Immersive Blog
Emerge: Immerse
UWE MA Virtual & Extended Realities Degree Show - Class of 2020 & 2021. Presented Virtual Architecture & first STUDIOTEC VR prototype..
RSC Dream
Dream is a live motion capture performance by The Royal Shakespeare Company that showcased the future of virtual theatre by allowing the audience to interact with the actors in real time. The audience is guided by Puck who introduces the behind the scenes technology before donning the VR headset and the frame cuts to the virtual forest. Puck’s route is lit by the audience controlling fireflies and as the story progresses we meet the other characters all perfomed by actors wearing motion capture suits - Peasebottom, Moth, Mustardseed and Cobweb. The fourth wall is broken in the end sequence by returning the frame to the design studio with the actors in front of a larger video wall and the performance can be seen from the perspective of the real world. The event concluded with a Q&A that included a demonstration of the way that the Cobweb character is brought to life using movement of the actor detected by the motion cameras.
MOR: Immersive Arcade
The Immersive Arcade is an exhibition featuring the works of selected British XR artists currently being shown in the Museum of Other Realities. Volume One - Realities & Dimensions, built in partnership with Kaleidoscope and Digital Catapult, showcases The Invisible “A binaural audio production best experienced seated and in the dark. When the lights go out close your eyes”; Notes on Blindness “an immersive VR project based on John Hull’s sensory and psychological experience of blindness”; Fly “enables you to become a time travelling pilot”; and Common Ground “a VR documentary narrative exploring the history, politics and human face of the current crisis in the UK housing system”.
InReal-Time Event
Last night I attended the InReal-Time event created by Metaxu Studio in the Social XR platform Mozilla Hubs. The event was themed around the concept of ‘Embodiment: human connection in a digital world’ by showcasing work from Kim Baumann Larsen and Youcef Hadjazi and aimed to bring awareness about the potential of VR. The space itself was fantastic to explore and comprised of a mixture of galleries, meeting spaces and centre stage with presentations from the artists. It also serves as a virtual location for those working in this sector to connect and I for one can’t wait for the next event in the space!
Alice: Curiouser & Curiouser Event
I attended a preview event of the upcoming Alice exhibition hosted by the V&A in the Engage platform that was aimed to be an at-home experience that would give visitors a glimspe of the exhibition being created. Upon entering the experience I was transported into a virtual V&A foyer for a presentation given by Kate Bailey, the lead curator for the Alice exhibition, who said that Wonderland is the “perfect world for VR” and allowed “Alice’s impossible journey through a fantastical universe becomes possible in this exciting new creative platform." The exhibition represents a digital frontier for the V&A as it is the first experience that they have created that is both physical and virtual. The physical exhibition will be sited in the subterranean Sainsbury Gallery that will be accessed from the grand staircase to signify falling down the rabbit hole and will mark the transition between the real and imaginaery worlds. The phyiscal and virtual spaces will be separated into 5 different sections that will be experienced as if travelling through an adventure from the books. Section 1 will showcase how Alice was originally created and will feature locations such as Oxford where Lewis Carroll penned the first story; Section 2 goes back to the Victorian era centred around a pier and explores a variety of different film intepretations; Section 3 looks at different reinterpretations of the books over the years and focusses on the resurgence of popularity in the 1960’s; Section 4 considers how Alice has been staged and how wonderlands have inspired productions, with the latest V&A version based on Icelandic artist Kristjanas Williams illustrations; and the final chapter concentrates on what is like being Alice: “In a virtual world curiousity rewards and anything is possible!“. Curious Alice VR is available on viveport, several articles have since been published regarding the creation of the VR experience and the exhibition opens at the V&A on 27th March 2021.
ARS Electronica
Festival for Art, Technology & Society set in Kepler’s Gardens ‘A global journey mapping the ‘new’ world’. The festival consists of VR gardens that have been created in Mozilla Hubs arranged by country hubs and a world space gallery. Access to the space is initially through a Departure Hall that teaches the Mozilla Hubs onboarding process and then you are lead to a Navigation Interface to explore on your own. I really enjoyed exploring the New Zealand Aotearoa garden and the lab HUB created by Arc/Sec to showcase their Light Wing, Light Scale ii, Light Tank and Singularity exhibitions. I visited several other hubs and some of the ones that stood out included: Unseen Sacred Spaces - allowing a view into invisible spaces, WADS - a space with a space concept; Garden of Third Life - focus on the future garden where reality and virtual integrate; and The Barlett School of Architecture - features student work, research and links to partners hubs such as ScanLAB & Jason Bruge.
