The building of the gallery in UE4 has become a fairly straight forward technical exercise, depending on the depth of detail in the recreation... I have included screen grabs of the results below, alongside images of the actual exhibition. The only difficulty I had was in controlling the lighting so that the paintings did not look washed out or too dark.
I wanted this opportunity to provide me with constructive feedback with regards to moving my project on. But, I found it very difficult to think of questions that would do this, with this existing set-up. However, I wanted to test some ideas raised by The Gallery of One Painting and O'Doherty, and make comparisons between classically populated gallery spaces and works presented individually in their own exhibition space. So, to make this happen, I had to add a couple of extra spaces to the existing gallery. This enabled me to ask people what they thought of the two different spaces as well as the actual gallery, but with the same paintings.
I added three smaller spaces, each containing one work.
Putting together a purposely relevant and coherent questionnaires for this project has been as steep a learning curve as learning to use UE4 software. It took a few days to resolve a questionnaire that I could use during the private view evening for Jeffrey Hammond's exhibition, as I knew there would be a diverse range of people there. Even so, on reflection, I still managed to include questions that did not really add anything to my knowledge, but maybe I was trying cover all bases.
During the Private View I asked people to look around the recreation of the real gallery, then the smaller attached spaces, before asking the questions. I had eleven participants, which included five who had never experienced VR before and the initial reactions are always the same; wow, fantastic, amazing!... One nice thing about this project is that I have been able to introduce so many people to the VR experience and it really is one of those, "you do not understand it if you haven't experienced it" moments.
I have included the results from the questionnaire below -
The VR Gallery Project
QUESTIONNAIRE
Wednesday 12 December 2018
1. Have you experienced VR before?
YES 6 (answers in red) NO 5 (answers in blue)
2. How would you rate the experience of visiting the VR gallery compared to the real one?
BETTER 1 2 (3) WORSE 5 3 (8)
3. In the VR galleries, did you prefer to see the work exhibited together or individually?
TOGETHER 2 2 (4) INDIVIDUALLY 4 2 (6)
Why?
• Individually - it focused my mind on the image – I was less distracted by the other works.
• Individually - it gave me more sensations of space.
• Individually - privacy/contemplation – focused.
• Together – a better sense of proportion.
• The individual galleries feel more intimate.
• Together – they are an ensemble, a journey.
• Individually – you engage with the art more.
• Individually – more focused.
• Together – I can be selective… I can choose which works I want to look at… it is not dictated to me.
• Both – Interested to see individually and collectively. [The artist].
4. Did you think the work looked larger or smaller when you viewed it in the individual rooms, compared to the main gallery?
LARGER 2 2 (4) SMALLER 1 2 (3) NO DIFFERENCE 3 1 (4)
5. Did you think about the work differently when you viewed it individually as opposed to collectively?
YES 6 5 (11) NO 0 0 (0)
Why?
• Yes - Individually, I considered the work in its own right. Collectively, I considered the artist and his style more. I viewed it as a body of work and moved between the images.
• Yes - it concentrates you on a single item.
• Yes - it’s more focused.
• Yes – I preferred the contrast of the main gallery.
• Yes – I paid more attention.
• Yes – More grandiose, more dramatic, more special. Benefits from directional light. More immersive.
• Yes – but they need to be together!
• Yes – more engaged with the individual piece.
• Yes – centred on one piece. More intense.
• Yes – The Painting is isolated, 100% attention.
• Yes – I feel very close to it. [The artist].
6. Did you prefer to see the work presented in the larger individual room or the smaller individual rooms?
LARGER 3 3 (6) SMALLER 2 2 (4) I DID NOT NOTICE A DIFFERENCE IN SIZE 1 0 (1)
Why?
• Larger - not as cluttered.
• Larger - less claustrophobic.
• Larger – Brighter, less claustrophobic.
• I paid more attention to the work in the smaller side rooms. Perhaps, different images need different size rooms.
