Field of Voices, Second Life

Field of Voices is part of an experimental study of the nature and possibilities of collaboration in the art of virtual worlds.

	These images are screenshots of Field of Voices in a virtual world environment. The visitor is presented with a beautiful expanse of white columns not unlike a circuit board or a graveyard. Entering we are treated to the voices of a diverse group of real people belaying the sterile perception of Second Life, and social media in general by reminding us there are people behind the avatar on the screen.
	Virtual Worlds are computer generated, immersive, three-dimensional environments that allow people from around the globe to interact with one another through "avatars" (digital bodies) and to shape their environments, both individually and collectively, by using graphical and programming tools.
	They whisper, shout and speak about love, poetry, politics, and location, about real life and about their experience of Second Life, and the fear of mayonnaise. In the shallows below Caerleon, among the pillars of light, beautiful music weaves wavelets of individual thought into an ocean of shared experience. Until you go, this will probably make no sense. (from a review by Thirza Ember)
	In the three weeks that it was open, Field of Voices Second Life as part of Through the Virtual Looking Glass mixed reality exhibition attracted a few hundred visitors to the real world gallery space in Boston as well as over 6000 visitors in Second Life.

Aequitas