Artist research - Mark Rothko - Rothko Chapel TODO

Mark Rothko - Rothko Chapel

Artist research
Why am I looking at them


Who are they, what is their career
Mark Rothko was an American painter of Russian Jewish descent. Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any art movement, he is generally identified as an abstract expressionist.


What is the artworks/concept or practice that I am focusing on

Susan J. Barnes states "The Rothko Chapel...became the world's first broadly ecumenical center, a holy place open to all religions and belonging to none. It became a center for international cultural, religious, and philosophical exchanges, for colloquia and performances. And it became a place of private prayer for individuals of all faiths"[1]

Fourteen of Rothko's paintings are displayed in the chapel. Three walls display triptychs, while the other five walls display single paintings.The chapel is an irregular octagonal brick building with gray or rose stucco walls and a baffled skylight. It serves as a place of meditation as well as a meeting hall and is furnished with eight simple, moveable benches for meditative seating; more are provided to accommodate the audience for special events. Holy books from several religions are available.

For Rothko, the Chapel was to be a destination, a place of pilgrimage far from the center of art (in this case, New York) where seekers of Rothko's newly "religious" artwork could journey. Initially, the Chapel, now non-denominational, was to be specifically Roman Catholic, and during the first three years of the project (1964–67) Rothko believed it would remain so. Thus, Rothko's design of the building and the religious implications of the paintings were inspired by Roman Catholic art and architecture. Its octagonal shape is based on a Byzantine church of St. Maria Assunta, and the format of the triptychs is based on paintings of the Crucifixion. The de Menils believed the universal "spiritual" aspect of Rothko's work would complement the elements of Roman Catholicism.[3]

 At the dedication, Dominique de Menil said, "We are cluttered with images and only abstract art can bring us to the threshold of the divine,"

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/45/ae/37/45ae37b63f98a18716d942cfdf1e0ccf.jpg

http://www.portlandart.net/archives/chapel-exterior.jpg

[1]  Barnes, Susan; John de Menil; Dominique de Menil; Mark Rothko; Barnett Newman; Philip Johnson (1989). The Rothko Chapel: an act of faith. Rothko Chapel. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-945472-00-1. Quote on p. 108, reprinted in the NRHP Nomination form.

[3]Fampeople 2012. "Mark Rothko : biography" fampeople.com. Accessed 27 May 2017. URL:http://www.fampeople.com/cat-mark-rothko_5

ARTIST STATEMENT draft

Interdisciplinary Sculpture 3 3336QCA
Contemporary Art Project

Working Title

Trinity

See Listen Speak

Aim of the project

The intention of my practice in 2017 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.

The aim of this contemporary art project is to focus on discussing collective and personal spaces that are created to deepen meditation and connection to the divine through technology.

Three Virtual Reality(VR) headsets are arranged on a plinth/table, with each of the power cables to the VR headsets coming out of a bible located in the base of the table.. Each of the VR headsets contain an individual experience relating to methods of connecting to divine.  

The content for the VR is as follows:

1. Speak: voice to tongues translation 

When the participant speaks, the sound of tongues is played back in the headphone, and the VR screen brightens to white during the play back. This parallels the real experience of speaking in tongues, ones intention is to speak a word of phrase, yet what they hear is an unknown language being spoken.

1. Listen: spacial and fixed point audio with no visual

The VR headset has no visual, making the viewer blind. But there are two audio components; the fixed point audio is theta wave osilations; the spacial audio is tongues, as the participant turns their head the audios fixed point in space shifts from left to right. Giving the illusion that the audio is coming from a fixed point within the room. What this work is exploring is receiving preyer, which can be an intense experience, your role is simply to listen. What the participant is hearing is an actual prayer. The theta waves portion is intended to induce deep meditation, which can be unsettling depending on the current frequency of the participants brain waves.   

1. See: virtual space with fixed point audio

The virtual space is a desert, with mountains in the distance with the sun above. This space is highly symbolic referencing christian imagery with the intention of creating a contemplative space. The audio component is embeded with alpha waves, which are intended to increase a persons capacity for concetration and contemplation.

The content of the VR is to support the installation and could play no content at all.  

This work is now intended to be installed at the POP gallery, Brisbane. The interaction with the work and installation playing a roll in the interpretation of the work. And can function independently if required. This consideration was made as VR technology within the museum/gallery context require specific daily maintanence and supervision. This was discovered through research initally was focused on current artistic application of VR experiences such as Jordan Wolfson's Real Violence and Ian Cheng  Entropy Wrangler Cloud. 
Generally VR is currently used for event exhibitions as it is an emerging technology. 

