The big issues

The current wave of technological hype is characterised by exaggerated promises (both utopian and dystopian) about the capabilities of emerging digital technologies like extended reality, artificial intelligence or human-brain interfaces.

Hype is known to be a highly effective tool for publicising and attracting investment for new technology, but it also has a profound impact on how different communities make sense of the future often creating a sense of fatalism, anxiety, inevitability and helplessness.  

Our response

The goal of this project is to look beyond the deluge of hype and empower diverse audiences to engage in critical thinking about the social, political and ethical aspects of emerging technologies – focusing in this first instance on the discourse surrounding the metaverse. This project brings together artists and Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars to explore how our conversations about the future can more seriously address questions of harm as well as centre values of justice, plurality and inclusivity.   

Through a series of co-produced artful interventions, we wish to invite people to take an active role in envisioning and performing other possible futures that depart from the dominant narratives of hype. We are inviting artists from different backgrounds and disciplines to collaborate with us as part of the project. The outcomes of this project will materialise in art exhibitions as well as interactive public engagement performances in Bristol and other venues across the country. 

The lead researcher on this project is Andres Dominguez Hernandez of The Alan Turing Institute, with Co-PIs Ola Michalec and Peter Winter from University of Bristol. 

Project outcomes - artworks

Cozy Cloud  by George Simms

www.Cozy-Cloud.net* is a prototype of crip infrastructuring, meaning a social digital space setup and maintained by and for disabled people. The cozy-cloud takes the form of a federated-social platform made affective by being installed and hosted on a portable server you can be with and sense. When presented publicly, this cozy virtual space is expanded into a cozy relaxation space for disabled people. The work aims to practise how we can start to feel out, and imagine our network infrastructure through crip experiences, needs and desires instead of hegemonic big-tech fantasies. What does it mean for servers to not always be able to serve? What does it mean for us to be able to manage our own systemic symptoms? How can we practice cozier infrastructures?

The work doesn't aim to answer these questions, but in practising digital infrastructures otherwise it does set intentions and share the skills learnt along the way. These intentions take the form of image stickers and alt texts pairs that set out some desires manifested during setting up the cozy-cloud. The technical setup is also shared to be replicated on the cozy-cloud.

*cozy-cloud is hosted on George’s raspberry PI server, it might not always be on!

Unwind by Kate Colley

What if nature was just one click away? And to unwind you simply had to log on?

In 'Unwind’, filmmaker Kate Colley anticipates a future where we can access the most remote wonders of nature from the comfort of our homes - all we need is a headset and a monthly subscription to the landscape of our choice. Relatively inclusive and accessible by design, VR has the potential to replace unsustainable tourism practices and improve the wellbeing of those in isolation. But whose vision of reality is this? Carefully manoeuvring between nostalgia and hope, 'Unwind’ is a meditation on the contradictory promises of immersive technologies.

If your VR experience allows you to engage all of your senses - hear the tropical birds, feel the water droplets on your face, smell the blossom - does it matter that none of it is real?

Hololand by Wen Li

Originating from the Greek word ‘holos’, holons refers to self-reliant units with a degree of independence, capable of managing contingencies autonomously. This concept has been reflected in the DAOs (Decentralised Autonomous Organizations) governance in blockchain-based metaverse platforms, where there is no central management and members share a common goal of acting in the best interest of the entity, facilitated by the encryption technology.

'Hololand' is a VR game that simulates an imagined metaverse governed by this concept. It questions whether weighted voting power, determined by the possession of virtual assets, can ensure justice in ethical decision-making, whether decentralised platforms and technologies are truly decentralised, or they are more of the hype that shapes the discourse rather than the reality. Delving into the core practice of democracy—voting—the game also questions whether DAOs effectively represent the interests of the majority.

You can access the APK file for Hololand, along with instructions on how to download it, here.