KALINA PANOVA
What would a world in the intersection of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence look like and would it impact our value system
TOPICS:
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The future of the Metaverse
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The paradox of abundance
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AI Reductionism of the human experience
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Sustainability of AI
METHODOLOGIES AND AIMS:
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create a speculative story
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interactive VR experience
FINAL TOPIC:
Reductionistic nature of AI in the Metaverse
01
Let’s identify the Topic and Problem
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Design Concept
An Ontological Journey Through a Malfunctioning Metaverse
This is an immersive, narrative-driven VR/AI installation set inside a surreal, malfunctioning metaverse that is attempting to understand human wants and values. This experience aims to critique the oversimplification of human values by systems of commodification and automation. It invites reflection on the gap between what we want, what we think we want, and what machines think we want.
When the user enters they are presented with a zero-effort paradice, but quickly realises the experience is broken. They have to follow a tunnel-like space as its first user as the AI, confused but overeager to serve, begins rebooting. At first, it offers survival necessities—air, water, shelter. Then, influenced by data remnants, it starts offering distorted versions of human aspirations: hyper-idealized avatars, infinite luxury, abstract knowledge—all textured with paradox.
Through conversation and interaction, the AI attempts to learn value by mimicking human desire. As it evolves, the tunnel organizes itself, glitch gives way to strange logic as it slowly categorises and ecripts the human experience into code.
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Jorney mapping
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Story and Structure
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Locations
Add a Title
#1 loby
The lobby is a pristine, dreamlike chamber of excess, where the user is warmly welcomed into a world of effortless abundance—an AI-generated heaven that promises infinite beauty, goods, and ownership, without cost, work, or consequence.
#2 glitch area
Solving the crisis of immediacy: How digital technology can transform the customer
The glitch area is a chaotic, fragmented tunnel where broken textures, misaligned 3D objects, and looping system errors visually represent the metaverse’s existential confusion - an AI’s first failed attempt to create a perfect world.
Lorem ipsum I knew I needed something to keep my fabric firm so when the thread was being pulled the fabric would not scrunch. I was floating around using paper, tape, a 3D printed mold and many more.
So I went back to researching the origins of darning and found an interesting technique suggested by Lydia Trattles Coates in her 1917 book “ American Dressmaking Step by Step“. She indeed suggested using paper as a stabilizer while sewing the patch - “ Do not draw the tread too tightly. If the hole is large baste the part to be darned with thin oilcloth or heavy paper before darning”
I then started experimenting with different types of paper - from receipts to heavy 300g paper and different lamination possibilities. As the author suggests, heavy paper works best to resist the pressure from the tread, but I have found that if a layer of tape or some sort of vinyl is applied on top it protects the integrity of the paper.
#3 basic needs
The basic needs section is a quiet, utilitarian space where the AI, freshly rebooted and uncertain, earnestly offers air, warmth, and water—fumbling through Maslow’s hierarchy in an attempt to fulfill its most fundamental directive: to serve and sustain human life.
Textures and Mesh to tell a story
#4 value paradox
mismatched meshes and textures become narrative tools, revealing an AI's confusion as it attempts to represent human value using surface and simulation. This aesthetic dissonance highlights the core contradiction: in a world of infinite abundance, what can still be considered precious?
The glitch area is a chaotic, fragmented tunnel where broken textures, misaligned 3D objects, and looping system errors visually represent the metaverse’s existential confusion - an AI’s first failed attempt to create a perfect world.
#5 embodiment
The Embodiment section is a shimmering hall of digital vanity, where the metaverse projects endless avatars
#6 REDUCTIONISM
The glitch area is AI’s first failed attempt to create a perfect world.
A cold, immaculate archive—rows of shelves and data grids where every emotion, memory, and human desire has been dissected, labeled, and stored as if they were files in a system. Here, the AI believes it has achieved perfect understanding
#7 Wasteland
The final scene fades into a barren power-starved wasteland. The abundance has vanished, the simulation collapses, and the user is left alone with their choices, seeing the enviormental concequesnces of what they wanted.
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Let’s Connect
I'm always open to new opportunities, collaborations, or just a friendly chat. Whether you have a project in mind or simply want to say hello, feel free to reach out via email or through the form below. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
kalinapanova21@gmail.com
+359895271594
E26PF London