Muses 2: The world’s first performance art piece in the metaverse

Performance art in the Decentraland metaverse

‘Muses 2 // Metaverse Performance’ was the world’s first performance art piece in the metaverse. Created and performed in the Decentraland metaverse by Bay Backner, in collaboration with Vueltta, the metaverse art collective and the Decentraland community.

The original performance was filmed in November 2022, and was repeated on 4th December 2022 for The Royal House of Medici auction and Miami Art Week. The installation space could be visited in Decentraland (at coordinates 120, 130) until 31st December 2022.

To read more about the ideas behind the visual work, visit Bay’s portfolio page here.

Film of the initial performance piece, exhibited at Miami Art Week by The Royal House of Medici

Why we believe Muses 2 to be the world’s first performance art piece in the metaverse

Bay and the Vueltta team confirmed with the Decentraland Foundation that no previous performance pieces had taken place in this metaverse. As Decentraland is the only metaverse in which artists can currently create art-led spaces, use their own bespoke emotes and wearables, and host public events, we believe that this makes Muses 2 the first in any metaverse.

We were delighted to have the support and enthusiasm of the Decentraland Foundation team throughout this process, and our sincere thanks go to the Decentraland community and Decentraland DAO for their continuing support of Vueltta. Earlier in 2022, Vueltta was awarded a Tier 3 grant by the Decentraland DAO community to develop another installation, The Labyrinth Effect. This support went a long way to accelerating our research in Decentraland this year.

Oil Paintings and NFT Assets used within Metaverse Performance

To create Muses 2, Bay painted four AI-generated ‘muses’ using IRL Renaissance techniques, then converted the paintings into digital textures. She then collaborated with artists in Vueltta to transform the textures into metaverse forms.

Designer Adrián Martínez created the installation architecture featuring all four muses, and 3D creative KJ Walker transformed one muse into the wearable face and headdress. Everything used within Muses 2 was an NFT asset, from the installation walls to the clothing (‘wearables’) and the poses (‘emotes’) of Bay’s avatar. The performance video was made available as an NFT in the inaugural Royal House of Medici auction.

Other Decentraland assets in the Muses 2 performance:
– Sleeping Emote by Canessa
– Sitting Emote by Doki
– Armour by James Guard

Additional:
– Music by Palle Knudsen
– Decentraland Land, coordinates 120, 130

To find out more about the process behind the piece, visit the portfolio page here.

Community Selfies from Muses 2 // Metaverse Performance

Bay invited the Decentraland community to interpret Muses 2 with their own selfies, which were then reshared during the duration of the performance on the @vueltta twitter account. She subsequently created the curated edit of the selfies below. Bay sees this gallery of community-artist images as part of the wider performance.

All community members who shared images were sent the NFT wearable from the performance. Bay plans to bring this performance community (now ‘Muses 2 NFT holders’) together for future art installations.