Sun Within

Sun Within is a Mixed Reality (MR) installation that explores the topic of paradise not as a place but as a state of consciousness. The protagonist is going on a special mission through the fictional worlds of collective consciousness from the Pleiadian-Sirian-Arcturian Civilizations of Light, who are dedicated to assist humanity to transition into a new Era of Peace, Harmony, Unity, Oneness, Prosperity, Love and Wellbeing for Planet Earth.

Vesela Stanoeva is a Dortmund based artist, lecturer, curator and scenographer. The focus of her artistic work is the encounter with identity problems and their manifestations. The resulting participatory, sensual and immersive works of art manifest themselves in hybrid experiences that take up the uncertain future of the post-anthroposcene and transform it both virtually and physically into dream-like worlds and surreal nightmares.

How can technology augment reality for the purpose of inducing spiritual or mystical experiences and altered states of consciousness?

Besides my fellowship at the academy, I am currently co-curating the exhibition Welcome to Paradise at the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf, Germany. The exhibition is planned as a 1200 m² mixed media parkour, which deals with the belief in artificial intelligences, immortality in digital space and virtual paradise.

As our world is changing and is becoming more out of sync than ever, a great need to escape from everyday life occurs. A human being is not a robot and cannot be productive 24/7 so a point of balance has to be found.

In this context, in my project Sun Within I create new digital spaces for dreams and utopias. The resulting dreamscapes can, however, also mutate into nightmares. The question that is emerging in this context is:

How is technology changing our consciousness?

Sun Within is an MR installation that explores paradise not as a place, but as a state of consciousness.

The work consists of 3 acts. The first two I modeled and animated with Autodesk Maya. Act 3 was created with the real-time generative software TouchDesigner.

In the following list you can get an overview of the timeline and the production process during my fellowship.

*September 2020*

• working further on the storytelling and the visual concept

• exploring the Boss Editor in Autodesk Maya

• learning Arnold renderer for VR, in special using VR stereoscopic camera

*October 2020*

• presentation at the PAD 01 Festival in Darmstadt

• working on the sound concept together with Christian Bröer

• searching for a female narrator from the theater of Dortmund to work on the project

• learning how to make floating 3d objects (in my case the 3 female heads) and fine-tuning their movements through the graph editor.

This is a very helpful tutorial on object animation from a BOSS wave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y3rrqxP-yI&list=PLG3_dMLqSLTeSJhy_ucg0SjBzpoFp5oKt&index=85&t=4s

• working on the physical setting, creating the shape of the curtain, first renderings & their color correction, first test print on silk

*November 2020*

• creating a 3d scan of my workstation and its further enrichment in Maya

• writing the narration text

• voice recording with Linda Elsner from Theater Dortmund

• creating the sounds and the visuals of act I

• Unordered List Itemmaking a second test print on silk

• Unordered List Itemfirst drawings of construction elements for the physical setting

*December 2020*

• showing of the first act as a part of the Open House at the Academy

• start working on act II

• learning mesh_lights in Maya and render time optimization

• rendering the 10 images for the silk curtain in 8K + color grading

• ordering a 27 meter long digital print on silk

• experimenting with different construction materials for the curtain rail

• learning Dear VR - spatial sounds software

• sounds act II

*January 2021*

• in search of seating furniture and print on carpet (lounge area/therapy room feeling)

• rendering an ocean top view for projection mapping on the round carpet

• first steps with TouchDesigner

• sounds for act III

• learning audio-reactive particles in Touchdesigner for the final scene

• preparing the final presentation in Mozilla Hubs

• sewing the silk pieces into one

• building up the physical setting and documenting it

*The installation*

It is one 2,7 m high and 15 m long printed curtain hanging from the ceiling. On the ceiling will be mounted a spiral shaped rail (see image bellow) which is composed of four parts (flat packed). Plus the one seating furniture and the carpet inside of the spiral.

*Technical rider*

• VR headset that can reproduce 4K (at the Academy I used Oculus Quest 2)
• headset recommended Modicap VR Soundkit
• projector (3,20 diameter projection to cover the carpet)
• additionally I will need some spotlights inside the spiral

render of an ocean