Fortnite’s latest virtual event is a simple — yet important — art gallery

theverge.com:

Yesterday on my lunch break, I spent about 15 minutes wandering the halls of the Serpentine gallery, looking at the “New Fiction” exhibition from pop artist Brian Donnelly, better known by his alias Kaws. There were all kinds of statues of his iconic “Companion” character — you may recognize its Mickey Mouse-like visage from copious vinyl figures or as an awards statue for the MTV VMAs — along with some huge, colorful paintings. It was a pleasant way to soak in some culture — and it all took place inside Fortnite.

The Fortnite exhibition was essentially a virtual recreation of an IRL display at the real Serpentine in London, which is currently underway. Compared to other, similar virtual events, it’s pretty simple. It doesn’t have the surreal interactivity of “Your Progress Will Be Saved,” a virtual Fortnite installation from 2020, or the Kid A Mnesia exhibition that was created as a collaboration between Radiohead and Fortnite developer Epic Games. Instead, it’s a fairly straightforward recreation of the gallery, where you can wander around and take in the exhibits at your own pace; aside from the building, there’s a big outdoor garden with some towering Kaws statues. (If you attend the show in-person, there’s also an AR element through the Acute mobile app.)

The most interesting thing about the Fortnite version of the show is how it’s being presented. It’s not tucked away in its own section of the Creative mode, where most players will probably miss it. Instead, for the next week, it is the main hub. So if you want to hop in to see what the latest popular Creative mode games are, you’ll be dropped into the garden outside of the gallery. From there, you can wander around and pick games and experiences to try, but you