Pope and Guthrie's fascination with the 'soft underbelly' of the WWW resulted in 'An Artists Impression', a unique piece that connects the real with the virtual through online software and a gallery installation.

The artists had been researching a number of online multi user 'games', text only virtual spaces created with software originally conceived before the arrival of the World Wide Web, but facilitated through computer networks. They found the nature of human to human interaction within these role playing games of great interest, describing "the absence of anything more than a 'code of honour' in most of these [games] that delineated the players' conduct."

With the assistance of an experienced MUSH (Multi-User Shared Hallucination) programmer created Island, a virtual landmass which can be navigated and experienced through simple typed commands. Objects within the environment can be examined and some have interactive properties - and of course there is also the possibility of meeting and talking to other virtual visitors.

Upon completion of the online Island, Pope and Guthrie began fabricating a large physical impression of the virtual space. The eight by four metre island was fashioned using techniques and objects more commonly used in model railways and it was originally installed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Social interaction can be found at the heart of many of Pope and Guthrie's projects and for An Artists Impression they took up residency within the gallery, continuing to work on and update the physical model with respect to virtual changes by visitors to the online space.

Several online events also occurred including a car boot sale, the transcript of which can still be seen on the artists' web site along with further photos of the original installation. The island itself is now in storage at the Science Museum in London, but the virtual island is still running and accessible using telnet software.

www.somewhere.org.uk