SPOTLIGHT ON VIRTUAL A.I
In the midst of lockdown in 2020, I began contributing to DUMPLING (@dumpling.global), a platform that exists to give more voice to Asia’s creativity and design scene, adopting an Asia-out approach in trends and forecasting. The platform attracts a following to the likes of WGSN, Stylus, McCann, Space10, LVMH and Google.
MADE IN ASIA: GEN V AGENCY //
Shavonne Wong
Founder of Gen V Agency, a Virtual Modeling Agency
📍 Based in Singapore
THE WHAT: Gen V is a virtual modeling agency with 3 girls (to be non-binary/fluid) models on their roster that are ready to be casted in editorial and commercial shoots (@kade.model, @lilium.model, @lunah.model). A photographer, Shavonne ventured into the business of creating virtual models when she was no longer able to go on photoshoots due to COVID-19. “If I can’t photograph a model, I might as well try making one." With her virtual models, Shavonne does not aim to replace traditional models, but rather offer brands a way to bridge their products and messaging into the future. Deliberately creating virtual models with a range of features/ skin tones, Shavonne wants to provide diversity and options for clients.
THE NOW: The world of virtual social influencers is gaining momentum. From @imma.gram, a CGI model based in Tokyo that has worked with luxury brands like @SKII, @dior and @burberry , to @noonouri, the first CGI influencer to sign on with Vogue China, these virtual beings are cultivating a fandom on social media. Given the role of social media in activism lately, we ask Shavonne if her models would have a perspective on current events. “My models will have ‘moods’ but not necessarily represent specific opinions, political positions or otherwise. Ultimately, these are not real humans and so it would be disingenuous or perhaps even dangerous for me to give them belief systems that do not accurately represent those truly impacted by it.”
THE FUTURE: Gen V Agency will start out in the fashion industry but is also open to casting their virtual models as emcees in virtual events or hosts for apps. Shavonne states: “We live in a world where musicians are experimenting with performances in Fortnight and within other VR platforms… [but] we’re in the early stages though, so it will take time for the industry to scale and figure out its direction." DUMPLING thinks that this futuristic mono-channel world of mixed realities might not be that far away. One might have heard of Hatsune Miku (Created: 2007), a Japanese Vocaloid by Crypton Future Media in Japan and Luo Tianyi (Created 2012), Chinese vSinger developed by Shanghai HENIAN Information Technology. Just last year (2019), both virtual singers came together to perform onstage as holograms with 18 other virtual influencers, to nearly 10,000 fans at Bilibili's Macro Link VR concert. DUMPLING predicts that the normalization of virtual influencers, hosts and worlds are not too far away - were we not all dancing in our bedrooms in #virtualclubs and #zoomparties just earlier this year? We ask: Given our tendencies to humanize objects, might the notion of virtual relationships be something that we'd soon come to normalise next?
#virtualinfluencer #virtualmodel #dreamscape #motiondesign