Understanding Metaverse Performance

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The proliferation of metaverse-inspired cultural activities raises questions about the meaning of metaverse art and its performative aspect. What does metaverse performance mean in terms of extending the human body within constantly evolving technology? How does the body function within both autopoietic and allopoietic processes when participating in highly immersive and interactive art? What is human agency in metaverse performance, and how far does it go beyond art? The lecture considers artists and collectives such as Jaffrey Shaw, Stelarc, Masaki Fujihata, CREW, Marnix de Nijs, Wu Juehui & UFO, Harry Yeff, Cao Fei, Meng Jinghui, Beeple, Frederic Heyman, and CryptoZR.

Anna Gryszkiewicz, Ph.D. is a theatre practitioner, a non-active actress with experience in institutional theatres, a sinologist, and a theatre scholar focused on post-drama and dance theatre. She graduated from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw and the University of Gdansk. She is the beneficiary of a Research Grant for Foreign Scholars in Chinese Studies offered by the Center of Chinese Studies Grant (National Central Library, Taiwan). She holds the post of assistant professor at the Department of East Asian Cultures and Languages at the University of Gdansk, Poland. She is a member of China Horizons EU-funded project. She has been appointed as the curator for the 2024 edition of the Dialog Theatre Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Her main interests include the entanglements between performing arts, high technology, and the posthumanist approach to culture.

Zhenhua Li is an artist, editor, and curator. Since 2010, he has been the nominator for the Summer Academy at the Zentrum Paul Klee Bern (Switzerland), The Prix Pictet (Switzerland), The Sovereign Asian Art Prize (Hong Kong), and Future Generation Art Prize (Ukraine). He is a member of the international advisory board for the exhibition Digital Revolution at the Barbican Centre in the UK in 2014, etc. Since 2000, he has focused on curating and dialogue with filmmakers from China. 2015 producer of JU Anqi’s film Poet on a Business trip. 2010 curated Heat: ZHANG Yuan solo show in Nanjing, China. 2007 producer of SHEN Shaomin’s documentary film I am Chinese. Since 2014, he worked as the Film curator for Art Basel Hong Kong. Li also served as a final jury member for Shorti (Spain 2003), Napolis Film festival (Italy 2006), Transmediale 2010 (Berlin, Germany 2009), CCAA (Beijing, China 2012), CIFF (Nanjing, China 2012), Fantoche (Switzerland 2012), Art Award China (Beijing, China 2015-2016), 2021 KCC UK X Germany Open Call (Germany & UK 2021), DAAD: Fellows of the Berlin Artistsin-Residence Programme 2022 (Germany 2021). Li Zhenhua has edited several artists’ publications, including Zeng Zhe’s Another Place, Some Other Time (2022), Yan Lei: What I Like to Do (Documenta13, 2012), Hu Jieming: One Hundred Years in One Minute (2010), Feng Mengbo: Journey to the West (2010), and* Yang Fudong: Dawn Mist, Separation Faith* (2009). A collection of his art reviews was published under the title Text in 2013.
lizhenhua.work

metaLAB is partnering with the Mahindra Humanities Center to sponsor the Transmedia Arts Seminar, chaired by metaLAB Principal Researcher, Magda Romanska, and an Affiliate, Ramona Mosse.