SEEING THINGS
Leader-Post reporter Jennifer Ackerman, centre, tests out John Desnoyers-Stewart’s virtual reality installation at the Fifth Parallel Gallery at the University of Regina. As participants move around, their movements generate sound and images.
The usually well lit gallery is dark save for a handful of psychedelic projections.
Streaks of neon orange and purple, flecks of green and blue, and swirls of green leaves dance on the wall directly across from the doors and the one to its left.
The light from the projections reveal a large square in the middle of the floor, which is sectioned off with black electricians tape. In one corner of the square sits a small electric piano. Above it to the left hangs a virtual reality headset.
The projections are activated when a person steps into the square. Tracking their movement with a sensor, one of four virtual instruments “attach” to them and the projections move as they move. Sound is also made, depending on the person’s movement.
“I wanted to use virtual reality as a way to activate a space rather than to leave it,” said John Desnoyers- Stewart, the engineer and artist responsible for the installation currently transforming the Fifth Parallel Gallery at the University of Regina.
Part of his final master’s project, Desnoyers- Stewart’s Transcended Perception “invites participants to collaborate in producing sound and visuals with their bodies” and “encourages creativity and selfexpression.”
“Rather than using virtual reality to escape reality, I want to use it to expand that reality — to bring the space to life in ways that it wouldn’t be otherwise,” he said.
Participants can interact with the installation in several different ways, and it works best with multiple people to get the full effect. One can simply walk into the square and move their body to create the visuals and sound they desire and watch what happens to the projections on the walls — no controller or other equipment required — or the participant can put on the virtual reality headset.
The headset takes the experience to the next level. As those without it see themselves projected in abstraction on the wall, the wearer of the headset sees those abstracted shapes in 3-D in place of the physical participants. Virtual leaves being controlled by another participant swirl around the wearer as they get close, making varying pitches of a whirring-like sound depending on how they move their arms. Streaks of neon flash by as another participant waves their arms around, creating a light sabre-ish type sound.
A drum and a xylophone can also be played and have corresponding visuals projected on the walls. You don’t see the instruments, but create the sound by moving in ways you would if the actual instrument were in front of you.
When you look up with the headset on, rainbow-coloured raindrops falls from the ceiling, each making their own sound. A censor on the front of the headset shows virtual hands in front of you that move as you move. Stretch your hand out to catch a raindrop, and a musical note is played as it hits your palm.
The person with the headset can also play or experiment with the electric piano, crossing between virtual and real space. The piano also has virtual buttons that allow the person to control the speed of the rain and the sound of the piano, among other things.
Desnoyers-Stewart said he was interested and concerned about the potential this kind of technology has to shape our society.
“Depending on how we use this technology, we could all end up ... sequestered into our homes interacting only through this technology,” he said. “But it’s also something that can be integrated into our lives and instead of sequestering us and physically pulling us apart, it can really bring us together in a social space like this.”
In this age of the Netflix and social media, connecting with each other in person happens less and less, said Desnoyers-Stewart. He hopes his vision of what virtual reality can do for society can help change that.
The system uses one HTC Vive virtual reality headset which also tracks and synchronizes the keyboard, a Xbox Kinect for body tracking, an additional sensor on the headset for the wearers hands and two projections. DesnoyersStewart said the project will continue as he pursues a PhD.
The installation is at the Fifth Parallel Gallery in the University of Regina’s Riddell Centre from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until April 27.