Dear Experiencers,
Starting today, the VR experience will be available on Steam.
From June 19, 2021, this work has been presented to experiencers through offline scenes. These included a preview in Shenzhen and screenings at the 11th Beijing International Film Festival, 2021 China Science Fiction Conference and 2021 Sandbox Immersive Festival.
In addition to these occasions, other offline experience scenarios were also planned and arranged, hoping to share it with more people. However, due to various objective factors, these plans were shelved, postponed, or cancelled. After a few twists and turns, the work was eventually converted into an online version. And that's why it's now available on Steam.
About this VR Experience
is a 20-minute VR exploration experience. Except at the beginning and end where the title appears, no human language is used for narrative throughout the experience. The narrative structure of the experience is entirely rendered by space and geometry, and the three only colors of black, white, and red.
It takes this form because the stories that are embodied in this experience are not originally constructed in human language. I tried to use words to describe their appearance. But I have to admit that as the descriptions of words become more concrete, they gradually deviate from their original appearance. In the end, I was in front of a leaf, blocking the scenery of the whole mountain.
Perhaps influenced by years of learning experience in Architecture, I adopted spatial experience as the final form of presentation. This approach is abstract, yet undeniably direct. In previous offline screenings, the effect of this narrative method was far beyond my expectation. And I benefited a lot from hearing the experiencers share their feelings. I hope to share this experience with more people through online distribution in the future. Take this VR experience as the carrier, tell my story, and your story again and again.
My Story
My name is Jessien and I'm the creator of . I majored in Architecture for my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and my personal research is in the direction of "Human Perception of Space". After graduating from The Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL with a Master's degree, I have been researching and creating in VR related fields for over five years.
is the first VR project which everything is done by myself. It is the result of dreams colliding with reality. It contains my story, which comes from my real life experience in Shenzhen, China. To be honest, I've gone back and revisited the work no less than 10 times since it was finished, mostly when I was in some kind of confusion and pessimism. When I re-entered the experience, I saw not only what I had been, but what the world looked like through my former self's eyes.
Your Story
is really inspired by my real life experience. However, I can assure you that during the experience, you will not feel as if you are looking through my diary. My experience was used as a sample to extract the more general structure of relationships.
If a less precise metaphor is used to give a perspective on the way the narrative works in this experience. I think "Telling Story with Pictures" might be a good choice. When you try to compose a story based on a few pictures, you are actually telling a story of your own.
In , the meaning of individual scenes can be somewhat obscure. But if the experiencer makes a connection between them, new interpretations emerge. This process of interpretation does not necessarily involve language, but rather evokes a memory that has been almost forgotten.
In previous offline experience, most strangers didn't have any communication with me before the experience. After completing the experience, many of them shared a story of their own. Some of these stories are systematic and vast, while others are poetic and free. They were retained in the form of recordings, texts, and "Naming a Moment in the Experience". They were originally presented in comments or sharing sections on different platforms, but I collected some and translated them into Both Chinese and English. Among them, the part of the texts is placed on this page (https://hypnosis.art/reviews/); "Naming a Moment in the Experience" part is placed on another page (https://hypnosis.art/moments/). I hope their stories can be seen as well.
After you try on Steam, if you want to share your story. Please express them by (1) joining Discussions, (2) naming a moment in the experience by commenting on the official artwork, or (3) sharing your artwork in the Community Hub of on Steam. If you'd like to share in a more personal way, ([email protected]) is waiting to hear from you.
will be adding a new mode(Memory Mode) in a near future update. That mode will be used to present your stories.
Our Story
is only a short allegory. What is more interesting is whether there is some intrinsic, essential, necessary connection between my story and your story. Perhaps in this way, we tell a story that belongs to us. I believe that one day it will fulfill its mission.
I hope it will give you an unforgettable experience.
Jessien
2022/05/20