The Windhorse Project: Article by Laura Davis

FIRST the RLPO hosted a concert from within the virtual world of Second Life, now a group of international artists are exhibiting their work in a gallery built within the digital universe.

Hosted at the Art at the EDGE gallery, contained within Second Life, the show features artist Vanessa Cuthbert's The Windhorse Project. Based on the idea of Buddhist prayer flags, a group of contemporary artists each created a piece of work expressing something they care about, with an overall ecological theme.

If the thought of visiting a gallery without leaving the comfort of your living room is just too freaky to get your head around then you can attend a special preview event at Manchester Digital Development Agency on September 16. You'll be taken on a tour of the virtual gallery on big screen, and a digitally made moving image Windhorse Project sequence will play in a darkened room. There will also be laptops and high-speed wireless broadband available to those who wish to independently explore the exhibition at their own pace.

The idea for showing the works on Second Life came from Dr Erica Wright, one of the artists on the project. She has this to say about it...

"Bringing this project to the prestigious Art at the EDGE gallery, is an important step forward for real world art. Second Life offers the global art audience chance to experience high end contemporary art in a whole new way, simultaneously viewing art in a gallery setting from armchairs and computer desks around the world. Through sharing the experience of viewing and discussing real art with others in a much more immediate way than is possible with other social media, Second Life's excellent free communication facilities allow for live conversation, note sharing and instant feedback about the art being viewed remotely. The potential benefits offered to artists and educators by this technology are simply breathtaking."

The Windhorse Project artists are Vanessa Cuthbert, John Hyatt, Charley Peters, Erica Wright, Olga Kenyon, Andrew Baker, John Goodwin, Linda Hughes, Vidyamala Burch, Neil Grant, Ian Whadcock, Mary Taylor, Tom Bingham, Ian McCullough and Claire Thomas.

In addition to their virtual world presence, the original printed works will continue to travel the globe.

Original article by Laura Davis at:
http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/ldpartsblog/2010/09/first-the-rlpo-hosted-a.html

News: The Windhorse Project in Second Life

In 2009 Charley Peters was asked to participate in The Windhorse Project, a site specific exhibition of work by 15 international artists in Manchester's premier cultural quarter, the 'Oxford Road Corridor'. Initially exhibited in Manchester as part of The Cornerhouse Gallery/MIRIAD State Legacy venture, this project has continued to evolve since its auspicious beginnings, and is now hosted by Leeds University’s Second Life presence in their innovative ‘Art at the EDGE’ virtual gallery. Each artist was asked to produce a piece of work expressing an issue of global ecological concern, to be hung face-to-face with nature in All Saints Park, Manchester.


Above: Charley Peters, Addition/Subtraction (2009)

In September 2010 Dr. Erica Wright has brought The Windhorse Project into Second Life, and says, “Bringing this project to the prestigious ‘Art at the EDGE’ gallery, is an important step forward for real world art... Second Life’s excellent free communication facilities allow for live conversation, note sharing and instant feedback about the art being viewed remotely. The potential benefits offered to artists and educators by this technology are simply breathtaking."

Above: The Windhorse Project, Art at the EDGE gallery, Second Life (2010). Charley Peters' work can be seen second artwork from the right.

In addition to The Windhorse Project’s virtual world presence, the original printed works will continue to travel the globe, as new destinations present themselves. Project organiser Vanessa Cuthbert says, “The Windhorse works are part of an exhibition chain that began in All Saints Park and Righton Gallery, on the ‘Oxford Road Corridor,’ Manchester, a route that has been used throughout history for marches and protests. I hope to continue this project by sending the works to other locations in the real world, so they themselves will be carried off into the universe, in a sense, and the message will spread. The next host will add more works and decide a wide range of cultural, social and political differences on their journey. The works will change and be weathered, maybe subject to graffiti, and this will reflect the impermanent and ever-changing conditions that we are all subject to.”