Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Maps

A new exhibit opened at the New Kadath Lighthouse Art Gallery at the end of June. Entitled "Maps of Second Life: the Information and Art of Virtual Cartography," and curated by Professor Juliana Lethdetter, the exhibit displays a number of maps from throughout the history of the grid.

New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 002

Outside, beside the door to the gallery, is a map of the Second Life Rail Road Traffic, by the Virtual Railway Consortium - real-time display of train locations:
New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 001

The rest of the exhibit arranges the maps by subject matter, starting with a piece on the explorer Magellan Linden (pictures by Salazar Jack):
New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 003

The display moves on to The Early Grid, showing the expansion of the Second Life landmasses:
New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 004

Next are Regional Maps (Bay City, the Steamlands, Nautilus and the Blake Sea, Zindra):
New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 005

The Historic Grid displays maps by Carl Metropolitan, Jack Linden, and Dyne Telemasca:
New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 006

Finally, Maps from Groups shows maps from the Protected Route Interest Group, SL Coast Guard, the Railroads of Second Life, the 1920s Berlin Project, and the S.S. Galaxy:
New Kadath Art Gallery  Maps 007

I find maps to be endlessly fascinating, especially older maps, which are often important markers about noteworthy points in time. (My typist enjoyed a Christmas trip to Colonial Williamsburg, where the museum had an extensive exhibit on early maps of the United States, which showed the shifting political boundaries as the nation expanded westward.) Maps of Second Life displays some of the maps of historical significance on our grid, and is well worth a visit.

3 comments:

HeadBurro Antfarm said...

Great post. Head over to Grignano in Nova Albion city & seek out a copy of Salazar Jack's book detailing his group's exploration of the mainland back from '03.

Salazar Jack said...

Good G’al! That book may be in storage, especially now that Grignano Books closed. I may need to scrounge around a bit to locate a suitable copy (or hit up Osprey Therian to rez one for sale at Cafe jack).

Rhianon Jameson said...

With no small trepidation, I ventured to the Mainland and Cafe Jack to read about your early expedition. Your trip seemed most perilous!