Education & Living History in Virtual Worlds

ACRL-VWIG Summer Program Series Part 1

The ACRL-VWIG July program focused on using Second Life as a means for exploring and engaging students in living history.  This month we began a 3 part series of investigates into cultural productions in Virtual worlds   For July ACRL-VWIG members set off on a series of self-paced explorations at various exhibits in Second Life.  Our goal was to go out and actually be immersed in experiences rather than to just meet afterwards and talk about something we've seen or done.  In this way participants were able to experience and participate in Second Life as an immersive learning space.

The first exhibit, "Embracing the Savage"  took place on a fictional 18th century Italian Island in the Rocca Sorrentina Museum Gallery on Westphalia/129/162/2801.  This exhibit is part of a working immersive education experiment maintained in Second Life by Brown University's Laboratory for Virtual Arts & Humanities.  The exhibit was sponsored by the Missouri Humanities Council.   The exhibition focused on how Shakespeare's work was viewed during the 18th Century Baroque & Rococo eras.   

The exhibit examined how Shakespeare and his plays were thought about by Europeans in the 18th century during the Enlightenment, an era of profound social, intellectual and economic change.

 

Joe interrupts an Enlightenment moment

 

Using artworks and quotes from the period, participants are able to explore the ways that people of the Rococo and Baroque periods engaged with and thought about Shakespeare's works.

 

This exhibit offered a real "museum/educational" experience.  Visitors traveled through the various galleries at their own pace.  The visual displays and extensive textual information, and the powerful sense of space and presence that comes from actually being immersed in Second Life, combined to provide a venue rich with possibility for teaching and learning.

 

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A fine cast of characters

The second exhibition, "Introducing La Commedia Dell'Arte", also part of Brown University's Immersive Education Laboratory for Virtual Arts & Humanities,  took place in the Galleries at the Bay of Naples sim at Bay of Naples /128/128/2802.

This exhibition provided an in-depth history of the Commedia dell'Arte form.  The exhibit featured extensive visual arts materials, paintings and informational signs.  It also provided extensive notecards with more textual information than one got from simply reading the display signs.  An especially interesting feature was an area where the stock characters were rendered as 3D avatars.  You could walk amongst them and nearby information kiosks provided detailed information about each character and the role they place in a Commedia dell"Arte production.

Joe amongst the stock characters

This exhibition was richly informative and multi-dimensional, covering everything from costumes to characters and provided an indepth history of Commedia dell'Arte.  It was however just the prelude to the evenings main event which was...an actual Commedia dell'Arte performance.

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I attended the matinee performance of  "A Bird in the Hand", performed in Second Life by the Commedia Dell'Arte Company, I Sorrentini at the Royal Opera of Second Life Ballroom.

 

The Royal Opera House

It's good to have friends in high places

I have to admit I was a little skeptical about what was to come.  I've been to music performances where the sound didn't work, dance performances where lag threw everyone out of synch, and cabaret shows where just nothing went right. 

The cheap seats

I was very pleasantly surprised.  The performance went off without a hitch, with sound, music, and action all cooperating.  It was engaging and funny and both performers and the audience seemed to have a good time.   

Act 1

 

Act 2

 

 

 All in all, it was a very educational and enjoyable excursion and finally gave me a chance to use those 18th Century costumes I've been collection. I'm looking forward to Program 2 of this series.