I went to Linda Weintraub's Lecture at the Broad Art Center on April 18th. Throughout her presentation, Weintraub explored various contemporary arts dealing with eco-materialism. One particular project that stood out to me was Daniel Steegmann Mangrane's "Phantom". Using Oculus Rift technology, he was able to create a virtual reality environment of, what I later found out, the Brazilian Mata Atlántica rain forest. With his collaboration with ScanLAB Projects, there was an effective communication between "literary intellectuals" and the "scientists", a real life example of the third culture forming that Snow theorized and Vesna elaborated upon in her article.
With this technology, Weintraub explained that there was no orthodox "frame" to separate the artwork from the surroundings. This harmonized with her lecture's overarching theme of connecting one's body to the materiality of the surrounding world. She emphasized the importance of foraging rather than scanning to become fully engaged in nature and also be aware of the impact you can have on the environment.
Despite having been to multiple hackathons, I've never got the chance to develop with the Oculus Rift. Mostly this was due to my disinterest with game development, as most of the headset's usage is toward that field. However, this event showed me there's a wider range of potential to be explored with this technology, such as treating PTSD or designing architecture, as I later found out. We could even possibly preserve the "experience" of natural habitats that might be endangered. With the addition of Touch, the wearer would theoretically be able to interact and immerse oneself with an environment.
I would overall recommend going to this event to regain a sense of consciousness through the artwork that you are a part of this natural world, as it is easy to forget while living in an urban setting such as Los Angeles.
Sources
"Oculus Rift: 5 things you can do with the VR headset apart from gaming."The Independent, 28 Mar. 2015, independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/oculus-rift-launch-shipping-gaming-applications-design-architecture-medicine-ptsd-a6956596.html. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
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| Oculus headset in use in empty room |
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| Snapshot of the wearer perspective |
With this technology, Weintraub explained that there was no orthodox "frame" to separate the artwork from the surroundings. This harmonized with her lecture's overarching theme of connecting one's body to the materiality of the surrounding world. She emphasized the importance of foraging rather than scanning to become fully engaged in nature and also be aware of the impact you can have on the environment.
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| Weintraub's foraged plants |
Despite having been to multiple hackathons, I've never got the chance to develop with the Oculus Rift. Mostly this was due to my disinterest with game development, as most of the headset's usage is toward that field. However, this event showed me there's a wider range of potential to be explored with this technology, such as treating PTSD or designing architecture, as I later found out. We could even possibly preserve the "experience" of natural habitats that might be endangered. With the addition of Touch, the wearer would theoretically be able to interact and immerse oneself with an environment.
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| Selfie with the event poster |
I would overall recommend going to this event to regain a sense of consciousness through the artwork that you are a part of this natural world, as it is easy to forget while living in an urban setting such as Los Angeles.
Sources
"Oculus Rift: 5 things you can do with the VR headset apart from gaming."The Independent, 28 Mar. 2015, independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/oculus-rift-launch-shipping-gaming-applications-design-architecture-medicine-ptsd-a6956596.html. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
"Phantom (Kingdom of all the animals and all the beasts is my name)," Daniel Steegman, danielsteegmann.info/works/41/index.html. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
"Rift + Touch." Oculus Rift, oculus.com/rift/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
Snow, Charles Percy. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution: The Rede Lecture. London: Cambridge U P., 1959. Print.
Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121–125., www.jstor.org/stable/1577014. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
I found the way you and Linda Weintraub discussed the benefits to technologies such as the oculus rift beyond just simple enjoyment. Using it to fully immerse in the world to gain a new expense or even treat things such as PTSD was an idea I had not considered before, and was very thought provoking.
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