Process

This part of the site is a timeline of our process, research, trips and insights we gained along the way to be a useful tool for our reflection on our methods and design practice.

 

21.10.2017 // Copenhagen Contemporary

We visited the exhibition: CC LAB. VIRTUAL REALITY at the Copenhagen Contemporary exhibition space at the new Papirøen. We went to this exhibition because we were interested in seeing VR experiences designed for public spaces and in an exhibition context (up until now, our research has primarily been for VR experiences that you consume traditionally in your own private space with your own equipment). We also were keen on watching how other people perceive the works, how they would que and react to the different experiences. The description of the exhibition is below:

In recent years Virtual Reality (VR) has become one of the most exciting trends emerging within the world of art. With the exhibition CC LAB, Copenhagen Contemporary takes VR into the laboratory exploring the new and seemingly boundless reality of VR. VR can take you to exotic and strange places and off into dreamlike worlds while you yourself remain firmly rooted in the exhibition rooms. While this new technology has inspired game developers for years, artists and storytellers have only just begun to explore the possibilities offered by VR. CC introduces a range of Danish and international artists who experiment with Virtual Reality in order to push boundaries and open up new spaces for art to inhabit – and explore.

CC LAB occupies two of CC’s huge halls. In Hall 1 the Danish studio Makropol presents the total installation, ANTHROPIA(2017): A VR performance where visitors are sent on a voyage through the virtual worlds of five different artists. In Hall 2 works by a number of internationally acclaimed contemporary artists will be on show – each presenting their individual interpretation of how VR can be used in the arts. The artists normally work in a wide variety of media: painting, sculpture, installation and video. In the new VR works produced by Khora Contemporary these traditional media are integrated, and the exhibition provides visitors with an opportunity to explore virtual universes created by Christian Lemmerz (GE/DK), Paul McCarthy (US), Tony Oursler (US) and Erik Parker (GE/US). In Hall 2 it is also possible to experience the recognized VR drawing program Tilt Brush.

Each of the experiences were approximately 3:30 minutes or 10 minutes. Our opinion was that for the content we experienced, 20 seconds would be too long. After 30 seconds, it was very difficult and we had to mentally force ourselves to stay in the experience simply because we were either bored and/or disinterested in the content/poor quality of the experiences. The content was primarily a looping environment, with little to no movement, or just constant small constant repetitions.

We won’t go into detail for each of the experiences because we rather not waste time on it. But to give context, one experience was CGI “princesses” who move their mouths a bit (not in sync to the dialogue or even the words) while the soundtrack plays “Fuck you” over and over…. for 10 minutes. After 20 seconds, nothing changed in the story, it just kept repeating and got incredibly old. The provocative dialogue was a cheap trick and the whole concept felt highly superficial.

The exhibition heavily relies on the “wow” effect for VR and is dependant on the fact that this is a new medium and many people have never tried VR before. As a side note, the equipment was very unhygienic, it was clear that many people had been using it, random hairs were stuck in the frame and the lenses were blurred a bit from grease. The wires were tangled and it was clear that many people dropped and didn’t treat the equipment with respect.

To be honest, we were extremely disappointed with the exhibition and each of the works that we saw. The content, graphics and overall experience was severely lacking any meaningful or well-thought-out concepts. Each experience felt like we were looking at a tutorial project, done after a day’s work, where little to no time were put into the conceptual phase, but the artist went straight from an idea to production. Therefore, most of the experiences lacked any form of “story” or purpose, other than to perhaps shock the viewer which perhaps would excite a person who has never tried VR, but if you are used to the medium, the quality of the experience was so low it was laughable.

The VR exhibition has provided a space to walk around and explore in VR, for a public VR exhibition, this setup has great potential to be an engaging and interacting work. Sadly, each experience had poorly designed environments, it was clear that the artists perhaps did not have the skill to create a visually engaging space so it made no sense to walk in the space since there was nothing to be gained by walking to the left or right. Only only artist designed a full environment, which was visually at a higher level than the other experiences, but the space was completely static, only a little water movement on the ground, which was the standard Unity asset. After 10 seconds, you see and understand the space, but the “experience” is 3:30 minutes. We waited in the space, expecting something to happen, but nothing did, which was highly frustrating.

What is remarkable, is that the exhibition cost around 20 CHF, which is the same price for the entrance to the Louvre museum. For this price, you would expect more engaging material, so we felt that we were robbed. We would understand if the experience was free or if we were presented the exhibition as a couple artists who were trying VR for the first time and wanted to explore different themes as students may do during a workshop week. But for the price of the Louvre and after reading the hyped up exhibition text, you expect a higher quality and for the exhibition to deliver that wish.  I was interested in seeing if others felt the same way about the exhibition as us, so I googled a bit and found this reply on reddit, which we think shares many of the same feelings we had. The link is here.

