ÜBERWUCHERN

Today, most of us see the internet on some variation of an opaque rectangular screen. Think of them as little digital islands—black mirrors—dwarfed by the real world around them. Then imagine a screen that covers your whole field of vision and is see-through, like a windshield, so that the digital stuff can be convincingly mixed in with the real.

This intro to an article got me thinking. Not so very much about the when or the how, but about the what. Most thinking about the future mirrorworld is quite abstract. That is why the very few visual attempts like Keiichi Matsuda's Hyper-Reality are applauded that much. Especially when they play with a dystopian idea, based on actual fears. Something along the lines of "the real real is fading and underneath a thick layer of digital make-up the only thing left is a wasteland and an empty meaningless sorrowful life filled with nothingness". 

Concepts and ideas are vague or random (Magicverse Layers), concentrate on singular use cases (Wizards Unite) or do not make use of the full potential (Mixed Reality Fashion Show) of AR/VR. We are currently in a phase where the technological potential is not yet there to tell the full story. So people ask for more: We need new lands, we need new landscapes, together with new cities, we need new structure, or start writing manifestos with guiding principles for the development of immersive projects, particularly those that explore preferred futures. 

While others are just doing stuff: Laundry list of UX Patterns in VR/AR. That brings me to Marpi. Some beautiful work and thinking going on here. Why bring Mica when you can bring your very own tentacle. Why listen to Q when you can listen to your machine making strange noises. Russell Davies demonstrated that some years ago during a talk, can not find the link right now. 

More speculation, more radicalization is needed to come up with ideas and things beyond the apparent. Even if things might get picked up by the wrong kind of people. Had to think about that when learning about the AR Whopper marketing stunt that once was a radical idea about re-occupying public space. 

By the way, this sounds like a brilliant workshop.