From cryptoart to the metaverse: interactive museum ecosystems and the case of Museu XYZ

This paper presents an investigation into the emergence and consolidation of museum ecosystems in the metaverse, focusing on a case study at Museu XYZ, a Brazilian native digital institution. Using the research-creation methodological approach, this study examines how an artist’s community embraced Blockchain, Extended Reality (XR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to redefine its practices of curatorship, cultural mediation, and the preservation of digital artistic heritage. Instead of a traditional, centralized curatorship, the results detail the implementation of a decentralized curatorial model through the engagement of artists and collectives. This paper concludes that Museu XYZ operates as an apparatus of militant mediation, transcending the exhibition function to act as a laboratory of possible futures, in which technology serves experimentation, social inclusion, and the expansion of digital arts visibility.