Open Lab in Metaverse + Web3
001 - SCENARIO: DEAD MAN'S SALT FLAT
STAGE: BETA Available for community testing
RESPONSIBLE: Cristian Espinoza (design and implementation)
CONCEPT: Scenario for RPG experience designed as a platform for progressive projects: 3D and A/V art and science expo, metachronics, narrative experiments, interactive games, and A/V archive.
RESOURCES: Blender 3.1.2 Modeling – Hyperfy Metaverse Framework
LINK: hyperfy.io/salarhombremuerto
DEVELOPMENT NOTES: Dead Man’s Salt Flat is the first scenario that inaugurates the Lithium Republic, so the initial design decision was to model it as a wasteland to roam and feel the expanse characteristic of a salt flat (as salt flats are central to the LRxyz experience). To closely emulate the experience, the technique of photobashing was used to extrude an image designed from a satellite photo (extracted from open-source GitHub). Three preliminary models were created, reducing polygon count and scaling down the size of the scenario. Regarding polygon reduction, a Low-Poly standard was achieved for a smooth experience. Slow loading is due to the high polygon density of our initial artworks placed in the scenario; optimizing the graphics of these experiences is pending.
CONCEPT NOTES:
1. The aim is to emulate the visitor’s experience of walking through an infinitely similar expanse, where constructions are gradually encountered in the distance (resulting from successive meta-expositions). These constructions within the vastness become strange—what kind of civilization built this? From what time is it? The initial construction experience follows atavistic dreams. The strangeness is derived from the distance between elements (in simulated space and time) with the white expanse in between. In a way, it’s an emulation of a dream.
2. On the other hand, the Dead Man’s Salt Flat is in its early stages of mega-industrialization and is still recognizable as a non-human space; we can observe its transformation due to global agendas. Undoubtedly, this space is in an embryonic stage of mutation. When we examine the Atacama Salt Flat, we will see a more advanced state of mutation towards the form of a cyborg territory.
visit El Salar del Hombre Muerto on metaverse
[beta version: slow loading]
STAGE: Completed. Available for Hyperfy experience.
RESPONSIBLE: Merlina Rañi (curatorship).
CONCEPT: Exhibition on the Dead Man’s Salt Flat platform featuring works by Celeste Rojas Mugica, Elisa Balmaceda, and Faktor, curated by Merlina Rañi.
RESOURCES: 3D modeling, animation, sound, audio recordings, videos. The exhibition is based on previous research by the participants.
LINK: hyperfy.io/deadmansaltflat
DEVELOPMENT NOTES: This exhibition was proposed as an initial exercise on the platform, focusing on possible strategies for representing the dimension of this vast place in a simulation environment—the metaverse. With their works, each artist introduced an element into a simulation space to represent some aspect of the place’s temporal layers and its contingency in the political agenda. Intending to cover the dimension of a salt flat, each case was deployed to an abstract coordinate: at ground level (X), vertically towards the sky (Y), and based on volume (Z). Among the three perspectives, a specific idea of “extensity”—translating the sensation of space into an idea of space— and ancestry were formed.
CONCEPT NOTES: The exhibition was a first exercise—within the Lithium Republic XYZ beta—around the question of virtually representing what exists as current and factual reality in a specific place, as well as the displacement that this representation exercise produces in artistic discourse and practice. In their joint dynamic, the works highlighted themes such as contemporary concern for future ruins, the need to understand time from a human scale, and the richness of an ecosystem that, contrary to popular belief, is not a desert. To execute a curatorial script, a narrative was developed based on emergent logic, proposing a non-hierarchical order that activates through experience.
The narrative focused on the mysterious character of the dead man, gradually revealing themes proposed by the presented artworks, as well as information about the place.
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002 - SCENARIO: ATACAMA SALT FLAT
Prompt:
<tu dibujo>+ “a desert place with platforms and conections between them, one man alone over one of the platforms”
Estrategia de prompt Daniel Moreno: especificar los objetos para dirigir la interpretación hacia el contexto del boceto trazado por c.e.
STAGE: PRE-ALPHA Preliminary study and search for funding
RESPONSIBLE: Cristian Espinoza (development)
CONCEPT: Scenario for RPG experience. Designing incremental growth following the transformations of the Atacama Salt Flat from a wetland to an operational framework. The scenario inherently contains a narrative and successive expansions, as well as supporting 3D and A/V meta-expositions.
RESOURCES: Data scenario study – Geopolitical news – Form and Growth Study with Google Earth – Sketches with AI Midjourney
NOTAS DE ESTUDIO:
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NOTAS DE CONCEPTO:
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003 - EXPANSION: GLOBAL LANDFILL IN ALTO HOSPICIO
STAGE: PRE-ALPHA Preliminary study and search for funding
RESPONSIBLE: Cristian Espinoza (development)
CONCEPT: Expansion scenario for thematic treatment. Proposed platform for art, science, metachronic, narrative experiments, etc. exhibitions
RESOURCES: Data scenario study – Sketches – Hyperfy Metaverse Framework
NOTAS DE ESTUDIO:
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NOTAS DE CONCEPTO:
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003/1 - METACHRONICLE FAST FASHION DESTINY
Imágenes de Nicolas Vargas y Fernanda Paúl extraídas de prensa
STAGE: PRE-ALPHA: Research, target image sketch, and search for funding.
RESPONSIBLE: Cristian Espinoza (development)
CONCEPT: Story based on the intersection of press chronicles and photojournalism about a Global Landfill specializing in Fast Fashion Industry garments. The purpose is a presentation with scalable content designed for the development of journalistic chronicles around the topic.
RESOURCES: Data scenario study – Sketches
NOTAS DE ESTUDIO:
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NOTAS DE CONCEPTO:
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001/2 - METACHRONICLE "SALT OF THE EARTH"
STAGE: ALPHA Scenario trials and funding search.
RESPONSIBLE: Merlina Rañi (development).
CONCEPT: An exercise aiming to highlight the ethnographic, journalistic, and photographic work of Susi Maresca by integrating them into a simulation and staging of information.
RESOURCES: “Salt of the Earth” report (Susi Maresca, 2021), Spatial.io (selected framework for layout), 3D modeling.
DEVELOPMENT NOTES: This exercise aims to find new tools and arrangements for narrative. Based on Susi Maresca’s field research, the ethnographic component is essentially taken to emphasize subjectivity in this particular scenario. The exercise is under development: it is currently in the layout phase, using Spatial.io for its accessibility and lightweight environment, facilitating agile setup. The resources used are arranged to generate a scene presenting elements that set the tone for this industry drama, and an experience mediated by voices that position Susi’s chronicle.
CONCEPT NOTES: The Dead Man’s Salt Flat is a remote and difficult-to-reach location situated in the Catamarca highlands. Its fame has grown due to the lithium mine established within the salt flat since 1997. However, what actually comes from this place? The place is marketed in the media as a desert where hardly anyone lives.
Susi Maresca’s work adopts an approach that is not always achievable within the realm of journalism. Her chronicles are grounded in field research, which involves firsthand exploration of the location and its inhabitants. This process entails spending time and engaging in conversations to convey that particular perspective through the media.
The opportunity to blend her research with digital media experimentation enriches a simulated environment (whether in the metaverse or in media discourse) with the presence of people. Simultaneously, this raises questions about the potential future possibilities for narrative and journalism.
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