Wunderkammer 10.0

Soyun Park

Keywords: Audiovisual, Film

Internship: Douwe Dijkstra
soyunparrrk@gmail.com, instagram.com/soyunparrrk, soyunparrrk.com

Patching together fragmented memories, the artificially-intelligent protagonist takes us through a virtual world based on reality. Wunderkammer 10.0 is a short audio-visual sci-fi film that depicts inequality in terms of assymmetrical access to data, the glorification of economic growth, and conflicting ideologies caused by globalisation. With the motto of ‘fiction as practice’, the project aims to reveal problems inherent to technology-driven societies that are subject to the powerful influence of monopolistic tech corporations.

This project is made in collaboration with Inwoo Jung and Yelim Ki.

WE BOND IN SIMULATION

Thesis

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In the age of global pandemic, our identity and presence in the virtual world became more important than any other times in human history. While physically meeting people is prohibited to some extent in many places, the community-based virtual games such as VRchat and Second Life flourished and provided spaces where immersive online interactions happen. The users of both games created relationships with the other users with whom they can share their emotions and memories. Experiencing the two games myself, I investigated the elements in the game contributing to enhance user engagement and narrow the gap between the two realities. Following the investigation, I discuss how virtual spaces can be designed borrowing the architecture and sonic experience from reality to trigger certain interactions and actions. Depending on the system and the architecture in the game, the games do not remain only on screens, it continuously affects the reality and is, again, affected by it. Therefore, I empathise the importance of having this awareness as a creator.