PROJECT «AWAKENING» MDes Interior Design Stage II Özlem Gezgin
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MANIFESTO
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RESEARCH ESSAY
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ARTEFACTS
MANIFESTO In 2068 we are all live in a mixed reality; a reality merged with a virtual one. Since the internet and smart phones are part of our lives, the desire of people creating their false selves rapidly increased. With developing mixed reality technologies carried this desire another
level. MR (Mixed Reality) devices got smaller and became wearable in daily lives. In recent years, we were all able to see the world and ourselves as the way we wanted, we only need to wear MR contact lenses. However, governments and powerful corporates have started to take advantages of those technologies and its impact on people. Therefore they made lenses available for everyone and they have started to make us misperceive the world. They rule the world putting their own profits in front and brainwashed the society through an imaginary world. The
FUTURE TIMELINE
nature was consuming by misdirected usage of technology. Day by day to
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* DO NOT OWN THE IMAGES IN THE VIDEO
prevent any provocative action and movement of questioning, governments and corporates encourage art turn into media; live performances, printed books, physical art pieces replace with the digital to apply censorships and keep controlling it. Guy Debord approached that “Where
the real world changes into simple images, the simple images become real beings and effective motivations of hypnotic behavior.�(Debord, 1984) And he was right; people are living in the reality which they are believed. We are alive but we are all walking in our sleep.
In this dystopia, some of us have been questioning the world we live in. We know about what is happening to humanity and our Earth. And can see how wrong future is shaped. Technology is not our enemy. Technology can improve human life and Earth itself. However we need to wake people up from their hypnotic behaviors, take back the control of our lives back and to achieve this, we will fight via the original “virtual reality” machine:
theatre. It can provide an experience to create confusion between real and virtual. People have to
be reminded the things which make them human; to feel, think and the earth they actually live on. Therefore we have to show them how the physical and digital world can emerge and how easy to manipulate our perceptions. Theatre, originally comes from the word “action” and we are, the followers of futurist theatre concept, creating an “action” which is dynamic, simultaneous and autonomous experience. Designing the space for this experience is the key point; as Jean Louis Barrault says “the art of the human being in the space”. (Dixon,2007). A space on the dried land which there are no tree, no plant, no water… To futurists, space should not be static, so this space can be folded and response can offer spontaneity and surprise. Therefore it completes futurist performance itself. Moreover making the space is the key point can make easier to take attention to ecology. In this theatre space, physical and digital spaces follow each other and create an immersive and engaging theatre experience. This emergent between physical and digital sometimes get apart and creates confusion. The aim is that make people realize there is a line between “real” and “realistic”, in the end shut down the digital world they live in and show them the “real”. Therefore we can make people wake
up
to fix both nature of human and the earth before it is too late.
Technology is not the one we should afraid of. We should afraid of ourselves and how we chose to use it. Technology can create wonders and utopias not only dystopias. I chose to build my provocation around theatre because it has always the politic side and power to wake people up. Collaboration of art, design and technology should be encouraged and I believe this is a way to see technology as opportunity and not the monster.
