Boundary
XR Art Installation

concept development & sketch
creative directing
multimedia programming
sound design

2022 / London, UK

An XR installation turning urban sounds into a poetic performance.

Boundary is an XR project for defining the personal sonic boundary. Consisting of a VR interface and physical installations, it enables the orchestration and performance of acoustic environments from the VR user to the audience.

Ever since the industrial revolution, the world we live in has been widely perceived as acoustically polluted. To overcome “the sound-as-noise cultural barrier”, the project incorporates both VR and performative installation, engaging in the topic from the interactive art perspective.

The real-world acoustic and spatial environment were translated into the VR scene. As the user shifts the walls through the sound sources, the sounds are activated or filtered, defining the boundaries in sound and space. The constantly changing sound and boundary composition become a performance with the audio kinetic installation, sharing the personal sonic boundary with the audience.

Project Boundary is an initiative for users to express their sound valence, manipulate urban sounds, and perceive them in a different context from the real world. It is also an opportunity for the audience to appreciate urban sounds beyond the word “noise”.

Sound Design

The field-recorded sounds were edited into several soundtracks for the VR interface user to orchestrate them into a piece of music.

VR Scene Design

The VR scene was made of point clouds from 3D scanning of the London underground station and Oxford Street. With the orange wall panels in the scene, the VR users can filter out a certain sound by moving the wall panels and create their unique urban sound remix.

Physical Installation Design

The physical installation included 10 audio kinetic units. In each unit, there was a haptic audio exciter and a servo motor. While the panels are moved in VR, the audio units will rotate accordingly with the changing sounds played through the audio exciter. Together, the physical installation becomes an audio and visual performance of urban sounds and personal sonic boundaries.

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