CARTOGRAPHY OF THE METAVERSE
Giang Nguyen Hoang
The work translates insights from research interviews into speculative maps and cartographic artifacts, tracing connections between ancient mythologies and contemporary spatial systems. It frames the metaverse as both an extension of human spatial
occupation and a parallel world suspended between utopian and dystopian visions. Moving beyond conventional geography, the project suggests that the metaverse enters psychological and metaphysical realms, where inner states, collective consciousness,
and speculative realities become new landscapes to be mapped and interpreted.
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Producer Fabio Iapaolo @sadddden
3D cinematography Phuong Bach Tran @phbatch
Part of the PRIN 2022 research project
“From netizens to metazens: Exploring narratives of virtual worlds and civic engagement in the Metaverse” (D53D23012780006)
Project partners:
Politecnico di Milano/ Università degli Studi di Siena/Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Cây Neo is a twist on the traditional Tet pole (“Cây Nêu”). The name also evokes the Greek “neo” (new), marking the shift from the old to the new.
This piece doesn’t just loop; it lives. Powered by L-system algorithms, the artwork operates as a generative system, autonomously sprouting new branches every hour. These branches grow into nhà ống (tube houses)—a living modern Vietnamese architectural heritage—symbolizing the ceaseless, organic expansion of Vietnam around the clock.
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Curator: @vttienpt
3D artist: @phbatch
Concept and interaction: @giang.it
ARTIST FEATURED IN CHAPALANG
Nguyen Hoang Giang, also known as @giang.it , currently resides and operates from Ho Chi Minh City. His artistic creations encompass multimedia, with a particular emphasis on exploring the social and cultural implications of emerging technologies. Giang's works have gained international recognition, being featured in exhibitions, galleries, and museums worldwide, including Museo del '900 (Italy), Asian Culture Complex (South Korea), Galerie Nord/Kunstverein Tiergarten (Germany), ViaFarini (Italy), MartinGoya Business (China), Galerie Quynh (Vietnam), and Nha San Collective (Vietnam). In addition to his artistic practice, Giang founded Vietnam Media Lab, an curatorial initiative dedicated to advancing digital media arts and design in Vietnam. Since 2020, he has also shared his expertise as a lecturer in Visual Jockey (VJ) at the Digital Media Design department of RMIT University Vietnam
Join me and 'Human-learning' for Singapore Art Week 2026 at the 'Chapalang' exhibition, curated by Prof. Gunalan Nadarajan and Roopesh Sitharan, 22/1 - 1/2/2026
/// About the exhibition
'Chapalang' is a random and seemingly chaotic commingling of things haphazardly put together, and in this exhibition exemplifies cultural strategies and attitudes associated with 'making do'; making one's own the heterogeneity of technologies and things we inhabit. These creative reconfigurings and vernacular appropriations of technologies in Southeast Asia are gathered here to speculate on the radical potential of such cultural practices to unsettle and reimagine our relationship to the technological.
Chapalang is a random and seemingly chaotic commingling of things haphazardly put together, and in this exhibition exemplifies cultural strategies and attitudes associated with 'making do'; making one's own the heterogeneity of technologies and things we inhabit. These creative reconfigurings and vernacular appropriations of technologies in Southeast Asia are gathered here to speculate on the radical potential of such cultural practices to unsettle and reimagine our relationship to the technological.
#SAW2026 #OurSGArts #SGArtWeek #chapalang
"VinA/V #02 – Para-Cartography
Renick Bell (US) × giang.it (VN) – Bất Động Sản (Real Estate)
A live audio-visual performance that explores Vietnam's fluctuating real estate markets and architectural landscape. Blending generative graphics, live coding, algorithmic music, and appropriated images from Vietnamese Kitsch, the work creates a dynamic audiovisual experience reflecting the contrast between vernacular Vietnamese architecture and modern urban development.
📺 Now officially available on YouTube – check it out 👉
https://youtu.be/bk_dJ5wYeUQ
