The concept of virtual galleries / museums have seen more love than ever in the last few years, thanks to covid. Especially in the beginning stages of the pandemic in 2020, when quite a lot of us were stuck inside, we’ve seen quite a lot of institutions, collectives or even individuals create their own virtual galleries. While there have been some quite interesting exceptions, can’t say I was too enamored with this attention on virtual galleries. There seemed to be a general approach to virtual galleries that tried to exactly replicate their physical counterparts. While this is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, I think the execution of this approach often resulted in bland virtual spaces similar to what corporations are making in metaverse. Soulless spaces that somehow miss the strengths of their mediums while trying to achieve alternating goals.
Recently I’ve come across a project called Zium Gallery (2022), created, curated and developed by Michael Berto, featuring around 20 artists. I was wary of this speciMic genre before but seeing it featured some artists I liked their works, I’ve decided to give it a shot.
Zium Gallery (2022) Credits Wall
As soon as I started the program, it gave me glimpses that this work wouldn’t be trying to perfectly replicate the physical galleries. The introduction sequence started with moving walls and statues until the space came to its stable state.
Once I started walking around I started realizing this project, while indeed relying on traditional art galleries in its structural space, also understood what the medium of video games could do to expand it. For example works of Freya Holmer, with their expertise in shaders, presented works that could only exist in a virtual gallery such as 3D objects that shapeshift depending on our movements around it. Or Seth Redd’s work, “Evening Stroll” is a small neighbourhood in this gallery where we take a stroll and perhaps reMlect. Their work deMies the understanding of space in physical galleries, and utilizes the spatial affordances of virtual spaces.
Julian Palacios – Hope to See You Again
Another example I thoroughly enjoyed was Julian Palacios’ “Hope to See You Again”. Where we continue to control a Mirst-person character, however the space itself alters quite radically as Palacios tells an ambiguous story of farewell through hyperMluid and luminous spaces. Their work completely pulls you apart from the context of the gallery and instead offers an experience highly dreamlike and memorable.
In a similar fashion, Phoebe Shalloway’s “Arcadia Under Construction”, gives us a brief glance into their experimental narrative game which takes in a sci-Mi setting during the launch of a new planet.
Even though I’ve also enjoyed works that were placed in the context of a regular gallery, what excited me the most through my experience with Zium Gallery were these interactive experiences that took me away and this may shine a light on the strength of this medium. In galleries, game creators could look towards creating interactive experiences that are more condensed, more experimental and as the context of the gallery opens us up to experimental works, these short interactive pieces and their collection through galleries create an interesting form of interactive art. In this sense I think Zium Gallery walks a Mine line between our understandings of real and surreal, physical and virtual but it feels more like the beginning stages of a genre, grappling to understand what makes it stick and what does not.
Developer / Publisher: Michael Berto Release Date: 02.02.2022
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS, Linux Age Rating: N/A
Pictures are screenshots taken by the author
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