Bristol Open Doors
Bristol Open Doors festival, organised by The Architecture Centre, takes place in September every year and gives visitors a unique opportunity to peek into some of city’s iconic landmarks and have access to spaces that would not normally be open. Due to Covid-19 and social distancing guidelines the festival had to be reinvented this year and is taking place as a series of digital audio walking tours. These have been created by Echoes who create immersive experiences using geolocated sound and AR audio and each tour features several audio zones that activate at various points along the route. For my festival experience I joined the Vibrant City tour on the first day, that was centred around Bristol’s arts culture, and was also given access to the Historic Bristol and Hidden Harbour tours. I then teamed up with the Open Doors crew to offer stewarding and tech support for the remainder of the festival.
Open City Documentary Festival
Expanded Realities is a virtual exhibition to celebrate digital art, interactivity and new media that launched as part of Open City Doucmentary Festival 2020. I attended several talks and films screenings including 2020: State of Exception, Worldbuilding in VR and A Space Journey.
2020 State of Exception was created by Merijn Royaards and Henrietta Williams: “sets out to connect viewers across digital space into an experiential understanding of our own bodies and our place within the surveilled city”. The film starts with scenes from London at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown and captures the eerie city streets - birds can be heard chirping juxtaposed against the police helicopter that is enforcing the lockdown. The viewer is encouraged to actively experience the work by following the onscreen instructions to reinforce the message “We are together apart”. The banishment of the citizens resonates through separation, isolation and lack of freedom but as Giorgio Agamben concluded in his work, the state of emergency could not last and the need of the people to reclaim the space through their civil rights and the Black Lives Matter protest would prevail.
Paisley Smith gave a talk entitled World Building for VR in which she outlined her worldbuilding process, honed from a workshop that she runs on the subject, and discussed the impact that it has on the creation of storyworlds and the narrative. She decribes world building as a new way to tell stories that can be acheived by coming up with all the details of the storyworld. Once the shell of the world is created it is possible to imagine the people living in the world and this can be used to solve problems in the physical world by examining different perspectives that can exist in a future world. She presented her golden rules of world building: keep going, say yes, trust and have fun! Then using Homestay, a VR piece about greiving, she outlined how the world building approach helped to tell such a personal marrative, inspired by a Japanese reflecting garden that echoed the story and rooted the experience. The challenge is that VR can be limitless, go on forever, and so there is the need for creative boundaries. She presented a lo-fi plan of the world with all the key elements arranged and stressed the importance of trying out early ideas. The interaction element of the story was also carefully considered as initially the participant can touch the leaves but as the experience continues this ability fades and the goal was to play with the frustrations of the audience by being reflective of the greiving process and never having clarity or answers.
I also joined Arkivet for a A Space Journey, designed to be: “an interactive scenography that invites you to embody, translate, move, and be moved by your immediate surroundings”. It gave me the opportunity to rediscover my tiny flat in a new light by looking at the space from a different angle, record the sounds that have irritated me for years then when replaying these in a different space discovering that I do have an affinity with them, and creating my space imprint. Wall Wall Wall Bookcase Table Sofa Floor Lamp Radiator Window Desk TV Chair Sink Corridor!
Venice VR Extended
As part of the Venice International Film Festival, Venice VR Expanded takes place on the fictional island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, where, in previous years the festival has be been hosted in reality. I accessed the festival on a Quest headset through VRChat - a new platform to me - and after some initial onboarding and haphazard avatar creation I was ready to make my way into the festival. The opening world included trying on several venetian masks in front of a mirror and gondola ride to the island that proved to be a nice touch. On arrival at the island the festival was housed in an open roofed building with the film listing on the main wall and doors to each experience accessed by travelling down the red carpet. This made for an interesting foyer but given the odd teleportation mechanic used in VRChat (point then wait for you avatar to travel to the end before letting go of the grip on the controller to move) made it time consuming to get to the ‘films’ at the far end of the building and upon exiting each film the experience restarted at the entrance to the building that I found both frustrating and detracting from the films themselves. It was also disappointingly that only the 3DOF experiences could be experienced fully (and I’d already seen First Step and Home at Tribeca) whereas the 6DOF experiences were only available as previews on the Oculus Quest. I was directed to VRChat on the PC desktop in Terrain however this failed to launch for me. I have included some screen shots below of my Venice VR Expanded experience and I hope that I will be able to see some of the 6DOF experiences at another time.
