Disembodied: Choreographing a Non-Binary Metaverse

Disembodied

Choreographing a Non-Binary Metaverse

Disembodied

Choreographing a Non-Binary Metaverse

The rules of the metaverse are in constant motion, giving it the potential to be a zone of imagination in which anything is possible. We can manipulate and question the parameters and limits of this new technology, through the proposal of a new metaverse platform which steps away from binary modes of representation. A new methodology is proposed for avatar building, moving away from the anatomy of the human body entirely, in order to create a non-binary configuration of abstract elements; a disembodied personality. New ways of interacting with others online, through movement and dance are explored. This new metaverse is designed through these interactions, where space itself can be choreographed. Lying at the intersection between dance and architecture, a new virtual reality is created which is responsive to its users’ evolving personalities.

Project Overview

Project Overview

The project poses the following research questions: How can the abstraction of avatars in the metaverse offer a non-binary counter reality which promotes self expression? How can the interactions between such avatars inform the spatial quality of the metaverse? These two main streams of the project address how currently there are pre-coded binary modes of self expression in which we have to conform to online, and how existing models of the metaverse are reactionary. By replicating the real world, real world problems are also replicated online. The metaverse has the potential to become something else, and its virtual nature offers the opportunity for it to be used as a site for speculation. The project addresses these issues through the proposal of a new metaverse platform, which steps away from binary modes of representation. It instead creates a non-referential and abstract virtual world in which people no longer interact using words but by means of movement.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS URGENCIES

How can the abstraction of avatars in the metaverse offer a non-binary counter reality which promotes self expression?

How can the interactions between such avatars inform the spatial quality of the metaverse?

Binary Modes of Self Expression

A Reactionary Metaverse

Metaverse (virtual reality)

Copy Paste

There is an increasingly intersectional relationship between the physical and the digital world. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major catalyst in accelerating this, forcing our social interactions and everyday activities to become increasingly digitised. The progression towards a digitised world is in sight, with technological advances and emerging models of virtual realities introducing new possibilities. But to what extent do these tools go beyond real life? Are these merely a recreation of our conventional world and its problems?

Technological advances mean that digital rendering software now behaves according to real world physical forces; everything can be simulated realistically. Current models of the metaverse, such as Meta’s Horizon Worlds, Decentraland, and The Sandbox, are based on the concept of digital twins and mirror worlds; they are an exact copy of what exists in the physical world. Such models largely undermine the potential of the metaverse due to their large resemblance of the physical world. The lack of imagination limits us to what we already know about the physical world and has resulted

in the creation of “ordinary” virtual realities. Simply transplanting real world logics into the metaverse recreates the social, economical, political problems that we find in the physical world. How our real life environments and societies should be designed are decisions that are currently in the hands of a small elite, namely white men. This is also true of the metaverse, with individuals such as Mark Zuckerberg in charge of these ultimately capitalist platforms that lack inclusivity. We need to shift this power in order to enable the democratisation and decolonisation of our spaces. Due to the metaverse’s commodified and commercial nature, there is no real freedom for people to express themselves in these platforms. There is a real urgency in the fact that these existing models of the metaverse are replicating the real world and are ultimately reactionary. If we are spending more time existing in digital spaces, we need to develop mature ways to both exist and to benefit from these conditions. If we keep doing this by mimicking reality and, consequently, projecting it, the metaverse will remain limited.

Horizon Worlds by Meta

The Sandbox

Voxels

Somnium Space

Seoul Metaverse

Decentraland

Meta Avatars

Snapchat Bitmojis

Apple Memojis

Meta Twins

As well as replicating our physical environments, these emerging virtual realities have created meta twins; avatars that are representational of human body. These are advertised as an opportunity to allow metaverse users to “express themselves”, however, they are in fact limited.

With these representational avatars come issues of representational bias. The binary logics in perceiving identity and gender, and, with this, the sexualisation of the female body, is an ever present phenomenon and is resonated through the representational design of these avatars. On top of this, Western culture highly dominates online and digital platforms, and racial bias and lack of non-Western exposure is ever present in the design of these avatars, which have been designed based on Caucasian facial and bodily features. Ultimately, we exist in conservative environments with conservative ideas of

gender roles, the human body, and race. Instead of using the metaverse as an opportunity to challenge these biases, these are being deepened through its conservative design.

The way these avatars have been designed to behave also mimics the way in which we perform human activities and interact in the real world. As a result of this, there is lack of room for self expression in the metaverse and consequently the interactions and connections between users are also limited to what we can already experience in the physical world.

Elemental, 2023

Robin Hood, 1973

Lava, 2014

WALL-E, 2008

Beauty and the Beast, 1991

Mickey Mouse and Friends, 1928 - Present

Frozen, 2013

A Goofy Movie, 1995

Winnie the Pooh, 1977

Cars, 2006

Zootopia, 2016

Lady and the Tramp, 1955

The Anthropocentric Gaze

As human beings, we always put ourselves at the centre of things. Even Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory refers to this, which is the idea that every living being has its own selfcentred world. When we try to conceive fictional worlds and characters we often resort to anthropocentrism and also anthropomorphism. This is how we relate to things, however, it can also be problematic.

A primary example of this phenomenon is in Disney’s design of anthropomorphic characters. All of these personified characters that currently exist are based on binary gender roles, and the sexualisation of the female body. Female characters are often designed based on Western beauty standards; young characters with features such as hourglass figures, long hair, long eyelashes, and heart shaped lips. There

is also racial bias rooted in this, where characters are based on Caucasian features such as round eyes, high cheekbones, and thin nasal apertures. These characters are of homogeneous nature, suffering from “same face syndrome”, ultimately perpetuating racist and sexist ideologies. Metaverse avatars are also designed in a similar way.

