New forms of worldbuilding

Llainwire immediately comes to mind as someone using technology to craft a world around their music different to what we have seen before. The visuals they create to accompany the music include avatars in CGI universes which Llainwire produces, edits and directs. Eugene Angelo shoots the video footage for these rich videos on iPhone. Together, they show how small teams can now create whole worlds with tools that many of us have in our pockets.

I also recently came across the story of the artist Teflon Sega. They created a digital avatar and pseudonym to release music with. The start of this character came about when the artist had been signed and shelved by a major label and eventually turned to releasing music via a new anonymous digital character to still keep expressing themselves creatively. Using YouTube, they learned how to make 3D animations. In an interview with The Red Bulletin, the artist recently shared:

“..real-time animation and motion capture is so new and it’s becoming accessible for creators in their homes, without studios or big budgets. People would send messages complimenting my ‘team’ on their work. I wanted to show that I’m just making this stuff in my garage, and that you can do it, too.”

Zooming out a bit, I predict that gaming aesthetics will permeate different cultural spheres even more strongly in the future. We’ve seen growing trends of people acting like NPCs (non-playable characters) on our feeds with the likes of Pinkydoll really bringing the content style to mainstream awareness. MSCHF’s red boots and other aesthetics reminiscent of gaming on recent catwalks show that similar ideas are big and growing in fashion right now too.

The lines between fiction and reality are becoming increasingly blurred and artists that are experimenting with creating new types of digital worlds are garnering a lot of interest. As knowledge and tools to create these kinds of digital worlds are becoming ever more accessible, I’m excited to see what is created in this realm.

The recent spike in views on the Skibidi Toilet videos on platforms like TikTok and YouTube shows how interested people are in absurd, action-packed gaming aesthetics with strong storylines. What I find especially fascinating is that these videos are resonating most strongly with Gen Alpha, indicating the type of content younger generations want to consume. In the realm of music, I predict a rise in artists who lean into aesthetics popularised by social media algorithms. These include interesting transitions, intriguing opening scenes, strong lore, fantasy worlds, fast cuts, and symbols and formats carrying over between content. Right now there is also a big fascination around AI, the blurring boundaries between humans and machines, and explorations that circle around uncanny valley aesthetics and so we will likely continue to see a lot of this coming through in artistic creative expression.

Hardware renaissance

With many of us now using the same technology that only changes marginally with each upgrade, e.g. the Apple ecosystem, it feels as if we have reached a type of inflection point. A move back to more plurality in the types of hardware we use and own has steadily been creeping into the cultural zeitgeist in recent years. Vintage tech like analogue cameras and more recently digital cameras and camcorders are experiencing a surge in popularity. A lot of experimentation with custom hardware is also occurring. Kanye West’s 2021 Donda Stem Player stands out as a playful example in this realm which reimagined new roles and applications for hardware linked to an album release.

As it becomes cheaper and easier to produce hardware, the entry level pricepoints are dropping and it is becoming more accessible as a medium to experiment with. Lychee, Inc is a company that I find really exciting in this realm. Co-founders Tigris Li and Eugene Angelo recently shared that they are creating cultural hardware that encourages users to play and experiment with the hardware. Recently they released a small run of handheld devices in collaboration with Zora Zine which light up in sync with music that is played near them. Lychee is focusing on utilising hardware to connect with younger generations and shift culture and I’m looking forward to seeing what they release next. Technologies needed for hardware creation becoming more accessible is allowing for easier production on a smaller scale which greatly reduces the barrier to entry into the hardware-as-medium world.

There are also projects tapping into nostalgic hardware behaviours and extending these to create new models for the future. One project doing this is USB Club. Bring your own USB to an event or get one at their event station and receive a mix of files curated specifically for that event. This could include the likes of music, reference images, or readings. In a world of information overload, it feels really nice to browse curated files that you can only receive through being at a specific event or from someone who was at that event. Irl distribution of a small collection of files feels like the ideal antidote to the pace at which new information and content are shared on digital platforms.

