Engaging with others in virtual and real space through avatars has a lot of potential: from medical applications to sports, from artistic to community events, to name just a few. To bring this extended reality (XR) to a radically new, ethically sound level, 14 partners from eight countries – including the Ars Electronica Futurelab – are combining their knowledge in the new European R&D consortium Sharespace.
Sharespace is tasked with different objectives, from technological questions to social ones about the use and coming together with digital avatars in the near future. By exploring the possibilities, the three-year-long research project will further interaction and sociality in virtual spaces. Therefore, so-called Shared Hybrid Spaces (SHS) will be developed – to be shared by humans and avatars in embodied collaborative tasks, connected through innovative sensors and novel XR technology. Three real-world scenarios will be presented at high-profile events like the Olympic Games 2024 and the Ars Electronica Festival 2024 and 2025.
To learn more about the project, go to the Ars Electronica Futurelab’s Sharespace page. You can also find more info about our research on coimmersive spaces.