A new exhibition that explores contemporary notions of portraiture in the context of the virtual world opens at the National Portrait Gallery on Friday.

The exhibition, entitled ‘doppelgänger’, is based in the 3D virtual world of Second Life, and features the work of five artists who explore concepts of constructed self, beauty and likeness, and truth and illusion in self-representation.

Melbourne-based design consultancy OOM Creative, directed by Greg More, has been working with the National Portrait Gallery to build Portrait Island – the Second Life environment that will form the centre of the exhibition.

Based in Second Life, the commissioned portraits will be displayed from Portrait Island. Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery will be able to view multimedia interpretations of these works from the gallery.

Greg More is leading expert in the area of Web 3D. Speaking about the exhibition, he explained, “Artists working in virtual environments are redefining our understanding of 3D. Their new ideas will inform the global business agenda of tomorrow. I believe business will follow the arts in adopting Web 3D to enable new forms of partnership and collaboration and to reduce travel and environmental costs.”

The artists featured in the exhibitions are Gazira Babeli (Italy), Andrew Burrell (Sydney), Cao Fei (China), Patrick Lichty (USA) and Adam Nash, Christopher Dodds and Justin Clemens (Melbourne).

Exhibition runs from 23 October 2009–23 March 2010 on Portrait Island in Second Life. Multimedia interpretations of these works are also available for viewing in exhibition spaces at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

Image Details from the Second Life Portrait Island, by OOM Creative.