Curated by Marisa Olson

13 Most Beautiful Avatars, an exhibition in Second Life’s increasingly popular Ars Virtua gallery -a virtual nonprofit arts organization- captures the most visually dynamic and celebrated “stars” of Second Life. The Matteses have been living in the virtual world, Second Life, for over a year, exploring its terrain and interacting with its peculiar inhabitants. The result of their “video-game flanerie” is this series of portraits.

The 13 Most Beautiful Avatars images will be exhibited, in the real-world, at the Italian Academy at New York’s Columbia University. For the Ars Virtua show, in Second Life, a 3D replica of this physical exhibition space has been recreated for presentation of an exhibition identical to the “real” one.

The following link will transport readers to the site in Second Life. Viewing the exhibition requires user registration and a software plug-in.