Foundation Degree Animation and Multimedia Design students were asked to deconstruct The Scream ready for an Adaptive Play Prototype test exercise in Second Life.
Adaptive Play protype test using Second Life part 1
Adaptive Play protype test using Second Life part 2
Screen grabs of first Adaptive Play prototype test.
Double click on images for larger versions
As you can see from many of these images, the students have a basic grasp of semiotics. During the initial deconstruction of The Scream they identified key imagery within the picture to interpret and discuss further. Although they have not yet covered denotation and connotation within the contextual studies modules, some of them understand the link between media and message. The imagery used as textures within the Second Life play prototype demonstrate this quite succesfully I feel.
The great grace of a virtual world which is only limited by its (occassionally limited) technology is its ability to remind us of deeper meanings. (Thompson D, 2007)
Some of the students found the process quite difficult and just included images similar to The Scream. This was to be expected as many of them do not have the art based background that provides the practice and experience of seeing imagery from a different perspective. They literally describe what they see in the imagery they apply to their meshes.
As this was their first real attempt at modelling suitable 3d meshes that were in keeping with the deconstruction, the results were quiet good. They grasped how to move, scale and texture the primatives but remained naive when interpreting the painting with shape and form. This was partly due to their lack of experience with the Second Life building tools.
A more important factor was their limited experience of visualising feelings, ideas, concepts and a background of little design theory and practice. This is something that embedding Second Life in appropriate modules will help to alleviate I feel.
It will hopefully capture their imagination by allowing them to use a familiar platform to approach complex or unfamiliar design and history based practices and theories.
Students were very linear in the construction of their areas but some did try to use more complex arrangements of meshes.
A common result were walls of imagery. This linear approach reflects how many of the students approach creative tasks. Experience of art history and theories of compostion are yet to be awakened.
Whilst working on their areas students adapted to what was going on around them and altered their imagery and construction accordingly, even if it did not really reflect what was happening in the painting. SL provides an environment that is open to experimentation with the use of an intuitive interface, script and tools. A key part of any adaptive play is the use of feedback loops and the process carried out by the students in these tests provides such an example. The students bring to the test certain experiences of semiotics and a basic knowledge of the history of art. They started the test with not too much confidence but as they saw what was going on around them within the space in SL their confidence grew.
The main source of inspiration was viewing how their peers deconstructed the painting and feeding off the textures that each used. Those who had trouble understanding what was needed from the task quickly grasped the methodology just by observing their peers. A subtle example of a feedback loop. The students bring with them certain knowledge, the painting facilitates ideas, the students begin the deconstruction, and those that are struggling use the feedback from their peers(the textures and models), to create their own deconstruction and so on. This is a feedback loop within a feed back loop, as what they learn is feed into the next test. This may be quite abstract but it demonstrates what Hofstadter might call a "Strange Loop".
"And yet when I say “strange loop”, I have something else in mind — a less concrete, more elusive notion. What I mean by “strange loop” is — here goes a first stab, anyway — not a physical circuit but an abstract loop in which, in the series of stages that constitute the cycling-around, there is a shift from one level of abstraction (or structure) to another, which feels like an upwards movement in a hierarchy, and yet somehow the successive “upward” shifts turn out to give rise to a closed cycle. That is, despite one’s sense of departing ever further from one’s origin, one winds up, to one’s shock, exactly where one had started out. In short, a strange loop is a paradoxical level-crossing feedback loop". (Hofstadter D, 2007)
A typical example of a feedback system is shown below.
Below is a diagram of how I expect the Adaptive Play test to work.
No real thought however was put into texturing all the sides of the primatives. Often each side was the same, with no real reflection of what was being interpreted on the sides of the objects that were not visible. I expect this to change once students grasp the navigation and movement controls, as well as the art of flying.
Many of the students saw what their peers were doing and used the Internet to find out more about the painting. This ability to see what others were doing facilitated more in depth research and a curiosity for the subject matter. The students were also enjoying the process and interacting more and more with each other and the software.
"People arrive in virtual worlds for simple reasons – they want to have fun. They want to play. Meet people. Explore. Create. Or maybe even make money. Over time, businesses will come as well to meet, collaborate, and to create brand experiences. And on the surface, people leave because they become bored, they’ve leveled up as high as they can go, the rewards decrease, they become immersed in a way that has a negative impact on real life, or something better comes along.
