Derek Lerner

Derek Lerner, Metaverse
2007 Digital video 4:39 minutes

Soundtrack: La Muchacha de Los Suenos Dorados composed by Harold Budd, Daniel Lentz, and Ruben Garcia

For the last year I have been heavily involved in virtual worlds, primarily Second Life. This has prompted many thoughts about the concept of virtual space in general as well as blurring lines between simulation and real.

Mixing of realities, infinite space, multi-user online 3D collaborative environments, and time travel.

When asked to contribute work to the NOKIA Trends Lab project I immediately started to think about the level of connectivity and immersive experience handheld wireless hybridized multifunction devices offer, resulting in a type of virtual space. The sense I get when walking down the street taking photos, listening to the radio, & then uploading images to a server is of a disjointed reality where one's mind is in another place but body is walking down the street.

Inspired by this, I used a NOKIA N93 to film video feedback loops creating abstract video drawings as a metaphor for 3D immersive virtual space. Infinite syndicated regurgitated communicative white noise evoking feelings of becoming so intertwined with digital communications that the grayness of life as we currently know it is a blurry place of virtual and real.

http://derek-lerner.com