Jean Ho Chu

Jean Ho Chu is an artist, researcher, and an educator exploring new forms of artistic expression through digital technology. Her main research interests are Interactive Media Arts, Interactive Video, Digital Cultural Heritage, and Museum Experience Design. She received Ph.D. in Digital Media from Georgia Institute of Technology, M.F.A. in Digital Arts from Pratt Institute in New York, and B.F.A. in Fine Arts, Painting from Seoul National University. She is currently an assistant professor at Sogang University.

Here is an interview with Jean Ho Chu, where she shares her insights on the metaverse and her perspectives on virtual worlds.

"I feel like the Metaverse, to me, is nothing different from virtual world research. The ongoing research hasn’t changed much, I think. But the term 'Metaverse' helped a lot in getting funding, especially government funding. I think people are doing nothing different from virtual world VR research, but by using the Metaverse keyword, they get more opportunities. So why not just use it to get more support from the government? This is basically kind of like an industrial or trendy word that captured the presentation. (...) But people think the virtual world or VR is old, while the Metaverse is something new and more trendy. So even if it may be basically the same thing, people are very sensitive to those terms or trends. I think adding 'Metaverse' has a little bit more meaning in terms of applicable social networks or industry-relevant applications. So, yeah, just a little bit more twist on that, I think, is the term 'Metaverse.'"

"Through VR or the Metaverse, I want to encourage people to think more critically about their real-world experiences. I see VR as a space for reflection—where, through the VR experience, people can shift perspectives, rethink assumptions, and engage in deeper critical thinking. In everyday life, certain issues often go unnoticed, but VR provides a more focused environment for engagement. My aspiration for VR is to open up new dialogues about topics that are rarely discussed in the real world."

"I don’t believe VR or the Metaverse will replace the real world. Instead, I see it as a tool to enrich real-world experiences. When creating VR projects, I always ask myself: How can I translate the richness of real-world experiences into the virtual world? And how can a virtual experience, in a more condensed form, offer that richness to viewers? I believe VR has the potential to be a powerful medium for shifting perspectives, sparking new ideas, and provoking thought in an artistic way."

— Jean Ho Chu

Check out more details about Signal Journey, the VR project created by e.m.a. studio led by Jean Ho Chu that artistically explores the concept of proximity between two players: https://emediaarts.org/signaljourney.html