Douglas Coupland shares his outlook on the future of art—and society—in the digital age. In conversation with Daniel Birnbaum at the 2018 Verbier Art Summit, Coupland explains the potential of VR for new productions of narratives:

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Daniel Birnbaum:  If virtual reality is going to change our lives, it will also change a sub-category—small, but very important for some of us:  namely, art—and what do you think?  I mean, now there are people here in the room who are working with this, but do you think it's an entirely new art form coming?  Or will it duplicate everything that has already been done, and recreate it in VR?

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Douglas Coupland:  Well, the sensory part of it is so overwhelming and so wonderful that you forget that they’re probably going to have to throw some storylines in there too, and have new fables. Probably what Netflix is to TV, this is going to be the next Netflix, perhaps, but even then a bit more saturated, a bit more intense.  It is the future of narrative.  I’m certainly looking at it and going, “Ok, what story can you tell here that you can't tell anywhere else?”