Abstract Exploring individual identity crisis in the era where machinery and humanity intertwined and echoed in layers of realities (and virtuality), we come to a universe after our society has been cached in a time-space node, is what we called "Wandering at the Exit of Deity".
Deity world screenshot
Wandering at the Exit of Deity is an initialization act of my constructing and discussion of the exit of our collective self consciousness in such a time.
It explores a future where bio-digital devices have merged with human bodies, people live in isolated yet interconnected realities, in the form of jellyfish-like New Living Units – their senses and perceptions filtered through enhanced reality masks. These cellular existences are sustained by the Deity, an ancient omniscient being risen from the earth’s core, who has silently observed humanity for millennia.
hand sketches
Avatar Usine
Within one Unit, a neural glitch disrupts resident BetaE's enhanced reality mask, revealing the reflection of another self, MetaE, from before the post-human peak, challenging them to confront a dissonant narrative. MetaE, an archival node stored in spacetime's Dirac Sea, from before the bio-digital convergence, manifests in the shimmering nutrient solutions of BetaE’s cellular living unit – their interactions creating ripples in the collective consciousness and challenging each other's perception of reality.
Manifold
- discussion of virtual identity crisis & anti-objectification of asian female body with suitable tech: from hyper-realistic me to 2d anime-like identities, then to highly sybmolized materialization of female entity (the deity). I utilized metahuman live scan, customized vtuber skin and AI 3D morphing of my 2D hand drawings respectively to create those main characters in this bio-cybernetic universe.
- procedural world building: besides the characters, the rest of the world is constructed of non-deterministic visual system wrote by me (effects and shaders), serving the concept of a digitalized organic social landscape, linking the tension between 2 existing identities. Also production wise this customized workflow is very modular for environmental building and fine toning for achieving a mixture of non-linear storytelling and consciousness stream.
Next
Currently Wandering at the Exit of Deity is an interactive VR film. The project series will be continued as a mixed reality interactive exhibition, designed to immerse the audience in this speculative universe. Mapped projections surrounding the room will situate the audience within the virtual world, running in real-time from Unreal Engine. In the center of the room, a screen on wheels or a track equipped with a positional sensor will allow visitors to transition through slices of BetaE's body by moving the screen through the space. These slices, developed using AI image-to-image generation models, represent the evolution from a biological human body to the hybrid technological structure of BetaE. As visitors move the screen, they will transition through a bio-tech archive, manipulating the intertwined existence of MetaE and BetaE, discovering their mutual devouring, fusion, and dissociation. The screen will also serve as a window into the virtual world, revealing different parts of the scene based on its position in 3D physical space.
Where it all began...
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