Theoretical Framework

What was the motivation for doing the work?

The motivation for this work, and my practice in general revolves around a series of profound life experiences. In 2005, I had neurological failure, which resulted in multiple organ failure. I spent several years in and out of hospital, my marriage failed, my health continued to decline. I remember passing at one point at hospital.  For me, there was nothingness, I knew where I was, and I knew that the life I had led up till that point had led me there. By 2009 my health had declined sufficiently that the doctors said "theres no easy way to say this, you have three years to live.... You will need to get your affairs sorted out". Then discharged me for the last time. . That knowing, shifts your perspective and your priorities.
Ive since travelled australia, met the woman of my dreams, have children and an amazing group of people in my life.Ive also since given my life to god, 
Now keep in mind  I have always believed in god, tho I had never actively participated in a church or ritual. So i was water baptised. When I rose out of the water world with new perception, I could see differently, the sun had a shimmer to its reflection and time was dislocated, i felt an intense disconnection to the now. It is during this time that I also received the baptism of the holy spirit. 
Without the baptism  of the holy spirit, you can be a christian, but never experience the giftings of the holy spirit, which is most noticably expressed through tongues. It was after this baptism that my life trully changed and can only be described as a rollercoaster. My arts practice instantly changed, my work taking on a deeper critical exploration. There is a yearning in the core of my being to express through the arts, the transendental.

Towards the end of my travels I was camping on the cliffs of the Nullabour plains, the moon was tipping just as the sun rose over the ocean. I took a photo. It just didnt do it justice. I wanted to be able to capture that momemt. To share that with other people.  
This is why I am now engaging with New Media technology.  It gives me the possibility to explore and share an experience. Allows you to create objects and vast spaces that are invisible to the naked eye. But as a parallel to faith, can be seen through those equipped to see.
And the more I engage with programming language, applying realworld physics and formula, creating artificial intelligence and spatial calculations the more I realise the truth that "Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of God". ( Dr. Hermann Gottlieb 2013)

What is the issue or concern addressed in the work?

Over 50% of the worlds population, an estimated 3.6 billion people identify as adherents of an Abrahamic religion (Hunter 2017), Yet the use of technology as a vehicle for exploring connection to the divine has yet to be critically explored. This has be a result of the dicotomy of the pricipal values of the church system and the nature of technology. This being that technology is the new tower of babel, the self focus and seclusionistic.
After all 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. 

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.” (Planck 2015) The fear regarding very nature of the technology is that it 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.” (Poteet 2016)

The intention within this contemporary art project was to explore this position through the virtual reality experiences. One for each of the common expressions for connecting to the divine, speaking in tongues, receiving prayer and going to a place for contemplation. This is grounded by active engagement with Rhema and lobos, sculpturally through the inclusion of the bible in the final installation. The communal setting yet individualistic experience is intended to stimulate the dialogue. 

Studio Methodology

How did you create the work and was process important in its creation and why?

The process of creating a digital work is, in my experience, vastly different from creating work in other mediums. You need to have a complete vision of what you want to create. How it will look, how it will sound, how it will function. You need to have assets created in advance (tho these can be substituted at a later date). The code you intend on creating does not have a lot of room for play, every detail needs to be mapped out in advance. It either works, or it doesnt. A colon(:) or semicolon (;) could be the deciding factor in success of failure. For artists we are always chasing that image in our mind, to express it as perfectly as we can in the physical realm. And this ability to spacially map out in your mind what you to achieve, aids you in mapping out the structure of your digital artwork. This method of visualisation also draws strong parallels to engaging in prayer, requiring disengaging with your physical environment, and engaging with the unseen.

For more information regarding the studio methodology of each aspect of the work click the following links below
Speak
See
Listen
Modification of the virtual reality headsets
Mockups of POP gallery installation
Preparation for POP gallery installation

Context

Compare and contrast your work with two other practitioners in the field who have similar aims to yours and support your conceptual ideas.

Christian artists have been attempting to convey the transendental for the past 2000 years, through claratas and representation of christ, saints in paintings, altar pieces and relics and through architectual design to enchance the presence of god and providing a place of contemplation.


