Ready Player One (VR). Artist艺术家: SUTU
With the advent of technology, art has transcended to new forms. Artists are now looking towards digital art, NFTs, VR/AR, and the metaverse, creating more immersive worlds to be experienced. But beyond hype and enthusiasm surrounding these new technologies, what is a metaverse and why should artists even care about it?
随着技术的出现，艺术已经发展出新的形式。艺术家们现在正在关注数字艺术、NFT、VR/AR 和虚拟世界，以创造更加身临其境的世界以供体验。但除了围绕这些新技术的炒作和热情之外，究竟什么是元宇宙，艺术家为什么如此关注它？
Put simply, the metaverse is a virtual space in which people can interact, trade, and create digital assets such as 3D designs, digital fashion, as well as NFTs. Unlike what many people assume, it is not created by Mark Zuckerberg’s company Meta. Instead, many companies have already existed in this space such as Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, The Sandbox, and more. Museums such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Serpentine Galleries have already established their own virtual spaces when the pandemic drove them to go online.
简而言之，元宇宙是一个虚拟空间，人们可以在其中进行交互、交易和创建数字资产，例如 3D 设计、数字时尚以及 NFT。与许多人认为的不同，它不是由马克扎克伯格的Meta公司创建的。相反的是，许多公司都已经存在于这个领域，例如 Decentraland、Cryptovoxels、The Sandbox 等等。当新冠疫情迫使很多业务转移到线上时，旧金山现代艺术博物馆和蛇形画廊（Serpentine Galleries）等博物馆已经建立了自己的虚拟空间。
Serpentine Galleries x KAWs x Fortnite
Through the metaverse, artists are able to create multi-sensory visceral artworks that blend visual, auditory, temporal, and spatial realms. Artworks not only move but exist in a dimension that lives on wherever or whenever the viewer may be. While this technology is in its early stages and the implications for using it are not entirely clear, many stakeholders of the art industry see the opportunity behind it. In fact, the Serpentine Galleries which have teamed up with KAWS and the massively popular battle-royale-styled online game, Fornite’s metaverse platform, Fortnite Creative shows the growing interest of the art industry in the metaverse.
通过元宇宙，艺术家能够创作出融合视觉、听觉、时间和空间领域的多感官沉浸式艺术品。艺术品不仅可以移动，而且不局限于维度，时间，及地点。虽然这项技术还处于早期阶段，它的影响与运用尚未清楚，但艺术行业的许多利益相关者看到了它背后的机会。事实上，与KAWS合作的蛇形画廊（Serpentine Galleries），和Fornite的元宇宙平台—Fortnite Creative， Fornite（一款广受欢迎的大逃杀风格在线游戏）的元宇宙平台—Fortnite Creative都展示出艺术行业对元宇宙日益浓厚
“Even if 1 percent of Fortnite players over the course of that (Serpentine x KAWS) exhibition show up to the virtual gallery, it’ll probably be multiple of how many people could physically get into the Serpentine Galleries in London,”
“即使在（Serpentine x KAWS）展览期间有 1% 的 Fortnite 玩家出现在虚拟画廊中，也可能会是实际去参观伦敦蛇形画廊的人数的倍数。”
– Steven Brady, Barnes Foundation’s Chief Technology Officer,
In an interview with Jing Cultural & Commerce
– 巴恩斯基金会首席技术官
史蒂文·布雷迪在接受Jing Cultural & Commerce的采访时说
Artists are creating their own metaverse platforms
艺术家们正在创建自己的虚拟世界平台
Still image from the video game Forgetter (2021). Artworks as viewed in the game by Zhang Huan. Courtesy Alan Kwan, Yang Jing, and DSLCOLLECTION.
来自视频游戏 Forgetter (2021) 的静止图像。Zhang Huan在游戏中看到的艺术品。由 Alan Kwan、Yang Jing 和 DSLCOLLECTION 提供。
With large tech companies taking the leap into the metaverse, the question of who controls the metaverse is an important discussion for artists in the long term. With this in mind, some artists have chosen to create their own pocket universe that is independent of the control of big tech. This includes implications of the carbon output they create as well as how payments and creative freedom are managed.
