Extended Reality (XR) has been bubbling away for a while, and I have been involved since about 2019 in various ways, designing virtual environments, curating a Mozilla Hubs room network as part of Ars Electronica ‘ In Keplers’ Gardens 2020′ and also through site specific XR installations in galleries such as SIGGRAPH Asia 2019. Recently a new festival has launched in Queensland exactly for the purpose for promoting and disseminating XR art and design across the state. I was super happy to be invited by Matt, the brainchild of this new movement, to deliver a talk on what a Proto-Metaverse means at this point in culture. This happening took place in a new Mozilla Hubs room called ‘Deep Terrain/Papa Hohonu’, designed, implemented and populated with digital artefacts by Un-Calculated (myself and Simon Howden). Link is here, check it out if you are feeling micro-cosmic:
https://hubs.mozilla.com/DWRiE9g
But the highlight, as always, was Alison Bennett’s incredible Cherry Blossom room, which the group toured through amidst a sonic cloud of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhhs’. Alison’s room was in fact the second most popular Hubs room of Ars Electronica 2020, and there’s no wondering why! Alison is always so generous allowing me to speak about her work. And of course, I am a huge fan! Link is here for the point cloud lovers. Headset recommended but not essential:
Tactile Potentials 