Artists  Statement

Having your nails ‘done’ goes virtual! Metaverse Makeovers (LIVE) is a transmedia appstravaganza experienced as virtual manicures and mixed reality beauty treatments, re-purposed for ISEA2013 in nail salons in Darwin and Sydney. Metaverse Makeovers is a cross-cultural, transnational, interdisciplinary team of specialists fusing knowledge of emerging technologies and Augmented Reality (AR), app development and user experience design to deliver social and immersive mobile experiences. Through a period of community engagement they will restyle nail salon technicians as ‘Hologram Hostesses’ who will apply nail ‘appcessories’ – wearable augmented reality nail accessories that interact with a companion game app – that will play out as intimate, tactile, face-to-face encounters between audiences/participants and nail technicians/the Metaverse world. Dazzling 3D virtual nail bling designs illuminate participants’ fingers, and are simulcast to mobile devices, large public screens, and online in a shimmering televisual display. Metaverse Makeovers (LIVE) invites you to become part of a new world where techno beauty, AR digital cosmetics, future-forward appcessory products and community performance converge. metaverse-makeovers.net

• Thea Baumann (VIC, AU/Shanghai, C),
• Ben Ferns (VIC, AU)
• Shian Law (VIC, AU)