The Pulse Episode 1: Architecture - Virtual Spaces and the Future of Collaboration
Talk about virtual collaboration in architecture chaired by David Balsuto and panellists Cobus Bothma from KPF, Jan Bunge from Squint/ Opera and David Weir McCall from Epic Games. They began by referring to the Macleamy Curve and recognised that immersive technologies have the potential to create more efficient workflows (the ulitmate goal). Cobus highlighted the need for collaboration in VR at the critical stages of a project such as early concepting where architects are exploring and developing the designs. He felt that a key benefit to a company such as KPF with global sites would be to reduce the need for travel and enable teams to work in a more connected way. Jan showcased Space Form, a collaboration architectural presentation tool that Squint Opera have created to help stakeholders ‘experience’ the design before construction begins. The tool goes beyond the traditional walkthroughs by presenting a narrative and a context to facilitate better understanding of complex design schemes.
They both highlighted that another benefit of using immersive technology isn’t just to the clients but also to the designers, engineers etc who can test out how things will actually look and how they will work from an emotive perspective, concluding that architects are experience designers and visualising in VR allows the viewers to judge the how something actually feels. The ability to test and verify in VR adds an additional layer of simulation and influences design thinking, hence the importance of its adoption early in the project. David stressed the value of real time working so that changes can be made instantly and Jan felt that almost all projects should start with a virtual model to help to understand the physical space. Asked about the future of virtual collaboration they concluded that it is likely to be determined by the way that the physical and virtual interact, for example 3D virtual models blended with physical models; architecture will need to be designed like software - iterative and changeable even after built; and the neuroscience part of spatial design will be more important than ever as how we as humans experience the spaces will be key. In terms of real time visualisation we will have new ways of presenting to clients in a more interactive way through more compelling dialogue and participation.
Walkthrough & Interactions with Unity & 3ds Max - Part II
Continuation of the work undertaken with the Brewhouse Office Interior Scene. Fixtures and fittings have been aded in 3ds Max and a VRay scene rendered for comparison. Two Unity files have been created, one that contains baked RT lighting and features an animated camera path with locator map along with accompanying executable file with a First Person Controller for full interactivity. The second scene has been prepared for PCVR (via the Oculus link) and provides locomotion, UI and grabables by making use of the XR Interaction Toolkit.
The Fabric of Reality
Immersive fashion “phygital” experience (a merger of physical and digital) created by RYOT and hosted in the Museum of Other Realities that showcases leading digital artists in collaboration with fashion designers. A platform for unheard stories designed to demonstrate the shift in fashion from from analogue to digital with the creation of sculptural 3D garments that are combined with storyworlds - self contained universes inspired by their fashion design concepts.
Darmara - Fashion tech cyborg who studies the relationship between the physical body and digital identity. Curator of extended and interative reality fashion experiences. Collaborated with Sutu to create ‘Symbotic Wear’ - realities that humans can only experience when connected to technology. Transparency of layers represent the invisibility of deep ocean creatures and light used to communicate. “Welcome to the inner bubble”, inviting the viewer to cross the portal, into an unknown layer of how the garment is made up, through symbosis with the virtual environment. Expansion of the wearable vocabulary.
Sabinna - passion for craft and an affinity for technology. Her focus is innovation, storytelling and conciousness. Explore human connections and interactions in digital spaces. Collaborated with VRHUMAN to create ‘A Stitch in Time’. Bridge between hand made and virtual presented the opportunity to connect two worlds. Eternity coat that represents the VR world that you get to see inside - ‘Inception’ analogy, we are a sum of our memories and thoughts. Concept of reconnecting to one another and need to look at the story world from the outside i.e. exiting. and explore the meaning of space and time. Crystals used as a way of looking into the future and also a way of reflecting back the past.
