The weekly Relay for Life Moon Dance is always a blast. DJ Cynthia's music is fun, and so are the puns that fly. But on the March 20 dance, there was Fuzzball Ortega of the Steelhead Salmons with "The Hair," the most famous head covering in the Relay. It's so big, an entire avatar can fly in it. And of course it was followed by a bunch of hair and haircut jokes, the the 60s song "Long Beautiful Hair."
The Moon Dance takes place in Sunweaver Space every Thursday at 6PM during the Relay season/
Last weekend, The Peale officially opened. It is a virtual representation of the real life Peal Center in Baltimore, the oldest museum in America. With the Pandemic keeping away from the museum in real life, the virtual wing allows it to show exhibitions otherwise not accessible. Among those at the official opening was the Newser's Gemma Cleanslate. So what did she see?
The Peale in Baltimore,
which is housed in the first purpose-built museum building in the
United States, has extended its reach into the virtual world known as Second Life.
While the current pandemic may prevent many people from visiting the
Peale in person, this ambitious new project allows virtual visitors to
explore the 1814 museum building online and attend curated exhibits and
interactive events safely from the comfort of their homes.
“It
has been thrilling to develop this new experience of the country’s
oldest museum building in Second Life,” says Dr. Nancy Proctor,
Executive Director of the Peale. “Thanks to the amazing work of Linden
Lab and Virtual Ability, Inc., we are now able to welcome a huge new
community to the Peale, and share its rich history as well as the
authentic stories and creativity of Baltimore with the largest and
oldest virtual world on the Internet.”
Current highlights of the virtual museum include the 3D interactive Peale Museum building and the virtual world exhibition, “Redefine/ABLE: Challenging Inaccessibility.”
Exhibits and events will change regularly, and include playful and
surprising elements inspired by the Peale’s and Baltimore’s history and
stories – like a virtual mastodon, recalling the mastodons famously
excavated in 1801 and exhibited by the Peale family in their museums in
Philadelphia and Baltimore!
“This has been an excellent
partnership opportunity for us,” says Virtual Ability, Inc. President
Alice Krueger. “The staff of the Peale are strongly committed to
accessibility, as you can see by their choice of a first exhibition in
Second Life. Virtual Ability is happy to assist them to create an
accessible experience in their virtual museum.”
The museum was
developed in partnership with Linden Lab, maker of Second Life, who
developed extensive interior spaces for a 3D model of the Peale Museum
building that was originally created by the Imaging Research Center at
UMBC for its online map of Baltimore ca. 1815. Over time the interior of
the virtual Peale Museum building will grow to include more galleries,
both extant in the physical world and inspired by the Peale’s
programming and partners, making the Peale in Second Life a creative
hybrid of the “real” and the imaginary. The Internet’s largest virtual
world has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity as more people
seek out safe and fun social interactions online during the pandemic.
“We
are pleased to see The Peale bring an extension of its museum and
exhibits to Second Life,” says Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg. “The virtual
world is the perfect home for museums that are seeking a way to extend
their reach to a global audience.”
* * * * *
The museum will also be the focus of Strawberry Linden's "Lab Gab" today at 11 AM SL time, viewable on Youtube. Strawberry will interview Nancy Proctor (NancyEProctor Resident) of the Peale Center and Eme Capalini of Virtual Ability.
The Peale Museum in Second Life will officially open tomorrow, Saturday August 15 at 8 AM SL time.