Contemporary Art Project week 6 review

Draft this page is under construction
Working Title:

What is the contemporary art project about ?
During 2017 the intention is to explore the capacity for New Media to express abstract concepts throught the cross polination of the physical, the digital and the spiritual.
This exploration stems from an interest of where technology sits within the context of the traditional church, abrahamic religion and spirituality. Entering into a discussion regarding the dicotomy of the pricipal values of the church system and the nature of technology.

This particular work is focused discussing collective and personal spaces that are created to deepen meditation and connection to the divine.


What research have I undertaken ?
This year I am making an active engagement to be conscious of Rhema and lobos. And including that within my initial research and experimentation as this will be a key attribute to my future creative practice.
Initial researchh will be focused on exploring:

• Tongues being produced, interpreted and received
• Sound and the subconsious response
• The church and VR
• Claritas
• Institutional critique 
• Core biblical belief in Spritiual warfare
• Christian Identity in contemporary digital society both collectively and individually
• Core biblical belief surrounding the relationship of body and soul, the temperal and eternal

Artist research:

• Neil Harbisson
• Stelarc
• Gregory Barsamian
• Ian Cheng VR
• Jordan Wolfson VR

What am I looking at doing ? 

Three VR headsets arranged around a plinth/table in an intimate setting. There are three(possibly 4) Cushions around the plinth/table (which is 40cms in hight). This height was chosen to invite people to sit or kneel with the VR headsets. With  a strong spotlight shining from above. Cabling/power for the VR headsets also comes from the ceiling.

Essentially the content of the VR is to support the actual installation and the VR headsets could play no content at all.
The content for the VR is as follows:

1. voice to tongues 
2. pure sound - 
3. image - virtual spaces

The intention through VR exploration is to deepen the connection to the divine, by intentionally disconnecting the participant from the current physical space.
The common connecting element in the shared VR experience will be a sound of theta waves in each headphone.

Exploring spacial and localised sound and the spoken word which are used to depend and often facilitate a connection to the divine.  

conceptual focus
exploration of the use of technology and its
We do everything online—why not church?
connecting to the divine,
scripture of locking yourself away from the world to enter into prayer
exploring a deeper connection


How is my progress going ?
So far I have been exploring the use of alpha waves and theta waves.
Need hardware
Need to finalise software
Need to explore methods of security to reduce risk of theft




What issues am I already facing ?





The position of the church and technology ... the new tower of babel/ the self focus and seclusionism resulting from technology. After all by definition
What is the purpose of church and why go to church (iin a single sentence)

The purpose of the artwork is not to solve these issues but instead is to discuss connection and disconnection



The purpose of the church is to worship God (Luke 4:8; John 4:23; Rev. 4:10), study the bible (2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Cor. 4:6), pray (Acts 2:42), love one another (John 13:35; Phil. 1:1-4), help each other (Gal. 6:2), partake of baptism and the Lord's supper (Luke 22:19-20), to learn how to live as godly people (Titus 2:11-12), and to be equipped to evangelize the world (Eph. 4:12; Matt. 28:18-20). The church's very existance requires an active community. And this is where the issues lie particularly with VR technology.
By definition, virtual reality offers alternatives to physical reality

The technology privileges the first-person point of view; even in third-person perspective apps, the user’s experience is intensely personal. “VR is very isolationist,You put it on and you forget your surroundings; you forget the people around you.” (Oculus Max Planck 2013) The
 very nature of the technology may amplify current cultural emphasis on the individual. 

In an essay first published in 2007—when the website Second Life (where members interact via computer avatars) was the highest-profile harbinger of VR—Orthodox priest Jonathan Tobias identifies VR as a sin the ancient church called fantasia. Unlike healthy make-believe, fantasia “rejects the one reality created by the Holy Trinity.” Tobias invokes one of Scripture’s more dramatic stories of sinful rebellion: “If ever the Tower of Babel were raised again, it would be here, in cyberspace.”

In an essay first published in 2007—when the website Second Life (where members interact via computer avatars) was the highest-profile harbinger of VR—Orthodox priest Jonathan Tobias identifies VR as a sin the ancient church called fantasia. Unlike healthy make-believe, fantasia “rejects the one reality created by the Holy Trinity.” Tobias invokes one of Scripture’s more dramatic stories of sinful rebellion: “If ever the Tower of Babel were raised again, it would be here, in cyberspace.”

By definition, virtual reality offers alternatives to physical reality.VR may also amplify current US culture’s emphasis on the individual. The technology privileges the first-person point of view; even in third-person perspective apps, the user’s experience is intensely personal. “VR is very isolationist,” Oculus’s Max Planck told the website Engadget. “You put it on and you forget your surroundings; you forget the people around you.”

https://carm.org/what-purpose-church