Charli Cohen - A brand at the intersection of style and technology - performance, sports wear and high fashion. Wants to bring to the fore issues such as mental health using brand storytelling. Collaboration with Gudetama - uses dark humour as a coping method. Partnering with Anana Duncan their concept looks at the masks that we all wear to conceal our struggles and vunerabilities. The garment featured is the Why? coat - upcycled from sleeping bags to make sure every day that needs to be can be a duvet day.
Credits: ‘The Fabric of Reality’, produced by RYOT in partnership with The London College of Fashion’s Fashion Innovation agency, Kaleidoscope. Relevant article: The Changing Face Of Fashion - How Virtual Fashion Is Going To Make The Unimaginable Real
#VRHAM Virtual Reality & Arts Festival
VRHAM Virtual is an experimental digital festival curated in the Museum of Realities (MOR) app to showcase outstanding artistic VR work from all over the world. The museum itself contained several pieces of virtual art that could be explored and a virtual annex that housed the festival collection spread across several rooms. Using MOR I attended virtual talks given by the some of the VR artists, an interview with Johan Knattrup Jensen and Mads Damsbo who discussed their piece Martyr – A Bloody Dinner Performance and a workshop hosted in LavaMuseum built in Mozilla hubs to understand more about how VR art is created. The VRHAM youTube also featured some exciting work by emerging artists from the Institute of Experiemantal Architecture and a particularly striking piece, Counterfactual Methodology, explores the relationship between actual and reality within the topic of the human within virtual art.
VR/ AR Global Summit
The VR/AR Global Summit is a virtual conference about virtual and augmented reality and I’ve been attending a number of talks for the last 3 days on the online app and YouTube live. The talks that resonated most were ‘Remote Collaboration & Virtual Conferences, The End of Distance, and The Future of Work’ presented by Charlie Fink; ‘The Future is for eVRyone!’ presented by Ollie Rankin and interviews with the VRARGS Futurists and Amy Abernethy discussing the importance of ‘Perspective Taking in VR’.
In his talk Charlie Fink presented the XR Directory, a volume of work undertaken by himself and his students to evaluate the companies in XR offering remote colloration and virtual conference tools. Success was determined by the transparency of the technology, the balance between agency and presence to create the right level of engagment, and the ability to create desirable spaces in terms of worldbuilding. Completely on trend given the current Covid-19 situation and a neat analysis of bringing to fruition tools that might facilitate the underlying summit statement that this is a ‘killer moment for VR’.
Ollie Rankin argued for a more inclusive approach to VR in terms of accessiblity, sustainability and diversity by using the once in a generation opportunity presented by Covid 19 to rethink both the way VR is being developed and by whom to create a new future that steers away from bias and inequality. He suggested that honesty and transparency; surrounding yourself by people different to you; taking only what you need and do no harm would be a good approach and concluded that VR, as new industry, was uniquely placed to implement these ways of working from the outset to build a future for everyone.
The VR Futurist Behice Ece Ilhan shared some thoughts on how brands should be thinking of and reaching consumers of the future by understanding that the ecosystems of reality are changing as more and more people are onboarding into the digital. This change has taken place over several decades: initially with print, then relationships to social media and final frontier of digitalising experiences in VR/AR. The impact will be new and unique demands on brand storytelling. In her talks, Amy Abernethy defined Perspective Taking as ‘the active contemplation of others’ psychological experiences’ and expressed the importance of this consideration in the way that we talk to each other in VR.
GTC Technology Conference 2020
GTC Digital is the training, research, insights, and direct access to the brilliant minds of NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference online from Silicon Valley.
Virtual Reality's Continued Impact in the World of AEC
VR helps with design simultations with interactions, spatial understanding and end users get to experience beforehand. Several case studies shown however the most interesting was one that focussed on Real Estate, a VR replica using CAD and Unreal to create memorable experience. Along with the VR, static rendering can be obtained (and this means the ray tracing can be used on the GPU at 4K) and can also create 360 tours (fully rendered using RoundMe) export from game engine NVidia Ansel. Essential for users without the high power PC’s or mobile VR devices that have less computing power (reducing both complexity and quality). The challenge has always been to get the high res content onto less powerful devices. Bridge the gap via the NVidia Cloud XR. The SDK allows the streaming of content rendering on a high spec machine directly to a mobile device (no content is rendered on the device).
