Upstarters VR - Art & Disability
The Upstarters VR was funded by The Arts Council. Mayo Arts and the Western Care Association. The upstaters are a group of 8 artists living with various disabilities. I was approached by the organisers of this group in hopes that I could bring Virtual Reality into their self expression. A collaborative project introducing the benefits of sound healing in a immersive virtual environment. We created a VR world composed of their art, their drawings became the leaves on the trees, the pattern of the landscape and the totem symbols in the sky.
Client
Mayo Arts, Western Care Association
Year
01/12/2019
By projecting their art into an immersive 3D environment, we were able to create a novel sense of presence with their art that became a reflection back onto themselves and gives others a chance to connect to their expression in a new and exciting way, becoming a transcending experience for both the artists and the audience of their work. This is a project of inclusivity and offers the opportunity to merge traditional forms of art with emerging technologies.
Realising the capacity for VR To enhance our expression, creativity and inclusivity
Information Recognition
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The inspiration for this project came from our collective explorations into well-being practices and how they can be applied to support our creativity and artwork. Through VR workshops and sound therapy experiences
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This experience was built using Unity 3d, for the virtual gaming environment, Photoshop for graphics and visuals and Adobe Audition for sound.
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As these are mostly non verbal adults with disabilities, initial steps required developing a trusting relationship and communication style with each artist, this was to ensure my ability to facilitate their creativity.
After research into creative therapies for Artists living with disabilities, I developed an 8 week workshop plan exploring art informed by wellbeing practices, introduction into Virtual Reality experiences, Unity 3D and organized a sound bath with a registered sound therapist to evoke the awareness and benefits of sound healing frequencies.
The outcomes from the series of workshops, VR and sonic experiences formed the materials and creative direction of the Virtual Reality World developed from their artworks.
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Users step into the Virtual Reality world using headset and headphones for binaural sound. They arrive onto a planet designed by each of the Upstarter Artist’s work. The textures of the trees, patterns on the ground, painted totems in the sky. The user is encouraged to collect each totem as they explore the environment. Once a totem has been collected, it will trigger its relational sound frequency which had been selected by each artist with the sound therapist.
Like the singing bowls used in the sound bath, these totems sing, when 2 or more of these totems are collected, they resonate (or sing) together.