DSL Cyber MoCA - a museum of contemporary art in Second Life

DSL Cyber MoCA, the museum of contemporary art in Second Life, is pleased to announce:
DSL Cyber MoCA will officially open in Second Life on April 30, 2009.Public (all Second Life users) can access to a comprehensive collection of contemporary Chinese art from DSL Collection, meanwhile, experience the unconventional virtual museum, an original multimedia piece with metaphorical and meditating environment created by Beijing artists Lily & Honglei (杨熙瑛，李宏磊).

We would like to extend our warmest invitation to the artist communities in both Second Life and the "real life".
Please read Instruction for visiting the virtual museum -
http://dslcybermoca.net/moca_instruction.htm
[img]http://dslcybermoca.net/dslCyberMoca.jpg[/img]
DSL Cyber MoCA is a collaboration of DSL Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art and new media artist team from Beijing - Lily & Honglei (杨熙瑛，李宏磊）.
Missions
- Developing highly interactive online exhibitions of contemporary art by employing imaging technologies of virtual world (Second Life) platform.
- Promoting creativity and diverse cultural expressions in Cyberspace through art projects, showcases and cross-continent artist collaborations.
- Contributing to artist community building, education and cultural exchanges by using the communication function of virtual world platform.

Virtual Architecture
Based on an original art project, "Land of Illusion" in Second Life by Lily & Honglei, the virtual constructions of DSL Cyber MoCA is unique for its metaphorical and aesthetic approaches, and considered a piece of independent artwork by itself, while constituting a comprehensive collection of Chinese contemporary art - DSL Collection.

To Visit Galleries of Painting & Print, Sculpture, Installation, Photography, and New Media (video & interactive art) in Second Life, use the url:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Uqbar/250/196/15/

More Information
http://dslcybermoca.net

DSL Collection represents 90 of the leading Chinese avant-garde artists who have a major influence on the development of contemporary art in China today. It was started from a museum approach, which means that we are collecting a wide range of media including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography. We want to share the experience of contemporary culture and to make it more accessible and meaningful for a broader public.
DSL Collection participates in conferences, seminars, and talks hosted by institutions or at special events. The DSL Collection has participated in seminar at Tsinghua and Shanghai Universities, and been scheduled for a seminar at ARCO Madrid 2009 and a lecture at New York University.
Website: www.dslcollection.org

Lily & Honglei (杨熙瑛, 李宏磊）, the artist team from Beijing, initiated the Cyber Museum of Contemporary Art based on their art project "Land of Illusion（太虚幻境)" constructed in Second Life with virtual traditional Chinese architecture, where Lily & Honglei have created a series of virtual installations, multimedia presentations and online performances accomplished through cross-continent artist collaborations since 2007. It is a cultural meditation engaging history, philosophy as well as Chinese diaspora. The work examines the current economic development of China within the context of globalization, while simultaneously exploring the meaning of virtual online communities in terms of global dialogues as they relate to cultural roots and the fantasy of China. "Land of Illusion" also functions as a net-art platform aiming to fulfill the promise that the Internet is the direct continuation of Enlightenment thought, namely promoting cultural openness, decentralization and independent thinking. As Chinese contemporary artists, Lily & Honglei consider that these aspects are extremely relevant to art-making.

Lily & Honglei's work is intended to make social and cultural commentaries about virtual worlds, particularly through reinterpreting themes in Chinese folklore. The work reflects on globalization's impact on the environment and on the individual, which often results in multi-layered cultural or personal identity. It explores displacement and the spiritually homeless who struggle to preserve traditional values. More importantly, "Land of Illusion" is a virtual world art project that proposes solutions for preserving and re-evaluating cultural heritage with digital arts, and developing aesthetic traditions with new imaging techniques in the 21st century.

For more information, please visit artists' website:
http://lilyhonglei.com