We are delighted to share our EcoRift VR experiences in an upcoming exhibition Listen to the World thanks to Darren Copeland
EcoRift: nature sojourns – Embodied sonic experiences by the Listen(n) Project
The EcoRift delivers immersive experiences of being present in highly valued natural environments without needing to travel and without degrading the environments by visitation. The prototype is designed with an explicit accessibility strategy that provides open access to the experience of pristine natural environments across the globe, including for the elderly and people with disabilities who may otherwise not have access.
EcoRift can be used in exhibitions in the partner communities and in festivals and galleries internationally. Extension to this system will allow individuals to capture their own National Park experience and upload it easily into the system.
Along with the other rich media tools developed by the project (Dr. Paine helped develop the Unity3D Ambisonic tools with Blue Ripple Sound), EcoRift directs community awareness to issues of sustainability, environmental engagement, critical enquiry and interpretative discourse around questions of how digital technology and rich media environments can be used to deepen value systems around these precious, yet fragile ecosystems. Given the ongoing need to increase ecological consciousness, the EcoRift is designed to provide new virtual immersive environmental engagement cultivating environmental awareness and community agency.
The EcoRift system was created by Dr. Garth Paine and student programmer, Andre Maestas and was launched during SXSW Eco in Austin, Texas in 2014. EcoRift experiences have been developed for each of the Listen(n) locations and this project is a core stream of the overall Listen(n) Project, democratizing access to nature and building community stewardship around important protected environments.
EcoRift can be used in exhibitions in the partner communities and in festivals and galleries internationally. Extension to this system will allow individuals to capture their own National Park experience and upload it easily into the system.
Along with the other rich media tools developed by the project (Dr. Paine helped develop the Unity3D Ambisonic tools with Blue Ripple Sound), EcoRift directs community awareness to issues of sustainability, environmental engagement, critical enquiry and interpretative discourse around questions of how digital technology and rich media environments can be used to deepen value systems around these precious, yet fragile ecosystems. Given the ongoing need to increase ecological consciousness, the EcoRift is designed to provide new virtual immersive environmental engagement cultivating environmental awareness and community agency.
The EcoRift system was created by Dr. Garth Paine and student programmer, Andre Maestas and was launched during SXSW Eco in Austin, Texas in 2014. EcoRift experiences have been developed for each of the Listen(n) locations and this project is a core stream of the overall Listen(n) Project, democratizing access to nature and building community stewardship around important protected environments.
The success of the EcoRift experience is largely due to the fact that the PointOfView (POV) of both auditory and visual streams moves without perceptible latency and produces such a tightly correlated experience as to be perceived as an embodied relation to the content. This critical accessibility and embodiment is essential in exploring how digital technology and rich media environments can be used to create experiences of being present in remote environments.
Check it out at New Adventures in Sound Art
