Rebecca Allen

INSIDE, 2016

VR experience for HTC Vive

Inside considers provocative questions around the uncanny ability of VR to confound our sensory perception while contemplating what happens inside of us when inside virtual worlds. We begin in the desert where a mysterious presence appears and enters our personal space then transports us to a place inside the brain. As we explore this primordial cave of the mind, we discover deeply ingrained images and sounds. Our journey continues with a ride through the optic nerve to arrive at what appears to be a soothing natural landscape. VR worlds can be like hallucinations - another reality leaking into our “real” world. In fact, when we enter and explore the virtual brain, the Brain Cave, we find the universal imagery of hallucinations. In this work the artist explores the inner world of the brain, the connection between virtual and real humans, and the sensations evoked when immersed in artificial nature. Following the artistic practice of utilizing “found objects”, many elements that make up the virtual worlds were found by scavenging through online thrift stores, while the model of the brain was derived from actual MRI brain scan data.

 

Special Thanks for Brain model data: Dr. Adam Gazzaley / Roger Anguera /

Neuroscape Lab / University of California San Francisco

Duration: 6 min.

Images © Rebecca Allen

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ABOUT THE ARTIST

Rebecca Allen is an internationally recognized artist inspired by the aesthetics of motion, the study of perception and behavior and the potential of advanced technology. Her artwork, which spans four decades and takes the form of experimental video, large-scale performances, live simulations and virtual and augmented reality art installations, explores issues of gender, identity and what it means to be human as technology redefines our sense of reality. With degrees from Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rebecca moves fluidly between artist studio and research lab, using her research to inform her art. Her work has been shown globally in over 250 exhibitions and is part of the permanent collection of Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York. Recent exhibitions include: You Feel Me_, FACT Gallery, Liverpool, UK. 2019-2020; 360: Rebecca Allen, Zabludowicz Collection, London, 2019; Sync(Emerge(Consciousness)), QUAD Gallery, Derby, UK, 2018-19; Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018 (Fin de Siècle II collaboration with Nam June Paik), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2018-19; and Kraftwerk - 3D (includes video projections of Allen’s work from 1986), performed throughout the world, 2011-ongoing.

If you are interested in exhibiting or viewing this artistic VR experience, please send an email to us.

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