Project Management - VR Gallery Process

 I've just completed my biggest project to date. Blackpool School of Arts (BSoA) REMOTE, virtual graduate exhibition and in this blog post I am going to describe the process I have had to go through and the problems I have encountered on the way. I will try and break it down into sections - Development, Time, Artworks, Build and Refinement. My ability to manage projects and successfully deliver them on time is one of the areas that I am good at... I think I got good at it through planning and coordinating physical exhibitions, in BSoA's gallery and external showcases across the country. I have 20 years of experience doing that.

Development

I knew this project was going to be a big one before I started. This was because I had already decided how the gallery was going to look before I started to build it and how many artworks were going into it. However, I always try and put a couple of hours a week aside where I can think about and test new ideas, new software or alternative environments. So I am now in a position where I have a library of ideas to dip into and apply to whatever project I am working on.

I knew that the gallery was going to hold a lot of work and be hosted on Kuula, so I had to ensure that navigation was easy and that I kept the jump points down to a minimum without impacting (too much) on the quality of the viewing experience.

I created a double-spoke layout with each gallery (room) based on two cells and modular so it could be expanded as artworks came in. I also created a simplified map to aid navigation.

   

Much of the architecture and design features were based on BSoA's main art deco building and decoration and I had to draw and sketch all the surface and material features because I wanted the gallery to have an illustrated or drawn look... I wanted to try something different to 'real' spaces.

Time

I knew it was going to take a long time to put all this together, so I broke it down into stages to help me work out when I needed to start the process in order to hit the deadline...

• Gallery Design (2 days).
• Get the work from participants (deadline for submission was 3 weeks before the launch date, but it actually took a week of chasing beyond that).
• Build and render (1 week).
• Upload to Kuula and build tour (1 day).
• Add extra info - bios, links and other images (1 week).
• Error checking and correcting (3 days).
• I finished the project late evening the day before the official launch.

You can see that the most problematic area was getting work from students (which is why I gave it three weeks and not two) and this was mainly because it was beyond my control.

I should point out that within this time frame there was more than one point of no return. The most significant one came after the build and render stage as that was the point that an installation render (photograph) was taken of the gallery and artworks. If any exhibited images needed to be changed then it would need a considerable amount of rebuilding and rendering in UE4.

Artworks

Collecting artwork from the students turned into the biggest task. Photography and design-based pieces were fairly straightforward to collect as 99% of them came as digital files. However, 2D and 3D craft-based artworks had to be photographed (of course) before they could be added to the gallery.

I received a lot of photographs taken by students, usually with a phone and most of those needed considerable work in Photoshop to straighten, colour correct and crop. I photographed a lot of work on display on campus and that took me about three days and it also needed a small amount of Photoshop work (it all adds up).

Build

I designed the gallery to be modular and expandable and had created a number of room modules that could be easily snapped together depending on the number of artworks, which worked very well.

All the artwork files needed to be imported to UE4, turned into a material, attributes added (matte finish), placed into a prefab' frame or canvas (which some of my students helped me to design), and placed into the correct room at a size that worked.

The biggest problem I encountered at this stage was creating contrast between exhibited artworks. Because there were so many artworks, I could not go down the idealistic 'one room, one painting' route, so I had to rely on a traditional approach of putting many artworks in the same room. I carefully used scale and spacing to differentiate between the individual works... this process took lots of trial and error to get right (to get it to fit together well).

I also created a couple of 3D elements, especially for the fine art courses as it would not always suit the work to try and fit it into a rectangle or square. I have learned to do this in Photoshop. I was also given a 3D sculpture by a student, whose work ended up being the front piece in the HE foyer... the large black scorpion!

Once the gallery was complete I had to create a render for each viewing point or Kuula hotspot... there was 70, but it only took half a day to create them.

The next step was to upload the renders to Kuula and link them together with hotspots This was an incredibly complex task! I had to draw a large plan on the wall to help me...

Before and after

The final step was to add pop-ups that included extra images, info and links for each student... there were 140 students taking part so this took some time.

