What does it mean to experience art in the Metaverse? 

Since Artnet was founded in 1989, it has remained at the forefront of critical conversations about art and technology. Now, we invite you to explore the Metaverse with us—to experience art in a totally new way. 

In a nod to the idea of Happenings, a term first coined by artist Allan Kaprow in 1959, Artnet is hosting a brand new curatorial project, titled “Art is Happening @ Decentraland.” Performance artists, poets, and even AI will come together to interact in the virtual world of Decentraland, offering an unpredictable program of participatory experiences which aim to expose the limitations, ephemerality, and physicality of the human artist as an avatar.

Organized with theVERSEverse, an organization advocating for poets working with NFTs, “Art is Happening @ Decentraland” arrives as part of the third edition of Metaverse Art Week. In Artnet’s pavilion, you’ll be able to share a story with international artist Wei Hsinyen under a (virtual) red umbrella for her one-of-a-kind performance piece A Little Umbrella Ⅱ. You can also embrace the world of crypto-native poetry, with readings by critically acclaimed writers including Sasha Stiles, Kalen Iwamoto, Ana Maria Caballero, Elisabeth Sweet, Johnny Dean Mann, Nicole Tallman, Christian Bök, Gisel Florez, and more.

“We curated this project with theVERSEverse with a goal of exploring the Metaverse in a way that provokes thought and creates truly unique encounters with art,” explained Jiayin Chen, Artnet’s Director of NFTs. “We wanted to bring our audience in to experience something uniquely valuable in the virtual world.”

Several Decentraland Art Week events will take place in the Poetry Garden.

The Artnet Information Center & Poetry Garden

Start your visit to Decentraland at the Artnet Information Center! Here, you will learn all about Artnet, from our foundation in 1989 to today. The booth’s interior is inspired by a 1980s office, reminiscent of Artnet’s very first space. 

Imagine, for a moment, that it’s 1989. Fax machines are still used for communication, the popular personal computer was Apple’s Macintosh II, and a culture of secrecy still reigns in the art market. 

Artnet launched the world’s first fine art price database that year, just as Tim Berners-Lee unveiled his proposal for the World Wide Web. A few years later, in 1996, Artnet Magazine was born as an online journal—in fact, it was one of the first online art publishing initiatives. And in 2001, when even buying books on the Internet was still seen as a novelty, Artnet started selling art online. Throughout the Artnet Information Center, you will find nods back to this history and heritage.

A dedicated poetry garden is next to the Artnet Information Center. Here you will find scheduled and impromptu readings and performances, alongside digital animals created by artist Jonas Lund.

P.S. Don’t leave the booth before grabbing your very own Artnet ball cap that your avatar can sport as they visit our various Art Week programs.

Read on below for the full event schedule. 

The Art Plaza in Decentraland

Program Schedule

*Due to capacity on Decentraland, each artist is only able to accommodate up to 100 participants in the same “Island.”

Wednesday, August 24

Art in the Metaverse: A Conversation with Anika Meier, Manuel Rossner and Thomas Webb

Time: 12pm EST

Location: Decentraland Art Plaza

Live AI poetry generation and discussion with theVERSEverse featuring data poet Ross Goodwin

Time: 3 p.m. EST

Location: The Artnet Poetry Garden

Thursday, August 25

Impromptu poetry readings by VV, CryptoWriters, and the poetry community

Time: All day

Location: The Artnet Poetry Garden

Poetry reading by Ana Maria Caballero 

Time: 11 a.m. EST

Location: The Artnet Poetry Garden

Friday, August 26

A METAVERSAL POETRY READING WITH THEVERSEVERSE, featuring Sasha Stiles, Kalen Iwamoto, Ana Maria Caballero, Elisabeth Sweet, Johnny Dean Mann, Nicole Tallman, Christian Bök, Gisel Florez, Nathaniel Stern, and more

Time: 12 p.m. EST

Location: The Artnet Poetry Garden

Saturday, August 27

Panel Discussion: Code Poetry and Metaversal Literature with Sasha Stiles, Ana Maria Caballero, Kalen Iwamoto, Gisel Florez

Time: 12 p.m. EST

Location: Decentraland Art Plaza

Pop-up poetry readings by legendary conceptual poet and performer Christian Bök

Time: 6 p.m. EST

Sunday, August 28

Live AI poetry reading of “THE WORD AFTER US” with Sasha Stiles and Nathaniel Stern

Time: 3 p.m. EST

Location: The Artnet Poetry Garden

Daily, August 24–28

A Little Umbrella Ⅱ, a performance by Hsinyen Wei  

(RSVP here for a 5 minute stroll with the artist)

Time: 9 a.m.–11:40 a.m. EST

Make sure you join our Discord server to keep up with all our activities for the week!

We’ll have a dedicated channel with this schedule. Feel free to drop any questions about our activities for the week in the general-chat channel, and our community team will be happy to help.

See you in Decentraland!