Reaching stars through Metaverse

April 2022
Digitalization has reached every sphere of nowadays human life. As years are passing by, more and more ways of how to develop our culture in the digital sphere are emerging. It's like a search for an ideal form of life and a world order!
Nowadays do exist applications, where it is possible to build your personal, yet digital world, or even to create virtual avatars. Where you would live on a currently neutral territory of the virtual space, not based on any kind of political, culture or other preferences.

The surge of interest for metaverses (or the virtual space) was due to the pandemic and mass quarantines, when people were forced to sit at home, not being able to go anywhere. This was what led us to modern reality, where it is possible for everyone to attend a concert of their favourite singer while being in online game, chat with friends using virtual avatars and even allow these avatars to run their own social networks.
Specialists, including Gartner, a company making researches on the information technology market, say that by 2026 more than 25% of the world population will spend more than an hour a day in the Metaverse, using different types of virtual reality technologies for work, studying and hobbies.
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Digital reality is like a pursuit for an ideal form of life, appearance and a world order!

To create your digital avatar and to visit the Metaverse computer games can be used. It was in 2020 when the rap singer Travis Scott gave a 15-minutes concert in the game called Fortnite on the island where all players of the game can gather.
Players created their avatars in advance, as it happens in every other game, but in Fortnite there is also a function of synchronizing the game with VR-goggles, which allows to literally immerse into the new wonderful world of technologies and digital reality!

That is why those, who were able to experience the concert through VR-goggles, could unite with their avatars and truly visit the show, seeing it with their very own eyes, not through the monitor. In addition to such kinds of still unique events VRChat became quite popular and far more widespread abroad. It is an analogue of a common text chat room but in VR format, using avatars.

Whole new cities are created in Metaverses now! For example, the Oxyville city development on the base of mentioned VRChat is coming to its end at the moment. In charge of this project stands an international team, which includes people from Russia, France, Germany, Italy and Taiwan, working under the direction of the VRrOOm studio. The city itself was created based on the structure of variant musical instruments intertwined with the esthetics of the 1920s of the 20th century and early science-fiction films like "Metropolis" or "Aelita".

It was not so long ago when a test of this town was implemented: the concert of Jean-Michel Jarre was held for a thousand people who were online at the same time, which is quite a lot by the standards of VR-meetings; It was broadcasted throughout the city in 12 different locations. The immersive concert took place on two venues simultaneously: in the real world on the Hyper Weekend in Maison de la Radio in Paris and in the VRChat. Developers have announced that the city will be officially opened for public closer to the release of the "Oxymore" album in the second half of 2022. It will be possible then to freely walk in the city and explore locations in every way you like, without paying for entrance.
Famous brands create garments, which can be bought or worn only in digital reality.
Digitalization is thrusting in every sphere of our reality. People are spending lots of time on social networks, creating an image of themselves. It is reflected in art and fashion.
Famous brands are not only broadcasting fashion shows online, but creating clothes that could only be bought and worn in digital reality!

John Yuyi is an artist, one of the authors of "Millennial" Gucci campaign, photo sessions for i-D and numerous works, which can be seen in the modern art world. John Yuyi's main source of inspiration is the internet, modern virtual reality, lying outside of the culture identity.
All these examples of "digitalization" of our physical body for a purpose of existing in immortal digital format lead to the creation of something entirely new, a reality which is radically different from the physical world, with its own laws.
Nascent metaverse explorers point out that what looks like escapism and formation of a new universe is often a transfer of physical reality such as ctrl + C, ctrl + V from our world to Metaworld.

Being intangible, this kind of art desperately clings to the remnants of the physical space, transferring them with itself to the digital world. It could be seen as an example of virtual cities and in avatars creation, stars' concerts in videogames and the transition of exhibitions to online.
The time will show how technologies will develop and whether we are going to move to the digital dimension in the following years.

What about you, would you like to have your own avatar and life in the metaverse?
Text Ekaterina Surat
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