Image Credits: Round Me, Bulley & Andrews, Getty Group, Mohawk,
Frame 2020 Awards
Talk: User Interspace. Human Connection through Digital Media. “Screen-based technology is often blamed for segregating users, both from each other and their environment. But stepping beyond - or into - the screen actually brings us closer together?”
The discussion centred on the way communal experiences are designed to increase connections between people by making use of interactive and digital media. It was argued that regardless of the digital medium: “the principle of bringing people together is the physical appearance and the physical space” (MoMA’s Ramona Bronkar Bannayan). Teamlab are focussing on the ‘power of the phygital’ and bringing people in to be part of the work yet it begs the question: how do you have a sense of being in a digital world? The answer given is by seamlessly integrating the technology to allow the spaces to change and by doing so our emotions toward those spaces are automatically changed. We are used to digital media so its unlikely to be an intrusion and as Bruckner puts it: “‘I think that in the very near future we won't have a borderline between real reality and virtual reality anymore”. For a designer to succeed in creating this they will need to consider the humanity of their solutions because: “One of the main challenges we will have in the future is how to create spaces that do not need interfaces. When we talk about spatial design, the user should have an experience, but not an interface.” (Babinsky).
Babinsky also stressed the importance of digital and physical worlds coming together and the creation of hydrid systems. He invited the panellists to showcase projects that succeeded in combining these ideas (after demostrating those that didn’t). Uwe Bruckner showed a recent project by Bruckner Atelier of a solo and collaborative experience that utilised digital technology as an integral part of the public intereaction - mechanics such as scrolling and touching enabled them to find out more (Grand Egyptian Musuem). For his visionary piece he selected Das Totale Tanz Theater by the Interactive Media Foundation, a stunning perfomance piece based on an adaption of a Bauhaus ballet that blurs the boundary between reality and virtual. The making of which consisted of the filming of the dancers then the application of VR; the art was performed then digitalised. Takashi Kudo from the art collective teamLab showcased the real time interactive artwork Flowers & People that invites people into the work and once inside they can make changes. Daan Lucas from Random Studio felt that the luxury retail shops were all the same - cold and boring and the addition of digital techology would only compound the problem. He presented that view that a more welcoming humanistic approach was required and cited the Gucci Concept Store NYC with its music and couches, playfulness and party atmosphere as an more rounded approach.
So how can the techology be added? How can we make sure that it enhances the spaces and that people know how to and want to interact? Spatial design must not be static, it must be inviting you in and included not just for its own sake. It should simplify complexity and open windows to secret worlds. An interesting thought is what is real in the virtual world? What is the interface? In a cubic cinema - Shanghai Expo 2010 - the narrative made the people move around. Everything was a screen and they were embedded in a new environment. And they played a role. Gamification and playfulness will help people want to interact - human instinct is to met people, make friends, be real in the digital world by using technology to help them feel like they belong. If the space created is remarkable then they will want to come back to see each other again. Allow for participants to impact their environment by removing barriers - communicate in your own langauge, create reactive systems and responsibility for your response. Dedicate spaces to a certain themes and allow reaction in the space. The example given was of a flexible fabric that can be moved in and out - this is a response - behaviour means responsibility. You behave complimentary or not - the space will show the impact of your behaviour. You think about how you should behave and what it means to behave correctly or not correctly.
Image Credits: Frame, Bruckner Atelier, teamLab, Random Studio, Interactive Media Foundation
Unity Unite 2020
Unite Now is a digital programming series of talks, demos, Q&As and stories. Includes roadmaps, tips, in-depth learning & creator stories:
Better Artist Workflows in Unity - An Overview
Tutorial aimed to enhance workflows for a faster and more-efficient production pipeline. Techniques discussed include: Pro builder - good option for rapid prototyping and setup scene initially in white boxing (install from the package manager). Advantage is that there are component models just like a 3ds Max and can be pushed via fbx export (select convert to fbx linked prefab - real time link). Must install FBX export and in project settings define the integration (i.e. to 3ds Max). Unity tab on 3ds Toolbar. Can also replace models by adding to the heirachy and part of the export set. Materials by Shader Graph (standard with URP or HRDP). Create>Shader>PBR Graph. Cinemachine. Create a virtual camera to follow objects (by attached gameObjects and cameras). Post Processing depends on the render pipeline - URP comes with some defaults. Can add a volume control to a collider on a gameObject (but make sure set to Local). Can add textures, bloom, colour correction EFX etc. Timeline (Window>Sequencing>Timeline) good for opening sequencing and film cuts but also be used to create in game EFX.