• Smaller - the change of lighting in the smaller space made the work feel more dramatic.
• Smaller – less distraction. Smaller room gives a more intense experience.
Do you have any other comments or observations?
• I found moving around the real exhibition difficult due to physical problems – I felt like I had more time and freedom in VR. The solitude was also quite liberating.
• I prefer larger works and this [VR] could/would show this. Good!
• A good substitute, but not a replacement for a real gallery.
• A very weird experience, but I can see the future.
• Then resolution warped the images when close to them.
• It is unnerving when you get stuck in a corner.
• Amazing experience.
• I prefer a real gallery, but it’s [VR] a good substitute.
• It was a bit blurry as my vision is not very good.
• I wanted to repaint the work to suit the new environment! Open to technology and impressed by it. Alternative for exhibiting – a good tool. [The artist].
The questionnaire strongly supports the idea of the gallery of one painting and O'Doherty's perfect viewing experience and my thoughts on the subject. In question 3, six people preferred to see the paintings individually as opposed to four preferring to see them collectively. And in question 5, everyone thought about the work differently when they viewed it in individual rooms, rather than collectively.
I wandered if the size of the exhibition space would diminish or increase to perceived size of a work but it seems fairly inconclusive according to this questionnaire. However, in question 4, three people who had been exposed to VR before felt that there was no difference in size and only 1 person who had not been exposed to VR thought there was no difference in size. I think this difference of opinion is down to the 'overwhelming' first time experience of VR.
I wanted know what people thought about the size of the gallery in terms of the viewing experience of a single work of art and in question 6, a larger group of people preferred the larger space and commented that they felt it was not as cluttered and less claustrophobic. However, it seems that a smaller space could inspire a more dramatic and intense experience.
Finally, the sentiment that came through in the 'do you have any other comments?' bit, was that people felt that VR was a good substitute, bit not a replacement for a real gallery, which is reflected in the answers to question 2.
One more bit of interesting information that I have gathered through other conversations and reflected in this questionnaire, is the ability of VR to allow people to move around a space and investigate artworks at a variety of distances, especially if they are physically impaired [in reality].
So where do I go now. Personally, I now want to design a gallery that encompasses many individual rooms to show off artworks individually... or a space that slowly reveals its secrets, one-by-one, so the viewer is not overwhelmed by the experience of confronting many work at the same time (I think this may form my next post).
Ideally and in support of this project's objectives, I need to allow creative arts students take this project forwards and I need to think about how that is going to happen.
I wandered if the size of the exhibition space would diminish or increase to perceived size of a work but it seems fairly inconclusive according to this questionnaire. However, in question 4, three people who had been exposed to VR before felt that there was no difference in size and only 1 person who had not been exposed to VR thought there was no difference in size. I think this difference of opinion is down to the 'overwhelming' first time experience of VR.
I wanted know what people thought about the size of the gallery in terms of the viewing experience of a single work of art and in question 6, a larger group of people preferred the larger space and commented that they felt it was not as cluttered and less claustrophobic. However, it seems that a smaller space could inspire a more dramatic and intense experience.
Finally, the sentiment that came through in the 'do you have any other comments?' bit, was that people felt that VR was a good substitute, bit not a replacement for a real gallery, which is reflected in the answers to question 2.
One more bit of interesting information that I have gathered through other conversations and reflected in this questionnaire, is the ability of VR to allow people to move around a space and investigate artworks at a variety of distances, especially if they are physically impaired [in reality].
So where do I go now. Personally, I now want to design a gallery that encompasses many individual rooms to show off artworks individually... or a space that slowly reveals its secrets, one-by-one, so the viewer is not overwhelmed by the experience of confronting many work at the same time (I think this may form my next post).
Ideally and in support of this project's objectives, I need to allow creative arts students take this project forwards and I need to think about how that is going to happen.
If you are reading this blog and feel you can add something to my research then please comment… even if you are correcting me or don’t agree with something that I say.
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