The works Chapel of Sacred Mirrors by Alex Grey ( the church he built )  and Rothko Chapel by Mark Rothko are intended to be contemplative spaces.
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors by Alex Grey
 Rothko Chapel by Mark Rothko

Conclusion

How is your work performing against your aims and theoretical framework?

Do you have any evidence for this?

The final work far surpases my original intention. Trinity successfully expresses each of the three aspects of spirituality that were proposed, by creating a virtual space, employing spacial audio and voice translation.
The opportunity to exhibit in the POP gallery, Brisbane, brought with it far more challenges than anticipated. The original intention was to create a work that was event based, running only for a day at a time, and manned at all times. Now the demand is that the work runs for 4 weeks, with very little supervision or downtime. The software had to be refined far more than in a normal project, and far more considerations had to be made in the installation of the work. Particularly around security and safety.  

Reference list

Hunter, Preston 2017.  "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents". Adherents.com. Accessed  31 May 2017 url: https://www/Adherents.com

Poteet, Rev Mike 2016. "Christians and Virtual reality" UMC.org. Accessed  31 May 2017 URL: http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/blogs-commentaries/post/christians-and-virtual-reality

Plank, Mark 2015. "Oculus' next big move is to make VR a social experience" Engaget . Accessed 31 May 2017. URL:https://www.engadget.com/2015/05/25/oculus-social-experience/

Artist research: Jordan Wolfson VR - Real Violence TODO

Jordan Wolfson VR - Real Violence

Who are they, what is their career
Jordan Wolfson (born October 9, 1980 in New York City) is an American artist living and working in New York City and Los Angeles. His work is known for social commentary and entertainment, using film, sculpture, installation and performance.[1]

What is the artwork/concept or practice that the artist is focusing on ?

Visitors that don Oculus headsets for Jordan Wolfson’s nausea-inducing VR work, which transplants you to a New York street where a scene of visceral, gratuitous violence ensues while an anonymous voice recites a Hebrew prayer.[2]
Viewers are directed to a counter, handed noise-cancelling headphones and virtual-reality goggles, and instructed to grip the railing below them. The video begins with a view of clear sky glimpsed between buildings on a wide Manhattan street, as if you’re lying supine on the ground. You can almost smell spring. Then a cut, and there, kneeling on a stretch of sidewalk, is a young man in jeans and a red hoodie, an obscure, plaintive expression on his face as he holds your gaze. A man in a gray T-shirt stands over him: the artist. He takes a baseball bat and whacks his victim in the skull, then drops the bat, drags the man by his legs to the center of the sidewalk, and proceeds to bash his face in with a series of stomps and kicks. Blood gushes. The victim grunts and is silent. In the street, indifferent traffic is lined up bumper to bumper. Pedestrians mill around in the far background. The bat has rolled into the gutter; the batterer retrieves it and carries on. The camera cuts to a dizzying view from above; it feels like hovering upside down in a dream. Throughout, a man’s voice sings the two Hebrew blessings that Jews recite over the candles during Hanukkah. Abruptly, the sound cuts, then the image.[3]

The whole thing lasts two minutes and twenty-five seconds
The violence in “Real Violence” is not real, insofar as it is carried out on an animatronic doll enhanced in post-production. It is necessary to be reminded that art is not always a moral good. That VR and videogames generate physical and moral dissonances, dissonances that expose how violence is, daily, palpably close at hand for many people, and for others just an abstraction.[2] Wolfson’s contextless work does, after all, have a context: America, with all its indisputably real violence carried out daily on victims of flesh and blood.[3]

image source: Jordan Wolfson Visitors to the Whitney Biennial must be at least eighteen years old to put on a headset and watch “Real Violence,” an extremely bloody virtual-reality project by Jordan Wolfson. 2017

PHOTOGRAPH BY BILL ORCUTT URL:http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/confronting-the-shocking-virtual-reality-artwork-at-the-whitney-biennial (accessed 28 May 2017)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Wolfson
[2]   Eckardt, Stephanie 2017  "The Work Is Repellant": All the Horrified Reactions to Jordan Wolfson's Ultraviolent VR Art at the Whitney Biennial  wmagazine URL: https://www.wmagazine.com/story/jordan-wolfson-whitney-biennial-2017-reviews-reactions

[3] Schwartz, Alexandra 2017 CONFRONTING THE “SHOCKING” VIRTUAL-REALITY ARTWORK AT THE WHITNEY BIENNIAL  newyorker URL: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/confronting-the-shocking-virtual-reality-artwork-at-the-whitney-biennial