REFERENCES: Debord, G., 1984, Society of the Spectacle, Black & Red,U.S Dixon, S., 2007, Digital Performance, MIT Press
RESEARCH ESSAY TABLE OF CONTEXT:
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
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FINDING THE INITIAL IDEA
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FUTURE SCENARIO
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CONTEX: LOS ANGELES
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BUILDING THE CONCEPT
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DESIGNING THE SPACE
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EXPRIENCE
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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Figure 1. William Gibson, Neuramancer, URL: http://www.terryburnham.com/2017/06/
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Figure 2. Digital Contact Lenses, URL: https://www.ippinka.com/blog/digital-contact-lenses/
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Figure 3. Sophia Dominguez, URL:https://blog.svrf.com/need-know-ar-vr-2018/
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Figure 4. Los Angeles, California, URL: http://www.level3.com/en/products/data-centers/northamerica-data-centers/los-angeles-data-centers/
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Figure 5. Dried Salton Sea, URL:file:///C:/Users/pc/Desktop/GSA/Design/Stage%20Two/Yeni%20klas%C3%B6r%20(2)/dried-saltonsea.jpg
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Figure 6. To Be With Hamlet, URL:http://hamletvr.org/
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Figure 7. To Be With Hamlet, URL:http://hamletvr.org/
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Figure 8. To Be With Hamlet, URL:http://hamletvr.org/
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Figure 9. Virtual House, Peter Eisenman, URL: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/404338872775382627/
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Figure 10. Wassily Kandinsky; The Athenaeum
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Figure 11. Ryoji Ikeda, The Radar
INTRODUCTION
Thinking about the future is all exciting and trying to explore how it will change the ways we currently live is challenging. The speed of technological developments is getting higher and higher. In recent years, internet and smartphones have become part of our lives. They have changed the way we perceive the world and ourselves, we have started to see the world through them. Moreover by 2016 VR is adopted by 1.000.000 users and the effect of the VR technologies is seen like the first iPhone (Arkenea, 2016) so, virtual reality technologies are becoming to involve our daily lives too, and they may cause even a bigger change. However, this may come with consequences; living in the world which digital and physical merged can make us forget about the real and the earth we actually live on. On the other hand, immersive entertainment can be developed
and changes for the better. Theatre “the original virtual reality machine� (Dixon, 2007) is the main focus in my project.
I question the evolution of the theatre and its provocative position in a world directed to a dystopia. And I try to explore the role of the space in future of theatre.
FINDING THE INITIAL IDEA
Finding my initial idea for the project I started with the sci-fi movies to widen my imagination and start to speculate what future looks like before place the theatre in it. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (Villeneuve, 2017) and their cyberpunk and post-modernist themes immediately draw my attention. “High tech, low life” concept in cyberpunk approach gave me a start point to draw my future scenario. Therefore, I searched more on movies and they lead me to William Gibson and his book “Neuromancer”. About the future Gibson created, Clare Sponsler says “So pervasive has technology become that it has altered human perception
of the natural world, making that world describable and indeed even visible only within a frame provided by technology” (Sponsler, 1992) This leads me to a future idea which VR is part of the daily life.
Figure 1. William Gibson, Neuromancer
FUTURE SCENARIO
Even today, addiction to internet and smart phones is an issue. The reality in digital attracts people more than real life. According to tech leaders, next step with these technologies will be living a world merged with physical and digital. (Nichols, 2017) Contact lenses which provides us a mixed reality environment will be available for everyone.(Figure 2,3) However, once MR (mixed reality) becomes a part of our daily lives, it starts to replace the real world and the senses which make us human. When people got lost in the artificial world, they start to be machine-like creatures (Wetmore, 2007), therefore we may be isolated the physical world leave the planet earth, nature to decay. Once the society turns into a machine, their lives are open to being manipulated and controlled. As Guy Debord approaches that “Where the real world changes into simple
images, the simple images become real beings and effective motivations of hypnotic behavior.� (Debord, 1984). Day by day to prevent any provocative action and movement of questioning governments and multinational corporations - which take advantages from hypnotic society - will turn the art history into a
media history (Dixon, 2007); live performances, printed books, physical art pieces replace with the digital therefore all of them can be censored.
In a world, our physical environment is turning into a trash and people are hypnotized by digital, cyberpunk
future picture needs its “punk” to stand.
And the “punk” is the theatre. A theatre place to provoke the
harsh reality of the earth. Related to my scenario, this theatre will be advertised through printed flyer (For the design go to the artefact part) which includes address and special code to make people can see the space in order to prevent digital censorship. They target young ones because young brains are more open-minded and easier to make them accept the truth, the situation of the world. When we look back in the history of theatre, politics have always been the part of it. In my future approach, theatre does not only aim to wake people up from their digital dream but also show them the technology is about improvement and discovering more, not numb their senses and imaginations.
