World wide Irish art

TOMORROW, for the first time, an Irish art exhibition will open simultaneously in a traditional gallery setting and on the World Wide Web. TristAnn's Gallery in Dundalk, will be putting images from Chris Wilson's latest show, Distant Night, into the electronic ether at exactly the same time as the first guests are sipping their glasses of complimentary red wine at the private view.

Anyone visiting the site can access information about the gallery and its artists, as well as view reproductions of relevant art work. When visitors click on an image that takes their fancy, they are provided with a larger version of the image and, significantly, an e mail response form. This allows them to request further information or, if they are particularly impressed or impulsive, to type in their credit card details. In the long term, this is clearly going to have a serious effect on the consumption of red vin de table.