Updated: Mar 9
Thank you very much for the opportunity to be part of this amazing event for the second year.
My iPhone artworks are a combination of photography, painting and digital manipulation. When photographing with my iPhone, I use a slow shutter technique, focussing on the energetic content that fills a space. In other words, I intuitively focus not on material mass but rather on the energy emanating from my subjects. Using apps, I paint on the photographs on my iPhone screen using my finger, and then use a variety of other apps to create further textures and blends. The figures in my artworks invite personal reflection.
A few words about my artwork “Transformation”
Many of us think we live in the Information age but we don’t. In the Information age we moved from the telegraph to the radio to the television to the personal computer to the world wide web. For the first time in history, we became the first self aware species in the known universe, who is interconnected to every other member of its species on a single planetary biosphere. With this came a huge sense of overload, accompanied by so many crises.
We have exited the Information Age, and in a time of massive chaos, have entered the Transformation age. We are seeing rapid technological advances and digital transformation.
Transformation, my artwork exhibited in this showcase, and viewable on my avatar thanks to custom avatar creator @Lisbet_Spatial, is an invitation. It is an invitation to live a transformational life. It is a call to value interactions with others with the same intensity that we seek to interact with the technological tools at our disposal. It is a call to go inward. It is a call to become discerning, mindful, sustainable and humble. To move beyond fear for your own life, to move beyond fear of that which is different, to move from looking at the other as an object to looking as the other and relating to them empathetically. If we are to survive, we will need to transform and expand our capacity to love.
Populys is not merely another environment in the metaverse. It is a functioning city, filled with content and with a very active community. Upon visiting, one can discover the city and its inhabitants.
There are a wide range of activities to choose from in Populys. Listening to good music by attending a concert, visiting a disco or a cinema, going to the events arena, observing a news set in action or watching podcasts being recorded, are only a few of the possibilities on offer.
There is also an art gallery with changing exhibitions, and I happy to share that I have been invited to have a solo exhibition in this gallery starting 10 April 2023. The exhibition will run for one month.
The exhibition is titled “Pathways”.
Having traveled along the paths of mindfulness, the corridors of cyberspace and the hallways of augmented reality, I have recently entered the virtual spaces of the metaverse. The exhibition brings to light my continuous research and expression of new possibilities.
Populys can be found in Spatial and can be accessed via PC, phone or a Virtual Reality headset. Spatial is free and Populys can be entered via this link.
Upon entering, exit the reception room, follow the path up the steps and past the water. Coming down the steps at the other end, turn left to find the art gallery.
Hope to see you there!
Updated: Jan 1, 2023
Cyberspace as we know it is evolving. The next step in its evolution, which we are already beginning to get a taste of, is an immersive cyberspace, more commonly referred to as the Metaverse.
When we first had access to internet there were only static pages that focused on information. This was called Web 1. Web 2, centred on user-created content uploaded to services such as blogs, forums and social media, is all about interaction. Web 3 will be about immersion.
Whereas we browsed the internet before, we will soon be immersed in it and be, in a sense, able to live in it as digital avatars in a 3D space. Headsets will enable full immersion.
Immersion ©Linda Hollier
Examples of immersive tasks will include gathering with friends remotely, working with work colleagues collaboratively, and co-experiencing virtual events such as concerts. Many functions of life will move into virtual environments. Shopping and virtual travel will be available with an accompanying economy.
We started to experience some of these possibilities with Zoom during the pandemic, but what was missing in this 2D experience on screens was the networking experience that accompanies in-person events. This will be able to be replicated in a 3D immersive world.
I have recently joined Spatial, a metaverse with visually stunning, immersive 3D spaces. It has enabled me to customize my own virtual gallery and event space, and host live events, all of which at this point in time can be experienced via smartphone, laptop or a Meta Quest headset.
To navigate the metaverse, we are already hearing about and experiencing the “portal”. One moves between spaces and so one requires a way to do so.
Stepping through.©Linda Hollier
Currently, by clicking on a portal one exits a space and enters another instantaneously. One is reminded of teleportation where one is transported across space and distance instantly. In the metaverse, a portal is opened, one’s avatar passes through, and there is fluid spatial switching.
Let us consider the choice of using the word “portal”.
In architecture the portal, whether it be a gateway or a doorway, is a space which is framed to call attention to spatial transition, In the 14th century, it referred to “the entire architectural treatment of the entrance and its surroundings of a cathedral or other grand building”. The structural elements alluded to something of high significance behind them.
Portal, from the Latin “porta” meaning “gate” and the Latin “portare” meaning “to carry” is also often used to mean a gateway to a realm in another dimension, another plane of existence.
The portal symbolizes spatial transition and has the characteristics of both a special place and a path.
Threshold ©Linda Hollier
Most importantly, a portal implies a threshold - a significant instance or point which invokes or encourages a shift of perception before one goes forward.
Those of you who know me are aware of my interest in the architecture of cyberspace.
How will portals in the metaverse be depicted? We are already seeing circular forms. Will they eventually be so designed that they will be able to teleport our digital avatars not only from one space in a metaverse to another, but also from one metaverse to another when there are what is being referred to as multiverses? No doubt the portal will evolve until there is one possible omniverse.
My series titled “Navigating the Metaverse” is my current contribution to these new realms.
Individual pieces can be purchased on OpenSea as NFTs.