How does the metaverse impact the way we re-imagine life on earth? This course focuses on the impact the metaverse will have on earth, its social organising, and planetary care than a retreat to the virtual. This pop-up school is being taught by Dr Torange Khonsari who is the founding director at Public Works and specialises on urban and cultural commons and course lead for postgraduate courses on Design for Cultural Commons at London Metropolitan University together with Andrea De Marco who is the founding member of the metaverse organisation Spheroid Universe. With so many metaverses uncritically replicating cities and urban development of neoliberal capitalism, Spheroid Universe is asking questions and rethinking the role of the metaverse as a disrupter to the current system.
The program will be divided into two sections:
1) The physical world
2) The virtual world
In the physical world, we will engage with a neighbourhood in Bow - East London where practices of urban and cultural commoning have been conducted since 2014. We will interrogate maps, reports, common spaces and methods of how these commons have been created and talk to any residents if necessary about their struggles in achieving this. Urban commons are geographically bounded areas with a distinct community whose interaction allows the building of trust and democratic decision-making based on dialogue and deliberation of plural interests.
In the virtual world, we will investigate how the commons and their conception can support the development of equitable cities and imagine new cultural values that have become impossible to implement due to the hegemonic power of capital and low tolerance to risk. We will be especially working in relation to Spheroid Universe’s metaverse in exploring: How does ownership of land in the virtual world affect practices of land ownership in the real world?
[Spaces in the course are limited to 20 people]
The course will be run online except for two sessions on the 16th and 17th of September, which will take place in the Building Centre.
Tickets are available at the link below:
The Metaverse and the Commons Tickets, Mon 12 Sep 2022 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
