Hey everybody and welcome to another one of our weekly talks where we're discussing anything and everything it takes to build a capital city in the metaverse. I know this is a little bit of a later time that we usually get these started so thank you all so much for taking the time away from like one of our usual times.
in order to join us and hear one of our talks. Because today we're going to be talking about art and immersive experiences within the metaverse. And we are joined by such an incredible guest today, artist Leah Smithson from Los Angeles. Leah, thank you so much for joining me.
today, how are you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to speak with you today. Of course. Thank you so much. Well, just to kind of get us going, would you be able to give us like a quick introduction into like who you are, the kind of work you do and how you kind of got started in this space?
Of course. So what I do is I love to explore the human condition using portraits that mirror an emotional state or frame of mind rather than the lightness of a person. So instead of just focusing on what a person looks like, I think about a start with a
emotion and work backwards or I think about a frame of mind and the way and what I do is I mix both traditional media like paint and ceramics and sculpture with new media like augmented reality of course digital animation video and blockchain
that's awesome thank you and just a kind of I suppose get us started do you kind of always start from that place of like wanting to create
art from the emotion first and then working out of that, or is that something that you kind of found along your process as you were starting to create things and figuring out how you like to talk?
It's a combination of things. So sometimes I may start from an emotion or I may start from a circumstance that we may be in or something that I may
re-reacting off of from current events or things like that. And then I worked backwards to either recreate that in a art piece or take those circumstances
and create a surrealistic world that maybe counteracts or balances out maybe what I felt after having experienced an event or something like that.
Okay, yeah. And so then at what point did you start kind of incorporating things like AR and like more like technological art or digital art into these creations or were you doing that first and then out of the ceramics like how did those kind of like come about?
A lot of them kind of came about simultaneously. Like I've always been doing art, of course, since like a lot of artists or a lot of us, honestly, out here, since I was a kid. And I've always also been interested in doing work digitally.
as well. In fact, I even went to school for graphic design. And from there, and I've always kind of went back and forth between the digital working digitally and also working in painting.
things like that. And so, augmented reality was like a definitely like a natural evolution of working in both of those spaces, especially after the pandemic. I actually had an art show that I was supposed to do, and then when the pandemic happened,
course that kind of got shut down. So instead of just waiting till later, what I decided to do is digitize everything and I created a virtual reality art exhibit
And the way I did that is I took the physical pieces to like these remote parts so we wouldn't have to necessarily be violating any of the, you know, us being separated, having to
be separated during that pandemic state. And then also it was nice to kind of get out of the house in these remote areas, these beautiful places in California, especially since the air was cleaner and like everyone experienced the rejuvenation of nature during that time because there was less
So I took 360 degree recordings of the artwork in those areas. In addition to that, also we created three dimensional AR pieces that people can project into their house. So they could experience the
art exhibit in two ways. One where they could either visit it in California, virtually using their smartphone, VR goggles, or their tablet, or they could also project it into their own space and be able to walk up to it as if the artwork was actually there.
Oh my gosh, that's incredible. Gosh, there's so many questions I want to ask in regards to that. I suppose I'll start from this thing of, you know, I talked to so many artists that are kind of coming into their own, like developing their art style. In a lot of times,
During the pandemic, you know, a thing that we don't necessarily talk about is a lot of like the innovations in the art world, the way that we experience different platforms and stories that came out of like the new technology that we were forced to supposed relate to during that time period.
So, like I know storytellers who started telling their stories in different ways, who started writing artists who developed entirely new mediums in order to experience their work. So, I suppose I'm kind of curious what kind of how creating
A.R.R. that people were kind of experiencing within their home kind of affected people's relationship to the work do you think? Like how is it different kind of experiencing an A.R.R. piece of art within your bedroom versus like an A.R. piece of art maybe like in a traditional gallery space?
It's interesting because I feel like I've seen it done well and I've seen it done not so well. And so like the the works that I did at that time were on like wooden panels. So I was able to create instead of it just being a flat two dimensional image.
