get underway in Florence, Italy. One component of that festival of particular interest to virtual world users will be Rinascimento Virtuale (Virtual Renaissance), the brainchild of Italian journalist and NPIRLer Mario Gerosa. The exhibit about Second Life and its avatars, art and architecture will occupy the Museum of Natural History at the University of Florence.

The show, which Mario has curated and organized together with the Fondazione Sistema Toscana, will seek to bring virtual/digital experiences into the Real World, and hundreds of Second Life avatars will have their images displayed there.

Mario (aka Frank Koolhaas in Second Life) has a degree in architecture and is a senior editor for Architectural Digest Italy. He teaches Multimedia and Digital Landscapes at the Faculty of Architecture of the Politecnico of Milan, and has authored two books about virtual worlds.



While Rinascimiento Virtuale is promoted as being an art happening, it will focus especially on the varied lifestyles and avatar forms that people have taken on and adopted in Second Life. Mario calls them "Digital Impressionsim, Postkitsch, New Pop, Avatar Art, Iperformalismo, and Ultranaif."



Many collateral events - both real and virtual - have been organized, including a conference on “Art for avatars only?,” and an opportunity for Florentines to participate directly in Second Life via a mixed-reality event. The organizers have also scheduled a treasure hunt and a “Second Life Invasion” in Florence, during which time avatars will “invade” the city, offering themselves up as guides to Second Life.