Summer
Show
2022
Show
2022
24
November
18:00 SAST
November
18:00 SAST
Contradictory Co-Equals
Virtual Heterotopia
Virtual Reality Prototype. Bridgland, D. Unit 18. 2021
Demi Bridgland
MArch 2021Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Naadira Patel
Unit Leader: Sarah de Villiers
Unit Assistant: Nothando Lunga
UNIT 18︎︎︎
Hyperreal Prototypes: Supersurfaces
Project Website
Click Here
This project holds fascination in the unmasking of truth through identifying contradictory co-equals, where one matter cannot exist without the other, by using spatial tools to render these visible. These are processed by straddling the threshold of the "fourth wall" as a supersurface and resultant adjacent heterotopias which are produced, particularly in the context of Gold Reef City in Johannesburg.
In places of performance, we find the articulation of the invisible "fourth wall", a concept, as brought to light by Dennis Diderot (1713-1784). This device is used as a term to specify the division of space between the performers and spectators. This concept is important in providing a framework of engagement in which these two parallels may be juxtaposed and decoded; revealing overlaps, collisions, similarities, and contradictions of the co-equals.
This project is understood through a heterotopic site viewed as a playspace (Steffen Walz 2010:27). First through "play as subjective experience" where there is no play in space without the player and then further through "play as modality" that goes beyond the subjective experience and situates itself in a "physical, imaginary, virtual or hybrid setting".
The question remains: if the surface is just a skin, façade or frame to hide, protect or hold together the depth of the matter, how might the effective use of the "fourth wall" create a more responsive relationship between the contradictory co-equals within a spatial setting?
This project uses fragments of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino as prompts to expose different sub-stories of Gold Reef City and those emerging by exploring this set of themes as a tool of truth telling which is proposed through an immersive Virtual Reality experience. This methodology allows the "fourth wall" to not only be a flatline of division and projection but further creates an interactive sphere in which the wall becomes an immersive and interactive space with depth and dimension.
In places of performance, we find the articulation of the invisible "fourth wall", a concept, as brought to light by Dennis Diderot (1713-1784). This device is used as a term to specify the division of space between the performers and spectators. This concept is important in providing a framework of engagement in which these two parallels may be juxtaposed and decoded; revealing overlaps, collisions, similarities, and contradictions of the co-equals.
This project is understood through a heterotopic site viewed as a playspace (Steffen Walz 2010:27). First through "play as subjective experience" where there is no play in space without the player and then further through "play as modality" that goes beyond the subjective experience and situates itself in a "physical, imaginary, virtual or hybrid setting".
The question remains: if the surface is just a skin, façade or frame to hide, protect or hold together the depth of the matter, how might the effective use of the "fourth wall" create a more responsive relationship between the contradictory co-equals within a spatial setting?
This project uses fragments of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino as prompts to expose different sub-stories of Gold Reef City and those emerging by exploring this set of themes as a tool of truth telling which is proposed through an immersive Virtual Reality experience. This methodology allows the "fourth wall" to not only be a flatline of division and projection but further creates an interactive sphere in which the wall becomes an immersive and interactive space with depth and dimension.
Keywords:
Amusement Park, Contradictory Co-equals, Embodied, Heterotopia, Hyperreality, Illusion, Simulation, Supersurface, The Fourth Wall, Unmasking, Virtual Reality
Amusement Park, Contradictory Co-equals, Embodied, Heterotopia, Hyperreality, Illusion, Simulation, Supersurface, The Fourth Wall, Unmasking, Virtual Reality
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