LaVRinth
LaVRinth is a mixed reality (VR/XR) immersive and experiential walkable VR art piece.
Commissioned by Institute For The Future (IFTF) ; to present the 2016 Future Now: When Everything Is Media Magazine at a launch event.
Artist, Experience Designer, Facilitator: Liza Bender
Creative Director: Toshi Anders Hoo
Participants where led into a large empty 30ft x 30ft room and fitted into a Vive VR headset. As soon as the headset was placed on the participant, they were immersed into a magically adorned narrow hallway. Liza (artist) would give live verbal prompts to the participants as they walked through the spiral LaVRinth hallway. As they got to the center of the spiral hallway they would start to notice skin sensations and pick up the virtual magazine and actually be holding it once out of headset.
The VR art experience was a research collaboration between the Emerging Media Lab (EML) at IFTF and Liza Bender.
It was a study of VR affordances, experiential design, and a study of designing participant facilitation; before, during and after the experience.
The Making Of
The virtual labyrinth was created with the 2016 versions of Google TiltBrush and the Vive VR headset with PC. Some images were imported into the TiltBrush toolset and hand placed into the experience. The creation of the experience was all done by hand while in headset; not with a monitor and keyboard.
Mixed Reality VR Experience
The placement of real world objects and other real world sensation enhancers that line up with a VR users virtual experience is a type of mixed reality. In this image you are seeing Liza precisely put into place a pedestal that has a fan and a book on it: without the VR participant in headset knowing. The fan is giving the participant skin sensation of virtual visual particles blowing on them and the pedestal with book allows the participant to pickup and hold a real magazine where they see it in the virtual world.