Two years ago, I came across a small video art exhibit in Amsterdam’s foam museum, and it’s stuck with me since. The piece was the first time I saw something like a use of the “metaverse,” that much-hyped, very-Covid tech idea, that actually made me think it might sometimes — in very rarefied circumstances — serve a useful purpose.The installation was “Becoming a Ghost” by Giath Taha, a Syrian-born artist now living in Amsterdam. We’ll discuss the piece in our interview, but suffice to say it involved Giath roaming around an online first-person shooter video game (though without a gun), performing “field research” to delve into the parallels between the game’s digital world and his physical reality outside it.

Giath’s art explores a number of ideas very relevant to this podcast — the interplay between digital and real spaces, explorations of what it means to be “home" and a member of the diaspora away it. About borders and perceptions of war, and more.

Please enjoy the podcast interview this week! And if you missed our first episode with Sean and Archana, founders of the AI chatbot startup Gooey.AI, you can find that here.

Links from the episode:

* Foam Museum discussion of “Becoming a Ghost”

* Giath Taha’s Website

* “Becoming a Ghost”

* “My House Has Tunnels”

* “5 Almond Seeds”

* “Homage to Aleppo”

Music: Juanitos, “Do the Kangaroo” from the Free Music Archive (CC BY-SA).

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