Panels and interviews
- researchpractice
- 4월 5일
- 3분 분량
최종 수정일: 4월 13일
As part of the MetaMetaverse project, we conducted interviews and panel discussions with artists and scholars who explore the metaverse and virtual worlds as artistic platforms. Below is a lineup of experts offering insights and reflections on the creative and critical possibilities of the metaverse.
Click on each expert’s image or the link below to discover their unique insights into the metaverse.
"People never really define what the metaverse is, and suddenly, it becomes this kind of word salad—Metaverse, XR, AI, Blockchain, blah blah blah. It just shows that there’s no, let's say, underlying tech, just a bloated concept designed to sell you whatever you need to buy."
— Gabriel Menotti
"We need to expand our understanding of what the metaverse could be. That’s why we do festivals, art jams, and hackathons—to keep asking, what else? Before we rush to consolidate and productize everything, we need to explore every possibility."
— Keram Malicki-Sánchez
"The metaverse is a series of interconnected virtual worlds where users, as avatars, can explore these spaces much like they would in real life. (...) In this environment, you can be anything—a pickle, a talking pizza slice, a person. It unshackles us from the constraints of reality, whether that be geography separating us or the question of identity."
— Liam Karry
"I feel like the Metaverse, to me, is nothing different from virtual world research. (...) 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."
— Jean Ho Chu
"The Metaverse is something that kind of symbolizes the next platform where people can meet, interact with each other, learn, work, play all sorts of things can be done in the digital space. And even though the use of the term may be overhyped these days, still, because it reflects basic human needs, I think it's still relevant, and it will be relevant in the future too."
— Jusub Kim
"I think elements of whatever the Metaverse will become in the future already exist in their early stages—like the smartphone, the internet as a framework, and various interconnected devices, the so-called Internet of Things. (...) Formlessness, transgression—how to use the limits of language and the impossibility of communicating an experience—this is what really interests me."
— Alex Lee
"When I think of the Metaverse, my first thought is—I don’t know—Facebook? I would say it's a digital landscape where each of us has the potential to explore a version of ourselves, whether that be digitally, sonically, creatively, sexually, spiritually, or even just as an observer, or none of the above. (...) Your perception of the Metaverse is, honestly, what it is. Without that injection of perception, it wouldn't really exist."
— J.B. Ghuman Jr.
"the Metaverse became a buzzword when Facebook rebranded as Meta. Then Meta took over, and later, they laid off many employees who had been working on Metaverse to shift their focus to AI. (...) back in 2002, Massumi wrote about the superiority of the analog, arguing that even the term 'virtual reality' is misleading. He pointed out that VR is digital, but there’s no real 'virtuality' in that—it originally referred to potentialities in virtual reality. It’s just code."
— Frédérick Maheux
"I think the metaverse is like a third virtual space. What distinguishes it from other virtual spaces is its three-dimensional co-presence. And for theater, that's pretty interesting because theater really requires three dimensions. The opening up of the third dimension really kind of expands the possibility to—I don’t want to say replicate—but come closer to the conditions of in-person theater than other digital tools I’ve run into."
— Michael Wheeler
"But I guess the key word to the metaverse is convergence—the convergence of many things, actually. The convergence of the physical and real, the convergence of tools, mediums, and content, and even the convergence of roles you play within the virtual space. Your role can change easily when you're in the metaverse. And I think another thing is that I see it as a paradise for algorithms to dominate—it’s deeply rooted in algorithmic culture."
— Seyed M. Tabatabaei
