Vanity Fair Italia is making waves at the Venice Biennale with the launch of its innovative metaverse project, "MetaVanity." This groundbreaking initiative, presented in collaboration with Valuart, takes inspiration from the historic Pantheon in Rome, featuring a central space with an open dome reminiscent of the original Roman monument. The metaverse experience includes 12 exhibition areas where visitors can engage in various creative and unique interactions using the free Hadem app.
Scheduled to coincide with the Venice Biennale, running from Saturday to November 27, MetaVanity invites users to explore a virtual space that goes beyond the traditional cultural environment. The project aims to blend the rich history of the Pantheon with modern digital experiences, offering a dynamic platform for artistic expression.
Simone Marchetti, the editor in chief of Vanity Fair Italia, emphasizes the limitless nature of creativity within this metaverse space. "In this space, where creativity has no boundaries, all the excellences, uniqueness, and stories that Vanity Fair has always told in its pages, on its website, on its social channels will be celebrated," Marchetti explains. He views the exhibition as just the beginning of a broader initiative that represents the frontier of a new evolution in experience, knowledge, information, and entertainment.
This isn't Vanity Fair Italia's first foray into the digital world. In 2021, the magazine introduced an NFT cover dedicated to Italian pop-singer Elodie. In February 2022, Vanity Fair expanded its digital presence with the debut of Vanity Player One, featuring the first avatar of a newspaper in a fashion shoot, allowing readers to interact with it on their smartphones.
The MetaVanity space will showcase 19 works from renowned artists in the international digital and crypto art scene. The lineup includes Max Papeschi, Emanuele Dascanio, Quasimondo, Matt Kane, Skygolpe, Coldie, Jesse Draxler, Federico Clapis, Edo Bertoglio, Mimmo Dabbrescia, Neurocolor, Billelis, Fabio Giampietro, Vhils, Kyle Kemink, Luna Ikuta, Dangiuz, Gammatrace, and Stefano Contiero.
Etan Genini, CEO and co-founder of Valuart, applauds Vanity Fair's embrace of the current cultural revolution. "With MetaVanity, Vanity Fair has been able to fully embrace the constitutive values of the cultural revolution born of this moment," Genini notes. He sees MetaVanity as a container that doesn't seek to contain but rather to free experiences in the ether and provide visitors with an immersive and liberating encounter. This project marks another significant step in Vanity Fair Italia's ongoing exploration of the digital landscape, pushing the boundaries of traditional media into the realms of virtual and interactive experiences.