VR and Biography

Livingstone, Tom; Rose, Mandy

Abstract

eXtending Reality: Immersive Design, Production and Technology
University of Portsmouth – Monday 11th September 2023

Abstract – Tom Livingstone and Mandy Rose – 24/05/23

VR and Biography:

This paper will explore the adaptability of new technology to old forms and vice versa, by offering an in-depth look at a VR experience currently in production.

INSIDE is an immersive experience deeply concerned with internationally renowned artist Judith Scott’s sensorial access to the world. Judith Scott (1943-2005) was profoundly deaf and born with Down Syndrome. Pioneering the form of multisensory biography INSIDE – which is the subject of a Creative R&D case study undertaken as part of the MyWorld project - was conceived around the simple provocation: how might we tell Judith’s story in a way that would have been completely accessible to her were she still alive to see it?

This paper will offer an over-view of the production and its innovative combination of motion capture data, volumetrically captured performances (captured at the CCIXR facilities), haptic feedback and a programmable chair with an eye on examining the ways in which new technologies interact with old genres. Additionally, this paper will summarise the research taking place alongside the production that is designed to be responsive to its approach to XR media forms and practices. Keeping focus on the relationship between INSIDE’s proposed experiential qualities and the biographical genre, as well as the novel production methodologies that bridge the gap between VR and life-writing, I’ll reflect on the inter-disciplinary imperative of XR media practice and the research that attends to it.

Not only does INSIDE re-format the biographical genre with an expanded sensorial experience, but in doing so it highlights some of the obstacles to access and inclusivity posed by traditional, non-immersive formats. Within the context of the rapid proliferation of XR and immersive media technologies and applications, INSIDE’s conceptualisation of the multisensory biography provides a useful starting point from which to consider wider processes of remediation within XR. The relationship between familiar genres and the expanded application of XR media is a productive site of critique and investigation as it provides a lens with which to view both the technological affordances of emergent media, the hegemony of established paradigms and, crucially, the processes of adoption and adaptation that occur at their intersection.

Citation

Livingstone, T., & Rose, M. (2023, September). VR and Biography. Paper presented at eXtending Reality: Immersive Media Design, Production and Technology, University of Portsmouth

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: eXtending Reality: Immersive Media Design, Production and Technology
• Conference Location: University of Portsmouth
• Start Date: Sep 11, 2023
• End Date: Sep 11, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 25, 2024
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11735403