THE UNTITLED, UNTITLED, UNTITLED VIRTUAL GALLERY

GALLERY SPACES REIMAGINED AS IMMERSIVE AND ENGAGING EXPERIENCES 

My project seeks to redefine the traditional lobby, exploring the separation and connections between gallery spaces as its context, pulling apart the physical partitioning wall and exploring a virtual experience within. The untitled, untitled, untitled virtual gallery, attempts to fill the void of interaction and engagement with museums, something that’s always been affected by physical space and now, even severely, with the Covid pandemic. Through the scope of Michelangelo’s sculptures, my lobby encourages people to explore the detail and intention of his works in an immersive way by tearing apart extremely detailed art pieces and turning them into bite-sized experiences. Through this journey from micro to the macro, my lobby hopes to change our initial perception of Michelangelo's sculptures through a more engaged and informed lens, whilst also encouraging social interactions amongst the gallery goers.

AAVS MELBOURNE
New Paper II // 2020

UNIT 4 
The Fourth Place: The
Future of Online Social Spaces
TUTORS: Allison Crank &
Raphael Penasa for TygerTyger

STUDENTS 
Charlie Eastwood

Context

VIEWING ART DURING & POST COVID

1 in 7 Museums/gallery spaces are to permanently close down due to Covid. I wanted to explore how these galleries could use a virtual application to showcase their collections and engage users with the museum's art. I did this by considering the disadvantages of physical galleries, then exploring them in ways that are only possible in the virtual realm. In doing so, my hope is that this virtual gallery space could thrive even when we return to a more physically connected society.

ENGAGE WITH ART IN WAYS THAT ARE ONLY POSSIBLE DIGITALLY

User Journey

CIRCULATION IN VIRTUAL SPACE

The user journey focuses on analysing three of Michelangelo's sculptures. The entrance to the lobby sets up the experience with a typical vision of a gallery space. Yet, as we circulate through the different rooms we are lead on a journey that pulls apart these sculptures, analysing them from micro to macro.

VIDEO: Screen capture of a flythrough in the virtual lobby space.

Core Values

AN ALTERNATIVE EXPERIENCE TO VIEW ART

My lobby attempts to immerse and engage people with the artworks and to each other, playing with the qualities of the virtual realm to provide an alternative experience to the physical.

See it in Hubs

ENTER THE VIRTUAL LOBBY

If you have a VR headset, Google Cardboard or even through your internet browser, you can join and explore the lobby prototype space in a social VR setting. Follow the TOUR UI to learn how to navigate or read the Mozilla Hubs tutorial here.

You can use the WASD buttons to move and Q and E buttons to rotate your view. Press spacebar and click to share emoticons or find locations to teleport to.

THE UNTITLED, UNTITLED, UNTITLED VIRTUAL GALLERY

Hubs brings my concept to life through the use of animating objects & information and proximity audio which strengthens immersion and incentive to explore.

THE UNTITLED, UNTITLED, UNTITLED VIRTUAL GALLERY

Hubs brings my concept to life through the use of animating objects & information and proximity audio,which strengthens immersion and incentive to explore.

Gallery

Concept Development

DIAGRAMS, ELEVATIONS, CONCEPT DRAWINGS, ETC.

CONCEPT SKETCHES: Defining the elements & core values that will define the UX for a virtual gallery experience.

CONCEPT IDEAS: Applying UX concepts to the artworks and the gallery context 

CAPTIONS: Animated text descriptions scroll in space next to the elements to encourage users to approach those areas & read the material much like how we circulate in real museums.

PERCEPTION OF SCALE: The four different gallery spaces start with a macro view of the paper and sculpture elements and as the user progresses, the scale decreases to the size of the elements as they truly are in reality.

SOUNDSCAPE: deconstruction of the Canto Ostinato song which is a melody that builds up from simple notes to complex harmonies. The soundtrack is split up in varying levels of complexity to coincide conceptually to the scale of breakdown of elements in the 4 gallery rooms.

ANIMATED WIREFRAMES: Extractions from the sculpture are rendered in wireframe and rotating in space to give the user new perspectives of their forms. 

DIFFERING JOURNEYS: This gallery concept of scale and deconstruction could be applied to other artworks including paintings, whether that be by extracting light sources, color, figures or forms from the background context.

OUTCOMES

ARCHIVES