Riccardo has just graduated in Visual Arts and is one of the founders of a new-born cultural association in Bologna, where he is planning to organize an independent festival on contemporary queer cinema.
Have you ever experienced a work of art in Virtual or Augmented Reality? What was your impression of it?
Yes, I have even if I don’t own any device to access the virtual space. The first time I experienced this new type of media was when Flying Lotus’ album Cosmogramma was released. Along with the album Brainfeeder label issued a .exe A\R which used the camera to operate a harp synth displayed on the screen. The possibility to create some sort of ambient\drone music with nothing but movement was indeed a pretty fun experience. Since then I had the chance to use more immersive devices such as Google Cardboard and a VR headset on a ride in a theme park. It’s a nice concept which is evolving pretty fast even if it still have to widely hit the market.
In your opinion, what new potentialities were uncovered by Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies?
New potential of those devices has the capacity of creating new bubbles of realities (like reality itself) that can cohabit with the physical reality. Some of those new spaces can be dystopian scary, while some others can be very useful if we think about ecologically wise implication or even uses in healthcare.
How did the gear used in Augmented or Virtual Reality influence your experience of the artwork?
Well, mainly the feeling of being spaced-out is the first that comes into play. Unluckily I still have not tried any artwork developed in VR, which is something I am really interested in seeing ASAP. I even took a stroll on the Cryptovoxels website, without using any other device than my laptop. In those virtual spaces you can visit private galleries of nft artworks, but the feeling I got there was basically to see nothing that was actually new. It is a bummer to see a new technology used to replicate real life models of things such as capitalist economy or curated experiences still lacking of new ways to entertain.
Do you reckon that the immersion in alternative environments as offered by AR/VR technologies can be functional to the demand for a reconceptualization of ourselves in the world’s ecology?
Once I have been told that if you want to hold your breath underwater you need to reduce your energy consumption. In order to do that you need to be as still as you can, every muscular movement takes a toll on the duration of your apnea. Same with VR: as long as they are ecologically friendly – and we are very far from that – your carbon footprint can be reduced by magnitudes. For now, I can only be hopeful for a less energy wasting future that does not need to feel like an apnea kind of moment from the real world.
Do you think AR/VR technologies could be instrumental to societal changes as regards as, for example, the problem of misrepresentation of specific social groups or the plague of systemic racism?
Avatars. Masks. Everyday coping systems. All those constructions fall under the same uses. Those have been used shoddily ever since. But there is a train that is going very fast and will run over everyone. Old habits will crumble even if there is some ignorance stronghold that act actively against it. Progress is not only having a Kurzweil upward curve, but it is unstoppable. I hope that those who are sabotaging progress it will one day come to their senses and embrace it. Stopping it can lead to a societal implosion. This scenario differs from the explosion needed in a crucial way, because if we explode rather than implode… well, that means that at least we tried [I think Riccardo is referring here to the Accelerationist movement].
What are your expectations about the development and use of these technologies in the artistic field in the near future? Do you expect them to spread and become popular in the artistic field or do you see AR/VR as irremediably elitist?
Since it is a new medium, it takes time to have a wide household use, so of course it is not yet for everyone. If things go on at this pace, I expect it to have the same diffusion as the Internet right now in the next 7-14 years. The more people adopt this form of media, the more inventions and variations will be created, so yes, I think the artistic field and society as a whole will veer to an extensive and democratic use. Just be aware of those trying to make it a ready-made environment. We should avoid the idea of virtual spaces as gentrified non-places. It can sound romantic or naive, but freedom is the most ideological symbol ever created.
Riccardo has just graduated in Visual Arts and is one of the founders of a new-born cultural association in Bologna, where he is planning to organize an independent festival on contemporary queer cinema.
Have you ever experienced a work of art in Virtual or Augmented Reality? What was your impression of it?
Yes, I have even if I don’t own any device to access the virtual space. The first time I experienced this new type of media was when Flying Lotus’ album Cosmogramma was released. Along with the album Brainfeeder label issued a .exe A\R which used the camera to operate a harp synth displayed on the screen. The possibility to create some sort of ambient\drone music with nothing but movement was indeed a pretty fun experience. Since then I had the chance to use more immersive devices such as Google Cardboard and a VR headset on a ride in a theme park. It’s a nice concept which is evolving pretty fast even if it still have to widely hit the market.
In your opinion, what new potentialities were uncovered by Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies?
New potential of those devices has the capacity of creating new bubbles of realities (like reality itself) that can cohabit with the physical reality. Some of those new spaces can be dystopian scary, while some others can be very useful if we think about ecologically wise implication or even uses in healthcare.
How did the gear used in Augmented or Virtual Reality influence your experience of the artwork?
Well, mainly the feeling of being spaced-out is the first that comes into play. Unluckily I still have not tried any artwork developed in VR, which is something I am really interested in seeing ASAP. I even took a stroll on the Cryptovoxels website, without using any other device than my laptop. In those virtual spaces you can visit private galleries of nft artworks, but the feeling I got there was basically to see nothing that was actually new. It is a bummer to see a new technology used to replicate real life models of things such as capitalist economy or curated experiences still lacking of new ways to entertain.
Do you reckon that the immersion in alternative environments as offered by AR/VR technologies can be functional to the demand for a reconceptualization of ourselves in the world’s ecology?
Once I have been told that if you want to hold your breath underwater you need to reduce your energy consumption. In order to do that you need to be as still as you can, every muscular movement takes a toll on the duration of your apnea. Same with VR: as long as they are ecologically friendly – and we are very far from that – your carbon footprint can be reduced by magnitudes. For now, I can only be hopeful for a less energy wasting future that does not need to feel like an apnea kind of moment from the real world.
Do you think AR/VR technologies could be instrumental to societal changes as regards as, for example, the problem of misrepresentation of specific social groups or the plague of systemic racism?
Avatars. Masks. Everyday coping systems. All those constructions fall under the same uses. Those have been used shoddily ever since. But there is a train that is going very fast and will run over everyone. Old habits will crumble even if there is some ignorance stronghold that act actively against it. Progress is not only having a Kurzweil upward curve, but it is unstoppable. I hope that those who are sabotaging progress it will one day come to their senses and embrace it. Stopping it can lead to a societal implosion. This scenario differs from the explosion needed in a crucial way, because if we explode rather than implode… well, that means that at least we tried [I think Riccardo is referring here to the Accelerationist movement].
What are your expectations about the development and use of these technologies in the artistic field in the near future? Do you expect them to spread and become popular in the artistic field or do you see AR/VR as irremediably elitist?
Since it is a new medium, it takes time to have a wide household use, so of course it is not yet for everyone. If things go on at this pace, I expect it to have the same diffusion as the Internet right now in the next 7-14 years. The more people adopt this form of media, the more inventions and variations will be created, so yes, I think the artistic field and society as a whole will veer to an extensive and democratic use. Just be aware of those trying to make it a ready-made environment. We should avoid the idea of virtual spaces as gentrified non-places. It can sound romantic or naive, but freedom is the most ideological symbol ever created.