In the metaverse we have the opportunity to disconnect ourselves from anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism and the biases attached to these. The metaverse could be the inverse of these phenomena due to its digital nature. The metaverse is synthetic, meaning that we can be free from the world’s laws of nature. Moving towards the unnatural and the artificial is an opportunity, a liberty we need to embrace.

The Metaverse as a Testing Ground

The project takes place and unfolds in the metaverse, using it as a testing ground. Creating an extension of reality, or, in this case, a digital reality, can be a tool for learning. In a digital site, we can set out rules, parameters and control conditions similarly to setting up an experiment. The digital space can become a testing ground where we can then extrapolate successful models to the physical world; we could essentially be using the metaverse a societal model.

The metaverse offers us the opportunity as designers to build a world in which we do not have to project the physical world’s laws of nature and conservative views; it’s all about exploring. Virtual reality allows us to break away from the laws of the physical world which currently

constrain society; the metaverse has an emancipatory potential. For example, the metaverse could offer a precedent for testing a non-binary environment where gender is no longer at stake. By using the metaverse as a tool for speculation, we could imagine more equitable world views that are currently dismissed as impossible by challenging, changing and breaking the laws of the physical world. We can use the metaverse as a speculative scenography for change in the physical world. Using these digital tools and techniques allows us to experiment with representation and reformulate what we define as architecture, ultimately challenging our notion of architecture, and space by demanding new formats of digital representation in the metaverse.

Desktop Performance

Taken from my Desktop Performance, the following stills highlight the urgencies and methodologies behind the project:

• Existing examples of reactionary models of the metaverse

• Binary modes of self expression in the physical world which have penetrated through to digital spaces.

• The relationship between dance and the computer and how we can use it to discover new movements.

• How we can abstract the human body through dance.

• How dance can apply to something other than the human body.

• How abstraction can be used to reject conventional and patriarchal norms about the human body and with that, gender, sexuality, and identity.

A Reactionary Metaverse Binary Modes of Self Expression

Binary Modes of Self Expression

Dance Animation

Abstraction

Abstraction

Virtual

Dancing

Dance and the Computer

Digital platforms such as the metaverse could play a key role in innovating human behaviour and interaction. For example, the transformation of conventional movement in dance and choreography was triggered by the use of the computer. This was heavily influenced by Merce Cunningham, an American dancer and choreographer. He began experimenting with the relationship between dance and the computer since 1989, and he pioneered the use of the computer as a choreographic tool. He would use digital avatars on a computer programme, LifeForms, to experiment and come up with new dance moves. He would then translate these to his dancers’ bodies. He was inspired by the avatars’ flexibility and joint movement to push the limitations and rethink the logics of the human body. Trackers, 1991, was the first dance where Cunningham developed the choreography using LifeForms. He also used LifeForms to understand the relationship between movement and

space. For example, he choreographed a piece in 1993, titled CRWDSPCR, where he had to fit 13 dancers in a space that would have been deemed too small. Using the computer, he worked out how to choreograph all 13 dancers in this space. A computer programme inspired by LifeForms, DanceForms, was recently created. This allowed choreographers to use the computer to work out ideas or generate new ones by allowing them to visualise movement and spatial layout that is not visible to the naked eye alone.

Dance constantly searches for new forms and dynamics, and creates a relationship between movement, space, and form. Similarly to the way in which choreographers use DanceForms to innovate, we could use the metaverse to explore the way in which avatars could move and exist in a digital space. We could take these principles of virtual dance to rethink and re-evaluate traditional concepts of movement.

Merce Cunningham using LifeForms in the 1990s

Screenshot of LifeForms computer programme, 1990s

Dancers rehearsing Merce Cunningham’s CRWDSPCR, 1993

Virtual Dancing

In a first attempt at experimenting with the relationship between dance and the computer, I created a virtual dance piece, Virtual Dancing.

Having studied as a dancer, and having taught ballet and commercial hip hop, I have personal experience with choreography and dance. I combined this with my knowledge in using 3D digital software to experiment with dance, movement, and choreography in a digital space. I was inspired by the TikTok trend, “walks as phonk songs”, where people interpret different phonk songs as difference types of walks or dance moves. I used this music as the

basis for exploring different movements. I created the digital dances using avatars based on myself and my boyfriend, where I represented us as simplified human beings, but doing things that are impossible in reality.

This both embraces the opportunities of the metaverse but is still rooted within anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism. Here I realised that, as well as experimenting with movement, it would be key to think about how we can abstract the human body in a virtual space, and how we might extend this to the design of metaverse avatars.

Choreographic Objects

The Body as Object

‘One might well assume, then, that the substance of choreographic experience resides exclusively in the body; but is it possible for choreography to generate autonomous, accessible expressions of its principles - “choreographic objects” without the body?’

- William Forsythe, Choreographic Objects

The anatomy of the human body in the metaverse is merely representational and ultimately becomes redundant. We have the possibility to imagine ourselves differently and to become something else in the metaverse. Can we therefore expand our conception of avatars to exist not just with human bodies? Our meta counterpart could become something entirely non-human, even object based, adopting different movements entirely in a virtual space that is not restricted by gravity. This could be done by deconstructing human movements and translating them or even completely changing them into object form. When the embodiment of an avatar is transformed and thus represented differently, a new movement language is created for this

body. There is more creative freedom in this as we can enhance human abilities but also create inhuman experiences. It creates new opportunities for how one might express themselves and imagine themselves differently; the imagination is no longer limited by the anatomy human body. By turning the body into an object we move away from the problems of binary gender roles, sexualisation of the female body, and racial bias which are currently attached to the representation of the body, as seen in the Disney Pixar character aesthetic or the design of Meta’s avatars. One could break away from society’s conservative views of the human body, and the metaverse could ultimately promote inclusivity in this way.

