Depth Perception

Immersive technologies serve to mediate our perception of the world. An immersive technology experience can make us aware of the malleability of our sensory perception in crafting an understanding or interpretation of all that we deem external to ourselves. An emergent field, immersive technology art and design includes virtual and computer-mediated reality tools, which can be deployed to raise questions and close the gap between conceptions of what is ‘artificial’ and what is ‘real.’

Jean Baudrillard, who coined the term ‘hyperreality,’ defines it as “a real without origin or reality.” In this most basic definition, stripped of any historical-cultural context, ‘hyperreality’ seems to suggest that fundamental authenticity is not only elusive, but without meaning. From this perspective, any understanding of the external world assumes a genericized role as yet another indiscernible layer of abstraction in an amorphous framework, existing without hierarchy. In this vacuum of both authority and meaning, the subjective experience of a unified consciousness becomes the basis for reasoning with one’s surroundings.

Utilizing immersive multimedia tools, such as VR, for their impressive resolution of representation and effectiveness in bringing these questions to light, Depth Perception aims to evoke a confused verisimilitude, suggesting a ‘hyperreal’ nature of existence, along with the arbitrariness and sentimentality with which we attribute authenticity to the perceived. The form of this project is that of a multimodal experiential installation, with the intention of creating a disconnect between the user and their environment. This installation takes place between an infinite number of room pairs, each room serving as a loose reflection of its counterpart adjoined through a common window, with a shifting relationship.

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Early first-look for the Designing Multiplicity exhibition.