Client

Overview

INTRDR is an immersive experience exploring the intersection of art, architecture, and digital spaces. CBT collaborated with artist Tomek Sadurski and Masterpiece VR to create an environment where traditional drawing transforms the virtual world. Gestural line work, surrealist constructions, and animated spherical canvases create a constellation of worlds in motion.
On display at HUBweek, Boston’s annual innovation festival, INTRDR leverages new immersive visualization technology to experiment in virtual space. Using digital brushes and a 40-foot projection dome, the project challenged the design team to create an authentic spectacle that would draw the audience to unexpected locales.

Goals

In this collaboration, one central goal was to evolve the idea of form creation into new digital realms. Exploration was paramount, so the team collaborated, utilizing their diverse set of backgrounds, to explore new ideas, methods, and aesthetics in the creation of this piece.

The idea of extending the solitary virtual experience into a holistic shared experience was also an important hurdle to overcome. Technology, physical perspective, theatrics, and perception presented unique challenges to developing a shared virtual experience. Pairing these features with sound and olfactory effects, the performance transformed into a wholly immersive, multi-sensory production.

Including a live performance component, where the artist could be seen actively drawing, sculpting, and modifying the immersive environment, INTRDR displays how technology can support design in real time. Combining ideas from art, architecture, theater, and technology, the performance alters the built environment in a single moment, at the command of the artist. This was important to create synergy between audience and artist, as well as ensure that this was a unique live-creation experience with each performance.

Process

This project required significant collaboration between artist, architects, technologists, fabricators, and event curators. Due to the transient and temporary nature of HUBWeek and the question of audience perspective, CBT built a scale model of the geodesic dome in which the performance would take place to test software, projections, music, and develop content leading up to the event. The mock-dome was suspended above the artist, and projectors and mirrors were placed at the proper locations and angles to recreate digital images within the three-dimensional space inside the dome.

The primary medium for the digital display employed tools and features from Masterpiece VR, a unique virtual reality software – part sculpting, part painting, part CGI – which facilitates 2D/3D art and animation in VR. Collaboration extended to working with MasterpieceVR's development and engineering team with several new builds tailored specifically to the dome/projection environment.

Determination of subject matter as well as overall execution of the performance was the result of contributions from multiple parties within the design team. Embracing several perspectives from a variety of disciplines, INTRDR’s performance challenges limitations of design from all angles.