Jacky Tsai × Upland — MetaSkull in the Metaverse
Bringing contemporary art into an interactive digital world
20th Oct 2022
In October 2022, Jacky Tsai collaborated with Upland and Froyo Games to bring his MetaSkull collection into a virtual world mapped to real-world addresses. The project translated his distinctive skull imagery into interactive digital objects, extending an ongoing exploration of how art can move between physical and virtual space.
The collection introduced three colour families—Roseate, Carmine and Flaxen—across collectible artworks known as Legits, Block Explorer avatars and sculptural ornaments for virtual properties. Rather than remaining an image viewed on a screen, the skull became something participants could collect, use to represent themselves and place within the environment.
In the architectural ornaments, patterned skulls and flowing, vividly coloured forms sit above miniature buildings, turning familiar virtual properties into unexpected sculptural settings. The interplay of scale, surface and ornament carries Tsai’s visual language into a space shaped by its audience.
Launched during Upland’s Halloween season, the collaboration explored a new context for one of Tsai’s recurring motifs. It forms part of his wider interest in the meeting of art, technology and participation, where an artwork can be experienced as both an object and a presence within a shared world.