Artist research: Ian Cheng VR - Entropy Wrangler CloudTODO

Ian Cheng  Entropy Wrangler Cloud

Who are they, what is their career
Ian Cheng (born March 29, 1984) is an American artist known for his live simulations that explore the nature of mutation and human behavior. His simulations, commonly understood as "virtual ecosystems" are less about the wonders of new technologies than about the potential for these tools to realize ways of relating to a chaotic existence. His work has been widely exhibited internationally, including MoMA PS1, Whitney Museum of American Art, Hirshhorn Museum, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Migros Museum, and other institutions.[2]

What is the artworks/concept or practice that I am focusing on
At Frieze London in 2013, Cheng premiered Entropy Wrangler Cloud, one of the first artworks made for virtual reality, using first generation Oculus Rift headsets.

At this point in history, it’s finally possible to compose behaviors. I’m trying to find a frame that enables you to see what happens when you mash one behavior with another. Artists are always looking for a formula where 1 + 1 = 3; you take concrete plus wood and ideally it becomes something more than the sum of the parts, something third. In the simulations, I’m able to compose human behavior, animal behavior, behavior of inanimate materials like plastic and metal, and observe something which in reality you could never combinatorially experience – I mean, you would probably get arrested if you weld something to a dolphins head? (Ian Cheng 2013)[1]

image source : Frieze 2013 Entropy Wrangler Cloud, Photo courtesy of Formalist Sidewalk Poetry Club URL:http://dismagazine.com/uploads/2013/10/securedownload-600x378.jpg

But Ian Cheng, whose work using VR, Entropy Wrangler Cloud (2013), was shown at Frieze London in 2013, suggests that it is important that artists explore the technology themselves. “In my own work, I always want to understand, play, tinker with the technology before engaging with engineers who are better versed with it,” he writes in an email. “I wouldn’t be able to imagine what to do with it if I didn’t. Also, being familiar with a technology is protection against technicians telling the artist ‘No, it can’t be done’, which is a worse lim it than any skill gap. It is early days for VR, and beyond a skill gap there is also a culture gap—there is barely a culture around VR (besides a hype culture), it is not yet part of our everyday reality. So for an artist to engage with VR at this stage, it can only really be about curiosity and play. Other artists engaged in more critical or reactive practices will probably feel disinterested and alienated by VR.”“It feels like the tech needs to be broken to become something else—which is what artists are good at”Despite the concerns about hype, there is genuine excitement among artists. “I think this is a great moment in VR,” Jon Rafman says. “It’s a new language, so it is like the early days of cinema where you had people like D.W. Griffith creating the actual language of the medium. In video games or in Hollywood cinema, to create a film or a video game you need hundreds of millions of dollars and it’s controlled by a very few distribution companies, but with VR it is like the Wild West still.”
Negotiating this “Wild West” moment is inevitably difficult for museums. Carl Goodman says the Museum of the Moving Image is “sceptical, in a loving way, of all of this excitement” and is “looking forward to when VR is no longer a curiosity that you have to go to a museum to see, but is something that you can experience at your friend’s house or on your own. Then we can focus less on events that introduce the technology to people and more on curated programmes that feature the best, the most unusual or most challenging work, just as we do with film and have done with film for many years.” (Ian Cheng 2013) [3]

entropy wrangler cloud (chang & eng) -- screencapture excerpt from ian cheng on Vimeo.


[1]http://dismagazine.com/blog/52917/frieze-london-interview-with-ian-cheng/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Cheng
[3] http://theartnewspaper.com/features/welcome-to-the-virtual-world/

Artist research: Alex Grey - The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors TODO

Alex Grey - The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

Why am I looking at them

Who are they, what is their career
Alex Grey (born November 29, 1953) is an American visionary artist, author, teacher, and Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and painting.

