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Before the "metaverse" there were Object and Spatial Quicktime VR experiences that simulated what we now refer to as virtual worlds.
DC Spensley
INTRODUCTION
Metaverse Producer / Project Leader / Virtual worlds experience architect.
contact dc@spensley.com
ABOUT
Architecture is user interface in virtual worlds.
Virtual space becomes a real place when we are there together. That’s the whole secret. It’s about creating the conditions for community.
ACHIEVEMENTS
What does it take to be considered a pioneer of social virtual worlds?
DC Spensley began the journey as a social virtual worlds pioneer in 2006. Since then he has built for exhibitions, clients, and festivals internationally. Spensley won an UNESCO Award for Virtual Architecture in 2007, and has appeared in myriad magazines, academic journals, including Reuters, The New York Times, V2 Lab for Unstable Media, New World Notes, Art21 Online, Fiber Culture Journal, and many others.
18 years
Virtual Worlds Producer
UNESCO Award 2007
Virtual Architecture
SERVICES
What I can do.
I conceive of, design, and execute insightful experiences in social virtual worlds, on any platform.
Conception
Virtual worlds are not the same as the 2D web. Visitors, conditions, and realities differ. As an artist steeped in Critical Theory, I avoid the mistaken assumptions of the flat web and unleash the potential of the 3D web for art, entertainment, and daily living.
Design
As a designer/art director with decades of experience in typography, color theory, composition, UI/UX, and visual systems of all kinds. I have an instinct for user centered design and contemporary solutions that work across media, and platform.
Execution
Decades of experience building teams, and providing creative recruitment and leadership means focused, visionary collaborators in every area of a project.
RESUME
Experience
There are many who claim to be experts in the “metaverse” but still only a few real pioneers in social virtual, XR, and simulated worlds. As someone who began this journey in 2006, I am a well known, seasoned, and verifiable expert.
Quicktime VR
1995-2006
Designer/Developer
Second Life
2006-Current
Artist/Producer/Director
Arguably one of the most prolific artist/designers in Second Life history. I still hold the record for the highest single art sale at $L 500,000 and responsible for the largest sculptural object ever made in Second Life. Other accomplishments are creator of the first, and only inflight musical theater group the ZEROG SkyDancers, performing for virtual and actual audiences all over the world.
New Art City
2020-Current
Experience Architect
Early adopter to web enabled 3D world toolkit. Responsible for over a dozen original, stand-alone, simulations in this space.
Platform Explorer/Virtual Citizen
1995-Current
Virtual Media Theorist
The core of my education at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI = BFA) and CADRE Laboratory for New Media (SJSU = MFA) was Critical Theory, a contemporary field of philosophy that looks deeply into culture and meaning. Everything I make or write about is informed by theory whether I am pushing back against it or using theory to support an assertion or design. With this in mind I explore wildly, observe, record, analyze, and range far from comfortable home bases in more established worlds like Second Life or New Art City. I've done hands on work in MetaVRse, LayAR, BuildAR, Minecraft, Blue Mars Light, OpenSim, Cloud Party, Hello Kitty Online, and video game interventions in World of Warcraft, Tribes, Counterstrike, Population One, and many others.
SKILLS
Skillset
UI/UX in Virtual Worlds
Reflexive/Responsive/Architecture
Virtual World Building Projects
Video Editor/Writer/Storyteller
New Media Artist
PORTFOLIO
Selected Work
As it happens, 3D worlds emerge and recede often as technologies change, and as the winds of commerce blow. Some of the examples here are still available online and others exist only as documentation but are included to provide examples for discussion. For a comprehensive look at my body of work please visit dcspensley.com
NAC - Exhibition Catalog
The Lumen/Leonardo 3D site was created as an online exhibition catalog for the 2020 Lumen Digital Art Prize in the New Art City (NAC) toolkit. Treading the line between exhibition and documentation, this project created a digital bond between the New Media publisher Leonardo and the digital art exhibitors The Lumen Prize.