That just kind of like looks like it's sticking on the wall. What I created was a three dimensional wooden panel that they could see the art on. So as they walked up to it, they could see the paint that it seeped into like the grooves of the, you know, the groove.
brain of the wood and things like that. So I think because of that, it helps to at least mimic what it would look like in person, but it is really hard to substitute things like paintings and things. You know, those types of physical things
person like he can imitate it so much but unfortunately technology I feel like it's still limited in that regard but what I do love is that this technology also has benefits there's things that we can do with it that we can't
do in the real world. And so after that exhibit, that's the aspect that I've been playing with. And that's why I like merging both components together because I feel like the material and the physical has its advantages. And also the digital
and AR also has a set of advantages. And I like seeing how we can play with both of those things to create something new that maybe a new experience or pushing the limits of each material to create something new.
Yeah, for sure. And I mean, even going along with that, do you think that creating art within those AR spaces affected like did you
It was the same subject matter that you were just telling in a different way.
I think it was the same subject matter that in a different way. And I think at that same time it was interesting what you were talking about with some of the other artists and writers and storytellers that you mentioned. I think whenever
We go through something that I feel like you can't create out of nothing. So whatever experience that you're having is going to seep into the work somehow. And so it's kind of hard to
to tell. I definitely do think that I'm telling the same story but using different techniques and now I feel like I have more tools and I can explore it and kind of tell it in a more mature way that's like my goal.
Yeah, so but um, but yeah, yeah, so I agree. Yeah, and I mean like there's so many interesting things like like you were saying there is no really getting away from like allowing your life and your experiences to see been to the work in
some capacity. I mean, like I know the kinds of stories that I started to tell were just naturally influenced by the environment that I was, by like the environment of like, you know, having to live in my room. I was in New York City right at the start of like everything that was going on.
So much of what I was writing was based on my tiny little New York City apartment and that kind of influenced the stories that I was telling in a way more fantastical way because I was dreaming of worlds far beyond what I wanted
it to create or what I had even thought of creating before that time period. And so I guess like when it comes to your art and what you're creating, did you find a more like grounded sense in those like AR creations or
Or did you find like more of like a human, did you find like a grounded humanness within these AR creations in which like, you know, people are looking at it on their phone right in front of them? Or was it a more fantastical experience where this technology opened up a new imaginative realm for people to explore?
Well, first of all, I really agree with you about like, and it's really interesting hearing your experience being in New York during that time because I definitely, I mean, I know it was intense here, but it seemed like it was really intense in the work.
It was a time. You know, the park was my best friend. And so like I feel like that's how
That's the beautiful thing about art and not even the discussion that we're having, hearing your experience and vice versa because I think that's how we're able to get through all of this together is by sharing experiences and hearing, yeah.
sharing experiences and so for myself as far as like augmented reality the interesting thing to me about it is the fact that I've been working on like you know we see digital art on these two dimensional screens and now this is a way for me to bring it a lot to
bring it to life to where people can see it in their own space so they can interact with it in a different way. So it doesn't feel like even though they may be using their phone or something like that to be able to access it, they still have that feeling of them
being in their own space or the art piece being in their space. So before I talked about the two dimensional panels, but now I'm animating these artistic characters or avatars and having them inhabit the world as well. Yeah.
I'm curious do you in regards to like how people are consuming the art do you get to like I suppose Trying to figure the best way to say do you get to experience other people experiencing your art like I think of like a gallery experience, you know if you have a gallery showing or an exhibit or something
You can go there and you can watch people experience it. But I suppose if people are kind of experiencing it on their phones, like how does that work in terms of like feedback or do you have any relationship to that audience and that capacity with this kind of art form?
Yes, so it depends on like I recently did that did a
Did a public I was commissioned by the there's a down there's a business improvement district organization and downtown Los Angeles and they commissioned me to make a few pieces and during the opening I was able to watch people interact
with them. So sometimes during shows or things like that I'm able to do that. I also create it because I'm testing out a few things right now. I have some projects that I'm working on and I'm trying to figure out which companies I should work with and how people I wanted to watch, how people
interact with the AR so I can create a better experience. So I have like these stickers that I pass out where people can access it on their phones so sometimes I'm able to like watch them and be with them right there so I can can see how they interact with it see how they're able to work with the touch
technology and how they feel about it. I also am starting a project where I'm going to be sending out AR pieces for people to interact with and get feedback. Like today I just tweeted
when ARP, it's through an app called Hoverlay and I've worked really closely with the developers and founders of them. And like if there's any bugs or anything that goes wrong, I can like literally like send them a message and they like help walk me through everything.
