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"Science and art are the two wings that elevate us to God."
M. Behaulla, as quoted by Bulat M. Galeyev[3]
Virtual Reality (VR) is a phenomenon that is aggressively seizing the imaginations of people around the world. Although it does not allow users to transport to some computer-generated parallel universe, nor to realistically live out some alien sexual fantasy -- as has been portrayed in film and television -- VR is nonetheless quite fascinating, and holds immense potential as an artistic vehicle. There are less than thirty VR artists in the entire world, and EVL's unique facilities currently foster ten of them[13]. The reasons for this minuscule population lie in the medium's limitations: the equipment it employs is prohibitively expensive (hundreds of thousands of dollars), and its basic interface requires computer programming skills, a somewhat rare commodity amongst artists.
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IMAGE 5 (305k): CAVE(tm) Diagram, by Milana HuangMilana Huang's home page: http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~mhuang |
The term "Virtual Reality" can be used to describe almost any instrument or situation that simulates an artificial environment. At EVL, our version of VR is manifested in the computer-based CAVE(TM)[14]. The CAVE(TM) consists of three ten-foot square walls and a floor onto which is projected a stereo computer image. The image represents a world created by the artist, through which the user can move and interact using a device called a "wand." The position of the user determines the perspective of the image, creating such a vivid trompe l'oeil that people believe the image is right in front of their faces. One unique and powerful aspect of EVL's CAVE(TM) is its immersiveness: users can see themselves within the environment, making them participants in the drama, rather than passive observers.
This immersive quality makes entering the CAVE(TM) a very passionate and magical experience. The artist's world does not just sit before you on a canvas or screen; it pulls you in, encircles you, and dances around you. Here animated characters come to life and react to your presence, drawing you further into their story and allowing you to get to know them. The CAVE(TM) effectively shatters the fourth wall separating the audience from the artist. Users gasp with amazement as the artist's fantastic creations violate the laws of perception with an illusion so powerful that people frequently reach out to prove to their beguiled eyes that the objects they see are not really there.
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IMAGE 6 (55k): "Food Court," by Debra LowmanDebra Lowman's home page: http://www.evl.uic.edu/lowman |
As well as being exhilarating for the user, the CAVE(TM) offers its artists the unique "opportunity to create and actually visit the places [they] could only visit before in [their] minds[15]." Virtual Reality is the magic gateway through which reality and fantasy meet half-way, a common ground on which the artist is no longer separated from his or her work by a screen, canvas, or lump of clay. "[VR] gives you a much more intimate feeling about your art -- you can immerse yourself in it and see it for what it really is, all its beauty and all its flaws. And hopefully the viewer, in experiencing your creation in such an all-encompassing way, will have a better understanding of your vision[16]."
One factor that frequently hinders any computer artwork's acceptance into the art world is content (or the lack thereof). It is quite easy to lose oneself in exploring the graphical limits of a computer, meanwhile laying meaningful substance by the wayside. "The challenge of the VR artist is to create something that goes beyond the idea of mere entertainment[16]." As easy as it is for the artist to overlook content, it is far easier for audiences of a Virtual spectacle to do so: "many people ... are so impressed [by the 3-D], they don't care that there is no deeper meaning to it. This is what we call the 'wow' factor.[16]" Since the medium is so new, Virtual artists are just now beginning their struggle to overcome this stigma. "Much of Virtual Reality 'art' seems more like mere fascination [with] the power and vividness of the display rather than reflection on work with conceptual qualities.[17]."
[IMAGE 7 UNAVAILABLE -- "HOUSE OF THE FUTURE," CHRISTINA VASILAKIS WITH JASON LEIGH]
Another obstacle that VR art faces is that of exhibition. The CAVE(TM) is so large (including projectors, 20'w x 20'd x 15'h) that few galleries can hold it. Furthermore, the proper transportation of all the cumbersome and extremely delicate equipment involved is rather expensive. In the last few years, EVL has begun to develop a solution to this problem: The ImmersaDesk(TM). "About the size of a large drafting table," and looking very much like a gigantic television set, the ImmersaDesk(TM)'s 3-D images are projected onto a screen "large enough to fill your field of vision while seated in front of it[18]." While not as immersive as the CAVE(TM), the ImmersaDesk(TM) offers the VR artist a brighter hope of bringing his or her exhibit to the audience, rather than the other way around.
