Obscured Self
Obscured Self is an immersive projection-based installation that emerged from the artist's personal experience of emotional turbulence during the graduate school application process. The piece invites viewers into a sensory landscape where they must navigate dense flows of information, search for their blurred self-image, and ultimately achieve inner calm.
Year of Creation
Type
2022
Interactive Projection
Materials
NDI camera, iPhone LiDAR, custom particle system, projection mapping, code (TouchDesigner & custom scripts)
Myself Dancing in My Own Data Flow
Concept Drawing
Concept
This piece reflects the emotional toll of an information-saturated world. The installation draws from real article titles the artist encountered while researching art & technology programs—categorized by their emotional impact. The experience begins with a symbolic "mountain of data" and gradually dissolves into rain made of words, representing a flood of knowledge.
The viewer’s live portrait, rendered as particles, responds to motion: calmness restores clarity, while rapid motion erodes the image. The piece encourages a meditative pace, suggesting that only by slowing down can we reclaim our sense of self in digital chaos.
Immersive Bodily Experience
Scene Design – A Journey Through Digital Weather
Stage 1 – Mountain of Data:
The installation begins with a massive particle mountain, each point representing a fragment of information. As the virtual camera zooms in, individual texts are revealed. This mountain evokes the weight and scale of accumulated knowledge.
Stage 2 – Information Rain:
The mountain dissolves into falling particles—text rains down from above. The depth of each "raindrop" affects its legibility: closer texts are large and readable; distant ones are dense and abstract. The viewer becomes immersed in a storm of digital overload.
Stage 3 – Portrait in the Storm:
A ghostly portrait forms within the information rain, composed of live-captured particle data. Movement disrupts this self-image—fast motion breaks it apart, slow motion allows it to coalesce. This visual tension captures the internal struggle of identity amid external noise.
Stage 4 – Clarity and Resolution:
When the viewer maintains stillness, the digital storm clears. Text transforms into natural elements—petals, mist, waves—inviting a moment of peace. The space rewards introspection and slowness, offering resolution through balance with the data environment.