Sputniko!

The artist.

Commissioned by UnicornDAO, Menstrualverse offers Sputniko!’s Menstruation Machine as a wearable in Decentraland to examine questions of identity and choice within the emerging landscape of the Metaverse.

The Menstruation Machine first brought the experience of menstruation to physical users. Now made as a wearable for avatars, Menstrualverse aims to bring menstruation to the metaverse.

However, applications made to the platform to approve the wearable were rejected on the grounds that the representation of menstrual blood did not pass Decentraland’s safety and age standards for users. A version of the wearable with the liquid coloured blue, not red, was ultimately approved.

With the dawn of virtual realities altering the way we work, live and interact with each other, these platforms are becoming increasingly woven into the fabric of our society. Who should be left to engineer and design these new realities? Will the Metaverse become a menstruation-free world? What other existing phenomena will become obsolete in our adoption of avatars within these new virtual worlds?

By presenting Menstrualverse against this uncertain backdrop, pertinent questions are raised about the possibilities, and current limitations, of autonomy and bodily performance in the ever-expanding Metaverse.