I asked three final year photography students to design a VR gallery for their own work. I wanted to put into practice, a possible way in which we may try and include this new technology in creative arts, degree level education.
I wanted to look at and test things such as; practicality (the process), preconceptions, perspectives, creativity and reflection... and whether it is actually beneficial.
To ease the process, I worked with Helen and Nikki, one-to-one. I tried to take their design and vision and turn it into a gallery that worked for them. At each stage of the design process, they were able to dip into VR and view what they had achieved at that point and make any changes they though necessary.
First up was Helen. She had a series of six images and she wanted to build a gallery that was large, light and airy with lots of natural light. She wanted her photographs to be big! She also wanted the images to be seen both individually and all together, with a central starting point. We made an initial sketch to get the process started.
Once in UE4 I created a starting space that was the same size as the room in which we were working, to try and help Helen visualise the size of the space she was creating on the computer.
As light and space were very important, Helen created a large and airy central space with lower alcoves off to the sides to contain and frame the large artworks. During the initial build process, we accidentally created a high and narrow 360 degree window. Helen immediately saw the potential and included it in the final design. She also included a couple of sky lights.
The windows let in a lot of natural sunlight and projected distinctive highlights across the walls and floors of the gallery. We had to move the sun around a bit so that it did not settle directly across any of the artworks.
Helen's initial thoughts on completing the gallery were very positive. She felt the space was light and airy... she really liked the light.. and that she could lie on the floor and watch the clouds go by.
About the process. Helen did have lots of preconceived ideas and did initially go for a white box. There would have been no windows had she not recognised the potential for them during the build, which is a fantastic argument in favour of practical practice/creativity, followed by reflection and development! Without windows, the side rooms would have felt claustrophobic and the space would not have felt so real.
Helen worked very intuitively until she created a space that 'felt right', a comfortable space for her photographs and the visitor.
One thing, that I felt was very interesting, was that she possibly would not have given the work its own space/room had she not seen Jeffrey Hammond's work presented in individual rooms in the VR version of his exhibition a few weeks before... so VR does have a lasting impact...
Nikki was next up. Her images were about grassroots football. She had initial hopes of immersing the viewer in football culture and I think she managed to achieve that.
She had a series of four images that she wanted to present in a very specific order and a rule that the last two images must not be visible whilst the viewer is looking at the first two. So the first designs were based on a dogleg. The design progressed and evolved to include a changing room, in which the viewer was to start their journey. Nikki said that 'you can feel and smell the building, sweaty socks, liniment, Winter Green Leg Balm'. Out into the corridor, one is met by the first photographs and a carpet made of grass, like stepping out onto the pitch.
As the build progressed, Nikki felt that it was portraying an authentic view of the subject - it successfully set the scene - to take you there. As you turned the corner, you are met by the final two pictures and a heavy white window frame with large window - the goal, that looked out over an endless expanse of grass.
On completion, she felt that the gallery (experience) gave her work a place. Reflected a backyard kick-about and grassroots football.
Seeing her work at larger sizes, she felt, gave the images meaning and importance - to the telling of that story.
About the process. Nikki admitted to starting conservatively, it took a little while to drop her preconceived ideas about what a gallery should and could be. She liked the organic building process and freedom of expression that it offered. Being able to drop in and out of the VR headset gave a firsthand experience [of what the viewer would see] that enabled her to change something within the design or assess her build during the session. Nikki took that proverbial 'step back' a number of times, to admire her work and it was clear that it was an important aspect of the design process for her.
Last up was Carl. He has some experience of 3D design software, Maya and UE, so he decided to create a gallery without my help. His gallery is massive, positively palatial and it took me a while to find his artworks!
The first thing that hit me is his use of natural light and the surrounding landscape that is very evident through the large widows opposite his photography.
Unfortunately, I was unable to view the space in VR as Carl have left out a couple of technical steps that would have allowed it. But, one does get a fairly good idea how the space will work in VR. One thing that I think he has missed out on, is the ability to view the progress of the build in VR, as it does seem to have affected Helen's and Nikki's design choices later in their builds.
I will report back here once a VR compatible gallery has been produced.
In conclusion, we can see that the practicality of doing this is not problematic for such a small group of people, working one-to-one with me, but that would not be practical if there were more students (which there is).
The build and creative process was very positive and allowed Helen and Nikki to achieve original results, and the ability to live view in VR allowed them to instantly reflect and develop the design in a fairly relaxed and organic way. Arguably the Ikono Space software would allow then to do this without me as it is very user friendly and not as complex as UE4.
They both designed spaces suited to the context of their work. But these contexts were hugely different. Nikki created a space that added to her story, whilst Helen created a space that supported her story - the idea of memory (which is what her work is about).
Their preconceptions, it seems, were the most difficult things to overcome and I think my being there went someway to helping them do that, as Carl's gallery is the most traditional looking of the three (and I didn't help him at all). However, I foresee that a period of development, undertaken over a few days rather than two hours would encourage students (with some guidance), to drop these preconceived ideas through experimentation and reflection.
Is it actually beneficial? yes. Both Helen and Nikki felt that the process of design and curation encouraged them to really think carefully about the context of their work and who their audience is.
What next? I will present the galleries to a wider focus group and try and get a better idea about how the student think we can embed this technology into the degree curriculum in a positive way.
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.
