Bleeding Into The Metaverse

Part of the BLOODY BEAUTIFUL programme.

Bleeding into the Metaverse is a feminist dance party and performance artwork in support of equal rights for menstruating bodies. Even in 2025 images of period blood and menstruating avatars are banned in metaverse environments. In this work, affect lab pays homage to internet pioneers like artist Sputniko! who attempted to make a “period wearable” in the virtual world Decentraland in 2022 but was ultimately blocked by developers at the platform. affect lab took this as an urgent call for digital inclusivity - to celebrate menstruating bodies in the metaverse - and Bleeding into the Metaverse was born.

The work deploys a metaverse-like environment, designed and built by Babusi Nyoni and projected onto the surrounding walls, filled with bleeding dancing avatars. Each human dancer is paired with a virtual dancer / avatar via an app which uses the built-in gyroscopes of participants’ phones to measure the movements of dancers on the dancefloor. The result is a paired rhythmic attunement between avatars and humans and an explosion of movement.

Bleeding into the Metaverse forms part of a larger social movement by affect lab titled Bloody Beautiful which calls for normalising conversations about menstruation and menopause.

Bleeding into the Metaverse was first performed at the iconic night venue Paradiso in Amsterdam in 2023. In March 2025 it was commissioned by Tai Kwun Contemporary for Artists’ Night (in partnership with Art Basel) in Hong Kong.