So between them and then another company called genie. AR I've been working with them as well And and doing this so it is definitely like I'm anybody in this space and metaverse and also crypto like All these new tech that they a lot of the people here are it are
are familiar with like overcoming these challenges, but that's also the exciting part because as you're overcoming some of these challenges or overcoming some of these barriers, sometimes it produces something that you didn't even know was possible. You have a lot of happy accidents and things like that.
So anyhow, that's how I've been able to kind of like be around people and kind of get feedback from them. Yeah, yeah for sure. That's super interesting. I mean, because it also kind of leans into that notion of like, well because
you don't necessarily need that physical space. It allows anyone anywhere to kind of experience these things. So it makes it way more accessible. I know that my parents are finally glad that they get to see something I'm creating with Metropolis world, whereas when I'm just working on a play in New York City,
It's just not as easy for them to go there to experience it and finding a very specific venue doesn't necessarily mean that people are going to go see it. So the relationship to that digital space is just more accessible, which leads to more people seeing it, experiencing
and kind of taking part in that exploration of what it is you're doing. So I guess at the end of the day, it kind of expands the reach of the world that we are creating. And it kind of interconnects people in a lot of different ways. Like do you see
I suppose like different kinds of audiences interacting with your new like AR pieces, versus maybe some of your like more physical ones. Like, is there like what is what is that audience like that is kind of like being opened up and explored with this new work?
Yeah, that's a really interesting point. So I'm working on a a mural in downtown the ars district in downtown Los Angeles and one of the things that I'm going to do with this mural is it'll I think it'll be the first one in the ars district as well add a ARL
to it, but I'm going to make it seem like the person is like part of the painting. Like I want them to like experience it when they pull out their phone and scan the QR code that the piece doesn't, because I've seen it where like the mural kind of animates on the side of the building, which is
really really cool but also want to see if I can draw people into it as well. And I really agree with what you're talking about as far as accessibility. That's one of beautiful things I love about public art like murals and things like that and then also with this type of
I feel like it's almost like a public art as well, but it's using the internet, especially Web 3 with it. And the really interesting thing about this that I've been playing around with is my, well, I will probably talk a little bit more about it later, but
being able to access different, even different time periods. That's kind of what I'm kind of thinking about too as I'm exploring augmented reality and the possibilities. Like, can I help a person maybe even time travel or
I know with Metropolis definitely you're visiting a completely new world but yes that's definitely a beautiful thing about the digital space and art. Oh yeah that's that's really cool I mean I never thought about you know using a are to allow people to experience different time periods but I mean that's so.
I mean, that is like so interesting to be able to just kind of like step into that world and just kind of like see what things are like. I'm kind of curious even with that, you know, across between, you know, art and even like historians and figuring out like how to explore
these places and things from like that, like an accurate historical perspective as well, and kind of working with people to figure out, well, what are things that we see and experience by placing yourself within that world or within that different time period that you don't necessarily get from a history
book, you know, that kind of learning experience that is heightened from placing someone within a different time period. There's so, there's so many like interesting avenues. I feel like I could go down like a whole rabbit hole. Oh my gosh.
I mean, like, what are your, some of your ideas in regards to like getting people to time trouble? Like, are you interested in like sci-fi future? Like creating like this kind of, I suppose like solar punk, like how do we want to live this? Or are you kind of interested in that like past grounded historical experience?
I'm definitely like I love surrealism so even I think about I do think that there are going to be people that will be able to recreate like perfectly what a place look like in the past and you'll be able to like have a pull out your phone
or put on your, you know, whatever AR glasses or goggles are around at the time and be able to like look at maybe the space that you're in or a part of downtown or feel and kind of see what it used to look like. And
For myself, I, the way I want to express the past, the present and the future definitely will be through like a surrealistic rinse. So, yeah, so I kind of have some ideas on how I want to, in fact, I've been building some
some AR sculptures and animated sculptures that are reflective of the past, but use futuristic maybe individuals or individuals that look like they're humans, but don't look completely human.
That's awesome. It opens up so many avenues in regards to how you want to not only experience art, but how you want to experience time and how things will be influenced within those worlds.
