try e.m.i.s now is a VR theater experience and performance that explores and advances new ways of embedding digital technologies and data art in theatrical processes.
Thereby, the counteracting of naturally given boundaries as well as digital identities are thematized and critically reflected.
Does the copy of my consciousness possess its own identity? How does it find its way in the future, when will it be switched off?
The product of the company „e.m.i.s.„,promises a digital copy of the consciousness of each individual. This can be used, for example, to generate a virtual personal assistance of an individual, which is used for representation and services. After passing away, it continues to exist and can get in touch with relatives and friends. Personal data of the respective visitors are collected in advance and woven into the design of the scenographic and thus personalized space. For this purpose, results of image and text searches or social media data are incorporated into the VR world and confront individual consciousness as design elements.
Fictional elements and real artifacts in the form of individual informations are interwoven in dreamlike and surreal ways. Known and unknown spaces emerge simultaneously, an interplay of determining and allowing oneself to be determined.
User Experience
The piece Try e.m.i.s. now is about an imersive VR theater experience with personal data that lets the viewer become the protagonist. He immerses himself in the phygital (physical-digital) world of his data processing.
The entry of personal data of the visitors into a digital form, which is called up on laptops, enables the entry into virtual reality after consent. This is accompanied by the paradox that the visitors themselves become the product.
They are then introduced to the subject matter of the product, and an AI and an assistant guide them through the play.
The visitors experience their upload with personalized VR glasses in a lying/sitting position. The upload happens in 6 phases, together with a voice-over narrative, a tracking shot in the VR world leads through the different rooms or scenes.
Data of the respective visitors, as entered in the form, are woven into the design of the scenographic space. For example, results of image searches for the name, place of birth, or texts on constellations of the birthday are scraped, loaded into the VR world of the visitor and confront as design elements of the individual „mind“.
Cast
Concept and Direction: Carolin Schabbing, Lisa Peter
Programming and Data Art: Lisa Peter
VR-World and 3D Design: Carolin Schabbing
Stage design: Carolin Schabbing, Lisa Peter
Text: Tom Tautorus
Sound Design: Jan Reutelsterz
Research: Carolin Schabbing, Lisa Peter
With: Anna Marienfeld, Björn Gabriel, Stephan Weigelin, Laura N. Junghanns
Special Thanks: Prof. Dr. Carolin Höfler, Prof. Dr. Lasse Scherffig, Prof. Melissa de Raaf, Mattis Kuhn, Prof. Zilvinas Lilas, Susanne Ritter, Matthias Rosenthal, Pasha E. Bahrami, Prof. Kathrin Röggla, Studio Trafique
ROLE VR Live theater performance | Installation Design | Light Design
SOFTWARE Unity | Blender | AfterEffects | Premiere | Photoshop | WordPress | SteamVR
HARDWARE Razer Blade 15 Base (Early 2021) – Gaming Notebook – Intel® Core™ i7-10750H – 16GB (DDR4) – 512GB SSD – NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3060 | Oculus Quest 2
FIELD OF EXPERTISE Installation Design | VR | Performance
KEYWORDS VR live experience | Set Design | Storytelling | Visuals | Installation | Communication | Organisation | Eventplanning | Corporate Design | Website design
