_beta_

Beta_ is a three-dimensional immersive exhibition that considers the ways in which power systems and hierarchical structures of capital – dominated by today’s neo-capitalism – are embedded in profitable environments known as metaverse, and how virtual avatars are subjected to invisible forces increasingly instrumentalized by multimillion-dollar tech companies.

Questioning the definition of the metaverse – formerly presented by tech giants Microsoft and Meta as an idealistic place promoting escapism and techno-utopianism – this hypnotic environment unveils opaque and authoritative systems of surveillance rooted within virtual environments regulated by major tech companies.

This work is exhibited in the context of Guillaume Saur’s Master thesis research, entitled Generating Conversational Data: Attempts at Invading Machine Learning Systems in a World Made of Artifices, which primarily investigates the instrumentalization and monetization of biometrics, as well as the potential for machine learning systems to imagine non-dystopian futures.