A Systematic Exploration of Interreal Translations in the Media Multiverse

What will be the shape of the mediated reality to come?

Current models include a single interconnected immersive metaverse, an increasing integration between physical reality and ambient technology, and a postdigital disaffection towards immersive technologies.

InterReal argues that the most probable outcome, in the near future, will not be the identification of a clear avenue, but rather a multiplication of “realities”: a Media Multiverse.

This multiverse encompasses all kinds of media-generated virtual spaces, from those of immersive Virtual Reality (VR), to the layers of Augmented Reality (AR) visualized over the physical world, and to the virtual worlds of digital games.

At the centre of the semiotic workings of the multiverse are mechanisms of interreal translations: specific forms of intersemiotic translation that transfer objects, spaces, or subjects across realities.

InterReal aims to develop an innovative approach to study and understand translations between different realities, and how they could influence our future.

The project objectives advance our empirical understanding of interreal translations (Obj1), our methodological capacity to approach them (Obj2) and the creation of a theoretical framework to understand the media multiverse (Obj3).

To do so, we propose a combination and innovation of methods and approaches from translation studies and speculative research.

The analytical approach (WP1) will provide us with a nuanced understanding of the current state of interreal translations.

The speculative approach (WP2) will offer a critical look to the current ideologies and future possibilities related to the development of the media multiverse.

The synthesis between the two (WP3) will pave the way for a new discipline: Multiverse Studies, which we urgently need as our mediascape becomes increasingly complex, difficult to navigate and fragmented.