Project DATA-VERSE originated at the end of 2021, during the peak of the pandemic, when activity on the internet was surging. Four Gen Z artists in Taipei felt a deep-rooted familiarity, akin to childhood companionship, with this digital world that had grown alongside them. The internet had become their second reality, so much so that they captured its ever-changing moments and reinterpreted them as individual frames, akin to sketching landscapes. Thus, the artist collective 2ENTER was formed with the plan to build an interconnected and constantly evolving virtual world.
Two years later, let us step into the DATA-VERSE and take a look.

Referencing numerous contemporary Taiwanese internet symbols and combining them with the diverse styles of Taipei's streets, the artists used a game engine to construct a massive island and city. Within the city, the signage of shops, weather changes, and conversations of residents are all derived from real-time internet information, reflecting the current internet ecology of Taiwan.

In the high skies outside the island, a four men documentary crew captures the island's scenery and streams the footage in real-time through immersive curved projections. In one corner of the exhibition space, several television screens display surveillance footage scattered throughout. In another corner, a VR headset is placed. Wearing it allows one to embody a resident on the island and explore it firsthand. Additionally, a mobile smartphone lets visitors directly interact with the world through a web interface.

In this solo exhibition, audiences will explore the rich and vibrant virtual world of DATA-VERSE from multiple perspectives, identities, scales, and interfaces. The viewing experience is grand and nuanced, offering a multifaceted exploration that resonates with the real world, thriving and ever-evolving.