And I mean, I keep going back to like, you know, museums could utilize this in order to like tell stories and open things up, but like artists can kind of use these things to tell those like immersive experiential stories as well, like to tell like very
specific meaning of like a piece that they necessarily wouldn't be able to communicate from that platform in and of itself. Like how could you talk a little bit about kind of what you're thinking in regards to like how you want to use
it lies like some of those like, I suppose you kind of mentioned it as like these futuristic beings with like a past influence. Like how what kind of like stories are influenced or you kind of like taking in order to create those. Like what is what is that intention?
Well, just give you one example. Last September, I was a part of an outdoor digital exhibition called Luminex in downtown Los Angeles, where we took a few blocks of part of downtown and we created like a digital installation.
So with my digital installation, I was able to take the windows of the building and I made it look like these avatar creatures were trying to like push out into our world. And the idea behind that was the fact that we're in
like at one time we were the ones we humans in the physical realm were the ones that control the digital world but now more and more we're being influenced by the digital world. So like for example during the pandemic people made you know life and death decisions based off of what they heard not necessarily
on the news, but what they saw on social media and Instagram. So it's like that the internet or that digital space is becoming having a bigger influence on us. And so that was just personified like in that those characters trying to push out. And so I
After that, so that was just one night that we had that big exhibition and then for the rest of the year what we did was I created these, we had an AR element to it. And so, for example, we took the
the digital animations and so people could see that on the windows anytime this year if they're visiting downtown Los Angeles in that area. But then in addition to that I had the creatures actually crawl out of the windows onto the wall and into the space of downtown Los Angeles.
And so from that I was able to to kind of further that narrative of how we are being influenced more and more by this technology. I wouldn't say that the technology is taking over us or anything like that, but it's just kind of
of like a visual example of how it's we're being influenced and how it's moving into the world whether we like it or not. Yeah, that's so cool. I mean, even along with that, I mean, I love how you're kind of like, you know,
you are merging those digital and physical experiences within that augmented reality and immersive setting. And that's something that I think we are also particularly interested in because so much of our lives exist online now. There are parts of our lives that
We kind of view a society as like it's almost necessary for us to be a working professional and utilizing the internet utilizing digital identity utilizing the resources that like computers in the internet allow for us and it's not necessarily about creating that distance between that, you know,
It's about figuring out how to humanize those experiences and make those experiences, I suppose, enhance or influence your physical life just as much as they are like your digital one. Because I think once we, when we are kind of looking at our digital lives as something entirely different, it's very
It's very, what's the way to describe it? It's almost like shallow, shallow, shallow-wise. That's not a word. I was just making up a word. It makes a lot of those experience feel more shallow when in reality a lot of people experience digital relationships, digital art.
movies, TV shows, a lot of those things. They experience those digital things very viscerally and we need to kind of like explore what that actually means. Like how I'm curious how you see people kind of interacting with these digital creations. Do people
people by and large like kind of witness it or how do you see people kind of behaving differently around these digital pieces that you don't necessarily see in that gallery space? Well, one one interesting thing is the fact that I think people are are very
I get really positive reactions, I think a lot of surprise too, as well when they're watching it. So that's really fun to watch people experience that and then they ask questions about it. And so that's one really awesome thing to
about this medium and as well as other digital mediums as well is that when it comes to with art having a message telling stories things like that it can bring up more questions and allow us to talk and think about
think critically maybe about the whatever subject that we're talking about right now we're talking about technology was funny earlier I was in a room that was hosted by timepieces and they were talking about augmented reality and I guess there's some people that are trying to
put restrictions for like six months to try to get the infrastructure. So anyhow, it was just interesting hearing what they were talking about as far as technology, hearing the fears. That's one thing that I found was interesting because I'm using this new technology, new to a lot of people, I should say.
I get a lot of questions about technology and I get to hear their fears about the technology and I get to get a chance to talk more about it. During Luminex, there are still a lot of people who are not familiar with blockchain. So I was able to talk to them about what blockchain was.
help them have a bit more balanced view about it. So they're not miss they don't necessarily feel like it's afraid of it or like they're not going to have any control or that the world is just going to crumble because of it. But see it as something that is powerful tool that could be used for good.
