Description:

A fabricated virtual island.

Tall grass swaying in a non-existent breeze.

Predefined tendencies left behind.

You are now arriving at a moment that belongs to us; a hybrid space tethered in the void between what is real and what is desired.

Prior knowledge is futile at most.

You have spawned into the genesis of a future past, oriented only by one’s self-agency.

I’m (almost certain that we’re) here.

Culminating as a multimedia installation, I’m (Almost Certain That We’re) Here embodies queer agency within digital space, mediating between the physical and the virtual. It is synthesised by a narrative soundscape that ambiguously guides the audience through an experience.

The components of the installation consist of a virtual island, sculptures, narrative soundscape and video. The installation is experienced at multiple physical and virtual levels of engagement; through screen-based media, virtual interaction, physical interaction, body/space proximity, and audio. Physical landmarks mediate between physical and virtual, while digital landmarks mediate between virtual and physical.
Explorable with complete agency, the virtual island serves as a digital sanctuary from the hegemony of physical space. Drawing from a queered interpretation of literary islands, its liminal characteristics mediate between who we are in the physical and who we are able to be when uninhibited by the freedom of the virtual.

Within the virtual island space are a series of digital landmarks, metaphorically re-oriented towards a queer narrative. They serve as sites of mediation between virtual and physical - these objects are recognisable, but feel different within a virtual context.

The map has been used as a tool to visually communicate these landmarks, and their positionings within the context of the virtual island space. It highlights various points of interest without suggesting or delineating a specific path one must take.

Each of these features exist in the real world, located in spaces of edge conditions such as islands, shorelines, transitional zones etc. They have been 3D scanned, digitally manipulated, and re-inserted within an alternate context. The action of reinserting these features within the context of the virtual island queers our typical interpretations of them.

The sculptures serve as physical landmarks; sites of mediation between the physical and the virtual. If to queer something is to deconstruct the meaning and interpretation of it, the sculptures act to queer the installation space through motion-reactive sound response. The sculptures reframe the way we interact with a typical installation environment, by engaging with the human inhabitation of the space in both a passive and active way. This creates a reciprocal interactive component; the sculptures actively respond to the audience and passively prompt audience interaction with the space.

The soundscape is the interweaving constant between physical and virtual, moving seamlessly and illusively between and within the two spaces.

The installation prototype is arranged site-responsively, so that the motion-sensing sculptures implicate the body as it moves through the space towards the virtual island. There is minimal visual hierarchy between each component, as they are designed to be experienced as a whole.