MESSENGERS OF THE AI
FOR ARTIST DENNIS RUDOLPH WE DEVELOPED AN IMMERSIVE AR OPERA FOR THE HOLOLENS.
AR OPERA
Physically, his exhibition at the Poolhaus Blankense in Hamburg consisted of seven large scale oil-paintings depicting the 'Messengers of the AI', arranged around the void of an empty former swimming pool.
However, the paintings had a virtual layer which could be perceived through the HoloLens. In their 'idle' state the paintings were augmented with a paintover of animated brush-strokes. Wearing the HoloLens you could meander through the exhibition and experience this new form of hybrid painting, made of oil and tilt-brush.
VIRTUAL SCULPTURES
All of the seven Messengers also exist as VR sculptures, as 3-Dimensional drawings created with the VR painting tool Tiltbrush: Paint brushes and gestural structures painted into mid air. With the means of a VR headseat Dennis has created a new hybrid of drawing and sculpture that are defying the laws of physics.
AR OPERA
In a ‘Wagner-meets-Hollywood’ like opera of almost 20 minutes, these virtual messengers stepped down from their respective paintings and performed an apocalyptic dance right between the audience.
Supported by an epic soundtrack of lucid thruth, which was created by his collaborator Justin Ryan Polisky, Dennis takes the viewer to the end of the western world: Media streams, performances, breaking news, artefacts from the past - sculpture and painting form a holographic collage of the collapse of all values.
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
the app is a fullblown AR tool, solving all of the fundamental riddles of creating content and interaction for the HoloLens.
We created a spatial anchor for every individual painting to make sure that the virtual contet is precisely layered on top of the real object, with tolerances of only a few centimeters for the crucial moments of the show.
To calibrate these anchors there is a custom calibration tool, which allows to precisely set and manipulate the anchors. This also enables to rebuild the exhibition with different spatial settings.
And last but not least, these anchors are shared with a server, enabling us to also record the show from a 'spectator view' perspective.