William Forsythe, Black Flags, 2014

Robert Gober, Untitled, 1984

Oliver Laric, Metamorphosis, 2021

Haim Steinbach, exuberant relative #2, 1986

Personalising Avatars and Environments

In order to create object based avatars, I had to decide how to select these objects. I did this by creating a questionnaire for my studio peers, with prompts enabling them to imagine embodying an object and inhabiting a space as the object. The questions are there to not only trigger responses regarding the embodiment of avatars (questions 1 to 5) but also to start thinking about the environment they might manifest themselves in (questions 6 to 9). The purpose of this was to go beyond thinking about just the appearance of the avatars, but to really begin relating the objects to movement and spatial conditions.

As a result of the questionnaire, I obtained a series of text based responses describing the avatars and environments imagined by my studio peers and I divided them into two categories: avatar and environment.

From this, I then started to visualise the responses through profiling boards using imagery based on the text based descriptions.

Na

e Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6

Zack Dildo Skin colour, real shape, 8 inches self sexual pleasure jumping up and down (forward and backward horizontally), bending, twisting

Eve Bean the soft and silky texture and the rich deep colour

warm, wet, exhausted bedroom

I have just started enjoying eating beans bouncy, squishy, tumbling content, goofy a little bowl

Frank A Cloud Vapour They have the potential to determine my mood Fluidly, gradually, silently, at distance from things

Lewis Bicycle Mechanical , speed, balance, light weight

My everyday method of transport and allows me to travel across and explore the city.

Neutral? If that’s not an emotion then constant state of happiness

Fast , dangerous , agile , balanced Enchanted, challenged, relieved

The Sky, either a blue sky sky or among other clouds

On the road amongst cars, through a park

Christina Wall Climbing Spiderman Toy I particularly like the soft and squishy consistency of my object

Shane Teacup (like 'Chip' from 'Beauty and the Beast')

Gold and pastel floral detailing, white china, fragile

Sarah Cotton wool ball White, soft, fluffy, round

Expanding from my first sentence abovethe soft and squishy almost emulates vulnerability and the sense of wanting to protect oneself or others close around to you/me. Which also touches upon the notions of empathy.

slow, dramatic and stealthy brave - i.e when hanging from the ceiling :)

outdoors (not limited to a particular place/area)

Small, cute and playful hopping, spinning, playing excited about everything! make up table or a tea party

I use the object in daily life for make up etc Roll, semi -bounce, tear, squish flat at reform

Light, carefree, durable A bright bed room with a floor

Carlo Bed sheet gentle - fluffy - lightclean - new - cuddlewrapped - calmcomfortable - freshscented

I use it every day to sleep and to cover the mattress in a light way - gentlyslowly and quickly at the same time depending on the wind - smoothly - fluidly

relaxed - calmclean - light - fluid in movements

outdoor drying rack

Jeannie Scarf Wool I wear scarfs to keep me warm, and it's part of fashion Roll, hang Flexible, soft, warm, intimate Outdoor

Alice Tree super tall, with thin trunk and many twigs.

tree in the forest reminds me of being inside the crowds shake(leaf), still(trunk), crash down-to-earth A high-latitude forest

Di virus colour could change with different light

Inside my body

Fluid, unpredictable, random

A sense of ease that comes with the flow

in host's body, blood could seen like river

Lucy a slinky how it is made up of lots of delicate coils & can unfold

Starts off on a path but bumps into things/similar to getting distracted unfolding and contracting, falling, rolling

independent, resilient quite a minimalist tool, maybe one of those impossible infinity staircases or a hallway

Q5 Q6

Q7

Q8

Q9 down bending,

warm, wet, exhausted bedroom with a bed, a mirror, dark at night, with a lamp on dark with a little bit of lighting, maybe steam warm and cosy

content, goofy a little bowl

round, hard, cold

Neutral? If that’s not an emotion then constant state of happiness

, Enchanted, challenged, relieved

The Sky, either a blue sky or dark sky or among other clouds

Open, endless, infinite No edges

it is small and blue and shiny cute, soft distance

Freeeee, recreational, unproductive

On the road amongst cars, or through a park

Hectic, hostile, dangerous, metropolis

Congested with people, cars. A metropolis, but also small breaks from the chaos within the environment. Tranquil parks and nature often break up the metropolis.

Alive, freedom

and brave - i.e when hanging from the ceiling :)

outdoors (not limited to a particular place/area)

harsh, calming and free I would like the weather conditions almost to go against this climbing person and it's sticking/grounding itself to any surface.

spinning, excited about everything! make up table or a tea party sunny, light and airy lots of pastel coloured details on white! very warm, sunny and light. flowers everywhere.

challenged

magical, fairytale

-bounce, at Light, carefree, durable A bright bed room with a timber floor

Soft - light - calming

Pale blue William Morris print wall paper

relaxed - calmclean - light - fluid in movements

outdoor drying rack

quiet - peaceful - fresh - slightly breezy

its peacefulness and its exclusivity (because drying racks are are not used constantly)

Calm happy gentlyquickly at wind fluidly

relaxed - calm

Flexible, soft, warm, intimate Outdoor

Cold and windy ( but also warm and cozy)

Quite spacious, grassland

Free, connect with the nature and human

down-to-earth

A high-latitude forest

quiet, crowded, moist flat and full of tall trees, you can hardly see the leaves because they are too high.in summer but only around 20 degrees,

Peaceful

unpredictable, A sense of ease that comes with the flow

in host's body, blood could be seen like river

microcosmic, at the cellular level, warm it's dark

minimal, domestic, surreal it’s infinite so I can just keep looping/rolling around adventurous

