On Friday the 26th of June 2015, a collaborative VR artwork between Vaughan O’Connor and myself was exhibited at the MCA. The 2 artworks, a holographic print and a Virtual Reality (VR) experience were both based on 3D scans of quartzite rocks from Oberon, NSW.
The artworks were on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) ARTBAR – Futures, curated by Dara Gill. Facebook event link here.
I created the VR component of the artwork based on the scans that Vaughan supplied.
Inspiration
Inspiration came from lyrics to a song by Covenant called Bullet.
“As the water grinds the stone,
we rise and fall.
As our ashes turn to dust,
we shine like stars.”
Idea
The idea behind the artwork is that it is a place outside of time. Here, concepts such as gravity, space and time do not behave as you would expect. Tempus Incognito. The events that occur here, in the event horizon, cannot affect an outside observer. The 4 classical elements, fire, air, water and earth are present in this place, reflecting the essential building blocks for all things. Even though we are outside of time, matter still exists albeit in a rather astonishing manner.
Technology
The Quartzite VR artwork was created using Unity (a game engine) and experienced via the Oculus Rift DK2 (a virtual reality headset). The ambient soundscape was composed in Ableton Live and is binaural.
Photos
Some photos by @mightandwonder
- https://instagram.com/p/4ZC9KfRUHL/
- https://instagram.com/p/4ZDwMmRUIp/
- https://instagram.com/p/4ZCSOMxUGU/
Observations
A few interesting things that happened on the night:
- one of the computers decided to misbehave (no audio, no projector)
- someone decided to walk about 2 metres away from the desk. The Oculus is plugged into a computer!
- 2 people decided to look under the desk
- a lot of people stood up to experience the artwork rather than sit down in the seats provided
- People were amazed at the Oculus Rift
- People found the experience soothing, calming and meditative.
- Some people wanted to stay in side the artwork forever!
- People asked a lot of questions about the technical aspects of the artwork
More
Futures also featured performances, lectures and music by: Vaughan O’Connor & Ben X Tan, Michaela Gleave, Josh Harle, 110%, Mark Brown, Eddie Sharp & Mark Pesce, Andrew Frost, Claire Finneran & Alex Kiers, Kate MacDonald, Sitting & Smiling, Baden Pailthorpe, Hubert Clarke Jr, Polish Club and Ryan Saez.
benxtan 