2 ROOMS REVISITED – an exhibition of artworks created by OCAD University faculty and graduate students from the Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design program during their stay at 2 Rooms Artist Residency in Duntara, Newfoundland. Artists: Catherine Beaudette, Claire Brunet, Susan Campbell, Vanessa Jackson, Rae Johnson, Colette Laliberté, Annette Mangaard, Diane Pugen, Katrina Tompkins
I was told to go visit this exhibition specifically for Claire Brunet’s VR installation. The best way to describe it is art, meets journey, meets spatial experience, meets documentary, meets play, meets I want to stay in it longer.
The journey begins with you learning the actions: grabbing the hand, moving blocks and picking up sculpture heads. All these actions, we were told, would come back when you enter the VR world.
Then the experience begins with you on a wood boat (which the artist virtually scanned to have in VR), the waves, the music, the birds, gently bring you into world. The boat slowly drifts to a large sculpture. This is where you now have to get up from the seat and enter the hallow belly of the beast.
From the bottom, you begin to fly up to the top of the sculpture. Images fly about you and amazingly you don’t experience any vertigo or motion sickness. It’s quite an incredible feeling, being about to fly.
When you get to the top, three heads are put on display. This is where you have to pick them up, put them over your head and enter a new world. The first head an image appears in a painterly manner with some large objects, one being a paint brush. Here you can pick up the brush and move it around. The second head brings you to a world of four documentary screens, that appear as you turn around in a flying, pixelated manner. And the third head brings you to a place where a lot of block are allowing you to play around. Where you leave your blocks, is where the next individual will find them. If you look closely you could find a Pokemon ball hidden in one of the pieces.
After exploring all there is in the heads, you then get transported to another wireframe dimension. Where you get to move masks around, pulling them from one end to another. The world is so interactive and poetic that you want to stay in there longer. When it’s done, you don’t want to leave.
Richelle Sibolboro 