Ars Plastica is a stand alone virtual world created in Unity based on a science fiction story. Over 10,000 entities are tracked in real time and governed by a unique AI crafted for this multiuser world attempt at a homeostatic ecosystem complete with plants, herbivores, and predators in real time simulation.
NAC - World Artwork Chandelier
Chandelier is an experimental artwork world created in New Art City (NAC) to use the allure of a precious object to entice visitors to experience a unique sound artwork. As visitors navigate this 3D web world, they create their own soundscape based on their position in Cartesian space.
Second Life - The Forgotten Sentry
The Forgotten Sentry is a Virtual theater production commissioned by PhD researchers at Simon Fraser University as a field test considering the possibility of eliciting and measuring emotional impact of theater in social virtual worlds.
Minecraft - MineOpticon ll
MineOpticon ll is an hour long theatrical production built and performed in Minecraft. Avatar Actor/Players performed precision choreography responding to voice cues. The performance was simulcast in galleries in San Francisco, and Vancouver, BC.
METAVRSE Engine - BoxLand
BoxLand was commissioned for art Basel by software company METAVRSE to showcase the capabilities of their METAVRSE engine.
CUSTOMERS
Selected Toolkits/Platforms
TESTIMONIALS
What do colleagues say about me?
"DC Spensley is an immersive experience architect who excels in combining creativity with technical skills. He creates digital landscapes that are captivating and go beyond limits. He has an innate ability to blend cutting-edge technology with compelling narratives, which makes him an exceptional visionary. At CODAME, we have worked with him, and we can attest to his dedication to creating immersive experiences that leave a lasting impression. From conceptualization to execution, DC Spensley ensures that each project is memorable and engaging for the audience. He ensures that the people in our community are not just spectators but active participants in unforgettable journeys."
Bruno Fonzi
CTO at TeamSystem, Founder CODAME
"DC is one of those special creatives that look beyond what is and design and create what could be. I have always been impressed with DC's artistic talent but also consummate professionalism. It is becoming more rare that developers and designers and creatives deliver on-time and on-budget and that really matters in today's fast paced world. "
Alan Smithson
Father, Founder, Futurist at METAVRSE
"DC is a creative leader in all that he engages from analysis, concept, and ideation to full timely implementation. Spensley makes collaboration both expansive while simultaneously a grounding experience with the vast knowledge base he possesses as a world maker. If an answer cannot be found, DC will find a way to imagine through making experimental prototypes finding precise seamless solutions. "
Gustavo Rincon Ph.D., M.Arch., M.F.A., B.S., B.A.
AlloSphere @ UCSB Curator DigitalFUTURES World Co Director. ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community Senior Cmte. Mem. New Media Architecture(s) Founder
DC Spensley is among the very first artists to leverage the enormous, still-emerging possibilities of virtual worlds as a new art form.
Wagner James Au
Author of Making a Metaverse That Matters (Wiley, 2023) and The Making of Second Life (HarperCollins, 2008)
PRICING
I work remotely out of Virtelier, my studio in San Francisco. I’m available to meet in virtual worlds, VR, video chat, and attend F2F meetings in the Bay Area. Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Areas. Pricing varies according to project type, timeline, and availability.
FAQ
Send me an email at dc@spensley.com
Available for commercial work?
Happy to discuss commercial projects on a time and materials basis, or as an employee.
What platforms to you use?
I am platform agnostic and can use any platforms or toolkits to realize a vision. The software changes all the time instead of memorizing a toolkit, I apply an intrinsic understanding of the virtual experience to any tool I use. Also, most projects are team efforts and I work with high quality content experts, and seasoned developers to deliver.
Coder or 3D artist for my project?
While I have in the past done coding, and 3D for my own projects, I have a stable of specialists who are faster and more skilled than I am in specific areas. I dream up the project, establish the vision and art direction, and manage production to delivery.
New Media Art Engagements?
Yes. I have been an exhibiting artist in museums, galleries, art fairs, and biennials for decades and am happy to participate in art for art's sake projects schedule allowing.
contact dc@spensley.com