Refinement

This part is easy to dismiss but very important in ensuring a professional and polished experience outcome. I sent a link to the exhibition out to participants so they could check it and tell me about corrections... I received a tidal wave of them! The worst being missing work, as that meant going back to UE4 and rebuilding, rendering and 360 capturing every point from which the addition or change could be seen (to ensure continuity). This led me to my only late night of the project a few hours before it went public.

Conclusion

So, I just wanted to document exactly what goes into these projects, to justify it to myself and give others an insight into the process. Designing and building the galleries is getting quicker, however, it is everything else; the artworks, info and navigation that takes time and sometimes these are out of my hands and I am relying on other people. So, as I mentioned earlier, I always give that part the largest amount of time.

I will follow this post up with my critical thoughts on the gallery once the dust has settled and another on user experience.

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.

REMOTE: Blackpool School of Arts Graduate Exhibition 2021

 My latest gallery is finished and now live. I will write an in-depth review of it soon...

Minecraft Art Gallery

One of my students, James Hanks has created a virtual gallery for his photography work in Minecraft. He talks about the gallery in this video -

There are a couple of things I like about this project. James's exploration of scale and alternative viewing points, above and below is really interesting as he is clearly questioning tradition. He also experiments with different viewing experiences between a 'traditional gallery' and an external exhibition. Again, questioning the norm. He offers partial control of the experience to the visitor, by giving them a choice between artificial and natural light (sim notwithstanding). The final thing, that I really like, is how an unexpected change in the weather completely changed the experience and context of the artworks!

I would be interested to see how James manages to market this exhibition and idea (he talks briefly about it in the video).

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.

Freya Fine Art - VR gallery

I really like the interactive nature of Freya Fine Art's VR gallery. It is a web-based (webXR?) virtual gallery. I like the way you can move smoothly around the space and how it allows 3D works and installations to 'do their thing'. You can tell that the designer has thought carefully about the experience; it is well laid out, nicely lit and a pleasure to use (and they have not included seats!). This is the kind of interaction I am looking to step up to, as well as the ability to scan and include sculptural pieces. You can view this great gallery here - https://freyafineart.com/ - I have yet to view it through my Quest 2 and I don't know what the load speeds would be like on slower data speeds. 

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.

Virtual Art Galleries: What happens now?

My thoughts have recently focused on what happens now we (in the UK) appear to be coming out of lock-down and covid protection measures. Is there a future for VR/virtual galleries? and what will they look like?

A positive thing to come out of the crisis was the sudden need for alternatives to 'normal' art galleries... which was great for me as it allowed me to use my skills to help provide it (and improve them on the way).

On the whole, it seems that many people have been forced into confronting technology that they might otherwise have not done so and I have seen the benefits of it. For example, two of my most popular galleries have seen 9000 and 4000 visits, far more than we could have hoped for in a normal onsite exhibition.

It does look like virtual galleries will continue to run alongside real exhibitions. Commercial galleries have seen the benefit in terms of online visitors as well as the indefinite length of low-cost exhibition time. This could either be in a completely manufactured space or even a 360 photographic tour (which would be a lot easier to produce on the back of a real exhibition). Indeed, a number of commercial enterprises have been set up in response to gallery needs during the lockdowns, which will create a virtual gallery to order.  https://emperia.co.uk/art/ and https://exhibbit.com/home/ are examples of this. Public galleries have also introduced virtual exhibitions like these two from The Harris Museum in Preston - https://www.theharris.org.uk/product/the-artful-line-2/ and Open Eye in Liverpool - https://openeye.org.uk/whatson/vr-l-a-city-through-its-people/

On the back of these commercial needs and enterprises, there appears to be more potential for curated online content rather than individual artists web sites. I have noticed that a number of 'normal' gallery websites have started to curate online exhibitions, made up of work by many different artists. These are not necessarily virtual shows; they could just be a collection of images on a page. Normally, art websites are based around the individual (artist), but the lockdown has seen a rise in mixed content, in its own right, and is not something we have seen outside of supporting info for normal curated exhibitions and competition pages. This could potentially feed into a continuation and need for virtual galleries.

We may now see individual artists make use of this technology to self-promote their work. Lock-down has shown people that they do not need to rely on traditional systems to exhibit. Accessible technology has democratised the process, similar to what YouTube has done for grassroots music and film. For example, https://www.artsteps.com/ provides an easy-to-use platform and interface for users to create their own (free!) virtual exhibitions and there of hundreds of self-made galleries to explore.

