Ibiza Web3 Woman: Krista Kim, Metaverse Mindfulness Ambassador

Krista Kim is a Metaverse artist and Zen philosopher. In her works, she unifies the power of human consciousness and intelligence with technology. The screen becomes in his work a space of grace and reflection. In 2014, she launched the Techism movement encouraging artists to promote digital humanism. In 2020, she created the Mars House , the world's first digital house. It sells for half a million dollars. Krista presents Web3 as the future of decentralization, an asset protecting democracy, free will and individual sovereignty. More recently, she co-founded the [0] Metaverse project with award-winning American filmmaker Peter Martin, a new platform for collaborations aimed at promoting mental health. I spoke with Krista on a zoom call.

L'Officiel / Coco Dolle: Hello Krista, it's the weekend, a Sunday morning. I hope I'm not interrupting a holiday event.
Krista Kim: Oh no, I work! There are no holidays, not on Web3! The Metaverse never sleeps.

The O: Fantastic! I suggest you start with an introduction to your new collaborative production studio, [0] Metaverse. For this project you have teamed up with award-winning director Peter Martin. In your mission, you state that your goal is to integrate wellness and mental health on the blockchain. How will you create these mindful spaces?
KK: Zero [o] is an innovation lab, it's more than just a studio. We innovate, we collaborate with leading technology partners to innovate in the Metaverse. We are always on the lookout for projects that challenge the limits of the simple utility of the Metaverse to elevate human potential. I believe the current state of the Metaverse is very early. It comes directly from the world of video games, it's for children! As an adult, artist and mother of two children, two teenagers, I am not a fan of a Metaverse centered on video games and multiplayer video game platforms. What I would like is for the Metaverse to be a place where we receive quality education, health and wellness experiences that will truly improve our lives. I see the Metaverse as an extension of human consciousness, it is the next significant frontier of human civilization. When we organize our projects, we always collaborate with experts, whether in health and well-being or in education. I am very passionate about the Metaverse's ability to provide accessible, scientifically proven quality mindfulness experiences. The idea is to spread the healing arts in the Metaverse. My inspiration started when I lived in Tokyo, from 2005 to 2008. I frequented the gardens of Kyoto, which is the very source of my inspiration for the Metaverse. I believe Kyoto is a living Metaverse because it is a place purely designed for beauty and for higher states of consciousness. Zen philosophy informed every design decision and   every artistic decision of Kyoto. This magical place is timeless and inspiring. I learned the heart of this philosophy at the garden of Ryoanji Temple. The Ryoanji temple garden is one of the oldest and most revered Zen gardens in the world. When I first visited it was so simple and minimalistic. I didn't understand it, but I must have contemplated it and sat there for an hour. And that's when I started to experience Zen and meditation just by sitting there. I realized that it was the Zen monks, over a thousand years ago, who created this space with the aim of bringing Zen to the viewer as a service to humanity.

L'O: This garden was your initial inspiration for your Mars House - the first NFT digital house on the blockchain.
KK: Yes, that was my primary inspiration for the Mars House and my inspiration for the building philosophy of the Metaverse itself.

L'O: Your first meeting with Peter Martin, your co-founder of [0] Metaverse, happened in your Mars House during the lockdown, when there were travel bans. Tell us about this experience.
KK: I invited Peter to meet me in the Mars House on Spatial. We had put on our Oculus headsets, and we chatted so passionately that the conversation lasted 3 hours! The battery life of our headsets. Since this meeting, we have become collaborators and co-founders of zero XYZ . Peter has been in the VR - virtual reality - space for over 20 years. He is a futurist, a genius producer in XR - extended reality - and in immersive technologies. It is therefore a real honor to build [0] in collaboration with a creator of this stature.

L'O: How was your visual manifestation in the Mars House? Have you chosen avatars?
KK: When you're in the Metaverse with one avatar and you meet another avatar, it doesn't matter what you look like. Peter and I had basic avatars in space, we only had the torsos of our bodies, no legs. A picture of our faces was printed on our heads. Our faces moved. It feels like it's making movements and actually being able to move, the avatar responds to your body movements. So it was a fascinating experience because I had never had such a meaningful encounter with someone in the Metaverse before. A human-to-human connection is not expected in the blockchain.

L'O: Since you hadn't met Peter Martin in the flesh. Was it your first encounter on Spatial with someone before you met the person?
KK: It wasn't the first time, but it was the first meeting where I shared elaborate ideas with a fellow futurist.

L'O: It's fascinating.
KK: Absolutely. And what's fascinating is that when you meet in the Metaverse, it's like you really meet the person, because you have a real connection. Many do not understand that one can have real connections with other human beings in the Metaverse and that it can be a mindful experience. We don't feel alone. It gave me the inspiration to pursue this health and wellness project. The whole world is in a sanity crisis and the Metaverse itself is pretty lousy right now. You have Lego influenced spaces and they look terrible. What we need to do is make the Metaverse meaningful by bringing beauty, humanity, and human connection to it, to make it worthwhile. Otherwise, people will not go, there is nothing to motivate them. I believe that immersive therapies and experiences guided by beautiful, healing-inspiring art are the key to bringing mainstream users to the Metaverse.

