3pointD.com

Ine Dehandschutter at Matuvu.nu brings news of the Virtual World of Art being created by new-media collective Workspace Unlimited [<-- Firefox unfriendly]. The project bills itself as "a series of new media art projects which subvert and reconfigure multi player game technology to create a network of artistic virtual environments." Three "nodes" (art installations that mix virtual and physical reality) are to be connected via the Internet, though only one is open at the moment.

It sounds like a nice project, but it seems that access to the nodes is gained only via dedicated terminals at the physical installations themselves. Once inside, however, visitors find themselves “in a virtual space that mirrors their actual physical surroundings. As they move through the environment, they cross from reality into virtuality, and from simulation into representation. Within the virtual environment, the existing building . . . has been recreated as a realistic 3D model. This simulation is transformed and reconfigured with the addition of a vast, zeppelin-shaped structure affixed to the roof. From inside this glass-encased space, visitors have a panoramic view of a virtual Montreal, where the city itself has been reconstructed with a poetic blend of realism and utopian fiction.”

I’m not clear on why this wouldn’t be accessible from anywhere on the Internet, unless there’s some viewer hardware involved, which the site doesn’t quite make clear. In any case, it sounds like a cool way to use 3pointD. If you’re in Montreal.