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Andrés Isaza-Giraldo [ download CV ] is a filmmaker and media artist, he studied Multimedia Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon. Interactive Technologies Institute and the eGames Lab. His video practices question ideas of temporality in environmental systems.
Paulo Bala [ download CV ] is a postdoctoral researcher at ITI/LARSyS, having received a Ph.D. in Digital Media from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. His research interests revolve around Human-Computer Interaction, Entertainment Technology, and eXtended Reality.
Rafaela Nunes [ download CV ] is a PhD student in Multimedia Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon. She is part of the Interactive Technologies Institute and the eGames Lab. Her transmedia practice-based research intersects painting with digital technologies.
Terhi Marttila [ download CV ] (PhD digital media, University of Porto) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Interactive Technologies Institute (LARSyS) in the eGames lab. Her artistic research revolves around voice and writing in sound for digital surfaces.
Being water is an interactive and immersive space in which we are invited to see, feel and think in the perspective of water. What could waterbeings say about the world they inhabit and about the essential water that flows through all living things?
You find yourself immersed in water, it’s particles moving around you. You notice the presence of waterbeings. You listen to the sounds of the water and to the waterbeings and you find yourself immersed in water, being water.
Being Water is a digital space dedicated to see, feel and think in the perspective of water in the spirit of speculative aesthetics. The collaborative project started with the 360º videos that Andrés Isaza made putting the camera in a fishing cane. These images made by the river on its flux inspired Terhi Martilla to write and record herself to give voice to the river. These same words were used by Rafaela Nunes to create the waterbeings that arise from her unique artistic process of co-creation with LLMs and diffusion models. Finally Paulo Bala created the three dimensional space and spatialized the sound in an immersive sphere. The waterbeings float in the sphere and the user can move within the water to see and listen to the environment from different vantage points. Always creating a new combination of words, songs and images, being water alongside the other water beings.
The work is currently exported as an HTML5 build. The work is presented on a laptop computer with speakers/headphones, and each person can experience the work on their own. Alternatively, the work can be exhibited using a projector and speakers (see technical 'requirements) to open the experience to the other exhibition visitors as one person interacts with it. Our intention is to tweak the code to make it compatible with VR headsets in time for ICIDS2024 to explore a new level of immersion.
The current build is at proof-of-concept stage, and conveys only one “instance” of the waterworlds. The team is working to expand the work to include waterbeings that can toggle between four unique waterworlds (ocean, pond, rocky caverns, stream). Each waterworld is made up of a unique 360° video, different waterbeings, their voice and audio.
I am water is currently an immersive experience that exists as an HTML5 build (unity). The work requires a recent (2020->) laptop computer to run smoothly. The work requires an electricity outlet for the laptop. The work runs offline and does not require an Internet connection. Below, we outline three possible scenarios for technical requirements.
Option solo: The work can either be a solo experience: experienced via the laptop screen and headphones. The team will be able to provide both the laptop and headphones.
Option collective: Alternately, the work can be exhibited as a collective experience, with the view of the work projected onto a screen and sound output through speakers. This could broaden the interactivity environment and include more people simultaneously participating in the work. One user/player will interact with the work on a laptop computer. The team will be able to provide the laptop, but will require assistance with the projector or screen and speakers.
Option “if accepted”: The ultimate goal is to translate Being water for VR headsets. If accepted for the ICIDS 2024 art exhibition, the team will rework the code of the project to make it compliant with VR headsets. This is entirely feasible in the timeframe between the notice of acceptance and the conference. The team will be able to provide the laptop and the VR headset. The video and audio stream can also be sent to projector and speakers (as per option collective), but the team will need assistance with this equipment.
Access the floorplan here.