It appears that lockdown made viewing artworks, in an experiential way, online more acceptable, or at least has shown people that it has worth. Perhaps that will continue into the future where other areas of legacy have yet to reveal themselves.

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.

Cassetta.co.uk

 I felt that it was time that I created a formal portfolio of my VR and virtual gallery projects... so here it is - www.cassetta.co.uk (I thought that cassetta frame was too long).

Let me know what you think.

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.

All That Glitters

 

All That Glitters is the first project I have designed and exhibited that features work from a single artist.

In response to the photography by Richard Weston, I wanted to create something grand in scale and colourful. I also wanted the exhibition to feel like a journey of exploration and discovery.

I used colour from the LBGT+ flag throughout the space but used more muted colours, tones and textures to add neutrality and breathing space in which to view the works. I used wooden slats to create space (a caesura) above the ceilings and texture to combine elements of the larger space.

The things that have worked really well are the glowing LBGT colours at the back of the gallery and the reflection of them on the dark floor. The slats have softened the ceiling and created the idea of space beyond... intimate immensity. The large room positions the main stars of the show opposite each other and the grounding of the smaller works (on the concrete panels) help to reinforce a sense of scale. I think the scale works well in this case... even with the distortion that comes with viewing oversized images in this format.

The things that have not worked so well; are some of the textures do not look real enough, either from being to mottled or contrasty (the concrete panels) in their texture or rendering a little on the soft side (in the corridor). I think the neon signs could have more glow/bloom, then they would look great. I may make some changes to the initial exhibition space as it does not feel 'right'. I think some differentiation in the size of the two photographs on the left will help.

I am really looking forward to my next project. I hope to work with another artist and single body of work. And once again, my design will be created specifically for it. It looks like it will encompass nature-based textures and colours.

Please take a look at the exhibition...

Many thanks to Richard Weston for allowing me to work with his project. He is a Manchester-based photographer. Check out his website - http://westondigitalimaging.co.uk/

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.

The Virtual Gazette Young Seasiders Schools Art Exhibition

My latest project has been a big one. The gallery design is based on the gallery in Blackpool School of Arts and apart from time spent creating natural lighting, was the easy bit. The biggest part of this project was creating the content... 38 schools, each with at least 10 pieces of work. It only took two days, but I was starting to go crosseyed!

The exhibition was designed to look similar to the normal annual Young Seasiders exhibition. I have included a photographic tour, that I shot and pieced together last year, at the bottom of the page.

Virtual Blackpool Young Seasiders Exhibition hosted on Kuula.co.

Photo tour created for last years exhibition.

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.

Wish You Were Here

I have had a busy couple of weeks creating a new VR/virtual exhibition for the final year photography students. We felt it would be good to get in early before all the other grad shows appear in May/June, but with plans to update the work in a couple of months.

I am really happy with how this space has turned out. It is compact, it is interesting, and I am really proud of my lighting skills and use of different textures in this space. It is actually a loose interpretation of Bauhaus' square, triangle and circle aesthetics.

The exhibition is called Wish You Were Here and you can access it here, even though it has not been officially launched yet.

Edit: I've embedded it below...

Back on it, with a big leap forward.

 This years VR projects are rolling in and now semester one is over, I have the time to complete them.

I start with a big breakthrough. Accurate reflections!

The next big project is a virtual version of the 75th Blackpool Seasiders exhibition. And it is big. 50 schools, all exhibiting at least 10 artworks each. The image above is of my starting space, based on the college gallery. I have used it before, but every time I use it I update it... this time, as well as the shiny floor, it includes better hanging lamps, better textures and updated paint scheme.

The VR bit is the easy part. Most of the hard work will be completed it Photoshop. I am replicating the real exhibition poster/panel layout, so all the work from each school will be put into the same image file. I have included a 360 tour I took of last years exhibition to illustrate what it usually looks like and it is going to look similar[ish] in VR...

Vision 2020: Graduate Exhibition - The Whole School of Arts!

