Real Virtuality: Creating the next normal with the crutches of technology
We are blaming it on the virus. But it seems, in hindsight, as if we were anticipating this moment in time, when we could be forced to withdraw from other fellow beings. The proof is the technologies
BEATBOX MONK, JAPAN
Yogetsu Akasaka, a Japanese musician and Buddhist monk, presenting a livestream beatboxing performance at his home in Tokyo. Akasaka has become a viral phenomenon with musical tracks marrying religious chanting with beatboxing, with his Heart Sutra Looping Remix being viewed on YouTube many million times since it was posted last May
Image by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
2/17
EXPENSIVE DAYS, SINGAPORE
Blockchain entrepreneur Vignesh Sundaresan, also known by his pseudonym MetaKovan, shows the digital artwork &lsquoEverydays: The First 5,000 Days&rsquo by artist Beeple at his home in Singapore. In March, the programmer bought the world&rsquos most expensive NFT for $69.3 million, highlighting how virtual work is establishing itself as a new creative genre
Image by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP
3/17
A TOKEN ART, INDIA
Natlet, an artwork by Susanta Kumar Panda and Ramakanta Samantaray, highlights the perfect beauty of nature and the fatality of unchecked rampant urban expansion. It&rsquos among a series of artworks presented by Terrain.Art, India&rsquos first blockchain-powered platform and the brainchild of Aparajita Jain. The platform mints a corresponding NFT for each work on Eth
Image by COURTESY TERRAIN.ART
4/17
STARRY NIGHT, CANADA
Assistant director Nicolas Babillon calibrates the set-up before a preview of Imagine Van Gogh, an immersive digital art exhibition at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Canada. The event is based on French photographer Albert Plécy&lsquos concept of &lsquoimage totale&rsquo, the feeling of being surrounded by an artwork, to experience their energy, emotion, and bea
Image by ANDREW CHIN / GETTY IMAGES
5/17
STARRY NIGHT-2, CANADA
Created by French artistic directors Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, the massive projections create a space where people experience van Gogh&rsquos art in ways unlike traditional museums. The brushstrokes appear several feet wide, as original canvasses are expanded and fragmented, then projected onto the walls and floor in unusual shapes to emphasise the mesmeri
Image by MERT ALPER DERVIS / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
6/17
MEET GEISHA PROJECT, JAPAN
A geisha rehearses for an online drinking party with clients in Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture. With the pandemic forcing the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and shutting down international travel, the Meet Geisha project explored other business options due to the drop in tourism and offered their traditional arts in the most modern of formats&mdash
Image by PHILIP FONG / AFP
7/17
KINKY PLAY, USA
Dominatrix Madame Margherite rehearses in front of her laptop in her dungeon ahead of a virtual strip club event livestreamed on September 4, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. Until the pandemic, Margherite was known to specialise in pet play, running a human zoo filled with kinky clients who paid $300 per hour to roleplay as her pet
Image by VALERIE MACON / AFP
8/17
DIGITAL DRAG, ITALY
At an atelier filled with shelves overflowing with wigs, feathers and hundreds of stage costumes, Karma B prepares for her livestreamed performance on StageIt. The aim of the first online drag festival had been to allow drag and LGBT performers who have had live shows cancelled, to perform for their fans
Image by ALESSANDRO SERRANO’ / AGF / UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES
9/17
VITAMIN CLOWN, GERMANY
Clinic clown &lsquoVitamins&rsquo (real name Ute von Koerber) conjures up surprises and humours 11-year-old Pauline online, who is recovering at a hospital in Cottbus, Germany. In 2012, Ute co-founded the association Lachen hilft e.V. She combines play, improvisation and therapy to help heal ailing patients
Image by CHRISTOPH SOEDER / PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES
10/17
MEMORABLY GROUNDED, JAPAN
Katsuo Enuoe and his daughter enjoy the trimmings of a business class cabin and soak up the sights of Florence and Rome&mdashwithout ever leaving Tokyo. Tapping into a growing virtual reality (VR) travel market for Japanese holidaymakers grounded by Covid restrictions, First Airlines provides virtual reality flight experiences, including 360-degree tours of citi
