COPENHAGEN.- Art has constantly been chasing new territories. Not surprisingly, artists have therefore been inspired by the explosion of opportunities within the virtual and digital media that we have witnessed in the last few years. The artistic tradition is being challenged and extended as a result of these virtual opportunities. And the concept of artwork, creation, and showing of the work exist on quite other premises than we are used to.

Virtual Moves - The art organisation Tagging Art has invited nine Danish and international artists to create works that explore and try out Second Life as a platform, context and framework for art from a critical point of view. Most of the virtual artworks are at the same time being exhibited in their physical form in varying exhibitions in u.l.k. Art Labs at Statens Museum for Kunst.

Thus the exhibition “Virtual Moves” is an experimenting and collective art project that explores the tendencies, possibilities and limitations of art in the virtual field. Trough their own works the artists involved are exploring and commenting on the opportunities for artistic development in the internet based, virtual online world Second Life. Virtual identity, social network, sex, economy and collective memory are some of the themes the artists look into in order to discuss the effect Second Life has on our understanding of real and virtual reality.

Exhibition - “Virtual Moves” consists of four varying exhibitions, each with a two week duration where the artists involved are exhibiting in pairs of two. The virtual artworks will be available around the clock in Second Life, just as some of them will be shown in their physical form at Statens Museum for Kunst.

Coming exhibitions: 15 – 26 February - Jan Northoffs (Germany), "newBERLIN Art Festival"- The exhibition focuses in the art event ”newBERLIN Art Festival” on social networking and Second Life as a free zone for art. Together with his colleague LunAR Bailey, Northoff has made an open invitation for artists to transform the area newBERLIN in Second Life into a collective art exhibition. The intention is to liberate art in Second Life including bringing into focus the fact that the virtual universe constitutes a platform for artistic making and activity by use of the great network possibilities, the open systems and co-creating artists/avatars.

Nis Rømer (Denmark), "Hans Blix’s Glasses – a memorial to the Iraq war" - Rømer reflects critically in his work about how national states choose to remember and forget actions of war. The work establishes a collective agenda of the state’s co-responsibility in regard to location of war monuments in the public space. Through a number of performances in Second Life and on Statens Museum for Kunst the artist plays Chess with Iraqis living in Denmark while discussing the critical situation with them.

29 February – 11 March - Annette Finnsdottir (Iceland/Denmark) og Maria Lavman Vetö (Sweden) - The audience can see the works in Second Life using an avatar - a personal, virtual figure that you can make at home or by using the computers available in the physical exhibition at Statens Museum for Kunst. The guide Reality Hub has been designed to help visitors take the first step into the virtual part of the exhibition and will support their interaction with the different artworks. Trough www.taggingart.org the audience are easily being guided into the virtual exhibitions. During the exhibition period they will also be able to read and comment on the project at the bloc: www.taggingart.org.