Virtual Squirrel
An interactive multimedia installation demonstrating the collision of nature and technology through the eyes of nature.
Purpose
I am interested in exploring our diminishing relationship with nature as we become more reliant on technology. My intent is to create a project with multiple layers of meaning that forces the viewer to look at how our connection with nature is changing and, via participation, examine our hand in environmental issues. This work is intended to connect the viewer directly to something natural, in essence forcing a bond with a dimensional, fabricated virtual environment.
Overiew
The project is conceived as an immersive installation that visually and conceptually illustrates our diversion and separation from nature as we delve deeper into the technological realm. The experience will convey the idea that nature is becoming a spectacle versus being an intrinsic part of our environment, that nature's presence is more novelty than norm. The installation will include sculptural elements and imagery that juxtapose organic natural forms and mechanized technology, highlighting the detachment many humans feel as a result of existing in a linear built world that is intrinsically different from our natural environment. The project is intended to express an underlying environmental theme while visually conveying the complex, delicate balance that exists in both our natural and technological worlds.
The installation will combine robotics, sculpture, audio and video projection, including an interactive element that will control and switch the video sequencing via user participation. The space is conceived as a walk-in, immersive area with dimensions of approximately 15'x15'. The room will be lush, organic and natural looking, embodying the experience of being deep in a forest, enveloped by nature, as contrasted with technology-laden virtual reality equipment. Organic shapes will merge fluidly into circuitry and other technical imagery throughout the space. The viewer will be fully immersed in the experience, seeing, hearing and feeling nature and technology as adapting, dynamic forces simultaneously synergistic and discordant.
The central element in the room is a small, animatronic taxidermied squirrel situated on a metal tree stump. The squirrel is outfitted in tiny Virtual Reality (VR) goggles and a miniature VR sleeve/glove and faces a large flat multi-panel screen that encompasses the bulk of the facing wall. The squirrel and the screen are the primary focal points of the exhibit. Lighting will guide the viewer's attention to the squirrel and the video screen will display a video projection which is interactively controlled by a participant. The squirrel will appear tiny in relation to the room and the video screen. This play on scale is intentional.
Individuals interact with the installation by putting on a full-sized VR sleeve/glove which is connected to the robotic squirrel and controls the squirrel's actions. The squirrel's movements will be programmed to emulate the participant's movements. The participant's actions will also dictate the sequencing of the video imagery, viewable to all in the room. The squirrel is meant to look out of place -- and quite funny -- dressed in the VR equipment. The squirrel was an intentional choice meant to juxtaposition a familiar, common rodent with high technology. Also, squirrels have a very interesting perspective: high, low, through the trees that will, in effect, create a point-of-view (POV) squirrel that will require the viewer to relate with the squirrel's experience and thus feel a compelling tie to nature. Having a squirrel be situated in front of and wearing VR equipment is unexpected and likely to command a visceral reaction. The intent is humorous and made to stimulate thought about the enormity of the disconnect we have created between ourselves and our natural environment and also to draw attention to the repercussions of attempting to manipulate and control nature.
The Room
The room will be an overgrown, green and natural looking space created predominantly of metal, utilizing forged metal and patinas to achieve multiple organic tones. Two large metal tree sculptures will be placed in either corner, branching out, surrounding the projection screen and encompassing the bulk of the room. It will be forest-like - lush, thick and wild with metal foliage that reflects light from the video screen. These sculptures will transition from organic to linear shapes; the branches and foliage will be fabricated of steel that is patinaed towards the trunk and natural steel towards the ends of the branches as they merge into circuit board patterns, alluding to the shift from nature into a linear, data driven reality. The execution of these sculptural elements will be highly detailed and realistic, to convey a sense of wild, overgrown beauty being assimilated by a mechanized and computational aesthetic. This is meant to convey the fusion and adaptation of nature and technology - both intricate and uncontrollably beautiful in their own ways.
Video
The projected imagery will be presented entirely from the squirrel's perspective - POV squirrel. The camera movements will follow a squirrel's typical actions: climbing a tree, jumping from limb to limb, etc., and are meant to mimic a camera attached to an actual squirrel, wandering and low-fi to maintain a sense of realism. The projection will range from being natural to technological, incorporating Super 8 film, digital video and CGI. The projection, like the sculptural elements, will highlight the contrast between the organic and mechanized realms: varying from lush and green to sparse and rectilinear. The cinematographic style within the inorganic realm should create a sense of discomfort, perhaps utilizing a variety of jerky, shaky camera movements to demonstrate the squirrel feeling ill at ease within the technological space. The Super 8 film presenting the squirrel's natural environment will have a gritty home-movie feel to it, with unpolished audio, such as the sound of wind against the mike. This will be mixed with CGI, which will be relatively pixelated, highlighting the digital sensibility of the content. Digital video can be used to create bridges and transitions between the film and the CGI.
Interactivity / Participation
The VR sleeve the squirrel is wearing is controllable through human movements with a matching human VR sleeve. This sleeve is worn by a participant and controls the video projection and the squirrel's movements. Different movements with the sleeve will trigger programmed technical jumps in the video. These will be filmed in sequences where minimal movement choices are possible to keep the underlying imagery database and video switching system simple. For instance, specific triggered jump cuts in a sequence will have only one or two possible sequences, such as jump to ground or to next limb, where if the participant jumps elsewhere the sequence will have one common fall action.
Sound
The squirrel's natural world presented in the film elements will include predominantly realistic sound bytes of the squirrel scurrying, such as minor sounds of scuffling and scampering. In the mechanized environment, the audio will incorporate common technical sounds, perhaps incorporating some gaming sounds to highlight the technical realm. When the squirrel is in the trees and natural environment, calming sounds audio will accompany the movement sounds - birds chirping, crickets, leaves crunching, etc. In the unnatural environment this soundscape will consist of city noise: cars, machines, the hum of electronics, etc. Low-volume, ambient sound will also be placed in the room itself; this will consist of subdued audio including light wind and a far away, low-pitched mechanical hum.
History
I have been examining the intersection of tech and nature through a series of work, including, Compubeaver and Text-o-Possum. Compubeaver is a PC desktop computer built inside of a taxidermied beaver which I created as an exploration of the recent emergence of "case-modding," a modern trend to augment and modify desktop computer cases. The project was initially built as a small installation that included a mannequin seated at a desk working on the computer while the computer screen displayed a video of beavers in their natural environment. Text-o-Possum is a bluetooth enabled laser keyboard encased in a taxidermied possum. The work has been well-received and garnered a great deal of press attention - including Popular Science, Wired, PC World and hundreds of tech blogs around the world.
Conclusion
Combining interactive robotics, sculpture, audio and video projection, Virtual Squirrel is intended to trigger thought on our displacement from our natural world. The installation will highlight the elegant complexity existing within both the natural and technological realms and will call attention to our environmental impact. The scale of the piece, particularly with the small focal point of the squirrel, will emphasize our large-scale role in molding our reality, virtual or otherwise and the interactive component will highlight the immense power we maintain over our natural surroundings. Ideally the piece will portray the delicate balance existing between man, nature and technology while calling attention to the role humanity is playing as we culturally shift to a technologically driven society.
