Room Plan of a 3D Memory: “my room / my sound” by IEEIR

 

Memories as Room Fragments

This article introduces the VR work my room / my sound by the artist collective IEEIR, which won the GRAND Prize at the NEWVIEW AWARDS 2022. This work recreates an apartment in Tokyo where the artist had lived and places fragmented sounds within it to allow the viewer to experience the artist’s memories in 3D. The fragmented sounds are reconstructed to create a single piece of music, which creates a connection between sound and space.

In the current world where accurate, objective records hold power, what potential do vague personal memories have? This piece acts as a foundation for searching for answers to this question.
— Via the official NEWVIEW Website

The intersection of space and music recreates personal memories, allowing the viewer to relive the creator’s experience. Through this experimental approach, we are given the opportunity to consider the relationship between personal memories and reality.

Experiencing Memories in 3D

Launching the scene, a long corridor that leads to the back of the building appears, with room fragments placed on either side of the corridor.

“This place used to be a ‘bathroom.’”

When you approach a fragment of a room, you see white text describing the sounds you hear and the memories associated with them. You hear many sounds: the sound of running water, a busy street, people talking, and a woman making some kind of announcement. Changing your standing position changes the combination of sounds that you hear, and you can enjoy the various soundscapes inside the bathroom.

The corridor leads to many rooms, including a kitchen, bathroom, washroom, closet, and living room. Each room has its own memories associated with it. The sounds that leak out from the neatly arranged fragments of each room are just like our own memories in how they interfere with each other and seem empty.

Floating at the end of the passage is a white, square object, above which it says, “CLICK & PICK UP.” When you place it in the circle, the square object begins to rotate, and different music starts playing.

When you look closely inside the square object, you realize that it is the floor plan of the room you had been experiencing in fragments up until now. The room that was arranged in pieces is transformed into a typical one-person living arrangement, and you are able to perceive the space from a different perspective. The music that flows from the room is also mixed with various sound memories, inviting the listener to reenter the artist’s memory.

While changing their forms, personal memories start to settle inside your mind.

Scrolling Backward Through the “Memory Room”

What is the potential of vague personal memories, and how will we record this in the future? Daisuke Kobayashi, PARCO’s Producer and General Manager, states the following about the work:

[…]the action of scrolling backward through different time periods in the “memory room” provided you with the experience of being able to visually feel the sensation of traveling back in time[…]. This work leads to (or makes us think about) the possibility of future standard means of expression, in that the visualization of memories accessed by scrolling backward may become a method of creating an album of memories in the near future.

Daisuke Kobayashi, Producer / General Manager, Entertainment Business Department, PARCO Inc.

— Via the official NEWVIEW Website

Currently, we experience memories by flipping through photos in an album. In the future, we may be able to experience them by moving back and forth through space. In other words, the visualization of memories by “scrolling backward in space” may become a common method in the future, allowing us to make albums of our own vague memories and access them easily. But what will happen if these memories flood our space? This work also questions our values about the way we experience our memories every day.

How to Experience a VR Scene

If you are accessing this page from a smartphone, tap the “Try Now” button.
If you are using STYLY for the first time, please also refer to the instructions below.

After tapping “Try Now,” you will be redirected to a page like below.
If you have already downloaded the STYLY Mobile app, select “Activate in STYLY app.”

If you have an HMD device, select “Experience in VR” from your PC web browser.

Download the STYLY Mobile app

 

 

Download the Steam version of STYLY app:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/693990/STYLYVR_PLATFORM_FOR_ULTRA_EXPERIENCE/

Download the Oculus Quest version of STYLY app:
https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3982198145147898/

For those who want to know more about how to experience the scene:
For more information on how to experience VR scenes, please refer to the following article.

Edited by SASAnishiki
Translated by cpnnn