This is a collaborative work-in-progress on a mixed-reality performance titled InVISIBLE. Through experiential play with the technology and a focused research on movement we aim to materialize the hierarchical structure between the individuals who design our digital world and those who live in it.
The work is a duet between an ‘ARCHITECT’ and a ‘USER’ who traverse along the edges of two different realities. The User is immersed in VR (virtual reality) using an Oculus Quest headset. The Architect, who is immersed in the physical reality, holds the remote controllers of the VR headset. While moving the remotes the Architect controls the User’s perceived environment, sketching inside the three dimensional field and designing the virtual world. The User is captive of the Architect’s imagination, directed by the virtual world drawn before their eyes, while exposed to the additional stimulus of their shared physical reality. The Architect is incapable of understanding the influence of their creation, never receiving access to visit the world they create for the User. Both the Architect and the User are driven to hack the system, developing a desire to cross the boundary between their realities.
InVISIBLE examines the collective responsibility shared throughout the diverse roles required for building and inhabiting our cyber mixed reality world. The work interrogates the possibility of VR as a step towards techno-libertarianism, questioning the centralization of technological power and the limited access to become a contributor to the digital architecture of our future.
Avital Meshi and Treyden Chiaravalloti