The Australia Council for the Arts today announced the recipients of its $20,000 artists residency in the 3-D online virtual world of Second Life.

Visual artist Christopher Dodds, musician/3-D real-time artist Adam Nash and writer Justin Clemens will collaborate to develop an inter-disciplinary artwork in Second Life, which explores the possibilities of literary, music/sound art and real-time 3-D arts practices within the virtual world.

The artwork is a simultaneous installation in Second Life and in a real world gallery, where gallery visitors can be directly involved in its creation via a computer interface.

The installation, a metaphor for the Tower of Babel, uses voice recognition software that converts the spoken word of real and virtual world participants into 3-D letterform images in an evolving tower of words.

The letterforms generate relationships with each other through a combination of visual and sonic manifestations, fragments of narrative, environmental/user awareness capabilities and through interaction with existing data generated within Second Life itself such as the virtual winds, sunrises and sunsets.

Australia Council chief executive officer Kathy Keele said that the number of excellent applications had made the decision process difficult. ‘We were overwhelmed by the high calibre of the residency applications and by the innovative ways in which artists are using Second Life to create new art.’

‘Christopher, Adam and Justin’s project will challenge the relationship between actual and virtual existences and build the sophistication of art in virtual worlds, helping to position Australia as a leader in the international media arts field.’ Ms Keele added.

More information

The artists – Christopher Dodds, Adam Nash and Justin Clements – and Australia Council spokesman Andrew Donovan are available for interviews.

Media enquiries

Victoria McClelland-Fletcher, Communication Officer
Ph: (02) 9215 9008
Email: v.mcclelland@ozco.gov.au