CONTEXT: LOS ANGELES
Figure 4. Los Angeles, California
To refer to political street actions in open air and public areas in theatre history and in futurist theatre, I choose the empty, dried land out of the city Los Angeles/US. L.A. is a postmodern city which inspires the cyberspace of Gibson’s novel (Wetmore, 2007). Therefore I thought is a strong reference to machine like city living in my future approach. And a dry land is a contrast to this city life.
Figure 5. Dried Salton Sea
BUILDING THE CONCEPT
When I did deeper research on cyberpunk to create a stronger connection with theatre, I realized cyberpunk is a born and raised as an avant-garde art form. (Devi, 2014). Take the avant-garde as a key word, I started to look on avant-garde theatre and it leads me to its subgenre “futuristic theatre”. Futurist Marienetti’s sociopolitical concept of
“art as action”
makes the perfect sense with my idea of the position of theatre
in my future scenario. Futurists believe “theatre is the twin brother of political demonstration” (Berghaus, 2005). Therefore, they support that theatre should be provocative. For a society which is stuck in a digital dream, the aim is that to wake them up to see the “real” and take action. Moreover, futuristic theatre approaches that “technology can bring art closer to life” (Dixon, 2007) and help to break the fourth wall to create a more immersive experience.
Figure 6. To Be With Hamlet
Figure 7. To Be With Hamlet
Figure 8. To Be With Hamlet
Today’s immersive theatre concept and its predictions carry the same approach. There are lots of theatre projects uses the virtual reality and other technologies to build an immersive environment and more engaging performances. For instance, during the experience in “To
Be
with Hamlet” (Figure 6,7,8) you are in a complete VR scene and performers are seen in their avatars. (Weijdom, 2017) Therefore, in the immersive theatre, the line between art and life is getting more blurred and it should be. However it should not be the case for the living, so remind this “line” is the main focus of my project. While society is got used to living in mixed reality they lost this line completely, so they stop questioning what is real and what is happening the earth.
DESIGNING THE SPACE
Environmental theatre which subgenre of immersive theatre points out that space is a key factor to get attention to problems of nature.
“An exploration of ecological and environmental issues
automatically arises when the place is a key feature of the immersive experience� (Machon, 2013), so I wanted to use the place itself as a part of the space.
At this point, I came up with the folding and kinetic architecture concepts. (Figure 9) Folding a surface merged to a dry land to create space and show them to what we are doing to nature in the end of the exprience.
Figure 9. Virtual House, Peter Eisenman, Gave me the idea of folding a flat surface to create interiors.
While deciding the form of the space, I’m inspired by Ryoji Ikeda’s “The Radar”.(Figure 11) Espacially his digital mapping installation on a beach gave me the idea of a web on the surface can be move in three
dimensions. Addition to that, I referred to futurist avant-garde paintings’ (Figure 10) linearity.
Figure 11. Ryoji Ikeda, The Radar
Figure 10. Wassily Kandinsky, The Athenaeum
EXPRIENCE
Through the experience, people go around the physical and digital interiors, spaces change related to scenes and respond to act of performers to lead the spectators. There is no stage in the space; the whole space is the stage itself. To create the confusion in the space between the physical and digital, connection between them should be so strong and the line should be blurred. Then simultaneously separate them and let spectators stand in the only a digital or only a physical space to show them they can be manipulated and they may not see which one is actually real. As Jean Louis Barrault defines theatre
space”,
“the art of the human being in the
therefore space is an unerasable part of the theatre and spaces which can communicate make improve
the theatre and the idea of confusion between real and digital. To create this effect, again I get back to futurist concept. “Their notion of simultaneity and completion opened up now concepts of multimedia
spectacles and a novel use of color, sound and dynamic movement in multidimensional stage architecture”. (Berghaus, 2005)
A kinetic and responsive space which merged with folding architecture concept does not only support the simultaneity and dynamism in the space but also make the space another performer. Therefore it makes stronger the idea of environmental theatre’s
MOTION OF SPACE
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point on place as a key figure in the theatre to take attention to natural issues. As Doreen Massey manifests
construction”,
“the space should be always under
this kind of dynamism in my design creates this effect for the
users. Theatre is a production of relations-between and supports the simultaneity of stories. In our case virtual reality is a part of the relations. (Massey, 2005) In this project, space and the punks, performers, act in collaboration.
