The Translation of Art in Virtual Worlds

Within the past decade, virtual worlds have emerged as a prominent factor in technological culture. Virtual economies like *Everquest* have grown to rival gross domestic products of small nations (1), Chinese “gold farming” (the practice of harvesting treasure in online roleplaying games using cheap labor and reselling to the West) is big business, and record numbers of users are participating in online games and environments. Another aspect of emergent technoculture is the formation of virtual artists’ communities in corresponding online worlds including *World of Warcraft* (WoW) and *Second Life* (SL). These works include virtual galleries of translated 2D works into 3D galleries, Machinima (video works created from the capture of live action in virtual worlds), performance, and interactive in-world works. From these multivalent practices and modes of representation there arise questions of difference, context, audience, and engagement. In this examination of New Media art practices in virtual worlds, and the online virtual environment *Second Life* in particular, I will examine the aforementioned issues, and consider the context and translation of these works from the tangible to the virtual, the “mixed/cybrid”, and the formal work of virtual art to discern its function between modes of existence, and its location within culture.