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Virtual Takeovers in the Metaverse: Interrogating Power in Our Past and Future(s) with Multi-Layered Narratives

Heather Snyder Quinn, Jessa Dickinson

TL;DR

Augmented reality is used to illuminate and challenge entrenched power structures in cultural institutions and metaverse governance. The paper presents a critical case study of Mariah, an AR protest tool with two implementations at the Met and in San Francisco, plus a Strikethrough variant, and analyzes narrative strategies, legal considerations, and potential futures through speculative design. Its contributions include demonstrating AR as a vehicle for counter-narratives, examining free speech and property rights in the metaverse, and proposing a framework to probe liberatory futures and racial capitalism. The work has practical significance for HCI, policy, and museum governance by showing how AR can amplify marginalized histories and provoke discussion about ownership, censorship, and regulatory trajectories of the metaverse.

Abstract

Mariah is an augmented reality (AR) mobile application that exposes power structures (e.g., capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy) through storytelling and celebrates acts of resistance against them. People can use Mariah to "legally trespass" the metaverse as a form of protest. Mariah provides historical context to the user's physical surroundings by superimposing images and playing stories about people who have experienced, and resisted, injustice. We share two implementations of Mariah that raise questions about free speech and property rights in the metaverse: (1) a protest against museums accepting "dirty money" from the opioid epidemic; and (2) a commemoration of sites where people have resisted power structures. Mariah is a case study for how experimenting with a technology in non-sanctioned ways (i.e., "hacking") can expose ways that it might interact with, and potentially amplify, existing power structures.

Virtual Takeovers in the Metaverse: Interrogating Power in Our Past and Future(s) with Multi-Layered Narratives

TL;DR

Augmented reality is used to illuminate and challenge entrenched power structures in cultural institutions and metaverse governance. The paper presents a critical case study of Mariah, an AR protest tool with two implementations at the Met and in San Francisco, plus a Strikethrough variant, and analyzes narrative strategies, legal considerations, and potential futures through speculative design. Its contributions include demonstrating AR as a vehicle for counter-narratives, examining free speech and property rights in the metaverse, and proposing a framework to probe liberatory futures and racial capitalism. The work has practical significance for HCI, policy, and museum governance by showing how AR can amplify marginalized histories and provoke discussion about ownership, censorship, and regulatory trajectories of the metaverse.

Abstract

Mariah is an augmented reality (AR) mobile application that exposes power structures (e.g., capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy) through storytelling and celebrates acts of resistance against them. People can use Mariah to "legally trespass" the metaverse as a form of protest. Mariah provides historical context to the user's physical surroundings by superimposing images and playing stories about people who have experienced, and resisted, injustice. We share two implementations of Mariah that raise questions about free speech and property rights in the metaverse: (1) a protest against museums accepting "dirty money" from the opioid epidemic; and (2) a commemoration of sites where people have resisted power structures. Mariah is a case study for how experimenting with a technology in non-sanctioned ways (i.e., "hacking") can expose ways that it might interact with, and potentially amplify, existing power structures.
Paper Structure (11 sections, 2 figures)

This paper contains 11 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Augmented Reality: The Basics
  4. Mariah
  5. Exposing "Dirty Money" in Museums
  6. Commemorating Sites of Protest with Mariah
  7. Discussion
  8. Complicating Narratives and Exposing Power with AR
  9. Legal Questions in the Metaverse
  10. Conclusion
  11. Acknowledgements

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Screenshots of the museum installations of Mariah. The middle screen shows the virtual memorial for Mariah Lotti "placed" in the Temple of Dendur in the Met. The right screen shows the opioid "death clock" superimposed over the Louvre.
  • Figure 2: Three locations where Mariah was implemented for Strikethrough. From left to right: Strike, commemorating labor protests; Mariah, protesting the war on drugs and the opioid epidemic; and Panthers, commemorating the Black Panther's headquarters.