The ease of not having to worry about being alive falling, independent, resilient quite a minimalist tool, maybe one of those impossible infinity staircases or a hallway

avatar

an 8 inch, skin colour, wet dildo that can twist and bend

environment

a dark, steamy, cosy bedroom at nighttime, minimal lighting

avatar

a goofy, bouncy, squishy bean that has a soft texture and rich, deep colour

environment

a small, round, shiny, blue bowl

frank

avatar

a fluid, vapourous, silent cloud neutrally existing and slowly floating away

environment

the vast, boundless dark blue sky, sometimes among clouds

lewis

avatar

a lightweight, speedy, dangerous, agile and well balanced bicycle

environment

between congested, chaotic roads and tranquil green parks

christina

avatar

a squishy, sticky and brave wall climbing spiderman toy

environment

the challenging, harsh weather of the outdoors

shane

avatar

a small, cute, playful, china teacup decorated in gold and pastel florals

environment

a sunny, fairytale tea party with flowers and pastel details

sarah

avatar

a light and carefree white, soft, fluffy, squishy cotton wool ball

environment

a bedroom with timber floors and pale blue Morris wallpaper

carlo

avatar

a clean, fresh-scented bed sheet, blowing in the light breeze

environment

a quiet, peaceful, slightly breezy outdoor laundry area

jeannie

avatar

a soft, woollen scarf that keeps you warm

environment

a cold, windy, spatious, freeing grassland

alice

avatar

a still, tall, thin tree with many twigs and leaves that shake in the wind

environment

a quiet high latitude forest crowded with tall trees in summer

avatar

a virus moving randomly and fluidly, changing colour in different light

environment

a dark, blood river inside a body at microcosmic scale

avatar

an slinky made up of delicate coils, unfolding, rolling, bumping into things

environment

a surreal, minimal, domestic, never ending staircase/hallway

Embodying Object Based Avatars

I selected three avatars to start developing: Shane, Carlo and Zack.

I began by modelling the object avatars in 3D digital software, personalising each one to each person by using their text responses to inform the designs.

The next step was to assign movement to the avatars. Question 4 prompted each person to think about how they might move as their object based avatar. I used the responses to this question to individually choreograph each avatar’s movement.

Choreography is often associated to music. It is either made for a chosen piece of music or it can be created

independently to music, although it will still be affected in terms of rhythm depending on the tempo of the music that is used in performing the choreography. Music therefore typically affects the choreography, but what if movement affected music instead? Given that in this process I choreographed movement independent to music, I was interested to explore this question. I used AI to dictate this, where I put silent videos of each moving avatar into an AI music generator, melobytes, resulting in specific music generated for each avatar.

Describe, using 3 or more adjectives, how you would move as the object

hopping, spinning, playing

Shane Carlo

in a light way, gently, slowly and quickly at the same time depending on the wind, smoothly, fluidly

Zack

jumping up and down, forwards and backwards horizontally, bending, twisting

Creating a Collective Environment

Each avatar has a corresponding environment imagined by each of my studio peers which I visualised in the profiling boards. However, instead of developing each individual environment, I instead decided to develop these as one environment in order to design a collective space. The collective here is important because the metaverse has the potential to be a shared digital space where we can interact with one another.

I took the text based responses prompted by questions relating to space from the three avatars I began to develop and I merged the answers together to create

a description that described a collective environment. I merged the text in this way to created a mixed and non-hierarchical description.

I then put this text description through an AI image generator to begin visualising the collective environment. I used AI to do this in order to deliberate the visual decision making in a democratic way, and letting the AI dictate the visual and spatial organisation of the different elements and the hierarchies within this. Here, the AI essentially becomes a tool for design.

Shane

• make up table or a tea party

• sunny, light and airy

• lots of pastel coloured details on white! very warm, sunny and light. flowers everywhere.

• magical, fairytale

Carlo

• outdoor drying rack

• quiet - peaceful - fresh - slightly breezy

• its peacefulness and its exclusivity (because drying racks are

• are not used constantly)

• relaxed - calm

Zack

• bedroom

• with a bed, a mirror, dark at night, with a lamp on

• dark with a little bit of lighting, maybe steam

• warm and cosy

• tea party, outdoor drying rack, bedroom

• sunny, light, airy, quiet, peaceful, fresh, light breeze, bed, mirror, dark, night time, lamp switched on

• pastel coloured details on white, warm, sunny, light, flowers everywhere, peaceful, exclusive, dark, some lighting, steam

• magical, fairytale, relaxed, calm, warm, cosy

Text Description

tea party, outdoor drying rack, bedroom, sunny, light, airy, quiet, peaceful, fresh, light breeze, bed, mirror, dark, night time, lamp switched on, pastel coloured details on white, warm, sunny, light, flowers everywhere, peaceful, exclusive, dark, some lighting, steam, magical, fairytale, relaxed, calm, warm, cosy

AI Generated Images

Images generated using DALL·E

Using AI

The outlined methodology I have used for designing the avatars and the collective environment makes use of AI as a tool for setting parameters. Similarly to a scientific experiment, there are certain variables which must be controlled. In an experiment, we must set independent variables in order to test the dependent variables, otherwise it is impossible to keep track of all of the variables and we cannot test everything at once. Digital platforms have endless parameters which we can set and manipulate, and using AI to dictate some of these allows us to be specific on the focus of the digital model. For example, in the case developing the object based avatars, my design intent focuses on their movement and choreography, rather than music composition, which is not what my project is about. Using AI as a tool to manipulate music here instead was therefore useful.

The designer’s relationship with AI is to

facilitate the concept behind an output. The creative skill set of producing an art or music piece is instead given to the AI, with the designer inputting parameters and variables to produce different variations of these. This could be an efficient way to organise things in a democratic and non-biased way. AI could play a key role in setting parameters in the metaverse as it has potential in enabling the democratisation of digital models.