 I was tasked with creating a whole school virtual exhibition... for over 150 students! both FE and HE. I used the gallery I created for the BA Photography students and used it as a base for the degree students and created a completely new space for FE. You can view the gallery here - 

 

EDIT (5 Jan) I created a fly-through video for social media, but forgot to add it to this blog... it's a bit jumpy but works fine on Instagram etc.

I tracked most of this build on Instagram, so please have a look at my account and follow me... @cassetta.frame

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.

VR Gallery Explosion (graduate exhibitions)

The covid-19 lockdown has seen an explosion of VR art galleries. There are now too many to keep track of. I have picked out a number of University graduate exhibitions for comparison to my own (later).

University of West London

Wow, what a riot of images and information. I am not sure what else to say... rock and roll! I am not sure what they were trying to achieve, but it is very hard to browse or concentrate on anything. To be fair though, it is for an advertising and PR, so probably not designed by a creative person. It was created in Artsteps.com online app.

North East Scotland College

Better than West London and made in the same artsteps software. Nicely designed and they have made a better use of scale for impact, but it is still very crowded. This small college from Scotland easily beats most University VR exhibitions. A very minor point - the walls are a bit thin.

Brunel University London

They have taken social interaction as the starting point for their VR exhibition. You are given an avatar and you explore the gallery amongst other avatars... the idea being that you can interact and chat with them. Great for the private view. However, I spent most of my time hiding from the other avatars as I was petrified they were going to speak to me! One downside is access to it. you have to click about six or seven links before you can get into it.

Liverpool School of Art and Design, LJMU

I like the ambition of this 'experience', but it is very glitchy and takes up to five minutes to get through to any work... It starts with an animated landing on Mars, after which, icons representing different students appear in the sky. You are meant to navigate through and click on the icons to view the artworks, which it does through a 360 degree photographic tour of the installations in a shopping centre, utilising Matterport (similar to Kuula.co). Mad, but maddening! They should have chosen Matterport and not bothered with the animation and 3D stuff.

Northumbria University

I like this exhibition. It is a tongue-in-cheek 2D version of everything we have seen above. It makes you question why we feel the need to create a very complex virtual exhibition as they have managed to create an easy to navigate and fun showcase utilising what looks like the plans for their now-cancelled grad show.

I have a couple issues with what I have seen. The big one for me is, why has all the work been installed so close together? Virtual space is infinite and scaleable, so there is no excuse. Just think how much more sophisticated North East Scotland College's exhibition would be if they gave everyone just a little bit more space. Also, you don't need portraits of the artists next to their work. The only people who are going to appreciate that are their parents.

The second big issue is download speed. The network speeds in your area may be very different from mine, so one has to design with the lowest common denominator in mind, LJMU. Also, navigation and ease of use can really impede the viewing experience. Every click of the mouse is the equivalent of a set of doors or flight of stairs in a real gallery and if you've gone through four doors and climbed three flights of stairs, then the work better be worth the effort. The experience must not overshadow the artworks!

Finally, an observation of traditional websites. The web page based grad showcases are way too daunting to attempt to navigate. They are either based around a great long list of student names or pages full of competing artworks. They may be cleverly and beautifully designed, but they can be very overwhelming. A final point here is how much better a nicely built 3D virtual gallery allows you to browse and navigate diverse (quality and theme) artworks... certainly compared with some of the webpages I have seen.

For comparison. This is a screenshot of Tubes 3D gallery, a commercial magazine based space. The artworks are shown at original size.

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.

Virtual Exhibition

Working with digital imaging professional Richard Weston, we produced a virtual graduate exhibition for Blackpool School of Arts photography students...

http://vision2020bsoa.co.uk/vr-exhibition/

I created the gallery space in UE4 and Richard used Tour Weaver software to create an interactive tour. You will notice that I have used the same gallery that I have been recently developing, but I have introduced side rooms designed to work best with 360 low res rendering in UE4.

I like the way that Tour Weaver straightens and zooms through to the next viewing point. It works a lot better than Kuula. However, it does not give you the option to view in mobile VR via Google Cardboard, which is a bit of a miss as VR stuff is hot at the moment. I am not a great fan of the labels and is something I need to think about moving forwards... maybe I should add them in UE4.

The gallery does give one a sense of how a particular piece of artwork would work in an exhibition space at a given size, so it works on that level, but it's never going to as good as full VR.

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.