Typography for the Metaverse | Adam Del Marcelle, Flor Salatino, Heather Snyder Quinn, Zishou Wang

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.