随着大型科技公司跨界元宇宙，从长远来看，由谁来控制虚拟世界的问题对于艺术家来说是一个重要的讨论。考虑到这一点，一些艺术家选择创建自己的袖珍宇宙，独立于大科技的控制。这包括他们制造关于碳排放的影响力，以及如何管理支付和创作的自由。
From the Forgetter (2021)
来自于Forgetter (2021)
Interactive designer, augmented reality producer, and comic book artist, Sutu created his own metaverse, the Sutuverse to push the boundaries of the technology and take his art into the future. He began by creating the NEONz NFT collection which is a limited collection of 10,000 futuristic moving avatars with cyberpunk gear. The NEONz world is then brought into AR where collectors can display these interactive dynamic works in reality. It is the stepping stone to his expanded metaverse, which will further use VR and gaming to expand the rich narratives that the artist will create. In the Sutuverse, users will be able to become their avatars to explore and immerse themselves in an alternate dimension of interactive gaming art.
交互设计师、增强现实的制作人和漫画艺术家 Sutu 创建了自己的元宇宙 Sutuverse，以突破技术的界限将他的艺术带入未来。他首先创建了 NEONz NFT 系列，该系列包含 10,000 个带有赛博朋克装备的未来派移动化身。随后他将 NEONz 世界带入 AR 中，收藏家可以将这些交互式的动态作品展示到现实中。这是他扩展虚拟世界的奠基石，它将进一步使用虚拟现实和游戏来扩展艺术家创造的丰富叙事。在 Sutuverse 中，用户将能够成为他们的化身来探索和沉浸在交互式游戏艺术的另一个维度中。
Work by artist SUTU
艺术家SUTU的作品
Beyond these aspirations, the artist hopes to make these technologies more accessible to the public and support the new generation of artists facing web 3.0 to not only engage with this medium but also to do it with a conscious approach.
除了这些愿景之外，这位艺术家还希望让公众更容易获得这些技术，并支持面向 web 3.0 的新一代艺术家不仅要参与这种媒体，而且要以有意识的方式去做。
“Even though they’re talking about this migration to more sustainable technology, they’ve been talking about it for years, and I don’t feel like we should wait,”
“尽管他们正在谈论向更可持续技术的方向迁移，但他们已经谈论了多年，我觉得我们不应该等待，”
– 艺术家 SUTU
For more information on the artist, please check out this article
请查看这篇文章了解有关艺术家的更多信息
Worldwide Web3 is another artist-created 2D-art game metaverse in which people can play games to earn NFTs to trade, create, fight, and take advantage of all the possibilities of this technology. Like Sutuverse, there are stories and functions that immerse the players as well as a link to NFTs as a way of creating new narratives. Created by the artist, Thomas Webb this metaverse is “A free to play interoperable MMORPG metaverse on Ethereum”.
Worldwide Web3 是由另一位艺术家创作的 2D-art 游戏元宇宙，人们可以在其中玩游戏来赚取 NFT 用来交易、创造、战斗，并利用这项技术所有的可能性。像 Sutuverse 一样，有让玩家沉浸其中的故事和功能，用与NFT作为连接，作为创造新叙事的一种方式。由艺术家 Thomas Webb 创建的这个元宇宙是 “在以太坊上免费玩，且可互动操作的 MMORPG 元宇宙”。
For many years, the internet has changed the way we perceive our own identities. Our digital persona sometimes masks our true persona. Understanding the state of how we evolve alongside the metaverse is one of the things contemporary artist, Thomas Webb, desires to explore through this project. With an emphasis on experiences that are free from restrictions, the artist hopes that people can see how they interact online while also highlighting the arising failures the metaverse has. Although the project focuses on a broad range of themes including socializing, the dependence on technology, hierarchy, addiction, and more, the artist describes the theme as such:
多年来，互联网改变了我们感知自己身份的方式。我们的数字角色有时会掩盖我们的真实角色。了解我们是如何与元宇宙一起进行进化的状态是当代艺术家托马斯韦伯希望通过这个项目探索的事情之一。艺术家强调不受限制的体验，希望人们可以看到他们如何在线互动，同时强调虚拟世界中也有正在出现的失败。尽管该项目侧重于广泛的主题，包括社交、对技术的依赖、等级制度、成瘾等等，但艺术家将主题描述为：
“The work is about systems. It’s really outrageous. Addressing themes about what is life like, how do we interact, introducing characters with complex backstories. What is happening in the moment for the generation that’s about to go into work as digital natives? How do their social dynamics work? As an artist, there’s an ability to shape the future. I want to explore not how it’s going to look, cos it’s pixel art, but rather how it’s going to operate. The game shows how our social dynamics, the economy and other systems work. That’s not a traditional artistic approach, and I’m building systems and worlds as an artist/developer.”
