The big issues

The current wave of technological hype is characterised by exaggerated promises (both utopian and dystopian) about the capabilities of emerging digital technologies like extended reality, artificial intelligence or human-brain interfaces.

Hype is known to be a highly effective tool for publicising and attracting investment for new technology, but it also has a profound impact on how different communities make sense of the future often creating a sense of fatalism, anxiety, inevitability and helplessness.  

Our response

The goal of this project is to look beyond the deluge of hype and empower diverse audiences to engage in critical thinking about the social, political and ethical aspects of emerging technologies – focusing in this first instance on the discourse surrounding the metaverse. This project brings together artists and Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars to explore how our conversations about the future can more seriously address questions of harm as well as centre values of justice, plurality and inclusivity.   

Through a series of co-produced artful interventions, we wish to invite people to take an active role in envisioning and performing other possible futures that depart from the dominant narratives of hype. We are inviting artists from different backgrounds and disciplines to collaborate with us as part of the project. The outcomes of this project will materialise in art exhibitions as well as interactive public engagement performances in Bristol and other venues across the country. 

The lead researcher on this project is Andres Dominguez Hernandez of The Alan Turing Institute, with Co-PIs Ola Michalec and Peter Winter from University of Bristol.