Gabriel Massan and LYZZA share a vision: to construct novel universes,inviting exploration and interpretation. This shared ethos is central to Third World, described by Massan as a multi-layered, “offline metaverse,” a “consciousness-raising game that explores Black indigenous Brazilian experience.” Commissioned by Serpentine Arts Technologies and incorporating Web3 elements via the Tezos Blockchain, the game challenges ignorance surrounding the outdated concept of the “third world.” It draws upon shared cultural memory, speculative archaeology, fictional narratives, and the creation of virtual environments reflecting emotional landscapes rather than lived realities or representations. Third World also acts as a platform for a growing collective of artists, developers, and critics, including Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, Carlos Minozzi, Masako Hirano, Marcinho Manga, Ralph McCoy, Alexandre Pina, and LYZZA, who not only composed the soundtrack but also contributed to the sound design throughout the game.

Drawing inspiration from academic Saidiya Hartman‘s concept of “critical fabulation,” which blends fictional elements with factual accounts to enrich narratives about Black history, Massan and LYZZA utilize their personal experiences as guiding principles in their world-building endeavors. Their work invites a re-evaluation of our relationship with the world, fostering a collaborative narrative process that, in Hartman’s words, serves as “a way of naming our time, thinking our present and envisioning the past which has created it.”

LYZZA: Gabriel and I worked on Third World simultaneously; he was building the world as I was creating the sounds separately.Working with sound design prior to this, I would usually receive finished material and then work through that, but at this point it was so abstract, there was nothing except for mood boards of what the world would look like. We realy do like the same kind of references.

Gabriel Massan: Cute and disturbing! I always want to bring everyone that inspires me to co-create, to imagine themselves in a different reality. I want my friends to experience a world that is not based on their identities, to rethink everything in a way that is not really related to us or the way we are.

L: That’s what I found so interesting about working on this video game together! I had no idea what the final project was gonna look like,I just had notes and keywords from you.

GM: I didn’t want to bring any specific sound references as the game’s not based on the idea of representation, unlike the first game I made with artists from rural areas in Brazil, which was for young children living in favelas. This time I knew I was working in Europe and that my audience was mostly white, so I didn’t want to give them my identity for them to play with.This was my way of exploring the ignorance towards the concept of the “third world.” How can I criticise how peopel navigate the world itself? We are entering this era of digital worlds and we’ll probably be navigating those worlds with the same concepts and in the ways we are navigating the real world. How can I make a world in which you’re thinking that you’re doing one thing, but you’re actually being portrayed in another? I like to disturb and to annoy and to cause discomfort, as this is somthing that I feel almost every day. I love to make things that don’t really make any sense,for you to find the sense in yourself. Sometiems this sense is problematic, because you are problematic! This is what I like to reflect in my work, this nonsense that in the end is not senseless, it’s meaningful.

L: Through the removal of sense you create space for people to fill, that’s the only way you’re gonna be able to find yourself in a world where everyone is tied to their physical identity. It’s not just Black people, it’s everyone. The only way to get people to actually find out who they are is by removing this sense of what the world wants to put upon us. some people think that my music is uncomfortable,but I hope that everybody can listen to it.I do like to rustle some feathers,but more to expand your horizons and make you question things. I don’t necessarily want people to be disturbed. If you are, maybe there’s a reason for that, you can figure that out by yourself. What I love about art is being able to create something that is critical, but still finding some way to reach out your hand to people and let them into that critique. My rift with the music and art industry is that the digestibility of the finished product is valued over certain conversations that should be had. Artists get forced into a system where everyone has to understand their work, leading their audiences to stop questioning it completely, which then creates a very homogenous culture. That’s how a lot of things slip through the cracks.

Navigating Digital Worlds and Identity

I like to disturb and to annoy and to cause discomfort, because this is something that I feel almost every day.

GM: we live in a world where everything needs to be explained. everything needs to be digested.

L: I always think about this when it comes to our work. Within fine art it’s acceptable to make people uncomfortable; it still can be considered great art. This is what I struggle with in music-for some reason everything has to be liked.I don’t necessarily make music that’s supposed to be digested to a point where you like it; it’s supposed to make you feel something that is not always enjoyable. That’s what is really cool about your art as well, it does definitely make you feel things. A lot of visual art, especially 3D work, is so commodifiable and so easily turned into a product. It can very quickly become something that’s supposed to look super pretty, all smooth and bubbly. A big part of what makes your work uncomfortable is that you take the time to include so much texture.

GM: But at the same time I’m using cute colours and cute drawings. It creates some confusion, which I like.

L: There’s so much power within that. I have always loved no