Yeah, and I mean, like, there's, it's so interesting how we kind of, I don't know, I think about like how we view different kinds of digital experiences, because I think that there is, you know, there is this kind of fear and trepidation around new
technology. I think in large part also because of a lot of storytelling that is coming about. I mean, I think of movies and TV shows and one of the most popular topics right now is like dystopian futures and how the world is going to end. And I think like those kinds of stories
Stories have been particularly popular over the last like 20 years and there haven't really been as many stories or conversations about you know the joy of the future or like the positivity that new technology can actually
to bring to things, which is a conversation that I think is like sorely missed in a lot of different spaces and it kind of like holds back a lot of different, a lot of different, I suppose, viewpoints on how we can actually perceive
these things around us. It's really interesting talking to like even my parents or my friends because everyone is really focused on how do we prevent a dystopian future versus how do we build the best world that we can.
I don't know, it's really interesting how we also kind of like view these stories in that particular way. I think back to, you know, Rania created this immersive experience called Pips Island before the pandemic happened and it was like an immersive like 60
in a show where kids would like journey through like a series of rooms and there were actors, there were digital experiences and I think of like one of the ways that she kind of immersed people within the story was using, I suppose these like videos that would appear either like
above an actor or before a scene began and the video would then just lead into actors like bringing people into a room to experience something in a whole new way. And that really like brought those experiences to life. So I'm curious like what your, what
your experience has been in, I suppose, the difference between creating an immersive experience versus an augmented reality experience. Do you view those as interchangeable or what is that difference between allowing, between that experience, between an AR versus an immersive one?
I think each one has its positives and negatives. One of the things that I really like about immersive experience
And I did see, of course, I wasn't able to go to the one that Ronnie had, but I did look it up and it seemed phenomenal. But I really love.
about our brain and how our brain is affected by our senses and about aesthetics and art. And so to be able to play with more senses is fun. It's just fun to me. And then I'm hoping that
experience also is can be more meaningful for the person but I don't want to just with me in the way I approach it. I don't want to just have AR just you know kind of like as a gimmick or feature. I want to bring it I want to use it if it enhances
the mission of the piece or the thought or the statement or the emotion that I'm trying to recreate or for that the viewer. And so that's kind of how I approach it, but I do think
I think there's room for all of it, but yeah, when it comes to creating immersive pieces, that's how I try to approach it. I just want it to be more meaningful if it's not, if it's coming off as gimmicky even I need to cut it. Yeah, for sure. And I suppose I'm curious what
But what is that element of something that is enhanced by AR? I don't know if it's better to ask this question in regards to what is not enhanced by AR, or if it's better to ask the question of what are the best traits of something that are enhanced by it?
I feel like that is something that is a practice, like I'm exploring more and more. For example, like just the example I gave with Lumen X, I could have just recreated the same work, just
two-dimensional so that anybody who is doing like the the augmented reality tour and downtown Los Angeles could visit and see what was there but it made sense that now that people were going to have their phones out to to see the AR like why we
wouldn't those creatures enhance, why wouldn't they come into our physical world? Now that before during the outdoor exhibition we worked with Panasonic to have these really amazing projectors
be the thing that brought those creatures to life in the windows on the architecture. But after that, now we're using our phones. So it just made perfect sense for those creatures to inhabit our world.
Yeah, for sure. And then kind of what you, there's something that you said that kind of peaked my interest, which is like, you know, people are going to have their phones out anyway. And another thing that I didn't really consider is, you know, our relationship to our phones, then we'll also influence, you know, the art that you're
It's not even just like oh the space that you're in. It's not even just that you're out on the street. It's also just like you're literally holding your phone which you use for so many different purposes. I suppose I'm kind of curious like what kinds of technology your
are interested in exploring. Like, what, as opposed, like, is there like an interesting, like, a device that you see as like the prime example of something to kind of experience this on, or is it more about accessibility and using whatever is most available to people?
Right now it's more about accessibility. But I'm thinking ahead. It's interesting I was thinking about how this smartphone, when Apple released the first one.
at first people accessing the web. Okay, but it wasn't that great. It was still more comfortable on the computer. But now, you know, many, many years later, now it's more comfortable looking at a lot of websites on your phone than it is the desktop computer, how things have flipped around. And so it's interesting to see how, because
Because of that technology and how it's changed and how people interact with websites or how we interact with the internet has changed because technology has changed, I do feel like that the change in the technology also is going to affect digital art.
are. So right now people are using their phones for that but I do think that eventually there will be some form of wearable like especially over your eyes that people will begin to instead of having their phone having to take out this little computer, this smartphone that they have to hold up to view the world
and to also access the internet at the same time that it will be some form of wearable. And thinking of that, I'm thinking about how I can design augment reality for now and then maybe what will happen in the future. Like what I have done some research on some real
really interesting uses of technology, how people are using augmented reality. And so, as far as in a practical way, and then thinking about how I could even push it further or explore that more in an artistic way.