It is important to note, however, that AI is programmed and coded by humans to begin with, and it can be therefore underpinned by human biases. AI is therefore still potentially subjective to human error. Despite this, AI is still used for its ability to develop away from human intervention, thus reducing the overall chance of human bias. Perhaps it is time to embrace the human-machine collaborative ideas generation process.

The Collective Environment

Using the AI imagery as a visual basis and precedent, I created a digital model of the collective environment. I then placed the avatars into the collective space, whilst still maintaining their individual movements and traits. The individually choreographed objects exist in the space collectively, and therefore a new collective choreography is created from this. I then wanted to test how this collective choreography would affect music, using the same AI driven methodology that I used for the individual avatar choreographies.

This experimental process resulted in the design of four videos: three individual avatars and the collective environment. These design outputs are a set of staged video clips in which avatars and virtual reality are generated through a specific methodology. Using the video clip has been useful because it has enabled me to experiment with creating a set of tools and parameters. The format of the staged video places the audience in the role of the observer, looking in from the outside, in this case looking into the

digital environment from the physical world. Whilst this methodology of staging allows us to discover the potential of objects and digital space, it is not yet an interactive experience; we are not yet a part of the metaverse as we are merely observers. Whilst this was a useful short term outcome for the project, the long term outcome must place us within the digital space, allowing the audience to become the user rather than the observer.

As much as producing these staged video clips has helped me establish a methodology with its tools and parameters, the avatars and environment I designed here are still referential in nature and the questionnaire which enabled the process still contains binaries. My methodology needs to push the abstraction of representation even further; this is where the project really becomes about the design of the aesthetics involved in the metaverse.

Abstraction

The Practice of Abstraction

Abstraction can be used as a tactic for refusing conventions and resisting conventional visual taxonomies through which people are currently being regulated by. There are several queer artists who use the practice of abstration in their work as a way to reject conventional and patriarchal norms about the human body and with that, gender, sexuality, and identity. There is no one way to recognise gender, identity, or sexuality in abstraction, which is the point. Each appears differently each time; not everyone can fit into the categories predefined by society and we misrecognise the world by assuming that gender, identity and sexuality are divided into static camps.

Through using abstraction, we can propose openness. In the same way that these artists have used abstraction as a form of liberation, we can refuse conventions that are imposed on us in the physical world by creating a digital space that rejects binary modes of self expression. We must rethink our accounts of humans, sexuality and the interpersonal through the mutability that abstraction proposes. The world will look different once we attend to the reality that gender is multiple, bodies are mutable, personhood is successive, and variability takes priority over the binary.

Gordon Hall, SET (V), 2014

Sadie Benning, Transitional Effects, 2011

Urike Muller, Curls, 2017

Jonah Groeneboer, Untitled (still of a 4D object #3), 2008

Ro Robertson, birth, build, shift, 2022

Jonah Groeneboer, bent hip, 2014

Gordon Hall, Sitting (Brick Object) (III), 2019

Prem Sahib, You & Me Both II, 2013

Math Bass, Body No Body Body, 2012

Heather Cassils, Monument Push, 2013

Abstract Avatars

In order to move away from referential modes of representation, I began to experiment with abstract forms. I did this with the idea in mind to create abstract avatars which move away from binary categories of self expression, allowing individuals to express themselves freely. The first step towards working with abstract avatars involved in creating a library of different shapes and textures.

Abstract Avatars

With this initial library of abstract shapes and textures I then experimented with movement. Having used abstract forms meant that I was able to create entirely new movements, no longer based on the human body. Whilst I touched on this by proposing object based avatars, abstraction takes inclusivity a step further by introducing a new element of freedom. We associate the human body and objects to specific movements, based on how they move in real life, whereas abstract forms can have the ability to move however we imagine them to move. This creates an opportunity for individuals to not only be able to represent their online identity freely, but also the opportunity to allow individuals to choose how their avatar could move in a digital space. Perhaps someone who is limited by an injury or a disability in the physical world may want to use a virtual reality in order to move

in ways which they cannot in real life. I can personally relate to this, as during the course of this project I have suffered from a debilitating injury to my knee, and, as a dancer, I would make use of such a virtual reality in order to move in ways that I am otherwise unable to.

Similarly to my initial methodology using object based avatars I experimented with generating AI music from the individual movements of each shape. The sounds add another layer of identity to each avatar, as each one is specific to their movement.

As well as experimenting with individual movements, I also began to place these abstract avatars in a three dimensional space in order to start thinking about what this new format could mean for interactions between individuals.

Augmented Reality

The ADS0 Live Project this year took place in Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium. We each situated our projects within the sculpture museum-park’s installative environment and developed our own project spin off proposals.

I was interested in bringing in new digital media to Middelheim Museum, with a particular focus on augmented reality and how this might enable us to engage with the park. I created an augmented reality filter using my designs of abstract metaverse avatars, proposing new ways of interacting with the art in Middelheim Museum. By stepping into this hybrid of virtual reality and the physical world, our perception of art and space is transformed into a new experience. New technologies can change our perception of art and space, and they ultimately change what these can be. With AR you can play with the physical world without actually altering it, or in the case of a museum, without damaging the physical artworks.

Augmented reality also has the potential to allow us to create works that cannot be achieved using traditional media, breaking away from norms. AR has a democratising possibility to distribute or showcase art, which is something that Middelheim Museum also offers given its unique park setting. AR has the fantastical opportunity to break out of the traditional institutional frameworks. Using location specific AR in Middelheim Museum could also be used as a way to encourage visitors into the park, whilst also creating a more interactive and engaging experience for the public, making the art come to life.

