Some New Possibilities for In-World Virtual Art Gallery Configuration

The development of digital software has enabled increasingly sophisticated visualization strategies in the development of concepts across a wide range of creative disciplines. Three dimensional CAD software is increasingly becoming a viable tool for some sculptural work (both solid and involving Additive Layer Manufacture). In respect to sculptural form, digital software permits thorough, detailed and associative analysis of form. More recently, animation plug-ins have widened the interogability of form by virtue of animation and simulation capabilities along with moving camera path features. As a result, both development of three dimensional form and increasingly display can be achieved in the virtual environment. Traditional gallery and museum exhibitions are being augmented by virtual exhibitions, variously, non-interactive or partially interactive. Websites such as CanDo Interactive and Virtual Armada sell ´off the peg´ virtual exhibition galleries or environments ranging from the modern minimalist through neo-classical and villagy to the gothic. Future developments will no doubt increase the interactivity of exhibits and probably involve hap tic sensory devices enabling the gallery goer to virtually feel of the shape and weight of an object from a remote location via the internet. While a virtual gallery will never be a substitute for the real thing, they may increasingly act as artist´s CV´s and/or advertising portals to encourage viewers to attend a particular exhibition as a professional practice vehicle for artists. They will also widen the reception mechanisms and enable remote critical analysis of the work of individual artists and group exhibitions. This paper presents a novel virtual gallery configuration that is held to be more consistent with the social and outdoor virtual life environment and as such would encourage a more relaxed viewing context.