Melissa Malzkuhn: My proposal to create a Deaf Club in the Metaverse (BSL)

The concept behind my proposal is to create digital experience of a Deaf Club in 3D, navigable in VR, or on desktop with supported browser. Visitors can enter and explore the building and learn histories, discover Deaf literary greats, and Deaf storytellers, exchange information, and create new connections.

The Deaf Club welcomes ALL visitors, deaf and hearing.

What is my motivation behind this? Deaf Clubs are dwindling today. There are many factors causing this – from changing demographics, landscape, financials, and more. Deaf Clubs used to be prominent in a Deaf community; usually found in cities and near schools for the Deaf. Today, most of the time, Deaf community events are hosted at different venues.

Deaf community is more transient nowadays– but the desire to meet, gather, exchange information remains the same. In the last decade, you can say the Deaf community has been online. There are many groups, clubs, organizations all over Facebook, vlogs and blogs all over various websites – the desire to exchange information remains the same.

Now, with the coming of a new ‘digital age’ – the metaverse, along with it, Web 3.0, and ideas of ‘immersive’ experiences with new technologies that allow for fuller entry into the digital realm – what does it look like for signing bodies? Signing spaces? For Deaf people?

This is precisely why I am proposing a Deaf Club for the metaverse. We need a space to iterate, experiment, modify, and invent. It would be a space to invite others, gather, share, generate, and advance.

The inspiration for the Deaf Club design can be seen in a photo of a former Deaf Club location in San Francisco. The Deaf club there no longer exists. The building is now a restaurant.

Therefore this is what we propose the Metaverse Deaf Club would look like:

What would the experience be like? You slip on the VR headset and you find yourself on a street. It is night. City lights are twinkling. And in front of you- there is an intriguing building with neon lights and signs: DEAF CLUB. An “open” sign blinks on the front.

You get curious. You enter. And you find yourself in a huge building. There are spaces for everything. A huge screen with a stage for performances, storytelling, poetry nights, and screenings. There is a bar. A very chill vibe. You notice photographs, art, and relics – you realize they are moments in Deaf history and culture.

You explore further – and find yourself in an art gallery admiring artwork by Deaf artists from all over the globe. Going further even, you find a meeting room. You browse around and see different books on Deaf culture. You actually might want to read one or two in real life.

You see that there are stairs leading to a very beautiful rooftop terrace. The city lights twinkle on. You know this is VR, so nothing is really real, but this is one excellent view. You notice a telescope at the far corner. What does it show?

You peer in, and to your astonishment, you see something remarkable.

The DEAF CLUB is a space to explore. And it is indeed an experiment in what a metaverse experience can be like.

The concept of a metaverse is so new that there is no universal definition of it yet; this is what makes it exciting. That is when people truly learn something new. It is beyond VR enabled avatars sitting in a meeting room. It is about world building and shifting the narrative.

The DEAF CLUB PROJECT TEAM is made up of: Melissa Malzkuhn- Artist and Project Lead, Arden Schager – Unity Developer and Jian Wang – 3D Animator. The project would also collaborate with the following deaf artists; Christine Sun Kim, Jon Savage, Marissa DiDonna, Ellen Mansfield, Alessio Convito, Belen Navas, Gayle Sanchez, Lori Dunsmore and Grady Malzkuhn.

The work will be debuting at the Gray Area Festival in San Francisco next week (opening to the public Wed., Oct. 18 and on through Sun., Oct. 22), with the link Festival webpage,

The DEAF CLUB exhibition will be debuting at the Gray Area Festival in San Francisco (USA)  from Wednesday October 18th and until Sunday October 22. You can see the full festival info and news about the project on the Festival webpage.

You can contact Melissa to find out more about her proposal on melissa.malzkuhn@gmail.com

Melissa Malzkuhn is an activist, academic, artist, and digital strategist with a love for language play, interactive experiences, and community-based change. She founded and leads creative research and development at Motion Light Lab, at a Gallaudet University research center.