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IMAGE 8 (84k): "Liquid Meditation," by Margaret WatsonMargaret Waston's home page: http://www.evl.uic.edu/watson |
Despite these obstacles, artists here at the EVL are forging ahead with their ground-breaking work in the VR arena. MFA candidate Margaret Watson delves deeply into the concepts of "spirituality and mind[15]," using VR to create a meditative "liquid environment." Her piece, "Liquid Meditation" (image 8), "attempts to transcend the trance-like connection between the viewer and a television monitor. By introduction of the element of physicality, it also establishes a connection with the user on all levels of being[15]." VR artists Debra Lowman and Maria Roussou participated in a collaboration with seven other artists, with whom they created an elaborate piece entitled "The Great Virtual Reality Circus[19]." This magical world presents the audience with eight Virtual tents, each constructed by a different artist, and each containing its own unique adventure. Roussou created for her audiences a psychedelic "Psycho Tunnel," in which users can control the speed of their voyage through the breath-taking array of streaming colors. The traveler of this path is encouraged to project his or her own psychological journey onto the nebulous, swirling backgrounds. Lowman's "Food Court"; (image 6) contains 3 giant mouths with undulating tongues, to which users can feed their choice of circus delicacies such as hot dogs, ice cream, or cotton candy. This somewhat grotesque display is a garish look at the excesses of American culture.
"Virtual Reality technology [was] not originally intended as a medium for creation of art, just like Dauguerre, Niepce, [and] Talbot were not [acting as] artists when they invented photography[17]." Although perhaps originally dreamed up by artists and science fiction fans, computer-generated Virtual Reality was invented, developed, and is maintained by scientists, for scientists. Currently, its most significant application lies in scientific visualization, wherein the CAVE(TM) is highly valued by researchers for what is known as its "inside-out paradigm; instead of viewing external data to gain a glimpse of what is happening inside the model, the user is inside the model observing the events that produce the data[20]." No doubt, as VR art begins to come of its own, its richly scientific roots will be used as a weapon against its artistic status by the art world at large. However, once its critics experience the visual power, the unlimited potential, and the sensual immersiveness, they will surely be equally as spellbound as are we, the fortunate few artists that have the rare opportunity to spin VR magic.
"We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amusing change in our very notion of art[21]."
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Endnotes for Section 3 |
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13. The Ars Electronica Center in Austria recently purchased a CAVE(TM) from EVL. For information, E-Mail Peter Schoeber at: schoeber@jk.uni-linz.ac.at, or phone 43-732-6900-267.
14. Cave Automatic Virtual Environment(TM)
15.
Quoted from Margaret Watson, a Masters of Fine Art
candidate at EVL.
Margaret Waston's home page:
http://www.evl.uic.edu/watson
16.
Quoted from Debra Lowman, a Masters of Fine Art candidate at
EVL.
Debra Lowman's home page:
http://www.evl.uic.edu/lowman
18.
"CAVEs, ImmersaDesks and NII/Walls," Access, NCSA,
Summer 1995.
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Pubs/access/95.2/3environments.html
19. "The Great Virtual Reality Circus" was conceived as James Barr's Masters of Fine Art thesis show.
20. "An Interactive Virtual Environment for Finite Element Analysis," by Shannon Bradshaw, Thomas Canfield, John Kokinis, and Terrence Disz of the Argonne National Laboratory, IL. Published in the Proceedings of High Performance Computing 1995 "Grand Challenges in Computer Simulation," Phoenix, AZ, April 9-13, 1995.
21. Paul Valery, in "Conquest of Ubiquity," from Aesthetics, Translated by Ralph Manheim; New York: Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series, 1964. Page 225.
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Last modified 16 February 1996