[ARCHIVED] Augmented Exercise 1 - Object Story

[periode]

Prompt

• Develop a Unity application which tells a story about an object (a 3D model) through text, images and/or sounds. Use at least 4 text fields and 4 images. The story should be related to the social/economical/cultural/... context that the object is embedded in.
• Make your story interactive writing a script which will change the content of at least one image and/or one text field. It is up to you to decide where the user should tap to access that content.
• Highlight the cultural significance of an object through its production, communication and consumption (Refer to the Du Gay and Hall reading for that week).
• You can choose to be as explicit or as you want about how the information relates to the object (e.g. is it a series of strict descriptions of the object? is it a collage of anecdotes in which the object was involved? is it a group of testimonies from different people about their experience with that object?)

Submission

• a google drive link to your zipped Unity project
• a screen recording (video) of your project working
• a short description of the project, and reflection on what you've achieved.

[Yupu-Chen]

Project.1.Video.-.Compressed.with.FlexClip.mp4

Above is a screen recording of my project. In this project, I chose a Boeing 787 model from the internet. I intend to explore the aircraft as a culture object. Since the first flight by Wright Brothers more than 100 years ago, people's wishes to travel in the air have been growing. With technological and economic advancements, nowadays we have numerous state-of-the-art aircrafts that can carry passengers thousands of miles a day. Thanks to this great invention, long-distance travelling is no longer a torture that takes days or even months, but rather an joy and excitement. Our traveling culture has significantly changed ever since. Moreover, airplane itself is a product of globalization as shown in the production part in my project, and it in turn helps to bolster the process of globalization. Therefore, I believe that it is very important culture object in our history and society now.

For this project, I set the scene in a garage, which is consistent with the aircraft as a huge and sophisticated industrial project. Then, attempting to make an immersive virtual exhibition experience, I chose to make a first person game like application. The user could freely move inside the gallery and interact with buttons on the walls to discover the story about airplanes as if he/she is playing a game.

Due to the time constraint, I did not add colliders to the walls and the character, meaning that the user could move through the walls and models inside the scene. This is one of the major technical limitations of this project. Also, I'd like to mention that the noise in the video is caused by the fans working on my laptop. The only sound in this project is played when the user clicks "Play" button for the sound area inside the scene.

Here is the link to the Unity project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mg1nmxw8j7Mra1TRmcVCS51g5bk5Nvy-/view?usp=sharing

Hope you enjoy it!

[periode]

@Yupu-Chen

The choice of the airplane as an object to explore is very interesting! Particularly how you set up the evolution between the Wright Flyer and the Boeing 747. The storytelling has a good rhythm, between text explanations and media content, which doesn't make either overwhelming.

The integration of all those elements in the space of the warehouse also makes it more immersive. However, I'm not sure about your choice of font and background images for the titles and the text elements. While they might fit to the mentions of the Wright Flyer, their old school feel make them seem a bit disconnected from the more contemporary parts of your exhbition. You might want to consider having them change as the visitor goes through the space!

Finally, in terms of content, it could have been interesting to touch upon the most crucial aspect of flying today: its relation to global warming, and how it should change to adapt.

Grade: 95 (A)

[hannah-y-zhao]

Coins

Coming from the US, the necessity of using coins in Berlin was very surprising to me. In New York, I rarely even brought my wallet and just payed for everything with my phone. Thinking generally, there has been much talk about moving towards a cashless society. Thus, I was interested in exploring the history and importance of coinage, the cultural impact of coins/cash, and the potential consequences of a cashless society.

As I didn't want to put too much text, it's mainly select points that I try to summarize about the history, cultural importance, and potential future. Originally, I had wanted more complicated interactions (ex. moving around as if in 1st person POV, then clicking on 3D objects as buttons for more information, etc.) but I ran into many issues and had no idea how to fix them. Most of my scripts were basically the same and very basic. If I had more time, I would try to consolidate/make some lines more efficient so that I wasn't repeating code all the time. Otherwise, I feel more comfortable with how scripts interact with in-game elements.

Video Demonstration
Drive Scene
Drive Full?

[periode]

@hannah-y-zhao

You do a great job at setting up a very interesting and contemporary question: why do we need coins anymore? This immediately allows the audience to connect with the exhibition. You also show the cross-cultural aspect quite well: both the Mesopotamian region and the Chinese region developed some sort of currency. As you mention in the text, currency reveals things about our current culture—what are some other shifts you could have explored? The appearance of banks in Enlightenment Europe? The shift to the eurozone as political construction in the EU? And the shift of our society towards dematerialization (cue the app economy, the blockchain and NFTs).

In terms of presentation, this looks great on multiple levels! Re-using the canvases makes it a coherent twist on the traditional scenography of museums, while the cheekiness of the lack of coin is meta enough to prompt the visitor with questions. On the topic of questions, I would suggest that you explore the last part a bit more: what kind of questions would you ask the audience? How do you provide a research basis and a medium for response?

Grade: 96 (A)

[emersonmack]

This gallery shows the bust of Hadrian from the British Museum. The user is given buttons that reveal information about the sculpture, hadrian himself, and the artwork’s story. By creating a customizable approach to education, the audience’s experience with the art becomes more personal. Instead of reading a brief textbox next to the object with all information available to be mindlessly read, this format encourages the viewer to be an active participant in the reception of information. Curiosity is what inspires viewers to click each box.

