Too Right

We all know that two wrongs don't make a right, but did you know that many rights make a wrong - when the 'rights' are well crafted art installations, and the 'wrong' is , well, The Wrong Biennial... but let's get Kimm Starr to explain what's going on, she's one of the curators of a fabulous art exhibition on Kitely.

Kimm Starr: The Wrong Biennale is a bi-annual show seen by millions of people worldwide. This edition of The Wrong is about AI and the artists' use of it in their work. Seems like an obvious choice for them to make, since AI is coming at us 90 miles an hour. We saw it as an opportunity to show the world that what we create in OpenSim is not only art, but an art medium in its own right. We made a pavilion called "Synthetic Dreams" which consists of two parts. One half is a dedicated website and the other half is an in-world gallery. The show opened on November 1st, 2025.

Thirza Ember: Tell us how you came to choose to do the show on Kitely.

Kimm Starr: The three of us use Kitely as our home grid, so it made sense to ask Ilan Tochner, Kitely’s owner, if we could host it there. He agreed right away and offered the new Kitely Expo Center region for the duration of The Wrong Biennale. It’s the equivalent of nine sims, giving the artists plenty of space. Hosting it in Kitely also meant there was no cost to any of the participating OpenSim artists.

'The Fight of the Century' by Forest Azure

Some of the contributors have simply used AI to make their work and others, like this build by Forest Azure, really explore up close the 'battle' between emerging and traditional ways, as AI begins to affect all aspects of modern life. 

Brightly colored and strongly contrasting representations fill the VAR region on Kitely

Thirza Ember: The Wrong Biennial has been happening for more than a decade, have you been following it over the years, or was this a new discovery? What did you have to do to apply to be part of it and what were your criteria when picking artists to collaborate with you here in Opensim? Koshari Mahana: We had never heard of The Wrong Biennale before. Kimm Starr was invited to participate in AI Land in Second Life, where Art Blue was creating a Pavilion Gallery for The Wrong Biennale. They later asked if she could create an additional, larger piece for their galleries in Craft World, Wolf Territories, and OSGrid. Kimm Starr: After hearing they were moving the gallery to OpenSim, I asked if I could invite some OpenSim artist friends to join. They said no, their roster was full. Cooper Swizzle: Kimm felt it was too good an opportunity for OpenSim artists to miss, so she decided to create a Pavilion to showcase the work of artists here. She reached out to myself and Koshari Mahana, and asked if we were willing to help curate and build the gallery with her. Participation in the Wrong Biennale is open to everyone, free, and the process is very inclusive. The application involved a questionnaire and the submission of the online website pavilion. Ours is Synthetic Dreams. They were looking for continuity and the use of AI in the creation of the art.

Koshari Mahana: Since we joined late, we had only two weeks to prepare the online pavilion for approval. At the same time, we had to start building the in-world pavilion and creating the installations before we were even officially accepted. It made for a few nail-biting weeks. Kimm Starr: We knew we were bringing something different to the show, fully immersive, 3D work that people could actually interact with in a virtual world. We even added detailed instructions on our website to help visitors get in-world. Since most people would only see the installations online, we wanted to include video so they could understand how immersive the pieces really are. The problem was, we couldn’t find a videographer. So we took a crash course in making quality in-world videos ourselves. Photos work, but video is the best way to showcase what the installations actually do.

A detail of the intriguing insect / interior install by Koshari Mahana

Cooper Swizzle: As far as the artists who have collaborated with s on the project, we didn’t have to convince anyone to join. We’ve worked with many OpenSim artists over the years, so choosing who to invite was easy. There are people who are builders, and then there are artists who build. We chose the best of the best out of the artists we have worked with, people who love creating and take their craft seriously. Koshari Mahana: Some had heard of The Wrong Biennale, others looked it up. Once they realized this was a rare chance to share their work not only in-world but also with the real world, they were in. As Luna Lunaria said in October, “Until a month ago, I had never heard of a Biennale, much less a digital one, but as soon as I looked into The Wrong Biennale, I knew I wanted to be part of this global phenomenon. It’s such a unique opportunity to give voice to our virtual art community and bring our work out of obscurity.”

The interior of Luna Lunaria's exhibit

Thirza Ember: Putting together this event has brought you into even closer contact with AI programs that enhance productivity. If you were limited to just one or two of these tools, which ones would you say are the best/most essential for the type of art you like to make? Did you discover any new tools while organizing this event? Kimm Starr: My top tools are Meshy for 3D models, 3DAIStudio for texture painting, and ChatGPT for project management, collaboration, and scripting. Koshari Mahana: I use several AI tools, but I usually start by putting my idea into Copilot until it produces an image I like. It’s never a one-shot result; it takes time to refine it. Then I upload that image into Meshy to generate the 3D model, which also takes multiple attempts. After that, I bring the model into 3DAIStudio to repaint it. I use other AI programs as well, but those are my main ones. Cooper Swizzle: I'm more of a novice to AI. I started with ChatGPT, which helped with the writing. Copilot created the images, and I used Meshy and Blender to bring those images to life as 3D models.

Kimm's use of AI to animate old photos is just one of the interesting elements inside the bell jar where you can hear a 'virtual Poe' - Shandon Loring - performing The Raven. This is an interactive build, so be ready to move around from scene to scene and enjoy the whole experience, made collaboration with Storylink radio.

Tina Bey's 'Nature' with in the background 
Luna Lunaria's pyramid

The juxtaposition of installations in a collaborative exhibition like this, with so many styles and points of view, is one of the make-or-break factors. The three curators have not only supplied quite a bit of the art work and the cornice for the exposition of diverse offerings, but they have also very skilfully placed each one so as to form a dialogue between all the parts - many of the moving.

MorlitaM and Cherry Manga's heavenly contribution

For a full list of participants, and details of their installations, you should go over to the Synthetic Dreams website; and even better, visit the Expo yourself - nothing beats being there in person. This Sunday 7 December, as part of the Opensim Community Conference, there will be a special HG Safari trip here too - why not join us for that?

Naturally the pictures in this article only account for a small part of what you will see when you visit . Some parts are less obviously positioned than others - make sure, for example, that you see the mirror-finished marble in the Art Deco room with high in the sky, it has a spectacular view.

Thirza Ember: Not that you should play favorites or anything, but is there any part of the build that you think gets a bit overlooked that you want to draw people's attention to?

Kimm Starr: Along the East side of the region is a line-up of our Reimagined installations. The artists were asked to reimagine the work of a famous artist in history using AI. The results are so creative and fun.

With that advice, I took a good look at these little room-like installations. There's so much imagination and wit crammed into each one, including homages to Erté, Picasso, Magritte ... and then I found my favorite part of the whole entire build, Van Gogh reimagined. Go inside and you'll see why. Bravo Cooper. You win.

HG Address: grid.kitely.com:8002:Kitely Expo Center