I began my visual experimentation process by constructing a simple 3D environment in Unity; white forms against an impossible sky, in a composition vaguely resembling a series of rooms. A viewer or ‘player’ is able to move through the rooms and observe them from a first-person perspective; each contains different objects, ranging from simple shapes to trees and 2D imagery intending to replicate artworks and gallery visitors. As at this stage I was still familiarising myself with the software and merely wished to test some of the tools at my disposal.
In one of these rooms I sought to recreate an artwork that I feel embodies a number of my intentions with regards to disrupting perception and using visual forms to illustrate otherwise unseen aspects of a space’s design.
The work, Robert Irwin’s 1975 installation piece Black Line Volume (previously discussed in 1-1-1) represents through its physical form — a line of black tape running across a gallery room floor — only a single component of its overall viewing experience. By artificially disrupting the perspective of those who enter the space, the line the heightens the awareness of its viewers so that they may contemplate the room as a whole with greater depth and attention to detail. This factor is as relevant to Irwin’s perception-concerned intentions as the minimalist form itself.
This is a disruption that can only be fully perceived within the work’s physical presence, and is highly site-specific; therefore, in my initial tests I had sought to see whether it would be possible to recreate it’s perceptive qualities in a purely non-physical environment. Whereas this exercise was primarily part of my own skillset development in preparation for using the software, it produced a revelation of sorts as to the overall direction I would have to take in order to fully embrace the virtual medium when exploring my ideas.
SEEING AGAINST LIVING
When we interact with a simulation, what do we perceive? In the case of my own basic creation, do we perceive a gallery, or a simulation of a gallery? Do we perceive what we see, or merely an interaction with a system?
There is some argument to be made that unlike other artistic mediums, video games do not exist directly ‘within life itself’. Whereas the likes of music or even reading offer a degree of direct psychological and physical participation in the work, games exist more as interactions with systems first and foremost. Said systems may convey visuals, sound, narrative etc.; yet there exists a separation from these themes inherently embedded in the technology used to convey them.
To an extent, this separation is dictated by the notion of ‘platform’, itself a set of rules applied to how interaction can take place. In the case of a computer system or a video game console, types of interaction (and by extension, the forms the art itself can take) are restricted by modes of input pre-designed and applied upon the artist and the viewer. When interacting with a game, the viewer’s ‘lived experience’ is not of the aesthetic content of the game itself, but rather the act of play; our experience is of pressing a button to walk forward through a simulated gallery space, as opposed to actually walking through that space.
Simply put, whilst I have created a representation of a white cube gallery space, it IS NOT a white cube gallery space.
To further explore this medium will require an attention to — or perhaps embrace of — this inherent perceptive separation. A question is raised of whether a more valuable direction for my investigation would be to focus on this discrepancy itself, as opposed to attempting to disrupt a facsimile of a real world, rule-based space. However, there is equally suggestion that this separation itself could serve as a tool for disruption.
“VR lets you feel consciousness in its pure form. There you are, the fixed point in a system where everything else can change” (Lanier, 2018:56) argues Jaron Lanier in writing on experiences with virtual reality. That such a medium may provide a valuable perceptual flexibility is presented as one of its greatest strengths; the ability to design a space within which no singular set of rules defines its boundaries. Lanier elaborates: “VR is the technology that… highlights the existence of your subjective experience” (Lanier, 2018:56).
Whether it will be possible to cross the boundary of digital and physical perception in this manner, with regards to my current technical knowledge, remains to be seen. Frankly, reaching the point I have with Unity has not come easily; the prospect of a fully immersive environment seems distant. For now, I am increasingly interested in testing modes of interaction that challenge the rule-based boundaries of my system, within the limits of a simulated space. Perhaps there is something to be gained by embracing the limitation.
I am cautious that this approach may create some distance from my initial position (see 2-1), which leans heavily on achieving some sense of ‘empowerment’ of the unknowing subject of rule-based systems. However, it may offer a more focused and achievable starting point from which to test a number of material ideas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lanier, Jaron (2018) Dawn of the New Everything: A Journey Through Virtual Reality
New York, New York: Vintage