What is the artworks/concept or practice that they are focusing on

image source: Alex Grey, Hall of Sacred Mirrors 2010. AlexGrey.com  URL: http://alexgrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Alex_Grey-Greys_In_CoSM-NYC1.jpg

The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) is a transdenominational church and organization dedicated to the realization of a shared 1985 vision of the American artists Alex and Allyson Grey to build a contemporary public Chapel as 'a sanctuary for spiritual renewal through contemplation of transformative art' [1]

Conceived to house Alex Grey's Sacred Mirrors (a series of twenty-one art-works that examine the body, spirit, and mind in rich detail) along with other important works of visionary and contemporary spiritual art, CoSM's stated mission is "Building an enduring sanctuary of visionary art to inspire every pilgrim's creative path and embody the values of love and evolutionary wisdom".[2]

On September 12, 2008, after a lengthy search for a permanent site, The Foundation for the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors purchased a forty-acre former interfaith center on the Hudson River 65 miles north of New York City in the Wheeler Hill Historic District in Wappinger, N.Y. . In November 2008, CoSM was recognized as providing an extraordinary environment for contemplation, and as a center for encouraging the creative spirit, and was granted Church status with a permanent 501(c)(3).

With the Greys' desire to make the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors open and representative to all visionary and contemporary sacred art, visiting artists are encouraged to create murals, labyrinths, gardens, and sculptures; most notably Kate Raudenbush's Altered State, a two-story domed steel structure first seen at Burning Man in 2008[2] that now resides in a meadow on the CoSM grounds.

Grey’s paintings can be described as a blend of sacred, visionary art and postmodern art. He is best known for his paintings of glowing anatomical human bodies, images that “x-ray” the multiple layers of reality. His art is a complex integration of body, mind, and spirit. The Sacred Mirrors, a life-sized series of 21 paintings, took 10 years to complete, and examines in detail the physical and metaphysical anatomy of the individual. "The inner body is meticulously rendered - not just anatomically precise but crystalline in its clarity"[1]
<image of paintings>

image source:Alex Grey “One”, and “The Kiss”  url:https://www.z2systems.com/neon/resource/cosm/images/one_kissing.jpg

[1] David Ian Miller (March 24, 2008). "LSD Helped Forge Alex Grey's Spiritual, Artistic and Love Lives". San Francisco Chronicle "Finding My Religion" series.
[2] http://www.sculpture.org

Artist research: Template

Artist research
Why am I looking at them
Who are they, what is their career
What is the artworks/concept or practice that I am focusing on

ARTWORK: VR seeTODO

Working Title

See

View Demo

Download source

This work is intended to work on chrome browser, with optimal viewing on an andriod device.This code is designed to work ONLY on mobile devices and tablets with a gyroscope.WebGL supported browser required

description:
This work is for one of the three Virtual Reality(VR) headsets that are arranged on a plinth/table, with each of the power cables to the VR headsets coming out of a bible located in the base of the table. Each of the VR headsets contain an individual experience relating to methods of connecting to divine.

1. See: virtual space with fixed point audio

The virtual space is a desert, with mountains in the distance with the sun above. This space is highly symbolic referencing christian imagery with the intention of creating a contemplative space. The audio component is embeded with alpha waves, which are intended to increase a persons capacity for concetration and contemplation.

Rationale and research
What is it about
"growing emphasis on meditation in eastern religions. Transcendental meditation, as it is often called, is not biblical meditation...
Biblical Meditation means “the act of focusing one’s thoughts: to ponder, think on, muse.” Meditation consists of reflective thinking or contemplation, usually on a specific subject to discern its meaning or significance or a plan of action...

Some synonyms would be contemplation, reflection, rumination, deep thinking, or remembering in the sense of keeping or calling something to mind for the purpose of consideration, reflection, or meditation. 
The goal of Christian meditation is to internalize and personalize the Scripture so that its truth can affect how we think, our attitudes, and how we live, our actions." (Keathley 2004)

Therefore the intention in this work is to present the viewer with a constructed environment embedded with christian symbolism, and to allow them to contemplate the meaning of the imagery. With particular empasis on salt, sky, heavens(vortex), vastness and disance and the 'sun' (which you cannot actually see as it is concealed behind clouds

What is my personal revelation/experience
Personal prayer is a daily persuit for me. But I dont often have the opportunity to lock myself away for private prayer. Often I need to engage with the inner place to contemplate and connect to the divine. 

Quotes from the bible which relate to the work 

Mathew 6:6 (BLB)
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Matthew 5:13 (ESV)
 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.;

Job 37:21 (KJB)
And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.




Asset production
List of assets:

The following assets are located in the /js of the above list

The multires folder are graphical fallbacks


Assets Images and objects 
The environment presented in the virtual reality space was constructed and manipulated with photoshop and exported as .jpeg format. 



