Throughout history, new technologies, including artificial intelligence and web 3, are often met with dystopian apprehensions, but they also unlock opportunities for transformation. In our interview, Xander Marritt, Creative Director at FIELD.IO, shares his views on the potential of these technologies and the crucial role of creatives in fostering an optimistic outlook for the future.

Bringing The Physical and Digital Worlds Together

In Together: The Distance Between (Us), a 2022 exhibition at The Barbican, London, FIELD.IO invited visitors into a room where an interactive light sculpture followed their movement, translating their positions into light and sound via a digital sequencer, playfully linking their physical selves with the virtual realm. “A lot of our work explores how we can blur the human experience of being in both worlds,” Marrit explains.

This is also evident in their collaboration with Nike, where data-driven visual installations were created for their Rise concept stores worldwide. These stores, located in different cities from Seoul to Santa Monica, are interlinked through digital twins, allowing data from the locations to be combined in real-time and utilised to generate unique visual experiences which are then projected across the different stores. “The exciting thing is that today we can link spaces located in different ends of the world and have them interact to create a completely new and unique experience,” Marrit adds.

“Today, there’s more room for creativity in terms of how we make boundaries between the two worlds disappear.”

Web 3, AI and The Metaverse as Tools For Creative Freedom

For Marritt, one of the most interesting aspects of these new technologies lies in their premise of decentralisation and creative freedom. A shift that he believes will transform us from a skill-based society to a creativity-based one.

“These technologies open up a realm where ideas hold greater power, and technical know-how becomes less of a barrier to create.”

This transition is already well underway, “With AI, we’re already telling computers our vision and having it turn it into reality for us. In Roblox, children are creating new digital experiences without necessarily knowing how to code, ” Marritt says. A recent study by Salesforce found that today, 70% of Gen-Zs already use a form of generative AI in their everyday life. “We’re headed to a future where we can focus more on producing great ideas, and that’s a good thing,” he adds.

Creatives As Architects of Optimism

According to Marritt, FIELD.IO’s driving philosophy has always been about harnessing the positive potentials of emerging technology. “In a landscape dominated by a few giants, it is our role as creatives to propose optimistic, alternative ways of working using technology from the ground up,” he notes.

In 2017, FIELD.IO collaborated with Wired to demystify AI through a series of visuals aimed at engaging the public’s interest in it as a fundamental force changing our society. More recently, they launched FIELD-Lab, a research arm dedicated to uncovering the positive potential of emerging technologies, examining them through the lens of gaming, wellness, materiality and more. “In the end, it’s all about continuous experimentation and using creativity to provide exciting new visions,” Marritt explains.