By Byeongwon Ha : :
The title Virtual Reality in the Expanded Field was inspired by the legendary article “Sculpture in the Expanded Field” written by Rosalind Krauss. The art critic explored a new phenomenon in sculpture that was neither landscape nor architecture. Similarly, Virtual Reality in the Expanded Field navigates a new kind of virtual reality that is neither MR nor AR, though it incorporates aspects of both. The suitcase serves as a traveling container, delivering a VR headset to create an immersive personal environment for visitors.
Virtual Reality in the Expanded Field provides a spacer that creates more space between the VR headset and users' faces. Typically, the spacer is black to prevent external light from entering, enhancing immersion by isolating users from the real world. However, in this project, the spacer is transparent, which distracts users with light from the real world, reducing immersion. This transparent spacer acts as a window to the real world, increasing users' awareness of their surroundings. The real world is equipped with RGB LED panels and eight-channel loudspeakers that synchronize with the virtual environment's colors and sounds. This synchronization mitigates the distraction caused by the transparent spacer, creating a seamless, expanded simulation.
Virtual Reality in the Expanded Field offers a transitional boundary between reality and virtual reality, creating a synesthetic, immersive environment that blurs the line between the two worlds. With internal funding, I developed this project as a phenomenological VR art prototype. It encourages users to experience a synesthetic world with external lights and ambisonic sounds, enhancing immersion by combining the VR and real worlds. This project has the potential for international collaboration with scholars in HCI, medicine, and new media art. It aims to develop a practical immersive VR environment for video game users, PTSD patients, and artists interested in participatory VR art.
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