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Copy Planet
- a virtual, collaborative project
Words by Andy Wauman
December 19, 2020
A big part of my physical exhibitions is cancelled and / or postponed due to the strangely unfolding 'COVID-19' times.
This made me look more towards the 'virtual / digital’ world, and I got more and more intrigued and fascinated by it. So I reached out and teamed up with Jonathan Pugh, a tech wizard / game developer, and James Ly, contemporary artist / writer, who is currently doing his PHD in heritage conservation & curating virtual and augmented reality.
'Copy Planet' was born, and is now an ongoing virtual art project / module / playground. It is an explorative adventure (experimental) into finding new ways of creating and showing Art.
The website https://copyplanet.xyz is online, and we are adding as we go. I started exploring the possibilities by collaborating with artists that work in the digital realm. The results of these collaborations are posted on the Instagram account: @copyplanetdotxyz.
Copy Planet
Words by James Ly
2020
Copy Planet is an ongoing virtual art project that creates an authentic experience in a virtual space. Elevating the idea of virtual showrooms and virtual chatrooms by combining the features of both into Copy Planet.
The project was conceived by an intimate group of people made up of and led by artist Andy Wauman, together with tech wizard and game developer Jonathan Pugh, and artist & curator James Ly, who is currently doing his PHD in heritage conservation & curating virtual and augmented reality. And recently the audiovisual motion / touch designer artist Pablo Salafurka joined our team.
The project as a solo exhibition gazes into the labyrinthian workings of the mind of the artist Andy Wauman. A dive into a poetical maze represented as a multiverse of symbols and signs deemed to be sacred by the artist and translates that poetical language into the virtual realm of the digital and the internet. Seeing how things fit migrating from one world to the other into the other. Testing the possibilities of an infinite and unfamiliar realm; A romantic’s adventure into the sea of digital culture. The process of migration of the symbols and signs through duplication from one world to the next symbolizes an artist migration from the real into the virtual and back. Testing its endurance and ability to function in a trans acculturation that harmonizes the discourse of ancient and contemporary, analogue and digital.
In this virtual multiverse of Copy Planet the artist uses the multiverse as expressions of their poetic gaze while allowing the user / traveler to navigate as an avatar making and witnessing the building of this maze within this virtual multiverse of metaverses re-conceptualizes how we can experience art made in the digital realm the "Copy Planet” that is the virtual world wide web.
To help visualize this vision of a virtual multiverse we are currently looking at sources of funding to help us make this a reality, by building a prototype user experience in VR to allow a glimpse into the inner workings of the virtual space and the concept of Copy Planet.
"ESC", from Copy Planet, result of a collaboration with new media artist Pablo Salafurka ( @m_plo_koon ).