Assets sounds
The audio asset is an osilation of alpha waves, edited in software package fruityloops and exported as an .mp3 file. "This frequency range bridges the gap between our conscious thinking and subconscious mind. In other words, alpha is the frequency range between beta and theta. It helps us calm down when necessary and promotes feelings of deep relaxation. If we become stressed, a phenomenon called “alpha blocking” may occur which involves excessive beta activity and very little alpha."(Mental health daily 2014) 

Theory of the code 

The code for this project was written for web based platforms. Code languages used for this application were WebGL, HTML, javascript, css and jquery. NOTE: As of 2017 security limitations to accessing microphone and camera were established. Purchase of an SSL certificate for the host server were required. Audio playback has now been restricted to requiring user input before audio streaming takes place, this was bypassed through initiating the audio playback on clicking the 'fullscreen' button on the application. 

To realise this artwork required gaining access to the devices gyroscope and using the z,x,y axis variablse to manipulate a graphical environment dependant apon a the participants interaction. The base code for this project was based of a open source code accessing gyroscopic data and moving visual objects (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com/2016/04/stereoscopic-content-movement-using.html ) application of stereoscopic vision (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/sterioscopic-image-viewer-for-google.html) and a fullscreener code (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/how-to-fullscreen-webpage-with-html.html)

A key to the success of this work is that the code run in dual iframes. Allowing for independant processing of the data as opposed to attempting to access dual processing of spacial data which would cause considerable delay in rendering.

Additionally the audio component is running on the mobile device independant of the VR visual. And audio file is installed on the device and played through the devices player. This saves considerably on data transfer to initialise the program.

Build versions: excluding base code development.
NOTE: Code is reference in individual files and annotated throughout the code files. Please download and refer to individual files for more detail.

1. Visual asset added to environment, single view 360 gyroscopic environment tested and working. 
2.implimentation of iframe embedding 
3. fullscreener code added (fullscreener.js and index.html) 
4. gyro readout and standard controls removed from gui. Auto gyro initilisation implimented

References
Keathley, J. Hampton 2004. "Biblical Meditation" Bible.org. Accessed 1 June 2017. URL:https://bible.org/article/biblical-meditation

Mental health daily. 2014 "5 Types of brain wave frequencies" Mental health daily. Accessed 2 May 2017. URL:http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/04/15/5-types-of-brain-waves-frequencies-gamma-beta-alpha-theta-delta/

Artwork: VR listen TODO

Working Title

Listen

figure 1

View Demo

Download source

This work is intended to work on chrome browser, with optimal viewing on an andriod device.This code is designed to work ONLY on mobile devices and tablets with a gyroscope.

description:
This work is for one of the three Virtual Reality(VR) headsets that are arranged on a plinth/table, with each of the power cables to the VR headsets coming out of a bible located in the base of the table. Each of the VR headsets contain an individual experience relating to methods of connecting to divine.

1. Listen: spacial and fixed point audio with no visual

The VR headset has no visual, making the viewer blind. But there are two audio components; the fixed point audio is theta wave osilations; the spacial audio is tongues, as the participant turns their head the audios fixed point in space shifts from left to right. Giving the illusion that the audio is coming from a fixed point within the room. What this work is exploring is receiving preyer, which can be an intense experience, your role is simply to listen. What the participant is hearing is an actual prayer. The theta waves portion is intended to induce deep meditation, which can be unsettling depending on the current frequency of the participants brain waves

Rationale and research
What is it about
"Praying for others is important because it fulfills a New Testament command. We are to pray for all people (1 Timothy 2:1). We are to pray for government leaders (1 Timothy 2:2). We are to pray for the unsaved (1 Timothy 2:3). We are to pray for fellow Christians (Ephesians 6:18). We are to pray for ministers of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19–20). We are to pray for the persecuted church (Hebrews 13:3). Praying for others gets our focus off of ourselves and onto the needs around us. As we “carry each other’s burdens,” we “will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Begin praying for others today and help to build up the body of Christ." (gotQuestions 2017)

This work focuses on the recieving of prayer, which is often an intense experience as your eyes are normally closed, and your heart and mind is opened. You are vulnerable. The engagement with spacial audio makes reference to the source and physicallity of the experience.  The feeling of understanding being almost within grasp yet alluding at the same time. 

What is my personal revelation/experience
As a deacon within a pentacostal church I am often a participant within interpersonal prayer. Either engaging in recieving, giving or assisting in the process. It is an integral part of the faith. Often an intense experience. With the giver acting as a conduit for the holy spirit.  