But something often happens along the way, something that’s increasingly rich terrain for sociologists, philosophers, businesses, and others with an interest in how technology can be both liberating and constraining. And it’s my basic premise that persistent 3D social spaces are at their most basic level experiences – a game that wants to entertain and keep users. But at their most complex level, they’re new ways of creating, interacting with, and sharing concepts. At this more complex level we start to gain new insight into definitions of personal identity, the nature of work, the possibility for transformative change, tribal morality, and a deeper exploration of data architectures that won’t just lead to more information, but lead to information that is self-propagating and intelligent, information that retools itself and creates new conceptual frameworks". (Thompson D, 2008)
Students began to seek deconstructions of The Scream with some using Wikipedia to try and find the artists interpretation.
Tests like this one in Second Life allows students to view and interact with paintings and images that would not be possible in the real world. Not many museums allows you to touch or manipulate the space around traditional artwork but SL gives you this option. Being able to deconstruct its meaning in ways that stretch the ingenuity and creativity of the student.
"When people talk about museum projects in Second Life and other virtual worlds, I'm often disappointed by the short-sightedness of the vision. Virtual worlds are a new, emerging technology, and like any new technology, overlaying old techniques onto new platforms is disappointing at best. So much energy is put into recreating physical spaces and their real-world limitations rather than experimenting with ways that virtual worlds create opportunity to do things that are impossible in real museums. These opportunities can be social--engaging with museum content with other visitors at their computers all over the world--as well as experiential--allowing visitors to jump into, smash, and manipulate content in ways that physics and conservators forbid in real space". (Simon N, 2007)
A good example of how the students approached the task.
Walls began to take shape and I feel with extra time the space would have become fully enclosed. A longer time period to construct might have produced a better atmospheric result.
This different way of representing space and art is at the centre of what I want my students to understand. That by putting into practice what other artists have done in the past gives their work more depth, quality and meaning. That many of todays designers, animators and film makers have benefitted from a knowledge of art history, theory and design. That it is this that makes their work stand out and brings people back wanting more.
Bouchard’s SL “Reflexive Architecture” Installation on Architecture Island is a great example. Interactive environments engage as well as allowing allow art to be created live by the user.
A typical response to the task. Students initially mimicked what they saw. This test however did force them to look at how they interpret images in a different way, some were uncormfortable with this, but they saw the importance of this exercise and how it would allow them to see the world around them in a new and exciting way. Doppleganger, an exhibition within a SL Island being held at the National Portrait Gallery, contains the virtual work of a number of artists exploring the concepts of constructed self, beauty and likeness, truth and illusion in self representation.
It explores issues of the other self, something I hope the tests I am doing with my students will also activate. How they see their own practice in relation to others and how they can learn from the past.
http://www.portrait.gov.au/exhibit/doppelganger/exhib.php
These snap shots demonstrate the groupings or compostion of models and textures in the completed test. They consist of basic primatives positioned in relation to the students avatars positions. There were few attempts to build as a pairing or as a team and the resulting models reflect this.
There are distinct areas of design around the centre painting of The Scream but linking of models and imagery between avatars is limited. I expect this will change in the second test.
Bibliography
Gillian R, WWW, Doppelganger, viewed 6/3/10, http://www.portrait.gov.au/exhibit/doppelganger/essay.php
Hofstadter D, 2007, I Am a Strange Loop, New York, Basic Books
Simon N, Jumping into Art in Second Life, Museum 2.0, 18th July, viewed 6/3/10, http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/07/jumping-into-art-in-second-life.html
Thompson D, 2007, Dusan Writer’s Metaverse, The Impermanence of the Build: In Second Life, as in Life, Nothing Lasts Forever, 18th December, viewed 6/12/09, http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/the-impermanence-of-the-build-even-in-second-life-nothing-lasts-forever/
Rapid prototyping and collaborative design of real-world galleries and exhibits, The Arch Network, (WWW) available from: http://archvirtual.com/?p=2145, viewed 6/2/10
No comments:
Post a Comment