Yeah, and I think that also kind of speaks to an interesting point about like Web 3 and the development of the metaverse because we have a lot of internal conversations when we're talking about what the future of all this means and we read a lot of articles and I think a lot of the consensus that we are coming to is that
a lot of more traditional like web to focus I suppose like websites or brands or technology are not necessarily going to be like the technology that we use to create the metaverse because all of
These new things that we're doing are about like exploring a new experience in a digital way exploring like what these digital experiences are how they're different to the physical world whereas what we're finding what we started with and what a lot of those experiences on the market currently are are very much like
a lot of these digital worlds are trying to kind of mimic the physical world just like as that one to one. But that's not necessarily how we experience a digital space, you know. There is a difference in regards to, I suppose the relevance of that world, like how the
the immersive of a digital world, the immediacy of a digital world, and how efficient that can be, and how those spaces can kind of come together to create this unique experience. And so I suppose I'm curious what the future, what do you see the future of A
are in immersive digital experiences have that maybe aren't currently on the market. Like how are those experiences going to be different do you think within like your work or how people may be experiencing your pieces that they don't currently have access to in the physical world?
Well, it's very interesting you mentioned some of that. In fact, I got a chance to meet Maya Drazen, who's like the branded ambassador for Time Magazine last Saturday. And she was talking about that very same thing that you mentioned, how she is...
hasn't some of the metaverses she has seen she didn't know about Machopolis so I told her about you but she said some of the metaverses she's seen she hasn't really been that enthused about because they're trying to do exactly like you said mimic the real world we already have the real world you know so what makes a person want to
go into a metaverse. And so I told her how metropolis, how you build your cities up and your avatars have wings and you're and also you're incorporating physical as well and blending these two things. And that's that's kind of what what I see the future is to even with
I've seen as far as right now some of the the experiments and things that I've seen being done with automated reality like in a practical way is like helping projecting someone's organs on the outside of their body so that what people are trying to learn how to do surgery.
a person, they can more easily visualize it. So in teaching, also I saw like something in China, I think it was in China where they were trying to teach children, school children how to evacuate and go to higher ground in the case of a tsunami and how fast it is.
they had like a drill where the through augment, augment reality the water was rising really quickly so that the kids could see how fast the, the water is rising and how quickly they needed to move so that in case of something like that a natural disaster like a tsunami they could get to safety very
quickly and as far as like when it comes to artistically with me I think about like maybe with these glasses you know because our augmented reality is like an overlay like can I create some form of
animated graffiti. Like, can there's this one, like, can I, like as a person is walking and they come to a wall where they come to a space, how can I animate the space and just create like an interesting meaningful moment at that place and time.
for them to be able to like, I don't know, enjoy some form, some unexpected experience. And that's one of the things that I really love, like even with murals that made me fall in love with public art. Like you're walking down maybe this crazy stream, there's trash everywhere and then you look up
and there's like this beautiful piece of art on the wall and it just reminds you of the beauty of the people in the city that you're in. And so those types of experiences excite me and being able to use augmented reality in that way to expand that also excites me.
Yeah, I mean my imagination is now going wild and it's under and it's a lot of different ways because I mean I'm like a writer and a storyteller and like I do like a lot of film work and so I'm thinking like oh my gosh well what if like you know you have this mural of like I don't know like a quote on the wall and like you know the augmented version is like
like watching a movie or being like, expressed within like a very specific moment of like a film or a world or something like that. There are so many ways that you can even just create stories and tell stories using that kind of like immersive AR experience that you don't necessarily
get to experience just like on a more accessible level. Gosh, that's so interesting. And I mean, like, even beyond that, but I never even considered using AR to help with public safety,
teaching children like how to like, you know, prepare for a disaster scenario more efficiently helps. I mean, all of this is just kind of like bringing to life extraordinary circumstances that we wouldn't
get to experience otherwise and in a lot of ways because this is digital the safer environment to explore these things allows for more possibilities that The physical world doesn't or like a physical illustration
wouldn't necessarily be able to. Do you have any, I suppose, ideas about what kind of extraordinary circumstances you might see people creating in the future with these things? What kind of experiences are you really interested in exploring in that capacity?