Quotes from the bible which relate to the work 

1 Timothy 2:1
Pray for All People

2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

Ephesians 6:18 (NLT)
 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere

Philippians 4:6 (ESV) 
6 do not be anxious about anything, sbut in everything by prayer and supplication twith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

John 14:13–14
13 zWhatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that athe Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me5 anything in my name, I will do it.





Asset production
List of assets:

Assets Images and objects 
There are no visual assets for this project

Assets sounds
This work engages with two key audio assets:

Tongues/prayer:voice.mp3 and voice2.mp3 which are tongues base sound files were originally created via recording of artists voice speaking tongues in .wav format. These were then edited in software application Audacity and exported as mp3 files for cross browser support.

"Theta wave osilations:"This particular frequency range is involved in daydreaming and sleep. Theta waves are connected to us experiencing and feeling deep and raw emotions. Too much theta activity may make people prone to bouts of depression and may make them “highly suggestible” based on the fact that they are in a deeply relaxed, semi-hypnotic state. Theta has its benefits of helping improve our intuition, creativity, and makes us feel more natural. It is also involved in restorative sleep. As long as theta isn’t produced in excess during our waking hours, it is a very helpful brain wave range."(Mental health daily 2014) These wave osilations work by producing two separate osilations for each ear, this was achieved through the software application fruityloops. The choice of this frequency was to create a receptiveness in the participant and create an atmostphere of disonance by intentionally breaking their concentation.

Theory of the code 

The code for this project was written for web based platforms. Code languages used for this application were HTML, javascript, css and jquery. NOTE: As of 2017 security limitations to accessing gyroscopic data were established. Purchase of an SSL certificate for the host server were required. Audio playback has now been restricted to requiring user input before audio streaming takes place, this was bypassed through initiating the audio playback on clicking the 'fullscreen' button on the application. 

To realise this artwork required gaining access to the devices gyroscope and using the z axis variable to manipulate the audio stream to create spacial audio. The base code for this project was based of a open source code that I produced in april 2016 (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/move-image-using-mobile-gyroscope.html ) and a fullscreener code (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/how-to-fullscreen-webpage-with-html.html)

Build versions: excluding base code development.
NOTE: Code is reference in individual files and annotated throughout the code files. Please download and refer to individual files for more detail. This code is designed to work ONLY on mobile devices and tablets with a gyroscope. This project required direct editing on the server as it is a mobile web application, this process of debugging is difficult as developer tools can not be used for errors.

1. Build based on original gyroscope source code. stereo audio Voices.mp3 and Voices2.mp3 added
2. gyroscopic data and visual output altered to allow for feedback of audio levels.
3.Spacial audio created by using gyroscopic data to attenuate the audio levels. If audio is playing behind the user it is muffled slightly. 
4. Theta wave osilations added and set to auto buffer and play on click.
5.  fullscreener code added (fullscreener.js and index.html) now clears all preload html content and fullscreens to black screen.

References
Mental health daily. 2014 "5 Types of brain wave frequencies" Mental health daily. Accessed 2 May 2017. URL:http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2014/04/15/5-types-of-brain-waves-frequencies-gamma-beta-alpha-theta-delta/

figure 1. Author unknown 2017. "Group prayer" Plum Tree Church. URL:http://www.plumtreechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Prayer-Time.jpg (accessed 27 May 2017)

Artwork : VR speakTODO

Working Title

Speak

View Demo

Download source

This work is intended to work on chrome browser, with optimal viewing on an andriod device.

description:
This work is for one of the three Virtual Reality(VR) headsets that are arranged on a plinth/table, with each of the power cables to the VR headsets coming out of a bible located in the base of the table. Each of the VR headsets contain an individual experience relating to methods of connecting to divine.

1. Speak: voice to tongues translation 

When the participant speaks, the sound of tongues is played back in the headphone, and the VR screen brightens to white during the play back. This parallels the real experience of speaking in tongues, ones intention is to speak a word of phrase, yet what they hear is an unknown language being spoken

Display of work: This work has been designed for gallery installation. The VR headset is attached to a plinth via a micro usb cable (which provides power to the unit) and is locked in place on the right side of the head unit allowing a limited range of movement. This restricted movement is for safety, as the participant is completely blind to their surroundings. Idealy this installation is maintained every two to three days, by doing a full reset, to maximise the experience for the participant as the headsets will 'lag' over time. This technology is still emergent at the time of the making of this artwork.

