Interact with ancient worlds and alien forms of light and sound
"The Museum of Colliding Dimensions formed after the appearance of the first Platonic Rift between our world and another. It presents a stable environment for visitors to interact with the phenomena at a safe distance." - Deb Polson, Curator of Mixed Realities.
This is an experimental installation that allows visitors to experience an alien world through complex projections, dynamic lighting and interactive sound.
Deb is a Senior Lecturer at the QUT School of Design and an independent artist who exploits gaming technologies to create mixed realities and novel interactions. As a researcher at QUT, Deb collaborates with scientists to simulate various ecosystems for people to experiment with the consequences of human decisions, demonstrating the positive and negative impacts of change.
The Museum of Colliding Dimensions was made by a small team over 3 months: Deb (Artists), Ryan (Programmer), Wade (3D Artist), Nathan (Sound Designer) and Cat (Fabricator). Our big challenge was to demonstrate the opportunities of using certain technologies available at the new Creative Industries Precinct. So for a couple of days a week we would get together to experiment with concepts, techniques and technologies... balancing the possibilities with the limitations until a perfect combination was formed, tested and tweaked... to create a unique experience that allows visitors to interact with a simple beautiful virtual world through a range of new and emerging technologies.
This may be the first time ever, that an artist has combined such a complex mashup of projection mapping, motion tracking, dynamic sound and lighting... as well as Multitouch displays and Virtual Reality. The installation tracks visitor movements in the space and depending on how they interact in certain zones, the Platonic World reacts by changing its shape, colour and sound. When visitors cluster in certain formations major events are triggered effecting both the Platonic World and the real world.
To create such a dynamic experience, the team experimented with many different aesthetic and interactive techniques with a range of tools and software. Mostly we adopted a game design approach... but extended our normal practice to create a Hybrid World of physical and virtual effects and interactions.
This project aims to discover ways to transform mundane spaces into active hybrid places of the real and imaginary, physical and virtual, fantasy and history. And as we live increasingly digitised lives, we present this project not only as a novel, playful experience but also a contemplative one that promotes a philosophical consideration of the appearance of competing realities and the significance of the viewers point of view and proximity to others in determining their interpretation of the ‘real’.
See the team's journey: http://fluiddimensions.tumblr.com
And join our community: https://www.facebook.com/hybriddimensions
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See some of our other work here: https://www.facebook.com/HubGames
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QUT Kelvin Grove Campus