Abstract Avatar Development

The first iteration of abstract avatars which I designed were uniform in shape and texture. I then began to experiment with adding further layers of complexity, with contrasting shapes, colours and textures, representing the way in which personalities are formed by many different layers, where each layer might represent a different personality trait or part of an individual’s identity. Whilst these new shapes begin to show further complexity, something even more complex needs to be developed - a multilayered avatar.

Disembodied Personalities

In order to achieve the design of an avatar that represents the different parts of someone’s identity, I developed a methodology to build abstract avatars that are multilayered. This is done through a questionnaire that allows an individual to choose their favourite things, each might represent a different layer of their personality as these things will represent their interests, style, mood, culture and so on. From the questionnaire responses, visual elements are then taken from each response in order to create a non-binary configuration of abstract elements. This methodology allows us to break away from binary modes of self expression and but also allows us to represent individuals through their interests as opposed to their physical appearance; a disembodied personality is created.

Each element that makes up the disembodied personality is assigned a movement. I choreographed these different parts of the personality by

relating movement to the form of each element and I assembled these to work together, even if each element moves differently. This relates to how identity is multifaceted, and is formed by different layers.

Umwelt theory states that there is no such thing as reality, only perceived reality. An individual therefore projects their reality into space and each individual’s reality will therefore be different, in line with their personality, identity and personal preferences. Each element orbits around a central point, the central point being the individual. The space therefore originates from the individual and is an extension of the self, it is not a precoded space that limits self expression. Therefore the idea is that the individual can not only create an avatar, but also the space that it exists in; they can create their own digital umwelt. Avatar and environment are no longer differentiated, personality becomes spatial.

Profile 1

building song artwork

MVRDV, Boijmans van Beuningen Depot

Billie Eilish, My Future

shoes building

UGG Maxi Clog Metallic

MVRDV, Didden Village

fictional world sculpture

Pandora, Avatar (2009)

building

Jacquemus x Selfridges, Le Bleu

Maria Bang Espersen, Soft in Pink (2018)

interior space

LuBar, Milan

painting art installation

Damien Hirst spot paintings

Carsten Höller, Upside Down Mushroom Room

music video scene fashion installation

Lil Nas X, MONTERO, tree of life scene

Mugler x Selfridges, The Body Space

Profile 2

acheological site

Sayacmarca, Peru

album artwork

Santana, Abraxas (1970)

sculpture

Winged Victory of Samothrace

interior space

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, main hall

fashion show set bag

YSL Men’s SS 2023

Rubens Bag, Diesel

fashion show set

Alexander McQueen SS 2001, Voss

painting

Gustave Dore, Satan, The Fallen Angel (1866)

art installation

Anish Kapoor, Descension (2014)

building

Calatrava, Montjuic Communications Tower

music video scene

Kenye West, Runaway, ballet scene

fictional world

Republic of Heaven, His Dark Materials

Profile 3

shoes dress

Dr Martens Adrian Virginia Leather

Tassel Loafer Pink

street facades

Valparaiso, Chile

building

National Library of Kosovo

Dua Lipa in Giambattista Valli, Billboard Women in Music Awards 2020

fetish clothing

Regulation Grab it Body Harness White

restaurant decor

Drippy, Geneva

book cover TV series poster

Sophie K. Rosa, Radical Intimacy

I May Destroy You (2020)

album artwork performance

Tove Lo, Dirt Femme

LASTESIS, Un Violador en Tu Camino

singer music video scene

Florence + the Machine

RAYE, Escapism, car sunroof scene

Profile 4

film scene

Carol (2022), fighting for custody scene

interior design style

Casa Filipe Instagram post, bright and airy

fashion look building

Cate Blanchett’s suits in Tár (2022)

Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal

music video scene pattern

Paramore, This Is Why, shots exposing the camera

clothing item

oversized white cotton shirt

Vigeland Sculpture Park

song artwork

Victoria Monet ft. Lucky Daye, Smoke

colour combination shoes

iridescent pastel rainbow

Dr Martens Adrian Smooth Leather

Tassel Loafer Black

exhibition hat

Six N. Five, Cycles (Flannels, 2023)

Carhartt bucket hat mint green

Profile 5

art installation

Robert Henke, Thin Air (The Beams, 2023)

fictional world

Westeros, Game of Thrones

building sci-fi series

Malmö Stadsteater Hippodromen

Black Mirror, San Junipero (S3 E4)

film element

Nope (2022), the inflatable alien/UFO

clothing item

All Saints black leatehr jacket

animal

album artwork

Siamese cat SZA, SOS

flower watch

campanula Casio gold

interior space

Starfield Library, South Korea

pavilion

Dan Graham, NeoBaroque Walkway (2019)

Choreographing Interaction and Space

The project proposes to inform the spatial quality of the metavese through the disembodied personalities’ movement. This allows for the creation of a space that is not static but is instead responsive to the users’ evolving personality. A dancer has the ability of influencing its surroundings, creating a new dynamic space.

There are several existing case studies situated in the intersection between choreography and architecture, as both are spatial practices. These works are often about translating body motion into space, turning a subjective dance experience into an objective architectural reality, and translating personal space into temporal space. Architecture is traditionally opposed to the temporality that is inherent in movement and dance, and this is also true of the current architecture of the metaverse. Instead, through using the practice of dance, we can choreograph the metaverse to be an ever evolving space that reflects the ever evolving personalities of its users.

This new space typology can not only be

informed by individual movement but also by interactions between multiple users. Space can be informed by different types of interaction, differing in number of dancers, rhythm, and scale of movement. Within these interactions, there could be moments of synchronicity or also moments of tension and contrast between the different elements of each disembodied personality. There could be moments where the elements of an individual’s personality may dominate the other, highlighting the difference in personality and thus space. There could also be moments of harmony, where a new combined space is created from the elements that make up each personality.