Rationale and research
What is it about
"An inward possession by the Spirit which is so strong that it can no longer find adequate expression in comprehensible language, so that it utters itself in glossolalia - just as intense pain is expressed by unrestrained weeping, or extreme joy by jumping and dancing." Jurgen Moltmann (Beck 2015)

The aformentioned quote aptly sums up what it is to speak tongues. The intention in this work was to give the participant a similar experience. That of loss of control, and when they speak, another language is played back in their ears. Additionally a white light graduates in the headset, alluding to the engagement with the holy spirit. 
The requirement for active engagement by the viewer draws a parallel to the active engagement with and of the holy spirit.

What is my personal revelation/experience
I have always believed in god, tho I had never actively participated in a church or ritual. So when i was water baptised I rose out of the water world with new perception, I could see differently, the sun had a shimmer to its reflection and time was dislocated, i felt an intense disconnection to the now. It is during this time that I also received the baptism of the holy spirit. 
Without the baptism  of the holy spirit, you can be a christian, but never experience the giftings of the holy spirit, which is most noticably expressed through tongues.


references from the bible which relate to thework 

1 Corinthians 14:2 (CEB)
 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.

Mark 16:17 (CEB)
 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Acts 2:4 (CEB)
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Acts 19:6 (CEB)
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.





Asset production
List of assets:

Assets Images and objects 
The visual component of this project was produced via css code manipulation of a <div> object.

function drawLoop( time ) {
    // clear the background
    canvasContext.clearRect(0,0,WIDTH,HEIGHT);
    sndlvlfade = sndlvlfade - 0.01;
    // check if we're currently clipping
    if (meter.checkClipping())
        canvasContext.fillStyle = "red";
    else
        canvasContext.fillStyle = "green";

    // draw a bar based on the current volume
    //canvasContext.fillRect(0, 0, meter.volume*WIDTH*1.4, HEIGHT);
    var sndlvl = meter.volume;
    sndlvl = sndlvl.toFixed(2); // round to two decimal places
    document.getElementById("volumetext").innerHTML = sndlvlfade;
    // set up the next visual callback
    rafID = window.requestAnimationFrame( drawLoop );
    // change the volume of the sound file based on the micophone input level ( meter.volume)
    
    sndlvl = sndlvl * 5;
    if(sndlvl > sndlvlfade) {sndlvlfade = sndlvl;}
    if(sndlvlfade < 0.06) { sndlvlfade = 0;}
     if(sndlvlfade > 1) { sndlvlfade = 1;}

    document.getElementById("tongues").volume = sndlvlfade;
    // change opacity of white overlay
    document.getElementById("whitepanel").style.opacity = sndlvlfade;

}

Assets sounds
voice.mp3 and voice2.mp3 which are tongues base sound files were originally created via recording of artists voice speaking tongues in .wav format. These were then edited in software application Audacity and exported as mp3 files.

Theory of the code 

The code for this project was written for web based platforms. Code languages used for this application were HTML, javascript, css and jquery. NOTE: As of 2017 security limitations to accessing microphone and camera were established. Purchase of an SSL certificate for the host server were required. Audio playback has now been restricted to requiring user input before audio streaming takes place, this was bypassed through initiating the audio playback on clicking the 'fullscreen' button on the application. 

To realise this artwork required gaining access to the devices microphone and attenuating the sound to respond to decibel levels. The base code for this project was based of a open source code that I produced in may (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/blog-post.html ) and a fullscreener code (http://artworkprocesscode.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/how-to-fullscreen-webpage-with-html.html)


Build versions: excluding base code development.
NOTE: Code is reference in individual files and annotated throughout the code files. Please download and refer to individual files for more detail.

1. Decible meter code (index.html) modified. db feedback variable scaled to audio volume level.(main.js and volume_meter.js)  
2. modified for use on a mobile device (index.html). Adding permissions request for microphone access and audio scream buffering.
3. fullscreener code added (fullscreener.js and index.html) now clears all preload html content and fullscreens to black screen.
4. Audio asset successfully modified. (index.html and main.js) 
5. Manipulation of <div> based on db variable added. Responds to audio input by gradually increasing the brightness of the screen. Audio playback is scalled gradually as opposed to sharp clipping of audio levels.

References
Beck, David 2015. "The Holy Spirit and the Renewal of All Things: Pneumatology in Paul and Jurgen Moltmann" James Clarke & Co. ISBN 9780227903179