The co-founder of art VR platform theVOV tells us why Mark Zuckerberg’s popularising of ‘the metaverse’ concept can definitely be a good thing for art lovers.
theVOV’s virtual presentation of Shannon Bono’s Untitled (Mangbetu) and Sian Fan’s Seeping Out Skybox, as part of Sarabande’s digital exhibition ‘Corpus Mentis’, curated by Hikari Yokoyama and Trino Verkade (2021)
In news that’s no longer really news; the world has well and truly hit rock bottom. My answer? Let’s leave it. I’ve seen what I needed to see, and I’m done.
XR technology has given us an exit strategy from the real world, an opportunity to escape and bury our heads into the sand together. With Facebook now ‘Meta’, huge plans are underway for ‘the Metaverse’ to become the next heir to the throne, usurping the internet, to create an all encompassing alternate and virtual reality.
ArrayThe Zucc trying to get us excited about his evil plans
At this point, why not? Surely anything is up from here, but we should pay attention to the upward direction we go.
XR is extended reality, where the metaverse sits, which includes virtual reality and our lived, physical reality. Many are currently clutching their pearls in shock of societal ruin – Roger McNamee, an American Investor and vocal hater of Meta, has described Zuckerberg’s plans as ‘dystopian’ and insists the company should not be allowed ‘to operate in the metaverse’.
Dystopia or utopia? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter.
Dystopia or utopia? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter. Whether we like it or not, we are faced with the fact that our physical reality is no longer enough for us to live in anymore. This Brave New World is one we’re going to have to learn to live in. We’ve been craving escape from reality for years, under the guise of it being ‘culture’ (who got to decide on that?). These perfect distractions come in cinemas, art museums, TikTok, Instagram, and gaming. One and the same, they all essentially boil down to one thing; a moment to forget about ‘your silly little life Jane’ and escape.
Roger McNamee launched a scathing attack on Zuckerberg’s plans
Putting culture into virtual reality just takes this one step further. When I want to slip away, I go to an art museum to try and bury the body of my stress and anxiety in a dark corner that an invigilator can’t spot. In recent years, this has become increasingly tricky. Instead of being able to lose myself in a landscape or a Rothko red, I’m busy sharpening my elbows trying to move through the crowds of people jostling to take selfies, after I’ve queued for hours and experienced daylight robbery disguised as an ‘exhibition ticket’.
I’ll never quite give up going to exhibitions physically, I’ll always love those spaces. But I’m craving something more, and after an endless year, my fogged up brain doesn’t have the mental capacity to look at art in a museum. I need someone to virtually hold my hand through this, telling me the story of the artwork and the artist’s vision.
And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. The ‘unprofessional part-time critic’ duo, The White Pube, recently published an open letter of hope to the future of art viewership. Gabriella de la Puente wrote, ‘I want an art delivery service. I want to be given a treasure box of things I’ll find boring and things that will make me feel new, where the aesthetic experience of the exhibition is captured like a fairy in a bottle and released in my home’.
This is partly my motivation for co-creating theVOV, an online space for virtual exhibitions, the virtual home to existing physical museums and galleries. We aimed to create a cost-free space for audiences to enter virtual galleries and, crucially, to walk around at their own pace, listen to specially produced artist and curator tours and experience the art from the comfort of their own homes.
theVOV’s virtual presentation of Chris Burden’s 14 Magnolia Doubles as part of the South London Gallery’s digital revival of his solo exhibition (2006)
We soon discovered that, in this virtual space, anything was possible. Chris Burden’s ‘14 Magnolia Doubles’, displayed physically outside a museum in Los Angeles, were returned to South London Gallery on theVOV, and switched back on. Sarabande’s virtual gallery presented a group show of seven female artists and designers, but one was outside the exhibition space. Sian Fan’s ‘Microcosm’, envelops the exhibition space entirely, so the gallery looks to be floating in her artwork space. Sometimes you have to blow the bloody doors off.
View this post on Instagram
For those who aren’t buying into the great escapism dream, there’s also the more logical flirtation with improvements on museum accessibility, sustainability, art storage, art transportation, and geographical inequality. There’s also the money. The commercial art sector has been moving into the digital realm for a while, with Sotheby’s reaping in $20.6m (£15.3m) this past summer in Contemporary Art online alone. Commercial galleries are using virtual reality as a sales platform too, showing a smorgasbord of artworks you can buy to go with your new sofa.
Whilst it may sound insane to some, I think l’ve finally found some kind of peace in the digital equivalent of Piccadilly Circus.
Whilst it may sound insane to some, I think l’ve finally found some kind of peace in the digital equivalent of Piccadilly Circus. In the VR art world, and in my corner on theVOV, all the background noise melts away and art is placed back on its pedestal.
When art is in a virtual vacuum, it feels like the world has stopped spinning for a moment. If you were given a Get Out of Jail Free Card to go and experience wonderful things, wouldn’t you do the same?
Top installation: theVOV’s virtual presentation of Yinka Shonibare CBE RA’s Wind Sculpture VII, as part of Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s digital revival of ‘FABRIC-ATION’ (2016)
