Seyed M. Tabatabaei

Seyed M. Tabatabaei is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Montreal, specializing in 3D art, animation and storytelling across various mediums. With a Master’s degree in Design from Concordia university, his research-creation delved into narrative affordances of virtual reality and won the Hexagram Grant 2019 and CUAA Fine Arts Prize 2020. Additionally, he holds a Master of Arts in Animation from Tehran University of Art, where his animated short Light Sight (2016) gained international recognition. Seyed’s expertise in character animation led to his contribution to Epic’s Fortnite while working at Steamroller Studios and completing the AnimSchool 3D character Animation program. With an academic foundation in architecture and professional experience in CG visualization, photography, and video editing, he is currently immersed in personal projects focused on 3D character art and animation.

Here is an interview with Seyed M. Tabatabaei, where he shares his insights on the metaverse and his perspectives on virtual worlds, together with his collaborator 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. (...) It is constantly changing and expanding in relation to our expectations as well. The features that technology provides to us are raising our expectations of what defines the metaverse. So, it’s not fixed—it’s liquid. If you want to describe it in one sentence, I guess it’s a manifestation of the liquidity of digital media—fluid and ever-changing."

"In VR theater, there are definitely some limitations that are gone, like the creative freedoms you have in terms of, again, the liquidity of the space. So everything around you, you have access to changing them; you can change everything—your surroundings, your Avatar—everything could instantly be changed. And interestingly, the venues are... I mean, when the Avatar can be changed that easily, I feel like, from my personal observation, you are more prepared and willing to accept different roles when you can easily change. I really like that you are not necessarily identified with any of these other characters. In VR, your embodiment becomes liquid, so you become whatever you want to be. So that's also interesting in how it facilitates accepting different roles."

—Seyed M. Tabatabaei