Empowering Students
Preparing students for in demand jobs (up 1400%). Unity is leading the way in 3D development tools. Learning provided to create, operate and monetise. Unity cloud for teamwork and collaboration. 60% of VR/ AR content created with Unity. AEC - Reflect and Taqtile; Training - Simultations; Gaming - 25 supported platforms, Media & Entertainment - Lion King shot in VR and composited in Unity, and Immersive Storytelling. Where now from a learning perspective? Virtual learning through Learn Premium, relevant courses: Create with Code (Unity Certification) and Student Plan (VR Escape Room & URP)
AEC Digital Series: The Future of Unity for AEC
Weekly series on real time 3D technologies by creating immersive, interactive, looks real and acts real solutions. Vision of Unity of AEC: Transforming building life cycles across every industry - separate product, Unity Reflect. To support designers who are not developers and create a live link.
Release of Reflect for 3ds Max expected July/ August 2020
Tribeca Film Festival 2020
This weekend I attended the virtual Tribeca Film Festival and watched Cinema 360 in an Oculus Go headset. This part of the festival featured 15 films that have been split into four categories – Pure Imagination, Dreams to Remember, Kinfolk & Seventeen Plus.
Pure Imagination consisted of the films Upstander, Tale of the Tibetan Nomad, Attack on Daddy & Lutlaw. I found Upstander very powerful and felt the story succeeded in conveying its anti-bullying message. When the green ruck sack is bullied by the blue and white rucksacks it is clear that by intervening the red ruck sack has become an upstander. The camera placements in the CGI scenes were particularly effective and the last scene, where the lights have been turned up to reflect positivity, places you directly in front of the main character and you cannot help but watch as the ball flies toward the net with a smile on your face. The Tale of the Tibetan Nomad was less successful and I felt the story was a bit weak – I’m not sure if this needed to be shot in 360 - however the kaleidoscope credit sequences worked well. Attack on Daddy was a weird story of killer rabbits in a dolls house fighting a father and daughter. Very surreal but clever placement of the camera experimenting with real scale and dolls house scale. Lutlaw. The animated story told is quite shocking: in some communities children in the Philippines need to swim to school. There is a hero in the story who builds a yellow boat for herself (and other children) to travel safely to school.
The films in the Dreams to Remember program are First Step, Rain Fruits, Dear Lizzy and Forgotten Kiss. First Step is the story of the Apollo missions to the moon. Stunning imagery but possibly too many shots as I felt I needed more time to look around. Rain Fruits is a story of an engineer from Myanmar who travels to Korea for work but it does not live up to his dreams. He reminisces about the rain in Myanmar and the fruit gels on the trees. Filmed using 3D scanning and direct VR creation the result is an interesting juxtaposition of creation. Dear Lizzy features the narration of an animated letter from a long-lost friend while Lizzy takes a walk along a road with many psychedelic things to see. Forgotten Kiss is based on the story of a fairy kissing a young prince and his lifetime quest to remember that forgotten kiss. Pantomimic and interesting setting of real actors within the CGI set.
The Kinfolk section includes Ferenj: A Graphic Memoir in VR, The Inhabited House & Home. Ferenj: A Graphic Memoir in VR is an immersive memoir of an American Ethiopian mixed identity woman trying to understand her race. The whole film is shot in a gentle walkthrough with accompanying soundtrack and narrative. The Inhabited House is a wonderfully simple concept that works well. The uninhabited house has been recreated in 360 and the filmed memories of the habitants have been overlaid in the positions within the house. Brings the house to life in a relatable and poignant way. Home brought a tear to my eye. A thoughtful portrayal of a family gathering from putting the participant in the shoes of the oldest member of the family. The concerned son, the numerous family members more engaged with their phones, the younger children that didn’t want to be there and the painful silence when they left. Moving.
