The Great Exhibition comes to Second Life

Tomorrow is the Grand Opening of The Great Exhibition. For the last 11 weeks Miss Elspeth Woolley and Mr Mako Magellan have been preparing the Great Exhibition – Second Life’s version of the original Great Exhibition of 1851. Now, they have collected together, under one huge glass roof in Sterling Grove, the best of Second Life historically-themed design. The grand opening is this Sunday, 1st June, from 3pm to 5 pm -and they will be delighted to have your company!

The build is absolutely stunning – a recreation of Sir Joseph Paxton‘s original Crystal Palace – and filled with diverse items from dinosaur skeletons to sewing machines – just the kind of range of items shown in the original exhibition of 1851, in other words. The general focus of the exhibition is somewhat historical. The organisers are less interested in items that have appeared since the 1930s than in those from that time and earlier. This is partly to minimise the ‘mall’ effect, partly to emulate the original exhibition, partly to create a theme and partly through personal tastes.

The exhibition is intentionally non-commercial in its display of items – even though many are for sale, items are grouped by theme rather than by store. Mako Magellan explains: “There are two aspects to this. Firstly, though we encourage exhibitors to make purchases from exhibits possible (as long as it is done discreetly) we do not want any sales promotion visible at all. Secondly, we have no desire to make a profit from the exhibition. We simply want to provide a focal point for the best in Second Life, to counteract the proliferation of tedious and uninspiring malls.

“At the moment, until 1st July at least, we are underwriting all costs ourselves. After that date, we will review this. We hope, very much, that exhibitors will derive traffic from their exhibits, and will make sales from within the exhibition itself. This being so, we may ask them to help contribute towards the tier payments. Since this is a long-term project, we would like it to be financially self-sustaining, and I suspect that exhibitors will appreciate the value in that.”

Being a long-term project, the exhibits will be rotated as newer items appear, and designers will be free to replace their items at any time. They are not offering permanent places as that would not be in the spirit of the exhibition. But an exhibitor, once accepted, can count on at least two months of display time.

The exhibition space is huge – perhaps one of the largest buildings single sim buildings in Second Life and, as it opens, there could be room for more exhibits – if the prims can take it! But what is on display already (and I would say that the exhibition halls are at least 4/5s full already), is a wonderful tribute the the creativity of Second Life.

What was the Great Exhibition of 1851?
The original exhibition was a phenomenal success from every angle. It advanced thinking about modular construction methods, showed millions of people things they would never otherwise have seen, collected enough money to help found several of London’s major museums, and set the model for future exhibitions of the same type.

Mako Magellan says, “We have not attempted to slavishly recreate the original building by Sir Joseph Paxton, partly because it was built in two forms, on two different sites, partly because it was not quite built to its original designs, partly because it would require two sims to accommodate it, and partly because of the need to be prim-economical. The Second Life version of the building is closely based, however, on the second form, which was erected in Sydenham, in South London. It is my design, not Paxton’s, and I take the blame for all discrepancies. My design goal was to make a beautiful virtual building that would instantly recall the original building to anyone who knows of it. I abided by Paxton’s modular construction, since this makes the building perfect for Second Life. The number of textures used is incredibly small. When all said and done, however, the building is meant to be a backdrop to the real show, the exhibits.”

“It is over 70 years since the Crystal Palace burnt down, but it is still an iconic building, living in many people’s memories. My father actually saw the final conflagration on 30 November 1936, as a very young boy. And I remember being taken, as a small boy, around the surrounding park, and seeing the dinosaur models among the trees.”

You can read more about the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace on Wikipedia – and there’s a lovely display of watercolours of the original exhibition on display in the Great Exhibition in Second Life too!