With these things in mind, I choreographed a series of interactions between the five disembodied personalities, from the point of view of a sixth user. Each interaction changes based on the number of personalities present, and the mood which is created by the music. This user experiences the interactions at first hand, and navigates through the different choreographed spaces.

Rudolf von Laban, Space Harmony, 1920s

William Forsythe, Improvisation Technologies, 1949

William Forsythe & dECOi, Either/I, 1995 Ashley Biren, Designing with Dance, 2012

Dimitra Stathopoulou, From Dance to Movement to Architectural Form, 2011

William Forsythe & dECOi, Either/I, 1995

Entering the Metaverse

The choreography begins with a user entering the metaverse platform. Whilst navigating through a three dimensional black space it encounters five other users, or disembodied personalities, each slowly moving on their own path.

Solo Space

The user then travels into one of the disembodied personalities, exploring its interior. In choreographic terms, the user is essentially inside a solo, a space created by a single disembodied personality dancing on its own.

The user then leaves the solo, and a new disembodied personality joins the space as the music speeds up in tempo. The user witnesses the start of a duet between two disembodied personalities in a moment of tension between the two personalities.

A space is then formed by the duet, with the two disembodied personalities in harmony. The user slowly navigates through this new space, filled with multiplied elements from each disembodied personality, circling the user. A moment of unison is created, and this is emulated in the music.

Duet Space

Suddenly, a turn in the music suggests a change is to come. A third disembodied personality, completely different in scale, enters, tentatively trying to perforate the united duet. The user is slowly pulled in by this new third disembodied personality that it is introduced to.

Solo + Duet

The new disembodied personality eventually succeeds in breaking through the duet space and rhythm between the elements of each disembodied personality begins to take place. The elements dance in synchronicity, through linear movements and are all at the same scale. The user slowly observes and begins to travel through the linear formation of elements.

Trio

The user then navigates through a wave like space created by the elements of the disembodied personalities; a trio is created. The wave like movements correspond to the wave like quality of the music.

Trio Space

Quartet

A fourth disembodied personality enters the space, and a quartet begins to form as the four personalities move towards each other, whilst the user watches from a distance.

Quartet

The user is then pulled in by the other disembodied personalities, and is circled by them. The music indicates moments of tension and competition, each disembodied personality is trying to show itself off to the user, growing in scale on each musical accent.

A new space is created out of the elements from the four disembodied personalities; the quartet. During a build up in the music, four wall-like structures appear, building the space before the user’s eyes. The user slowly travels through the space, and elements from the quartet jump out interacting with the user.

Quartet Space

Solo + Quartet

A fifth disembodied personality enters the space through slow linear movement in like with the quiet accents of the music, approaching the user. At the same time, the other disembodied personalities slowly float in the space at a small scale, whilst the new personality is dominating the scene.

Quintet

The five disembodied personalities line up and explode towards the user, in line with an accented staccato in the music, indicating a change to come.

The final space is created, the quintet. The space is built before the eyes of the user, where different elements from the five disembodied personalities assemble themselves into place. The user then navigates through the quintet, in a fly through manner, whilst seeing the five disembodied personalities moving around the new structure, each on their own path.

Quintet Space

The user then immerses itself into the quintet, exploring the space. The movement of the user is emulated by a crescendo in the music, the peak of the choreography. The user has arrived in this final fifth space, exploring every twist and turn, navigating freely. The choreography ends with the user completing its path and exiting the metaverse platform.

Quintet Space

PART 1: CREATING A DISEMBODIED PERSONALITY

Disembodied

Questionnaire Mood

PART 2: MUSIC SELECTION

PART 3: MATCHING WITH OTHERS (OPTIONAL)

PART 4: DANCE

A New Metaverse Platform

Whilst the choreography I have produced is staged, this concept could apply to how a real metaverse platform operates. There would be four main steps in which a user would engage with the platform:

Part 1: Creating a Disembodied Personality

Build your multilayered abstract avatar through a questionnaire that relates your identity to personal preferences.

An AI will generate an avatar defined by the aesthetics of your personal preferences which represent the different layers of your personality. Each time you do this, your results might change as identity is mutable.

Part 2: Music Selection

Input a mood, feeling or experience that resonates with you in this moment and a song or playlist will be generated for you.

Part 3: Matching with Others

(optional)

An algorithm will match you with other individuals based on musical compatibility, by linking to your Spotify.

Part 4: Dance

You will then either dance by yourself, exploring your own movements, or if you have chosen to match with others you will dance and interact with others. Different scales of interaction will create different choreographed spaces.

A user would access the metaverse platform using a smart phone, to be used as a remote for operating the movement, and either a computer, tablet, or TV screen, to be used to visualise the virtual reality. This would make the interface of the platform accessible to most people, as only simple technology is required instead of having to use suits and headsets which are not widely available or affordable.

Bibliography

Books

Dixon, Steve, Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation, (Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2015)

Herhuth, Eric, Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination, (California: University of California Press, 2017)

O’Donnell, Mark, Elementary Education: An Easy Alternative to Actual Learning, (Knopf, 1985)

Telotte, J. P., Animating Space: From Mickey to Wall-E, (Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2010)

Wolfk, Mark J. P., Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation, (New York: Routledge, 2012)

Journals & Theses

Cohen, Dor, ‘How to dance nowhere: A pas de deux for dance and VR’, (unpublished postgraduate thesis, Royal College of Art, 2021)

Biren, Ashley, ‘Designing with Dance: The Link Between Architecture and Dance’, (Poster for the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture’s First Annual Conference held at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 2012)

deLahunta, Scott, ‘Virtual Reality and Performance’, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, 24.1 (2002), 105-114

