TERESA WENNBERG: the parallel dimension
Please
click on the images to view them in bigger size. Copyright
art and photos © 1997-2001 Teresa Wennberg
"THE
PARALLEL DIMENSION"
(1 9 9 8)
A Virtual
Reality piece for a VR environment
Teresa Wennberg is a video and computer artist who has used new
technology in her work since the 1980s. In 1998, she was the
first visual artist to be invited to The Center for Parallel
Computers (PDC) at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in
Stockholm, with the proposition to create a virtual reality piece
for their six-sided "VR-Cube".
In her VR piece, The Parallel Dimension, Teresa Wennberg
based her work concept on a realistic form language combined with
highly sophisticated texture maps. There is a clear relation to
her earlier works in 2- and 3-dimensional computer animation with
interpolated forms, transparencies and elaborate surfaces, only
this time we can actually move around in their universe.
To visit a six sided VR environment and to be totally enclosed in
virtual space was a challenge to confront. Here, the artist let
the double experience of space strongly influence the whole
piece. The concept of virtual space was used as a metaphor for
the human body, with a "brain" and five different
"body-parts" - each corresponding to an imaginary room.
In each part, the confrontation with virtual space takes place
through the construction of space itself: gigantic/
claustrofobic, vertical/horizontal, empty/full, animated/still,
round/oval/square...
This can be quite provocative since the visitor is already
standing in a closed environment.
The visit begins in the brain - The Brain Chamber - a huge
reception room from which the five other parts can be reached
through secret connections by nerves and veins. The name of each
bodypart is a play with words for its virtual function: the
Heart&Blood Room, the Breathing Cathedral, the Thought
Cabinet, the Flesh Labyrinth and the Dream Cavern, some narrow
and closed, some vast and inviting. In each part, the ambient
experience is obviously quite different and each is accompanied
by a specific soundscape. To leave a bodypart/world, one must
find the hidden exit - an easy riddle.
The entire visit takes about 20 minutes, but can of course be
much longer if the visitor so wishes.
In December 1998, The Parallel Dimension was inaugurated
at the VR-Cube of KTH and shown to the public.
For this first
version, the software used was Alias/Wavefront and the animations
were calculated through Vega/Lynx.
The navigation was executed with a DataGlove.
The (interactive) sound effects were made by Peter Berggren.
All rights reserved.
©Teresa Wennberg 1998