[emersonmack]

Hadrian.Unity.mp4

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ptSHpOCIDGHOZ8i7r0rJjUhgoiO6OodM/view?usp=share_link

[periode]

@emersonmack

Your exhbition about Hadrian implies a good starting question—why do we still care about Roman Emperors today? And why particularly this one? Who were the others and how did they compare to him? Beyond just interactive learning, it's important to make the content presented relevant to the visitor's life, or current understanding of the world. For instance, does the fact that he got rid of Jews in Judea and renamed it Palestine have an impact on the current Israel-Palestine conflict? Is the fact that he built the wall in Scotland influence our imaginations in a series like Game of Thrones? Or the fact that he was the last non-Christian emperor announces the future hegemony of Christianity on the Western world? There are many ways to go about this, and you only scratch the surface contentw-wise! (There's also an obvious mistake—he didn't cross the Alps with his elephants, that was the Romans' enemy, Hannibal!)

On the presentation side, these are good, straightforward interactions. In future developments, you might want to think about how you could change the phrasing of the buttons (rather than one word, maybe make it a question?), how you could make the buttons connect to one another (so that the slides show a network of meanings, rather than a linear progression), and finally how you could position the text/images better! As they are behind the bust, they are a bit hard to see for the visitor!

Grade: 90 (A-)

[daniaezz]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14Xdj4i7WTSX2QBbo0rdciY5jTO-nX95G?usp=sharing

[periode]

@daniaezz

You chose a very powerful object for the assignment, you did a good job at restituting factual aspects, while using the 3D medium to augment our perception of other aspects of the phenomenon it represents. The outline turning into prison bars has a very strong effect, and communicates the shift from care to crime very well.

This presentation of wall-building then begs the question: what other walls are being built? What other outlines are problematic? For instance, this exhibition https://www.jmberlin.de/en/exhibition-dagesh-art-award-2021 at the jewish museum starts from a place of addressing antisemitism towards adressing any sort of hatespeech, racism and phobias, to bring it closer to individuals who might be of a different decent than jewish.

Grade: 95 (A)

[mariamabdelrazekk]

Assets and Video:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/11vRu-txdsY8rNCTdglNsPreDmUXQStTv

The Rosetta Stone, a historical Artifact that was used to finally understand Hieroglyphics, which was revolutionary for modern day Egypt as people always thought of Hieroglyphics as a myth or witchcraft since no one could understand or explain the language. The stone has been discovered by a French officer and has been taken by Britain when they soon after occupied Egypt. There has been many requests to get the stone back, however,The British Museum refuses to as they believe that the Egyptians signed a deal to hand the stone over, however, in reality, Egyptians had no say in that deal. The scene does not have a lot of elements from Ancient Egyptian history to show how The British Museum is not where the artifact belongs. It is just displayed ina. modern museum when the stone has no real connection to the place it is in. The writings on the stone are by Priests, therefore, this stone is very important for Coptic Egyptians as well. The music is Hieroglyphic music from the opening of The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in 2021, where the stone could have been displayed had it been in Egypt.

[periode]

@mariamabdelrazekk

You do a great job at clearly stating questions in terms of what is this object, why is it important, and why we should care. Indeed, it both reveals the power of dictionaries as a way to communicate across languages, and the colonial history of the region, in the past and present. There is a paradox in that it both represents linguistic exchanges between cultures and cultural rivalries.

Some other angles you could have looked could include: the nation-building role of cultural artefacts and museums (The British Museum, The Collège de France, where a statue of the Stone's discover is standing firmly over an Egyptian statue (http://www.cristinabeltrami.it/wp-content/uploads/champollion-paris-monument-college-de-france.jpg) or the opening of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, with modern tanks carrying pharaonic mummies).

In terms of layout, the evolution is very clear and guided, and the corner walls lends itself very well to having both prompt on one side and illustration on the other side, allowing the visitor to glance both at the same time!

Grade: 93 (A-)

[cz2109]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XwuRbiDvNBaAMK5bNtpwUxhLYlo_PySl?usp=sharing
https://youtu.be/__hczUpkcBQ

My project focuses on the Ain Sakhri Lovers sculpture at The British Museum. Buttons are used to highlight further information on 1. The potential queer-coded nature of the ancient sculpture regarding its "phallic" shape and lack of gender in the two figures (consumption) 2. A history of the Natufian people from where the sculpture originated (production) 3. Extended description of the sculpture itself (communication). There is an mp3 sound over the entire scene that was unable to play when screen recorderd (ironically titled "Natufian Mix")

[periode]

@cz2109

The object you chose is very interesting, as it embodies an origin of something deeply human. The scenography in which you put it, with the textured walls and soft light also help conveny a feeling of intimacy and accessibility, far from the white sanitized walls of the British Museum. I believe this helps establish a connection between the audience and the object.

That being said, the information you provide around the object is a bit to factual and descriptive. You provide an answer to what this is, and do not touch on the why this is. What is the place of sexual intercourse in humanity? how does it change and how does it remain the same? Are there other pieces, perhaps more recent, that look like this one? In which culture? What does that say about us?

The connection you make to queer art is an interesting one, but you should also focus more on the relationship between queer art and sexual intercourse, rather than a surface-level introduction to queer art. How does queer art represent sexual intercourse, as compared with other tendencies in art?

Finally, some of the text blocks are a bit too small/imposing to the reader; in the future, you might want to think of separating it into multiple blocks/paragraphs.

Grade: 90 (A-)