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Athens-based artist Theo Triantafyllidis, winner of the 2026 Frieze Artist Award, will present Feral Metaverse (Spider), 2026, at Frieze London. The work combines a climbable spider sculpture with a multiplayer game, with Google saying its team used Gemini in parts of the creative workflow.
Athens-based artist Theo Triantafyllidis will present a climbable giant spider sculpture connected to a multiplayer virtual world at Frieze London from Oct. 14 to 18. The project, titled Feral Metaverse (Spider), 2026, is the work for which Triantafyllidis received the 2026 Frieze Artist Award, co-commissioned and co-produced with Forma in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.
The work pairs a physical spider-shaped structure with a live multiplayer game. According to Google’s announcement, visitors are invited to help one another climb the sculpture; once aboard its legs, they can enter a shared digital environment where players collaborate and form temporary collective bodies. The experience moves between the physical installation and a screen-based game at the fair.
Google said Triantafyllidis expanded his project team with the award, bringing together sculptors, fabricators, textile designers, game developers and civil engineers. The team used Gemini during development to generate sketches, character designs, backdrops and 3D renders that helped shape the game’s visual style. The announcement describes the AI system as a tool and collaborator in that process, not as the creator of the finished work.
The project is designed around shared participation: players must watch one another, exchange advice and learn how to proceed together. Google characterizes the sculpture as soft and inviting to touch despite its imposing spider form. The announcement does not provide dimensions, construction specifications or details about how many people can use the sculpture or game at once.
The piece links a gallery-floor encounter to an online environment, making cooperation part of how visitors experience the artwork rather than only a theme represented on a screen. People are asked to help each other climb and coordinate in the game, so the project’s central interaction depends on collective participation.
It also offers a public example of an artist integrating generative AI into a broader production team. Google says Gemini contributed to early visual materials, while the work also involved specialists in engineering, fabrication, textiles and game development. That account gives readers a clearer sense of AI’s stated role in this project: one component of an interdisciplinary process, rather than evidence that the system independently produced the installation.
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The Award and the Feral Metaverse
The Frieze Artist Award supports artists as they develop ambitious new work, according to the announcement. Triantafyllidis works across video games, live simulations, performances and physical installations, building playful environments that engage with complex subjects. Feral Metaverse (Spider) brings those formats together in one installation.
Frieze London is scheduled to take place in The Regent’s Park from Oct. 14–18, 2026. The award project is co-commissioned and co-produced with Forma in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. Google’s Oct. 6 announcement says further information about the work’s making is available through Google Arts & Culture.
““Spiders are the original engineers.””
— Theo Triantafyllidis, as quoted in Google’s announcement
interactive multiplayer virtual world games
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Practical Details Still Unreported
The announcement does not specify the sculpture’s size, materials, accessibility arrangements, visitor capacity or whether participants need to use particular devices to access the game. It also gives no technical details about the multiplayer environment, including how players join or how the work will handle visitors who do not climb the structure.
Google describes Gemini’s contribution in broad terms but does not say which generated assets appear in the final experience, how they were edited, or how creative decisions were divided among the artist and team. Those details have not been independently established in the supplied material.
art installation sculpture with digital integration
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The Installation Opens October 14
Feral Metaverse (Spider), 2026, is scheduled to be on view at Frieze London in The Regent’s Park from Oct. 14 through Oct. 18. Visitors will be able to encounter the physical sculpture and its linked game at the fair, according to the announcement. Further reporting or information from the organizers may clarify access, capacity and the technical setup once the installation opens.
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Key Questions
Who created the giant spider artwork?
Athens-based artist Theo Triantafyllidis created Feral Metaverse (Spider), 2026. He is the recipient of the 2026 Frieze Artist Award.
Where and when can visitors see it?
The work is scheduled to appear at Frieze London in The Regent’s Park from Oct. 14 to 18, 2026.
Is it only a sculpture?
No. The project combines a climbable physical sculpture with a live multiplayer game in a shared digital environment.
How was Gemini used?
Google says the team used Gemini to help generate sketches, character designs, backdrops and 3D renders during development. The announcement does not specify which AI-generated materials are in the final work or how they were revised.
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