There’s a really fascinating dichotomy here between a return to vintage technology like digicams alongside new custom hardware becoming easier to develop using tech like 3D printing. Branching out into new forms of hardware allows people to signal their identity and engage with tech in a way that feels more fun and playful again. Right now it feels like that genuine joy and discovery felt while using a product or software is something that is lacking in a lot of online spaces and business models. Simultaneously, people are craving it more than ever.

With AI content generation on the rise and more people having the tools to produce a large range of content types, it appears as if the amount of content reaching our feeds daily will continue to increase. This creates quite a difficult environment for connecting with audiences and building genuine relationships. But the good thing about challenging phases like this is that it will lead to brilliant forms of innovation. Coupled with the fact that the tools at our disposal provide us with more opportunities and pathways than ever before, I’m excited to see which people and projects create something different and captivating enough to shift paradigms. I also strongly feel that as technologies and AI become ever more integrated into society, it will be the stories and experiences that make us feel truly human that will be more important than ever.

That was the central question I had in mind when I joined Seed Club’s inaugural Greenhouse programme in late November 2022. This year in web3 has been a rollercoaster. With DAOs being a relatively nascent part of the web3 ecosystem, there has been a lot of experimentation and a lot of changes within DAOs I am involved in and other DAOs on my radar.

DAO core teams and members have been experimenting with different phases and seasons, trying out various business models, testing out onboarding methods, and working with new emerging tools to better the experience of collaborating within a DAO.

From my own experience as part of the core team of the COLORSxCOMMUNITY DAO and speaking to other core team members of DAOs operating in adjacent spaces, I realised that a lot of DAOs went through similar stages this year. Hearing that others were thinking about similar things or facing some of the same hurdles we have over the course of this year made me realise how valuable it would be to have even more transparent exchange between different DAOs. This would mean we could better support each other with our learnings along the way and provide a foundation for DAOs which emerge in the future to build upon.

Ultimately, most people working in DAOs are seeking to nurture better ways of operating using web3. We seek to share these benefits and explorations with larger groups of people and onboard them to the space. There is a big upside in DAO members, especially those who are part of core teams, collaborating to drive this mission forward. Rather than being companies competing with each other, we have the opportunity to truly tap into the power of community and share our knowledge along the way.

Seed Club’s inaugural Greenhouse lab has provided an example of the true potential of bringing builders together and collaboratively working to solve problems which are applicable to most DAOs. This first cohort was made up of a globally distributed group of curious builders from 16+ alumni communities that have previously been through Seed Club. What immediately struck me when the group got together for the first time was the honesty people showed up to the session with - we were asking the hard questions that need to be answered in web3 and were very transparent in discussing these issues.

Some of the topics we focused on included:

• Thinking about how to make DAOs and DAO tooling more accessible for people who aren’t web3 native

• Examining the language we use around DAOs and how we could simplify things to connect with wider audiences

• Alternatives to Discord for DAO coordination

• Web3 considerations in different global contexts such as the global South where internet and electricity aren’t a given

• Creating better archives of DAO knowledge within DAOs and across DAOs as we learn

• Accessibility of DAOs e.g. financial barriers to join DAOs, time available to invest in DAO contribution

For me, sharing and collaboration between builders who are part of different DAOs also connects to the concept of scenius. Many people are part of multiple DAOs and looking at DAOs building in similar spaces or Seed Club’s network of alumni communities, it becomes clear how intimately linked the space is right now. The term scenius was coined by Brian Eno: “Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of genius.” I think of networks of builders such as those brought together in this first Greenhouse cohort as being part of a form of scenius and am also seeing scenius emerge in many of the web3 communities we are part of. I’m excited about the conversations that have been had during the Greenhouse lab and the work we will continue to do together. The past weeks have also highlighted to me how important it is to ask critical questions in the web3 space at this time and work towards approaching those issues in better ways to help the larger space progress in a healthy way.