From reading this reply, we realised that the original setup was even more theatrical for the same lacklustre content, the users had to wear the VR (which, again is not only hot and heavy, but because the environments weren’t designed for people to move around in or there was no reason to walk in the space because little to no information would be gained in doing so / you can perceive everything from a static point of view) and wear capes (again, why? storytelling-wise, we don’t see that there would be a point for this as the content for the experiences and the exhibition scenography isn’t an immersive world such as Secret Cinema or Punchdrunk where the users’ costumes play an integral role in the whole experience). And lastly, it seems as if they were guided with people who hyped up the experience as “alternate universes” and indescribable before they entered the space, setting expectations high for the public. We are certain if we would have had to wear the gear, capes and be introduced to each by a hyped up introduction, we would have been extremely frustrated and perhaps even angry.

 

19.10.2017 // Tivoli Gardens

We spent Thursday evening at the Tivoli Gardens to explore placemaking, public spaces, the architecture of theme parks. One of our main focus for the evening, was to experience the Demon, a roller coaster ride in VR. We were curious to try this as we never experienced a highly physical spatial VR experience. I, in particular, get very ill whenever I move in VR space, as I am highly susceptible to motion sickness. I very was interested to see if real movement in space would solve this issue.

Even though we had to queue in the cold for 45 minutes and the logistics for getting the headsets, putting them on was jumbled and a bit chaotic, the VR experience was well worth it. We felt no motion sickness as the integration for the physical experience, with the visuals were incredibly well matched.

The experience was made by VR Coaster, a company that has patented special technology to sync real physical movement with virtual content. I would argue that the experience wasn’t VR, but an augmented physicality with a virtual audiovisual experience. The experience isn’t timed (i.e. press start when the ride begins, but is directly linked to the movement and location of the carts). This is done with a sensor box that communicates real forces to the VR gear.

Storywise, the experience was well done for the ride, both the intro and ending are immersive environments. There was no  The beginning was in a light filled room, you have a body and traditional Chinese music plays all around, then you enter a painting where you ride a dragon as it meets and escapes a beast. At the end, you enter the gates of a village to find a celebration of local people (mixed with some elements from Tivoli) with fireworks and dancing. What was conceptually very strong was that the dragon was actually the roller coaster, the split image below shows this. This makes it easier for users to anticipate the next movement and also augment the physical forces one feels.

 

You can see clips of the VR experience via here, to get a sense of the art direction and storytelling. I quite liked the expressive nature of the painted world you fly through because it had this beautiful etherial quality that didn’t detract your attention from the dragon and the beast it meets along the way. You could easily comprehend the story, despite the fact that you are moving at very fast speeds and upside down.

SOUND

An essential part of the VR experience was the sound. There was mostly a soundtrack of Chinese traditional music and then sound effects of the dragon and fireworks. Even though we were riding a coaster at extreme speeds, people screaming all around and had the sounds of the amusement park all around us, the shields built into the mask were highly effective at blocking out the external noise, which we would argue were at a very high decimal. The speakers built into the mask, also didn’t touch the ear, but enclosed it. This was also a good design decision as it felt hygienic and comfortable.

HYGIENE

Us on the Deamon ride, immensely enjoying ourselves.

18.10.2017 // Bourbaki Panorama

Over the past weekend, I visited the Bourbaki Panorama in Lucerne. The experience inside was an immersive panorama from 1881 depicting a historic war scene that took place in Switzerland during the German/French war of 1870/71. Although the experience was over 136 years old, it was incredibly immersive; the oldest “virtual reality” experience I have tried.

Although the VR in this case is entirely analogue, the scenography plays with perspective, framing and audio to make a convincingly immersive experience. Nothing is moving, the set is frozen in time, but the audio with the narration and sound effects help illuminate the imagination to understand what was happening in this “360 picture.”

The building itself was impressive in setting the stage for the illusion. A circular rotunda with a swooping ceiling to both guided the audio (ceiling worked as a speaker) and frame the view (you couldn’t see the end of the painting). The platform was also designed with illusion in mind, a wooden circle with a railing enclosure (the railing was also dated back to the 1800s, so it fit well with the aesthetics of the scenography, as if you were standing on a balcony). The railing was also set a couple meters in, before the wooden platform ended, so as to trick your eye into having a framed view that goes beyond the edge, help sustaining the illusion, much like how an infinity pool works.

Perhaps what was important was that the audio played an immense role in the storytelling.  I tried walking around the space listening to the audio actively, then passively and then without. Without the sound effects, narration and music, you lost a great deal of the story and it became more of a diorama frozen in time. With the sound, I formed an empathic connection to these people and their struggle over a hundred years ago.

Elevation of the Panorama

View from the platform, note the railways end before the platform edges and the use of combining real 3d elements in the 2d perspective.

15.10.2017 // VR PRINCIPLES

After we wrote 32 case studies, we formulated a set of principles that we found to be common themes in the effective and well-made VR experiences.

10.10.2017 // VR TESTING

With our setup, we have experienced and tried over 32 VR experiences. Each time, we finished an experience, we came back to reality and recorded and wrote down our thoughts based on criteria we made before each experience. We had a large range of experiences: some were inspirational, others nostalgic and some made us sick. One thing that rang true throughout this investigation was that the medium, although remarkably better than two years ago, is still in it’s early phases and unlike Netflix, where you can binge for hours, 40 minutes was the maximum we could handle at a time.

 

Notes about the various VR experiences.

Standing, sitting and exploring the case studies. Pixel the Pomeranian also lent a hand in virtual reality exploration.