Fung, Enrica, and Kristof Crolla, ‘Choreographed Architecture – Body-Spatial Exploration’, Learning, Adapting and Prototyping – Proceedings of the 23rd CAADRIA Conference, 1 (2018), 101-110

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Pearson, Luke Caspar, and Sandra Youkhana, ‘World Games 2.0’, Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal, 54 (2022)

Pearson, Luke Caspar, ‘A machine for playing in: Exploring the videogame as a medium for architectural design’, Design Studies, 66 (2020), 144-143

Schiphorst, Thecla, ‘A case study of Merce Cunningham’s use of the LifeForms computer choreographic system in the making of Trackers’, (published postgraduate thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1993)

Stathopoulou, Dimitra, ‘From Dance Movement to Architectural Form’, (unpublished postgraduate thesis, University of Bath, 2011)

Tang, Rui, ‘The representation and re-imagining of the city in mainstream American animated feature films’, (doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2020)

Films & Videos

Barbie, Barbie of Swan Lake, 2003

Barbie, Barbie in the Nutckracker, 2001

Cool 3D World, men in chairs, online video, YouTube, 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=aK_DHwH8Q-M> [accessed November 2022]

Diakur, Nikita, Ugly, online video, Vimeo, 2018, <https://vimeo.com/281529369> [accessed November 2022]

Disney, Big Hero 6, 2014

Disney, Lava, 2014

Disney, Luca, 2021

Disney, The Plausible Impossible, TV episode, 31 October 1956

Disney, Zootopia, 2016

Inspired by Iceland, Introducing the Icelandverse, online video, YouTube, 2021, <https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=enMwwQy_noI> [accessed November 2022]

MCCS Goldsmiths, Dancing into the Metaverse: a real-time virtual dance experience, online video, YouTube, 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNg-gqZNYR0> [accessed November 2022]

Oscars, Deconstructing Big Hero 6: Creating San Fransokyo, online video, YouTube, 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY5B11xbQ_c> [accessed October 2022]

Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana, Art Conversation - intervista a Haim Steinbach, online video, YouTube, 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRT1NOpGb8Y&t=23s> [accessed 29 November 2022]

Spielber, Steven, Ready Player One, 2018

Warburton, Alan, Goodbye Uncanny Valley, online video, Vimeo, 2017, <https://alanwarburton. co.uk/goodbye-uncanny-valley> [accessed 21 October 2022]

VentureBeat, Building the future of dance, expression and movement in games for the metaverse, online video, Vimeo, March 2022, <https://vimeo. com/699245704?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=7894877> [accessed 14 November 2022]

Artworks

Bass Math, Body No Body Body, 2012, sculpture

Benning, Sadie, Transitional Effects, 2011, sculpture

Brown, Trisha, Walking on the Wall, 1971, performance

Cage, John, Theatre Piece No. 1, 1952, performance

Cassils, Heather, Monument Push, 2013, sculpture

Cunningham, Merce, Trackers, 1991, dance piece

Cunningham, Merce, CRWDSPCR, 1996, dance piece

Cunningham, Merce, and OpenEndedGroup, Biped, 1999, digital dance piece

Cunningham, Merce, Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar, Hand Drawn Spaces, 1998, digital dance piece

Forsythe, William, Black Flags, 2014, sculpture

Forsythe, William, Choreographic Objects, 1990-Present, series of artworks

Forsythe, William, Improvisation Technologies, 1949, dance piece

Forsythe, William, and dECOi, Either/I, 1995, dance piece & pavilion

Forsythe, William, and Ohio State University’s Advanced Computing Centre for Arts and Design, Synchronous Ibjects for One Flat Thing, reproduced, 2009, 3D animation, dance, data, objects

Gober, Robert, Untitled, 1984, sculpture

Groeneboer, Jonah, bent hip, 2014, sculpture

Groeneboer, Jonah, Untitled (still of a 4D object #3), 2014, sculpture

Gormley, Antony, Still Standing: A Contemporary Intervention in the Classical Collection, exhibition, 23 September 2011 – 15 January 2012, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Russia

Hall, Gordon, SET (V), 2014, sculpture

Hall, Gordon, Sitting (Brick Object) (III), 2019, sculpture

Huyghe, Pierre, UUmwelt, 2018, still images created using AI

Jones, T. Bill, and OpenEndedGroup, Ghostcatching, 1999, digital dance piece

Laric, Oliver, Metamorphosis, 2021, sculpture

Landerer, Felix, I contain multitudes, 2023, dance piece

Lee, Jan, and Tim Murray-Browne, Movement Alphabet, 2016, digital dance piece

Muller, Urike, Curls, 2017, sculpture

McLaren, Norman, Pas de Deux, 1968, dance film

Ping, Wong, Fables 1 & 2, 2018-2019, animation

Podgórska, Natalia, Garden is an Island, 2021, animation

Podgórska, Natalia, VR Garden, 2020, animation

Robertson, Ro, birth, build, shift, 2022, sculpture

Sahib, Prem, You & Me Both II, 2013, sculpture

Sato, Masahiko, and Euphrates, Ballet Rotoscope, 2011, digital dance piece

Steinbach, Haim, exuberant relative #2, 1986, sculpture

Whiteley, Alexander, Chaotic Body 2: Liminal Phase, 2021, VR dance piece

Williams, Ben Cullen, Cold Flux, 2021, AI art

Universal Everything, Communion, 2020, digital art

Universal Everything, Future You, 2018, digital art

Universal Everything, Transfiguration, 2020, digital art

von Laban, Rudolf, Space Harmony, 1920s, dance theory & performance

Websites

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Pelletier, Mike, mike pelletier nl, <https://mikepelletier.net/> [accessed November 2022] pussykrew, pussykrew, <https://hybrid-universe-emulation.net/> [accessed November 2022]

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Online Articles

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