Become a Sim Artist

The Sim Gallery Project Call for Entries

Contribute a 'sim' artwork or performance to a gallery space within the Sims Online--a multiplayer, online game. Works chosen for the SimGallery will also be on view--through in-museum computer stations--during the 'Counter Gaming' show at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in January 2004.

Help us to explore what happens when an 'real world' white-cube
gallery lands in the pre-fab, populist online experiment known as the
Sims Online. What kinds of art and performances are relevant, or even
possible in virtual space?

We invite you to submit artwork or a performance proposal for inclusion in the Online SimGallery Project's in-game show and performance series. Your work, of course, must be manifestable within the game itself.

Some issues we hope interested artists will explore:
- What art can be within the constraints and rules of an online game.
- How virtual embodiment affects performances and the experience of art online.
- How the Sim aesthetic merges with and reshapes your own, when you
bring your work into this venue.
- How a traditionally-styled art space functions in an online game.

Screenshots of the galleries and performance space are available at
http://www.simgallery.net/gallery.html. You can also arrange a hosted
visit to the SimGallery in TSO by sending email to
contact@simgallery.net

Deadline for entries: October 31, 2003.

Complete submission details are below (and available in pdf format at
http://www.simgallery.net/ent.html)

Please note: It is extremely important for artists unfamiliar with
TSO to explore the constraints of the game world when envisioning
works and planning proposals.

Important dates:
Deadline for Entries: Oct. 31 2003.
Notification of Status: November 15, 2003.
Exhibition Dates: January-April 2004.
Proposal Format:
Your proposal must include:
- Project description
- Artist(s) resumé
- Indication of category for your work (performance or artwork)

- At least one of the following:
- A SIM location for existing works and project description.
- 3 URLs to other online works with project descriptions.
- 10 jpgs representative of other works, with a slide list and
project descriptions.
- Portfolio CD, VHS video or 10 slides with slide list or project
descriptions and accompanying SASE.

Submission Process:
Please send your materials either by email to entries@simgallery.net
or by postal mail to:
SimGallery
C/o Katherine Isbister & Rainey Straus
1904 23rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

All materials must be received by midnight, October 31, 2003 to
ensure full consideration. We will notify you by November 15 about
the status of your submission.
For more information:
To learn more about the SimGallery Project venue, visit our website
(www.simgallery.net) or visit the gallery itself by logging into
TSO's Alphaville. (Send email to contact@simgallery.net in order to
arrange a hosted visit.)

To learn more about TSO, we encourage you to visit the official
product website
(http://www.eagames.com/official/thesimsonline/home/index.jsp). There
is a brief overview of the game on the project site, as well (http://www.simgallery.net).