DESIGN NAME: Relation Ship
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Stop Motion VR Multimedia Installation
INSPIRATION: Using stop motion organic characters and set design inspired by marine biology, the story consists of two separate philosophical ideas; the concept of Assemblage by Deleuze & Guattari, and the concept of Plissement by Merleau Ponty.
Merleau Ponty states in The Visible and the Invisible:
The world is like that band of foam on the ocean which appears immobile when seen from an airplane... the amplitude of being will never exceed that of nothingness, nor the noise of the world its silence.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Initially, the audience witnesses evocative gestural performance animation of the main character, fish bone queen, giving away precious gifts from her own body. Upon entering the virtual reality environment, the viewer is immersed in a living bodyscape.
This project is originally designed to be displayed in an installation setting as a stop motion film and 3 vr headsets which provide 3 different immersive experiences inside the main character.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: This multimedia installation is a walkthrough experience for audiences. Viewers will get involved in the story at the beginning as outsiders to the end as insiders.
This project combines storytelling, philosophy, and biomorphic vr sculpture to allow viewers to experience visceral landscapes exploring the relationship between static exteriors and hidden messages beneath the surface. Audio intertwines space, scale, and sensations by magnifying the subtle sounds created by jewelry, chimes, three-stringed instruments, and ambient sounds. Ultimately the viewer will be left with a more intimate understanding of how worlds can be perceived differently depending on your vantage point.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: Project Duration:
Total length for this stop motion vr multimedia installation experience will be 10-15 minutes. Stop motion projection contents in a total of 3 minutes 26 seconds and VR content for 4 minutes 5 seconds.
Location:
2019 Orange County Center of Contemporary Art (OCCCA) for the art exhibition Craft Revolution in Santa Ana, United States, February 02 - March 23
2018 Thesis exhibition at Steven Spielberg Building of University of Southern California, April 17 - 21
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Fine Arts and Art Installation Design
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: Material for building puppets, sets, and sculptures: found jewelry, laces, sequins, pva glue, aluminum wire, thread, etc.
Technology:
-Dragonframe for shooting stop motion
-Agisoft for photogrammetry process (turn physical objects into virtual model obj. file so that can build vr bodyscape in Maya)
-Maya for building vr bodyscape.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Dimension:
stop motion puppet in the shadow box: Width 249mm x Depth 89mm x Height 178mm
vr headset sculpture: Width 457mm x Depth 305mm x Height 457mm
Specifications:
installation setup.
The exhibition format is a spiraling three screens
projection mapping series of walls which is inspired by the golden ratio (observed from Nautilus shells). Additionally, in the center of the spiraling structure, a dressing table sculpture which will contain three vr headsets and other objects. These three vr headsets will blend into the dressing table sculpture by retexturing them
(Thesis exhibition at Steven Spielberg Building of University of Southern California, April 17 - 21)
Mobile Version:
Instead of having three projection walls as original version, stop motion projection contents will be playback in the monitor. Besides, there will have three white vanity chairs for the audience to sit. In short, mobile version serves the dressing table as the center and all the other elements like the monitor, vanity chairs, cables, etc. are placed according to the position of the dressing table.
(Orange County Center of Contemporary Art (OCCCA) for the art exhibition Craft Revolution in Santa Ana, United States, February 02 - March 23)
TAGS: stop motion;experimental;found object art;virtual reality;installation
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: Relation Ship is a film and virtual reality experience first inspired by Ghost Ship, a chapter from Roland Barthes' A lover's discourse: Fragments:
Though each love is experienced as unique and though the subject rejects the notion of repeating it elsewhere, later on, he sometimes discovers in himself a kind of diffusion of amorous desire; he then realizes he is doomed to wander until he dies, from love to love.
Using stop motion organic characters and set design inspired by marine biology, the story consists of two separate philosophical ideas; the concept of Assemblage by Deleuze & Guattari, and the concept of Plissement by Merleau Ponty.
Merleau Ponty states in The Visible and the Invisible:
The world is like that band of foam on the ocean which appears immobile when seen from an airplane, but which suddenly because it has extended itself by a line, is understood to be shimmering and living from close up. But one also understands that seen from high enough, the amplitude of being will never exceed that of nothingness, nor the noise of the world its silence. (p.64)
These ideas inform Relation Ship in terms of content and imagery. Set in an ocean-like environment, complex intricate details shift out of focus to form abstract shapes, similar to Merleau Ponty’s ideas of shifting perspective in relationship to the distance of the object.
Initially, the audience witnesses evocative gestural performance animation of the main character, fish bone queen, giving away precious gifts from her own body. Upon entering the virtual reality environment, the viewer is immersed in a living bodyscape. This idea mirrors the perceived natural world and fluctuations in human relationships.
This experimental vr+installation project combines storytelling, philosophy, and biomorphic vr sculpture to allow viewers to experience visceral landscapes exploring the relationship between static exteriors and micro worlds hidden beneath the surface. Audio intertwines space, scale, and sensations by magnifying the subtle sounds created by jewelry, chimes, three stringed instruments, and ambient sounds. Ultimately the viewer will be left with a more intimate understanding of how worlds can be perceived differently depending on your vantage point.
CHALLENGE: The most difficult issue when designing the stop motion vr multimedia installation was to integrate different workflow and element between stop motion (physical ) and virtual reality (computer graphics). And the solution is photogrammetry technique which can turn physical objects into virtual model and export as obj. file which can be edited, retextured in maya.
ADDED DATE: 2019-02-11 22:16:16
TEAM MEMBERS (3) : Zoey Lin (Creator and Director), Kun Xia (VR visual effect creative director) and Ping Sheng Wu (Composer and Sound Designer)
IMAGE CREDITS: Image#1: Creator Zoey Lin, stop motion footage, 2018
Image#2: Creator Zoey Lin, stop motion footage, 2018
Image#3: VR visual effect creative director Kun Xia, VR footage, 2018
Image#4: Creator Zoey Lin, OCCCA exhibition documentation photo, 2019
Image#5: Creator Zoey Lin, puppets photo, 2019
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