Wow, what if you had the biggest gallery space in the world?

Hello Dear Reader,
Have you ever heard of "Hyper Formalism?"
Do you like to see amazing environmental art, on
a huge scale?
I've got the place for you to visit!
This exhibit is called "Kiss the Sky" and it is
brought to us by the New Media Consortium
and the Museum of Hyper Formalism.
But don't let that put you off! this one is fun-
but remember your flight pack, because if you are like me,
it's a long way down, and flailing isn't pretty.
















It's a series of ramps, walkways and platforms
that let you get good vantage points on the art.
















Some of them are animated, others just stand
there and look pretty.















Here's another view.















and of course they have interactive pieces too,
the pink tentacles will respond to you.














Especially if you fly through them ;-)
And the textures are wonderful!

And as a contrast, a very interesting ensemble

on the ground under the exhibit-

I'm not sure what it means, but I like it-

Check it out-

NMC Arts Lab, NMC Arts Lab (149, 26, 395)

And for those of you who want to know more- here are excerpts from the Press Release:

New Media Consortium and the Museum of Hyperformalism Presents "Kiss the Sky", an art historical survey of Hyperformalism in the virtual world of Second Life A 21st century art movement, native to the the virtual world -
Curated by DC Spensley (DanCoyote Antonelli in Second Life) May 2, 2008, (Second Life) - Virtual worlds are a place for discovering new territories and exploring meaning outside the context of the material world.

Even in virtual worlds there is an avant garde, a native artform spawned from unique conditions.

"Kiss the Sky" is an exhibition of artists that have been wowing viewers since 2006 with art installations indigenous to the virtual world that artist/curator DC Spensley calls Hyperformalism.

Artists included are the most notable creators in the virtual world of Second Life, chosen specifically for their Hyperformal direction. On display are Chance Abattoir, Vlad Bjornson, nand Nerd, Selavy Oh, Adam Ramona, Nebulosus Severine, AngryBeth Shortbread, Sasun Steinbeck, Sabine Stonebender, Seifert Surface, elros Tuominen, Juria Yoshikawa, and i7o Zhu
Hyperformalism is non-figurative abstraction in hyper-medium and has been known to include abstract objects arranged in simulated space, navigable on a network as well as expressions of reactive and interactive artwork behaviors and geometric or algorithmic pattern play in 2, 3, and 4 dimensions. This list is far from comprehensive. Because Hyperformalism is not representational, viewer relationships are less fettered by pre-existing symbolic weight and artworks encourage fascination with form for its own sake. The virtual world provides the ability to liberate the work from scale constraints and provides a perfect context for this post-conceptualist form.
With a figure in the picture, nobody notices the landscape. Hyperformalism proposes that that by removing the comfortable cliché of anthropocentricism a viewer will be more open to a whole other class of experiences that resonate on a more basic level of awareness and reflect back to the viewer their own humanity. The perception of immersion and variable point of view implicates the viewer into unique relationships with the work destroying all of the usual boundaries between the viewer and the work.
While space in virtual worlds is a simulation, place can be real. In fact art experiences are the only thing that can be real in both the virtual and material worlds at the same time. Abstractions that exist as discoverable objects are somewhere between object and concept. It is the state of half existence between object and concept that differentiates formal abstraction in virtual worlds from preceeding expressions of formalism, minimalism and abstract expressionism. Hyperformalism is not Modernism, it is not Post-modernism because it is native to a continuum where only the human mind can visit and where the body and the ideological weight of the figure are not the default fixed point of view. About DanCoyote Antonelli (DC Spensley)Hyperformalist artist and cultural theorist first invited to exhibit in Second Life by Ars Virtua curator Rubaiyat Shatner. Continued residency in Second Life is supported in part by the New Media Consortium where DanCoyote Antonelli (DC Spensley) has been artist in residence since 2006, private collectors and many other generous patrons of the arts in both the virtual and material worlds. DanCoyote Antonelli (DC Spensley) has exhibited internationally in museums and electronic arts festivals. About the New Media Consortium (NMC)The NMC is an international consortium of more than 250 world-class universities, colleges, museums, research centers, and technology companies - and the largest educational body in Second Life - dedicated to using new technologies to inspire, energize, stimulate, and support learning and creative expression.