GMU:Critical VR Lab II - Lab Work/Kristin Jakubek

From Medien Wiki

Concept

This semesters work is a continuation of the VR - poem 'twist / the edges to dry asphalt' created in a collaborative work with the poet Malina Heinemann in response to her poem 'twist' as performed at 'drift' (Horse and Pony in Berlin) in 2019.

The VR work and creative process this semester centres around the translation and abstraction of elements of the spoken word poem into interconnected three-dimensional, digital spaces inside one VR space.

While it was not possible to work in the DBL - and make real technical progress or get a more hands-on understanding of the physical-digital-space - do to the pandemic restrictions, I was able to make some progress on the conceptual stages of the VR experience and how these 'stages/spaces' relate to and connect within one another.


Space 1 - External realities as internal realities

In the poem the external space - conjured up through words like 'street', 'pavement', 'dry asphalt' is speaking about internal realities of the protagonist(s). As a first space to visualise this much spoken about 'external reality' in the VR space, I (more and less) heavily edited HDRI images to create a 'hyperreal - texture - environment' , that feels both 'real' and imagined/surreal at the same time.

Into this first space I bring a mixture of 3D models created with Photogrammetry (see documentation previous semester) and photographed textures (e.g. rock) onto simple cube geometries.

The multiple outdoor scenes I created in this way, are further vitalised by using weather apparitions like swirling heat, rain or dust clouds from the Unity Particle Pack, as well as animating the cubes to fly past the viewer and come together in architectonic formations.

Twist documentation WS2020.jpg Twist documentation WS20202.jpg Twist documentation WS20203.jpg Twist documentation WS20204.jpg

Space 2 - Internal realities as exterior shell

The external reality is in a kind of duelling, twisting relationship with the internal reality. The internal space is translated as the idea of 'bodies / bodily-ness'. The photogrammetric-models of bodies form the 'main frame' of the entire VR experience. It is not the space/scene where the viewer starts but it is within these twisted, distorted body formations that the spherical, metallic orbs are positioned, which function as the portals/entry-ways to all other scenes and thus, it is within these bodies that the other spaces exist.

Twist documentation WS20205.jpg Twist documentation WS20206.jpg

Additional spaces include: Space 3: External reality as external 'mind space' / Computer style landscape

To create the sense of a complex constructs and mix different visual styles I want to embrace a more 'game-ified' look in an option to create a natural landscape through Unity's 'Terrain tool' and downloadable Pre-fabs.

to be continued ..

Twist documentation WS20207.jpg

Space 4: Internal reality as High resolution textures of body

The poem also makes use of visceral language relating to the body; 'spit', 'ears' , 'tongue'

My approach to bring a more 'close-up', direct experience of the body into the experience is to create high resolution textures of bodies and convert them into abstract collages that will probably be brought into the space as a video texture on an endless cylindrical tube that surrounds the viewer. For this I am still sourcing more varied bodies, skin tones, hair structures etc.

Twist documentation WS20208.jpg Twist documentation WS20209.jpg