Both kinetic and digital spaces are partners to all the performers. Space knows them and performers have power to manage the scenes.
Moreover, VR technology gives them opportunity to be anonymous; their bodies will be
digitally mapped and they can be anybody without any limitation in order to gender, age, race etc. Therefore it gives performers to a more freedom.
When the relations become so strong between space,
performers and spectators, it will affect bigger when space breaks connection between real and virtual down. In the end, by shutting all the virtual view down, the harsh reality, dried land will be showed.
CONCLUSION
To conclusion, technology is not an enemy. The way we use technology is the main point. Technology can help to heal to nature rather than consume it. And virtual reality technologies promise amazing opportunities for art and design. Same as VR, kinetic and responsive spaces can offer more than smart house and functional machineries. As artist and architect Novak claims, the greater task is «restore poetry into science.» (Dixon, 2007) If they will be used this way to improve art and design theatre becomes much more immersive and engaging, therefore the things it wants to say will be affect people more, creativity will be almost limitless in the theatre spaces. Theatre has had always power to wake people up. From the times of ancient Greece to Avant-Garde, rebellious side of the theatre has never fallen. Not only performers themselves but with the power of design immersion of experience can create an “awakening”. This performance art which merges design
and humanity itself will always stand and try to change the world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Arkenea, 2016, 16 Experts Predict the Future of Virtual Reality, Website, Arkenea, URL:https://arkenea.com/blog/virtual-reality-expert-roundup/ • Berghaus, G., 2005, Theatre Performance and the Historical Avant-Garde • Cowen, S., 1970, The Synthetic Futurist Theatre: A Manifesto, The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 15, No. 1, The MIT Press • Debord, G., 1984, Society of the Spectacle, Black & Red,U.S. • Devi. G, G, 2014, Cyberpunk: A True Representative Fiction of the Postmodern Period Gibson’s Neuromancer: A Case Study, Language in India, Vol.14 • Dixon, S., 2007, Digital Performance, MIT Press • Giannanchi, G., 2014, Virtual Theatres: An Introduction
• Machon, J., 2013, Immersive Theatres, Pelgrave Macmillan,NYC • Massey, D., 2005, For Space, SAGE Publications • Nichols,M., 2017, Virtual Networking, the Future Social Media, Website, Next Nature, URL:https://www.nextnature.net/2017/08/virtual-reality-social-mediafuture/ • Sponsler, C.,1992, Cyberpunk and the Dilemmas of Postmodern Narrative: The Example of William Gibson, Contemporary Literature, Vol. 33, No. 4, University of Wisconsin Press
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Wang, M., 2016, Adaptive Architecture and Spatial Management • Weijdom, J., 2017, Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future, Arts and New Technologies • Wetmore, A., 2007, The Poetics of Pattern Recognition: William Gibson’s Shifting Technological Subject, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
FILMOGRAPHY • Blade Runner, 1982. Film. Directed by Ridley Scott. USA: Warner Home Video (DVD) • Blade Runner 2049, 2017. Film. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. USA: Sony Pictures (DVD)
ARTEFACTS
THAUMATROPE
PROJECT «AWAKENING» FLYER
THAUMATROPE
Thaumatrope illusion shows to two different images come together though
idea of how physical and digital worlds merged and look like one. Our realities
can be manipulated and tricked. As in the movie Sleepy Hollow says;
«It is truth, but truth is not always appearance.»
THAUMATROPE
spinning and looks like one. Therefore I used this illusion to visualize my
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(Burton,1999) PHYSICAL WORLD
DIGITAL WORLD
SPINNING
REFERENCE: Sleepy Hollow, 1999. Film. Directed by Tim Burton. Studiocanal (DVD)
PROJECT «AWAKENING» FLYER
LAYER I
LAYER II
For flyer design, I used two layers as a reference to two merged worlds; physical and digital. Layer I is the
page we see but it has another layer we can see with light. When we see the second layer two layers merged and meaning changes completely.