The Meta-Stage: Utilizing Metaverse-Enabling Technologies for Hybrid Co-presence Experiences

This paper introduces the concept for ‘The Meta-stage’ – a concept for live performance arts through the so-called ‘Metaverse’. The Metaverse can be seen as the effort to further facilitate the digital transformation in a scale potentially comparable to the WWW protocol - a vision of an immersive Internet as a unified, persistent, and shared space, with the Meta-stage being a subsequent specialized part of this whole. The paper introduces how the iterations of the Meta-stage have evolved, and how the engagement with the cultural sector, including performing and visual arts such as theater and live performances with an audience, is becoming entangled in the Metaverse. Through a research-through-design overview, the paper explores, which design principles can be established for cultural and public events in the Metaverse?