That's a really good question and I feel like it's one of something that I think
That is the thing that I try to practice every day is trying to like push, figure out different ways to push whatever medium I'm using, whether it be paint or ceramics or
So sorry, I think we're starting to break up a little bit. So I just missed that last phrase. My art practice, I kind of think about being almost like a scientist and doing experiment. So that's kind of what the way I've been approaching it lately with augmented reality.
interesting thing is the downtown center business improvement district that I talked to you about, they can't, it's interesting because that space is very corporate, you know, like when you think of going into a financial district of
a city so you have these skyscrapers. There's some public art but it's not necessarily super inspiring. And so that space and so what they did was those building owners aren't necessarily open or it may be quite difficult I should say.
to get more public art in that space immediately. So what they have is a augmented reality walking tour. So the people, because they do have, there's the Mokam Museum down there, there's also a museum called the Brode that's down there as well. So people who are visiting
in that area, they can use augmented reality to learn about the history of the area. There's also artists that have put other types of sculptures that teach them about the history or talk about
And some of it also is just kind of delightful for people to kind of walk around and look at an experience on their phone and the ideas to help them even see that part of the city in a new way. And so as far as like the big ideas is kind of hard.
I'm exploring and I have ideas on how I want to execute it. But it's almost like you have this apupassist and then when you carry it out sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.
But then if it doesn't, sometimes that leaves room to think of it in a different way and you come out with a better result. So. Yeah, that's so interesting. You know, the ways that you can kind of experience the old world in a new way really brings so many opportunities to the table.
that we can kind of like explore with these things. And I mean, like not even talking about the far off future, I would love to hear a little bit more about kind of like what you were doing right now. I know you, I believe you recently collaborated with the Lakers on an experience. Is that correct? Yeah, that
It was amazing. So there's a program they have called "In the Pain." And what it is is they -- it's curated by an artist, his name is Charlie Palmer and his wife.
Karina Brown, Dr. Karina Brown, and the interesting thing about this is that it's a private art exhibit and this is something that's very traditional, using traditional mediums. Actually one of the artists there, his name is Kip. He actually used augmented reality on his pieces.
I have augmented reality piece like stickers and things that I gave out to people so that they could access it when they got home. But it was I used paint to I made these very large paintings. But anyhow it was a pretty amazing experience
So we got to see a lot of the players that were there. It was the players, the stakeholders and the sponsors that were at this event. And what it was interesting because the Lakers, even though they're obviously a sports team,
They see themselves also as someone who or a brand that also is interested in culture and changing culture and they see that art is important to do that. So they've created this program that really boosts
the artist and supports the art, supports the arts. And they have not just Charlie Palmer and his wife, Carita, but they have these amazing judges and other people that have been also provide something similar to mentorship, like introducing us to people
in the art world helping us to even get connected well. So it's really interesting to see what they're doing and how they are interacting with culture and how art, they see art as an important way to do that. Yeah, and so how do you kind of choose those collaborations that you
create. Because I mean you make so many amazing things and so many different mediums like the Lakers and Luminex. How, like what is that priority that you kind of like look for in a productive partner in that way? Well one of the things that I do is just I have had to be really clear
on the values that I have for my work and my art practice. And I try to make sure that when I do choose a person to collaborate with, that that's also important with them too. For instance, like with Luminex, many people are familiar with Refique Anadol and then also there's an art
her name is Nancy Baker-Cahill. Both of them are very much to using new media like Aug Minute Reality and then Rufi Ganadal with his AI works that are really amazing.
And so with Luminex, the company that really, the curator that put it together is an organization called NowArt. And they are very much focused on public art and public art making a difference. And not just something that's nice, but also
very meaningful in the statement that everyone, all the art is bringing into the area. So it was just really interesting because during Luminex we had about 20,000 over 20,000 people. I think it was like 25,000 or more came to Luminex that night.