L'O: How will you create your collaboration spaces within [0] Metaverse? Will there be an organized program of experiences and events?
KK: You are right. There will be organized experiences. I believe that once the Metaverse can expand to thousands of people at a time, millions of people, then you'll have a very healthy and robust experience economy where individuals, even community members , will be able to organize their own events and activate the platform themselves. So you have to have beautiful spaces available for people to use, rent, activate with their community. They will also be able to sell NFTs as token experiences to their communities. So it really is a highly organized collaborative space with quality content. Zero [0] will not only be our zero universe, we will have other universes that we will co-create with our collaborators, like, for example with Reulay which is a VR mental health platform that we are optimizing for the metaverse. We have partnered to create Reulayverse, in collaboration with Dr. Srini Pillay , who is a renowned Harvard psychologist and neuroscientist. We will showcase cutting-edge artificial intelligence and data-driven technology for mental health and healing through artistic immersive experiences. These universes are connected to zero [o]. Our communities will be connected and of course, members of the Reulayverse community will be able to participate, meet and create, with support groups, workshops, etc. The experience economy is key. The creator economy is also essential because without creators and without artists, there is no Metaverse, there is no life force.

L'O: In a recent Twitter conversation about coding, you mentioned that code is part of nature, as a creative mechanism. I quote: “The code is Nature. Code is the language of creation and the language of the universe. Can you explain your point?
KK: I think the language of the universe is code. I think there are algorithms all around us in nature, from the smallest particle on earth to large galaxies. For me, digital is a natural extension of the universe. It is the language of creation and nature. If you contemplate the next frontier and the next stage of human civilization, you will understand that it will be digital. And that the Metaverse is the new frontier of human existence. But that he must also elevate humanity. So yes, it is THE nature. She is part of us. And the further we go into the future, the more we will have this natural hybridization of code in which   we will become a sort of digital extension of our identity. Our bodies will react to the code thanks to advances in biotechnology, such as brain-computer interfaces and bionic body parts that will be standardized. I believe that with advances in quantum computing and artificial intelligence, we will have superpowers at our disposal. We will truly expand the capabilities of human consciousness to infinity, all through code in the Metaverse. It is a very powerful tool.

L'O: So the code becomes, in a way, the new brush of the artist leaving his mark on the canvas. The Metaverse becomes the canvas and the tool the code.
KK: Yes, exactly. By extension, artificial intelligence and quantum computing will become as powerful as the digital Metaverse. Think of the combination of quantum computing and highly advanced wearable devices, even contact lenses or bionic eyes. Everything will allow us to experience digital content seamlessly as if it were a natural extension of our reality. It will be reality because it is perceived as our reality. So when you think about the power of code to expand human consciousness in digital realms... To me, that's the future of human consciousness, which is a direct expression of the code itself. The code will be human expression.

L'O: It's great of you to be an ambassador for mindfulness and positive spaces on the blockchain. But what about the dark side? I'm thinking of Star Wars! There will certainly be detractors and spaces created with far darker intentions.
KK: Yes, there will always be light and dark. It is Yin and Yang. It motivates me as an artist to create a business that guides the Metaverse into light. I am obliged to do it because I have to, I am part of this pioneering generation which must carry a positive message.   I know my work   and my vision will contribute to the future of the Metaverse and human civilization.

L'O: You recently participated in the inauguration of the new LACMA acquisition fund powered by Paris Hilton and her husband Carter Reum. It is an initiative focused on the acquisition of digital art by female artists. You have donated your NFT "Continuum" piece as part of the museum's permanent collection. It's admirable that you and Paris Hilton lead a positive and feminine force in the Metaverse.
KK: It was an honor to be part of this event. When I wrote my master's thesis in 2012, I had studied James Turrell and Robert Irwin as well as many artists from the Californian minimalist movement. Being part of the permanent collection among these legendary artists at LACMA is one of the greatest honors for me.

L'O: What do you think of the place of women in Web3 today? How important is it to you that women are showcased and not in the back seats of technology?
KK: I am very optimistic about empowering women through Web3 3 because there is no barrier to entry. You are free to create a community, no matter who you are, whatever your background. This powerful blockchain technology offers a new future of decentralized co-creation and collaboration. Generally speaking, community and collaboration initiatives are very feminine assets. We are naturally inclined to create a community and to collaborate. I think it's a natural feminine force. Women will find their power in the Web3 because there is no politics to stop us. In fact, I am hopeful that all female communities will have a place and be able to express themselves freely, and be able to create a world in which they believe and where they are free.