Seventeen Plus included the films A Safe Guide to Dying, Black Bag, The Pantheon of Queer Mythology & Saturnism. A Safe Guide to Dying tells the story of a grandad trying out and researching various methods of suicide. The 360 montage of the research, including the conclusion of Helium as the best method, was presented in a circular display that required the users to continually turn to follow the story. The Pantheon of Queer Mythology: “is a window into the world of a collective of Deities that present a way to question, empathize, celebrate, repent, resist, consume, abstract, identify, regenerate, and love in complex times”. It is a guided tour through queerness. Equally as complex, Black Bag tells the story of a bank heist through dreams then reality with a visually interesting hand painted artistic style. Saturnism was a dark and gloomy CGI version of one of the darkest paintings in the history of art: Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son. The myth states that Saturn devours his children to protect himself from them but he also turns on the participant…
Dezeen Virtual Design Festival 2020
Li Edelkoort (Trend Forecaster & Curator of Design)
I first became aware of Li Edelkoort when listening to a talk entitled Soft Futures. The future visions presented and the ideas of ‘futurenauts’ bringing back items to the here and now proved quite fascinating imagining what future journey’s might look like. Li’s insights for the products of the future included wellbeing, tactility, food more important than fashion, being together & spirtuality and Google realised some of these in the accompanying softwear exhibition. In March 2020 she expanded on those thoughts and redefined this as a world vision in the article 'Coronavirus offers “a blank page for a new beginning” that proved to be the most read ever on Dezeen and at VDF she discusses this in more detail.
She believes that the article has become so popular because she dares to say things and it resonated with people. The Coronavirus is forcing us to do things we already wanted to do - working less, buying less, using less (no-one knew how to jump off the band wagon and how to to make it happen). Society is now changing while we are inside - the planet is happier and we are happy to be stopped. At the same time we are scared about the future and need to plan how we will return. She argues that we now have the opportunity to go back differently - slower to be more precise and more beautiful and only produce essential items. This will give rise to new ideas of how to make and create. The key question seems to be: “how do we take this opportunity for a better world?”. She gives the example through fashion - high end before Covid-19 was fast, no time to create, just mass produce. Now we can start again, albeit with less, to create less but better - more creative, more considered, more value. The current situation is very painful, overwhelming but the hope is the victims are honoured by creating a better society. Li has put forward an open source Hope manifesto to grasp this moment and aims to create ambassadors to share in the future. She envisions that creative forces will come together to make new proposals that put people and planet first through a collective of happiness of making and creativing, by putting the soul back into design.
Beatie Wolfe (Musical Weirdo & Visionary)
In her Dezeen article ‘Music is core to our Humanity’ and subsequent interview at VDF Beatie Wolfe discusses tangible formats for music in a digital age and how it has the power to transform lives. Commenting on the lockdown she sees it “as a chance to celebrate the little things that are so often overlooked”
She discusses a research project about the power of music as medicine, a desire to create albums that have a basis in ‘worlds’, and the importance of storytelling and ceremony in music to prevent it just being perceived as a digital commodity. Her work centres around concerns that digital is replacing the physical and how to connect the two. “Art is core to our humanity: Because music IS core to our humanity. We are a musical species more than anything else and music imprints on the brain deeper than any other human experience”.
3 core ideas that will enable music to be imprinted: Tangibility (grounds us in present reality through a physical touchpoint); Storytelling (tell a story through their work to engage and transport us somewhere else); and Ceremony (space around and within the experience that allows us to go deep, to be fully immersed). “The digital era created access, it presented solutions but it also created an idea that we could fast track a lot of what defined us as humans to begin with and without the true cost or value reflected in the process” & “Music, and art, have become part of that constant background chatter and we have forgotten why they are so much more”. The potential is there to reconnect ourselves and it was explored in her recent exhibition at the V&A and through creations such as The Raw Space Beam. At the VDF her piece Orange Juice For the Ears that explores the relationship between music and the human mind was screened and proved be a powerful piece about the power of music to lift us out of potential depression.
Ron Arad (Visionary Architect & Product Designer)
Launched a face mask for the Smaile for the NHS campaign with the aim to add art to peoples faces in the light of gallery and museum closures. During his interview Ron discusses his latest and unfortunately cancelled exhibtion Don’t F**k with Mickey that is a series of works based on the big easy chair that he designed for Moroso that is often nicknamed the Mickey chair. The exhibition is curated from the production of a hand made Mickey chair created every friday and has been created to mark Mickey’s 90th birthday.
Image Credits: Dezeen, VDF, V&A , Beatie Wolfe, Ron Arad
