Hypnosis: Reveries

Full of hopes and dreams, numerous young people come to Shenzhen every year. This city carries their hope for attaining their own version of success. They look up to the spirits represented by the city, while this place shakes their confidence and denies their dreams. Hypnosis: Reveries originated from the artist's life experiences in Shenzhen. It was born in the violent clash between dreams and reality, and it
seeks to resonate with all the ordinary souls living in Shenzhen. The participants will step into a labyrinth that leads to the inner world, revisiting the lost feelings buried in the memories and the past events that shaped us.

  • Jessien Huang
    Director
  • Jessien Huang
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Shui Shen De Xia Si
  • Project Type:
    Virtual Reality, Installation
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 31, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Jessien Huang

Jessien Huang is a VR artist with a background in Architecture. In the past 10 years, he has been conducting research in perceptual psychology, in order to explore the artistic potential of VR and create a language for this new medium. With this goal in mind, he created a reliable locomotion solution based on Redirected Walking Algorithm. In the past five years, Jessien has been continuously engaging in artistic expression through VR. His artwork 5x10 Mixed Reality Lab was exhibited in the Shenzhen branch of Victoria and Albert Museum. In addition, he is committed to innovating the forms of exhibiting VR artworks through crossover experimentation.

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Director Statement

1. Integrating narrative and space by using Redirected Walking Algorithm
Our patented locomotion solution – Redirected Walking Algorithm (RWA) – allows the participant to explore a virtual space of 900 square metres within a limited physical space of 50 square metres, all with real physical walking. Powered by RWA, the narrative can be spatialised, and space itself can be a narrative device. On one hand,
participants' uninterrupted spatial experience functions as the de facto narrative structure, connecting all the individual events. The progression of the narrative is fully under the control of the participants' physical walking, which is a more natural, direct and intuitive way of experiencing the storyline. On the other, the spatial design itself becomes the bearer of symbolic meanings and emotional attachment. In the uninterrupted spatial experience, the participant's interpretation of the genre of the space will lead them to adopt a corresponding behavioural pattern.

2. Embedding meanings and emotions in participants' bodily performance
The participants are required to perform several meaning-laden tasks. These tasks are not only for driving the story forward but also for encouraging the participants to develop their own emotions and meanings with their own actions. For example, in this experience, the participants are required to reshape the geometrical objects. Performing this action will urge the participants to take personal responsibility for its consequences, push them to build a strong empathetic connection with these geometrical objects and a sense of sympathy to the fateful and tragic destiny. This process will steer the participants into a contemplation of his/her own deeds.

3. Linking participants' perceptual experiences and the critical reflection on societal phenomena
There are seemingly numerous indescribable but profoundly significant experiences buried in the deepest realm of our mind. To activate these feelings, this VR artwork deliberately avoids using explicit texts to communicate concepts. Instead, it takes advantage of the participants' perceptual experiences to bridge the present experiences and the feelings buried in our memories. Hence, those widely shared but indiscernible experiences, such as the struggle between bravery and docility, and the loneliness caused by the lack of recognition, can be permanently stored, repeatedly revisited and widely shared in society.