The Art of Being 2021
Unity, TouchDesigner, Blender, physical interaction
An immersive and interactive environment created through a blend of Unity and TouchDesigner.
We often get caught up chasing after materialistic desires, causing us to let go of and not value core, internal experiences. For example, when the wind is strong, one often focuses on getting through it to get to where they need to go rather than immersing themselves in the sensory experience. The appeal of our goals, desires or the objects around us compels us to forget our bodily presence and how it affects the environment, as well as how the changes in our environments affect our internal experience. The Art of Being encourages people to reevaluate themselves, their values and lifestyles. It acts as a stimulus in pushing them to assess the way society functions and how they are expected to constantly chase after their next goal, their next desire, success and money, rather than connect with their own body to truly experience the present moment through all five senses.The environment is aimed at those who are stuck in a loop, believing they are moving forward, when in fact, they are stuck, like hamsters, on a perpetually running wheel. The essence of life lies in sensory experiences such as the sensation of water on skin and inhaling the petrichor smell, and yet, we focus on chasing after the material to satisfy needs imposed onto us by society. As a means to help the viewer ground themselves, I am exploring the senses and how they can help you connect to your body and internal environment in order to establish the difference between being and merely existing.
When entering a digital environment, one often forgets about their own body and rather, engulfs themselves into the aspects of the space. By using a digital medium, I am exploring the relationship between the viewer and the work. I am actively questioning how to bring presence back in a digital space, as well as how external experiences﹣interaction with the environment﹣can affect internal experiences﹣sensory input. The use of a 360 environment in Unity, specifically, augments the feeling of immersion as a method in grounding the viewer in the present moment.
*please make sure sound is on*
*best viewed full-screen*
Interactivity
Through this environment, I am actively questioning how all five types of sensory experiences can be
translated to a digital environment. How can we design digital environments to evoke not only the
visual and auditory senses, but also tactility, olfaction and gustation?
The video above depicts the interactive aspect of the TouchDesigner visuals projected on the walls of
the Unity environment. TouchDesigner uses your camera image to track motion. Your hand movements cause
ripples in the animation, which parallels the way movement in water has a ripple effect. This brings
tactility to the digital environment in an implicit manner. It also emphasizes the interesting concept
of how you affect the environment as much as it affects you.
TouchDesigner Experiments
Before this project, I was new to TouchDesigner. I conducted many experiments in order to grasp how it functions, and how to manipulate it to execute ideas. These experiments show a progression of my skills, and my growing understanding of operating TOPs, CHOPs, SOPs, GLSL, and incorporating Python for further manipulation.
These experiments helped me acquire the skills to then move on to connecting TouchDesigner to other softwares through OSC and incorporating physical computing.
