Design in the Meta.space: A speculative investigation into the spatial perception at the virtual-analog frontier

The concept of the metaverse, a virtual world that runs parallel to our own and represents the next stage of the internet, has sparked intense debates since the blockchain craze began. However, the ability to construct and shape worlds by manipulating social, real, and imaginary spaces has arguably been a crucial aspect of artistic and scientific creativity throughout history. Accompanying an exhibition at the Francisco Carolinum in Linz, the scientific anthology Meta.space—Visions of Space from the Middle Ages to the Digital Age explores this multifaceted history from an art-historical perspective. Featuring seventy-five positions in analog, digital, and inter-media art, it provides a foundational contribution to ongoing discussions about the metaverse. The anthology covers a range of topics, including early painterly solutions to pictorial space problems in the fifteenth century, how works of sculpture create spaces, and the sensory, scholarly, and technological practices involved in charting spaces. Additionally, the book critically examines the dystopian and utopian potential of cutting-edge metaspace concepts.