Back when we had some free time my wife, Nocifer Janus, and I used to wander around Second Life visiting all the art galleries we could find simply because there are some amazing artists in Second Life. Well here’s one that does house calls – kinda. Great stuff.

Due to the esoteric nature of this piece some might think that it is hard to make it marketable, but it is that same weirdness that produces the strange attractor needed to make it viral. Imagine if we were to cut the entire video to only the dramatic elements plus the kitchen scene. So the story becomes:

1. Musicians wait
2. Homeowners leave
3. Musicians break-in
4. They play on kitchen appliances
5. Home owners come home unexpectedly catching the musicians

This makes the story compact and punchy. In a world full of advertisers screaming for attention shorter is better. Even so, how is this new piece a marketable property?

What if all the appliances in the video were made by the one company, say Braun? We don’t even have to mention them, the brand name is just there on each appliance – subtle close-ups can be used to make them more prominent. Or what if the kitchen is from Ikea? Now we have a very powerful viral video.

Traditional advertising is often all about who screams the loudest. That’s why television advertising volumes are usually higher than the programs that support them. Viral advertising is less about how loud and more about the silences in between. So when you’re making your next viral video remember to ask yourself, how do I reproduce the sound of no hands clapping?

A year ago, Robbie Dingo posted an extraordinary clip called “Watch the World(s)”, in which he recreated Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night as a 3-dimensional landscape in Second Life. Alas, nothing remains of that wonderful build but the video.

Virtual Starry Night (Vincent’s Second Life) presents you with the next best thing. Visit the hospital gardens, sit in the cafe, walk around the Starry Night village (and find the Yellow Chair – though it would have been even more fun and fitting to have found the Potato Eaters, but never mind).

This sim is dedicated to the works of Van Gogh, with a number of his best known works created as 3D installations, thereby allowing you to literally step inside the paintings.

See? I’m in Van Gogh’s bedroom! No bouncing on the bed allowed, though. Put a sit on it, guys!



You can find this installation and others in the glass-tubed gallery, or just click on a handy display for the quick 3D tour.

Building an entire sim built around the idea of realising 2D artworks into 3D is a very clever use of virtual environments like Second Life (assuming it’s done well and the process actually adds something to the appreciation and experience of the artworks, of course).

I’d say it succeeds here. An exhibition space like this means many works which would otherwise be located in museums around the world, or else locked away in private collections, can be brought together here and displayed side by side, allowing us to see how they relate to one another in theme, and how Van Gogh’s technique changed over time, and how his compositions and subject matters developed.



Virtual Starry Night is the work of Dutch company Tressis, with plans to develop sims dedicated to other Dutch masters such as Vermeer. I’m in art geek heaven!

And have I mentioned the souvenir shop? Why not finish off your visit to the virtual Van Gogh experience by recreating it in your own (virtual) home with some of these familiar tabletop flowers, for instance? And that bedroom is available as a furniture set, too.

Hmm, is it exploitative when it’s educational? The fact is, I for one would rather live in it (virtually) than look at a second-hand print stuck up on my wall (physically). So, my hat’s off to these guys for a creative build and a very compelling selling angle.

Check out Virtual Starry Night for yourself here.

So we’ve done a drama, but in keeping with the artistic requirements of our friend we’ve made is quite avant-garde and while it is drama it it