“这项工作是关于系统的。非常肆无忌惮。提出关于“生活是什么样”的主题，我们是如何互动，介绍具有复杂背景故事的角色。对于即将成为数字原住民的那一代人来说，此刻正在发生什么？他们的社会动态如何运作？作为一名艺术家，可以承载塑造未来的能力。因为它是像素艺术，我想探索的不仅是它看上去是什么样的，而是它的运作方式。游戏展示了我们的社会动态、经济和其他系统是如何运作的。这不是传统的艺术方法，我作为艺术家/开发人员是在构建系统和世界。”
– Thomas Webb
In the meta of it all
在这一切的自我参考中
Cryptovoxels Metaverse 元宇宙
While some artists have jumped onto the possibilities of the metaverse, many remain skeptical or displaced from the technology. With deep concerns for the over-commercialization of the art market, lack of technical knowledge, security issues, negative associations of cryptocurrencies, and NFTs playing a big factor, so artists are wary of the possible risks. Furthermore, the application of art inside digital environments does not mimic the stimulatory senses of people as it does in the real world. Digital perception of smell if it exists, space, and environments are not the same.
虽然许多艺术家已经投入于元宇宙的可能性之中，但许多人仍然持怀疑态度或对这项技术置若罔闻。由于对艺术市场过度商业化有着深切担忧，技术知识的缺乏、安全问题，这些都是与加密货币和 NFT 出现负面关联的因素，让艺术家们对可能存在的风险保持警惕。此外，艺术在数字环境中的应用并不同于在现实世界中人们面对艺术品时感受到的那种冲击。对数字作品的感觉在存在性，空间，环境等诸多方面都与现实中的不一样。
Despite this, it is important to note the significance of the technology and to ensure it is developed in the right way through experimentation and participation. The wider reach that the internet brings to the art world as well as the new mediums that artists can work with has always been the pivotal moment for the future of art and the way we interact. At the end of the day, it is not the technology that is the problem but rather best put unironically by the leader of a big tech company:
尽管如此，重要的是要注意该技术的意义，并确保通过实验和参与以正确的方式来开发它。互联网给艺术界带来了更广泛的影响，艺术家可以使用新的媒介，这是艺术的未来和我们互动方式发生改变的关键时刻。归根结底，问题不是技术，反之一家大型科技公司的领导者用了一个最好的反讽：虽然许多艺术家已经投入于元宇宙的可能性之中，但许多人仍然持怀疑态度或对这项技术置若罔闻。由于对艺术市场过度商业化有着深切担忧，技术知识的缺乏、安全问题，这些都是与加密货币和 NFT 出现负面关联的因素，让艺术家们对可能存在的风险保持警惕。此外，艺术在数字环境中的应用并不同于在现实世界中人们面对艺术品时感受到的那种冲击。对数字作品的感觉在存在性，空间，环境等诸多方面都与现实中的不一样。
“ It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people.”
“这不是对技术的信仰。这是对人的信任。”
– Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple
史蒂夫乔布斯，苹果公司联合创始人
*all images and artworks belong to the artist & his representing galleries respectively
*所有图像和艺术品分别属于艺术家及其他们代表的画廊
Translation 翻译 Rona Xia
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