A Deep Breath Of Sky was lost for a while as I was learning new VR software skills that revealed various ideas and took me down numerous pathways. However, this project has rarely been far from my thoughts and I return to it to experiment with the new tools and skills I learned.
In my previous blog, I talked of choreography and how to move an audience through and around an artwork, using images as points of focus, and drawing a person forward to reveal hidden items that move you on.
By using Blender and Mozilla Hubs I have created an environment that surrounds the viewer with painted skies stretching to the horizon. Within the domes, you experience views inspired by the coastal landscape of Sussex.
The images within the domes are displayed to encourage movement. You travel to the images, look up and lean back to view the vertical panoramas. Look up, lean back and turn to view the interior of arches. This echoes elements of the movement required to capture such images. Then, spotting an image previously unseen or now seen from a different angle, you move on.
Spatial sound, keyed to particular places in the environment flows around and above you; it gets louder as you approach and fades as you move away. It is a background to a remembered mood and a voice seeking to share.
None of this seeks to be the place or moment in time they describe; it wants to tell stories. It provides the ingredients for a little bit of magic that the audience can use to transport themselves. It is a piece of theatre – taking more time than you expect and only finishes at the point it is in front of an audience.