This group presentation will showcase a case study of Project Mariah—an augmented reality (AR) experience that challenges societal power systems, including big tech and big pharma, by “hacking the metaverse” as an act of protest.
Mariah narrates stories of historical injustice through the backdrop of significant cultural institutions and the corrupt funding that has allowed them to exist. Named after Mariah Lotti, who lost her life to opioids at 19 years old, the app enables viewers to “legally trespass” at locations across the globe.
Initiated in 2020 in NYC on a bootstrap budget, the app initially transformed the Met’s Sackler wing into a virtual memorial for Mariah and others who have lost their lives to the opioid epidemic. Exploring AR’s potential to revise historical narratives and its ethical implications, the app augments Sackler* donated art with “virtual memorials”—audio and video of the lives of opioid victims. Exploring a more global reach in 2021, the app expanded and most recently was commissioned by the Letterform Archive’s exhibition Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest, placing seven typographic installations across the Bay Area.
Collectively, the work raises awareness for the future implications of our human freedoms in the metaverse, including interpretations of free speech and property rights by asking who owns our virtual space and what can be placed there? Can we challenge systems and re-imagine the future by augmenting the space for our own means?
Together our global team (tech activist, opioid activist, 3d type designer, and app developer) will discuss the power of typographic installations in the metaverse and share our approach and methods for designing—including 2D and 3D—with a specific lens on AR. Additionally, we will share best practices for placing these installations, including geolocation, trigger image, and ground/plane.
*The Sackler Family founded and owned the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma and has faced lawsuits regarding the overprescription of addictive pharmaceutical drugs, including OxyContin.
Speaker
Adam DelMarcelle
Adam DelMarcelle’s work is made in Pennsylvania, on the frontlines of the exploding overdose epidemic and has functioned to educate and mobilize community response. He uses various forms of revolutionary art, including traditional printmaking and poster bombing, digital projection, augmented reality, and art and medicine installation and intervention to raise awareness by encouraging the public to reflect on their role in the current state of drug use in America. DelMarcelle has committed his life to the betterment of his community through his work as an educator and artist. He travels widely activating communities through outreach, activism, and by educating anyone who will listen to the power art possesses to disrupt, resist, and document our human existence. DelMarcelle’s work has been extensively written about and exhibited and is included in several collections across the United States, including the Library of Congress, The Cushing Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, Syracuse University, Letterform Archive and many more. He earned a BFA from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Art. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Wilson College and lives with his wife, Missy, and son, Joey, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Instagram @adamdelmarcelle
Speaker
Flor Salatino
Flor Salatino graduated in Multimedia Engineering (2016) and in the Master of Audiovisual Innovation and Interactive Environments (2019). She currently works as a freelance programmer in different technological projects which revolve around art and/or education. Flor enjoys participating in collaborative experiences where the border between disciplines is blurred. She finds the interrelation between technology, art, and education to be motivating and inspiring.
Instagram @flors_93
Speaker
Heather Snyder Quinn
Heather Snyder Quinn (she/her) is usually where she “isn’t supposed to be.” You will find her playing in unexpected places, physical or virtual, and collaborating with people from an array of backgrounds. She uses design fiction to empower communities to imagine possible futures and understand technology’s impact on human freedoms. The World Economic Forum, MIT Press, Washington Post, Hyperallergic, and NASA have recognized her work. Dedicated to improving society through design, she serves as Director of Design Futures for Design Incubation, and co-chair of Speculative Futures Chicago. Previously she was an Assistant Professor of Design, Wicklander Fellow in Ethics, and an OpEd Public Voice Fellow at DePaul University. She received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is an Assistant Professor of Design Futures at Washington University in Saint Louis, Director of the Parallel Futures Lab, and mother of two daughters.
Instagram @heathersnyderquinn
Speaker
Zishou Wang
Chicago based graphic and type designer. Currently working as Jr designer at OX (Office of Experience).
Adam DelMarcelle 
Flor Salatino 
Heather Snyder Quinn 
Zishou Wang