Body, My Body: Embodied VR

Overview

ROLE: Artist, Creative Technologist, Director

A continuation of the collaboration between slowdanger and Anna Henson, this project explores embodiment, touch, and proprioception through a participatory VR experience for one guest and two dancers, whose real-time tracked movements are reflected in the visual and auditory environment in-headset.

The virtual environment begins in darkness, a response to VR as a physical blindfold to the outside world. As the dancers move and interact with the participant, their abstract avatars illuminate the virtual architecture of the space, acting as flashlights and pathfinders for the person in headset. Though the headset is a physical barrier between the co-located participants in this experience, and the virtual avatars do not appear human, an intimate and synchronous interaction is still possible. This project engages the complex issue of trust within the liminal space between virtual and physical environments, specifically drawing attention to the persistence and implication of the physical world and co-present people within it.

A live performance version of Body, My Body was performed at Pearl Arts Studios, as part of the Pearl Diving Movement Residency.

slowdanger is the multidisciplinary performance duo Anna Thompson and Taylor Knight.

Funded in part by the Frank-Ratchye Fund For Art @ the Frontier.