That was the only night where they did not have any criminal activity in the area. And it also, of course, boosts the economy for the area when you have public art like that. So anyhow, like thinking about those things,
It's interesting because it just shows how impactful art can be, especially when you have really amazing partners that value it and know how to execute things in the right way so that the public
can get like the full benefit out of it. And that happened with definitely the Lakers like wow that experience. Like not only that working with the other artist like we thought you we knew other artists were going to be there but we've created this amazing camaraderie where and
community where we can help boost each other and it's the same thing with Lumen X and working with that group of artists as well. So just good people, really strong values. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean a lot of kind of what you were speaking to with that really just kind of bring
it right back around to like what we were kind of talking about at the beginning, you know, this idea of all of these experiences, the public art, the digital creations, augmented reality, immersive experiences, it's all kind of coming from this play, from this very human standpoint of affecting people.
lives, you know, it affects the real world, it affects the economy, it affects the way that people are kind of going about living. It's not this separated experience that you kind of go to, you have a thing and then like, you know, that's never really impacted in any
other way. And that kind of like is what we've kind of been talking about and exploring in a lot of this time because everything that we're doing with this new art, with this new creation and with our visions of what we want the future to be is figuring out how
technology can humanize a digital experience. And so I'm such a huge fan of everything that you're doing and all of the art that you were creating. Is there any kind of other points that I may have missed in a little bit of a summary, anything that you kind of want to touch on before we start wrapping things up?
Um, necessarily I do I do want to I was just going to give a quick shout out to Adiola and Michael Terry there also part of that in the paint program and they're in the room and their work was phenomenal as well and
I really appreciate, I think like just talking like we have really great partnerships with the right companies, the right people that you kind of expect the beginning of this culture that could have like really big impacts. I think about like the Koso and the artists that he hung around.
And I think that was a great deal.
culture today. I think the only besides that the only other thing is I'm thinking about the project when you were talking about like what I'm going to be doing in the future as I've been working on this project called heirloom and thinking about how
how to take those experiences that we've had. Both my parents died this past year and while I was working on this drop. The interesting thing about it made me re-examine how I wanted to do the drop.
And so that's why I started even thinking about how I can push the idea of augmented reality. Going over old pictures instead of just looking at the pictures and showing my nieces and nephews maybe where we lived, what if I could recreate those memories and let people walk into it and what if I could preserve those memories on
the blockchain. And so that's the idea of this drop that I'm doing with heirloom and all the pieces that lead up to trying to push that technology up to that point and putting it on the blockchain. But yeah, so, but I really appreciate like the conversation and
you're even your what you've talked about as well how it definitely I think these types of conversations make us better stronger create better work yeah for sure I mean I don't know if I've heard of a more like impactful message behind like a digital piece behind new technology
the blockchain, then what you're doing right now with heirloom. I think it's so interesting. Would you be able to kind of tell us where people can find you, how people can follow heirloom, if people want to keep up with what you're doing with that, what is the best way for people to do that?
Well, I think the best way right now if you follow me on Twitter and then also turn on those notification bells because this next week we'll definitely going to be dropping alpha about heirloom and
over the next few weeks we would like to move pretty quickly with what we have planned with that and we would love we're also creating some social experiment as well getting
people involved in pushing this technology and then trying to link it up with the blockchain and yeah, love other people to like join us on this, this
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining me on this space. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to like talk with you. It was so interesting going into all of these different avenues in regards to like how we can create new experiences using technology. I love talking to artists that are like
I'm really thinking about the future and thinking about the positive interactions that we can actually create within this space. So it was such a joy and I'm so excited. We're definitely going to be putting like a lot of your work and your channels within like our discord and our Twitter. I hope we get to talk again because
We didn't even get through all of the topics that I had prepared for this because, you know, we just kind of got really sidetracked on like so many different like interesting things. So again, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for joining me on this talk and thank you to everyone who was like listening in both now and
in the future for this lovely talk. And I'm really hoping that everyone will be able to join us again next week for another one of our talks with a guest who we're going to have. Leah, do you have any final words for everyone?
No, just thank you everybody for listening in and thank you so much for inviting me on your wonderful platform. I'm really honored because I really respect what you guys do at Metropolis World. Thank you so much.
of course, thank you so much again. All right, everyone, I think that's just going to wrap it up for this week's talk on all of the art and immersive experiences that we're creating in this space. So just as a reminder, please make sure to follow Leah, make sure to follow
the everything that she's doing with her new project, heirloom, and make sure to join us next week for another talk that we're going to have in this space. But for now, everyone is free to go and I hope everyone has a lovely rest of your day. Thank you so much and have a good one folks.