The Unreal

How do we relate to our own bodies, and to what extent can our own sense of embodiment be changed, subverted or manipulated? What does it feel like to embody an entire space, and can our sense of embodiment be split?

The Unreal was an art project comissioned for Burning Seed 2018 – “Ancient Futures”. The VR component of the project involved the manipulation of a user’s sense of embodiment. This was achieved by combining the immersive nature of VR with an Intel RealSense D435 depth camera to bring the user’s body into the space, as well as a custom-designed heart-rate monitor to draw out the user’s association from their own body onto the virtual representation.

What followed was an artistic visualisation of the user being dispersed throughout the space and flying through themselves, inviting contemplation regarding the nature of their own embodiment and what it means to exist and associate with a well-defined, well-bounded space.

The experience ran each night for 4-6 hours and took around 5 minutes to complete. Reactions were very positive with many teary-eyed hugs and big grins!

Credit: VR Developer