In an era when the concept of friendship may need to be reinterpreted, the NEXTCOMIC Festival brings relationships to digital life.

Their affinity for mobile devices makes it effortless for them to network with people from all continents. Generation Z is more familiar with the possibilities of digitization than any other generation before. Digital is not only an important part of their lives; the boundaries between real and virtual worlds are blurring in the everyday lives of this young generation. Their meeting points, their need for proximity and affection are also increasingly shifting to a maximally digitized world. Always striving to generate relationships on social networks like TikTok and Snapchat as well, it has become necessary to present one’s own life 24/7 online and as perfectly as possible. But all this also puts enormous pressure on the young people. How is it really going for them? What moves them and how do they deal with social expectations and political challenges? And above all, what does friendship mean to them in an increasingly digitalized everyday life?

In an era when the concept of friendship may need to be reinterpreted, students at the Master School for Communication Design Linz are bringing their comics and drawings on the theme of “Meet me Meta” to life with an augmented reality app. Their works are on display from March 17 – April 9 at the nextcomic festival in the foyer of the Ars Electronica Center, dedicated to stories about old, new and special alliances; close or distant, deep or superficial relationships that manifest in both spatial proximity and vast distance. Gen Z expresses its shift between worlds not only with its flexible use of language, but also with an enormous routine in switching between its virtual and real worlds. With their code word “meet me later,” they suggest a shift in their relationships along the timeline. But what else all do the circumstances in which digital natives have grown up mean? For the language and relationships of an entire generation? For their communication designs, and especially for “Meet me Meta”?

Flow by Anja Diepold

Life holds challenges that often feel unmanageable in everyday life. Friendship is an anchor that can provide support in turbulent times – whether in real life or in the metaverse. Digital Natives can still most readily relate to the connection and accompanying conflicts between real and digital relationships. So in their comics, they don’t just take up the obvious level, like the one between reality and fiction. They also try to address the interpersonal, emotional level of the Internet and the metaverse. Their works show the balancing act of nonverbal and real relationships that “Gen Z” has been doing since its first contact with the internet. The digital space is more than just a platform. It’s a home, a way to maintain contacts that would be lost in the stressful daily grind of growing older.

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