In the second half of 2021, the new crown epidemic is still spreading around the world, and just as people are constantly distressed by the impact and limitations of the epidemic, a new thing with the mythical nature of science and technology "metacosm" has emerged. The birth of this virtual new world "meta-universe", which transcends the real world and is parallel to the real world, has excited the global netizens who have been mentally depressed and irritable for more than a year.
Metaverse, a term from Neil Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Avalanche, is not a new technology in itself, but a concept or concept. It is a platform that integrates artificial intelligence, digital twins, blockchain, cloud computing, expanded reality, robots, brain-computer interfaces, 5G and other technologies in one. It is infinitely open, with special emphasis on the integration of virtual reality, with basic characteristics such as immersive experience, virtualized twins, open creation, and strong social attributes, and is a huge technology convergence center.
In October 2021, as Facebook officially changed its name to Meta and announced that it would transform into a "Metaverse" company within five years, it caused a strong global shock. Meta-universe has become the most frequent and hot topic in the major media and all walks of life in the second half of 2021 after NFT art. There is still no conclusive and no consensus on the future of the metacosm, and its impact and significance on humanity. Despite the divergent views, there is a reality that is unquestionably before us all. That is, the new science, new technology, new materials and new dynamics represented by the metacosm are becoming an extracorporeal extension of human life, and will change the process of human civilization with incredible breadth, depth and speed.
It should be said that science and art are two ways in which human beings creatively grasp the world. Generally speaking, science is rational, known for seeking truth and refining objective laws; while art is emotional, with the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty as the spiritual purpose, and constantly opening up the boundaries of human thinking. But whether it's a scientific invention or an artistic creation, they can inspire each other. In the history of human development, scientific discoveries, methods and knowledge often have an impact on art, and artistic imagination and creativity in turn also play a positive role in the development of science. Therefore, although the metaverse is still in its infancy, various new and trendy arts related to the metacosm, such as VR art, game art, AI art, immersive art, and NFT art, have sprung up. In particular, NFT art, based on digital art, is now becoming the new darling of hot art and capital.
In fact, looking back at history, it is not difficult to find that there is a complex connection between new technologies and art. However, for a long time, the influence of technology on art was very limited. For example, during the Renaissance, due to the use of science and technology such as perspective, light and shadow and anatomy, Western painting formed a set of rules and methods for observing nature and constructing pictures, and established a classical language system of Western painting. However, whether it is perspective, or light and shadow and anatomy, their technicality dissolves in painting, and does not form tension and conflict with painting art. However, starting with photography and film, modern technology has become a key component of art and has made art take on a different character from the original art form. For example, photography once gave birth to Impressionism; the emergence of computers and the prevalence of consumerism made pop art go to the world stage; the large-scale popularization of the Internet directly brought about the rise of network art, making digital art and video installation art the mainstream of contemporary art.
In today's increasingly dominant position of technology, the way people experience and feel in life will be reshaped. At present, technology has become the main body of the culture of our time, and the metaverse energy of a variety of technologies is even greater, with a certain overwhelming advantage of the force, it is becoming the cultural representation of our time. So, in such an era background, is art a fellow technology or a resistance?
Arnold Galen, the representative of technological determinism, believes that human beings make up for the defects of their own intuition through technology, so technology becomes the extension and replacement of human organs, and realizes the plasticity of human nature. But in fact, the development of technology is more and more inclined to ignore the human body, degrade human feelings, and accelerate the decline of people's natural abilities. For example, with the improvement and popularization of intelligent technology, we have gone from tapping the keyboard at the beginning to clicking the mouse or touching the screen to the future, and only need the brain to send instructions in the future, and the use of body functions is becoming less and less. It should be said that in the metaverse era, excessive reliance on human intelligence and serious neglect of human bodily functions and various senses are incomplete, incomplete, and even more unhealthy for man's all-round development and state of existence. One of the most important values of art is to restore the human sense and the connection between the feeling and the feeling, and to give full play to the human intuition, inspiration and imagination.
Psychologist Shelly Terck says that "technology is the 'second self' of human beings". McLuhan believed that the medium was an extension of the person. He pointed out the role of the media in changing and shaping daily life, and emphasized that the real factor that plays a role is not the content transmitted by the media, but the technical form of the media, which shapes the ability of human beings to perceive and transform the world. As technology itself accelerates and evolves, its changes and shaping of social and cultural forms are also unfolding in a more profound and secretive way. Neil Bozeman said: "In the ruins of ideas, there is only one thing left to believe in – technology." In this regard, McLuhan pointed out that it is necessary to keep a distance from the medium. He reminds people to pay attention to the temptation of technology at the time of initial contact to avoid falling into a "narcissistic coma". So can we gain what McLuhan calls the ability to "anticipate and control the medium"? The answer may be no. Because none of us can look at the medium so rationally and not be drawn into it. The only hope may be art, because avant-garde artistic practice from the outset is a "game" that transcends purposefulness, transcends function and utilitarianism. Art needs passion, more importantly, deep reflection, and the courage to explore and develop new cultures is the spiritual background of contemporary art.
Heidegger once said: "It is foolish to blindly reject modern technology, but to change the relationship with modern technology." He argues for a "phenomenological suspension." That is, to change subjectivity, to be calm, neither active nor passive, to adopt an attitude that has nothing to do with will, and at the same time to say "yes" and "no" to modern technology, "yes" requires the use of modern technology, but "not" is exclusively occupied by modern technology. Indeed, the metacosm is an intermediary, a platform. If the metaverse is an unstoppable historical trend, then for artistic creation, we can use it as a medium and a means to help various new media art open up a new field of expression.
It is true that in the face of the temptation of new technologies, the attitude of many contemporary artists is optimistic and positive, and they enthusiastically accept new technical means and use them in new artistic practices. But it is also clear to us that due to the influence of technological determinism, as well as the state of mind of games, their artistic creation is likely to develop into a refined formalism. If the practice of contemporary art becomes the entertainment of art, works and exhibitions become amusement facilities and casinos that pursue sensory stimulation. What's more, refined formalism became utilitarian formalism, which, apart from the increasing pursuit of more chaotic and holistic sensory stimuli, did not provide new ideas, but only used new technologies as a strategy, as a gorgeous packaging of works. Needless to say, this situation abounds in many new media art exhibitions under the slogan of interaction and immersive experience today.
The impact of the metaverse is all-encompassing. For example, whether it is Duchamp or Boyce, their exploits in art history are mainly to greatly expand the concept of art, liberating art from a few kinds of materials and becoming the art of comprehensive materials, the art of the whole. But the metaverse has brought humanity back to an era of single media mainly relying on numbers. Moreover, man, like all things, is reduced to a digital existence. Traffic is king, and data becomes the only consideration, becoming the epitome of the technological era. This means that in the face of digital technology, each of us is a homogeneous individual, truly becoming the kind of "one-sided person" that Marcuse calls. As a result, all non-mainstream marginal ideologies, spirits, cultures, and arts will lose the space and opportunity to survive. And once the spirit becomes a one-dimensional thing, human beings will lose the multi-dimensionality and richness of the spirit, and the world will inevitably move toward poverty, homogenization and mediocrity.
At the moment, the mission of art is to resist mediocrity, to resist poverty, because art is a force of heterogeneity. It is in this sense that contemporary art is a correction and correction of the technological age. Adorno said that art can only gain life by resisting society. Boyce said art is not just resistance, but a force that reshapes and transforms society. Kiefer said that "resistance" is universal. Indeed, there is resistance everywhere in the world, and resistance is everywhere in life. (Fu Jun)