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Morphogenesis: An Otherworldly Virtual Reality Experience

01.20.17 | By
Morphogenesis: An Otherworldly Virtual Reality Experience

Morphogenesis – a  virtual reality art installation touring the globe – presents visitors with an aural and visual experience representing the natural phenomena of emergent forms evolving into self-organized systems. San Francisco artists and Fulbright Scholars Can Buyukberber and Yagmur Uyanik describe their creation Morphogenesis as “an audiovisual journey through different planes of the digital and physical universe”. Watch and decide for yourself:

The word “morphogenesis” is used scientifically to describe the biological process in which an organism develops from its embryonic state into one with distinct and characteristic features. And as such, the artists turned to hi-definition display and VR technology to turn the conceptual into the experiential. Morphogenesis utilizes an immersive half-dome display with an accompanying virtual reality piece using the Samsung Gear VR headset to project a kaleidoscope of geometric patterns that eventually coalesce into immersive spaces of increasingly complex forms.

Visual content details from 8K wide screening.

A lasercut geodesic dome structure built for spherical content testing.

The night of June 3rd, Immersion Experience Symposium 2016, Montreal, Canada. Premiere of “Morphogenesis” at SAT’s dome “Satosphere”, the very first immersive modular theatre, dedicated to artistic creation. Photo by SebastienRoy.ca

Signal Light Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, Photo by Jan Knot

In its entirety, the audio-visual artwork emphasizes the “systemic interconnectedness over space and time of all natural dynamics and how these dynamics result to create novelty in micro and macro scales”. As any good piece of artwork, one can also simply enjoy the sensational bombardment of the senses Morphogenesis presents without an appreciation or understanding of its conceptual roots, evolving into an experience unique to each visitor.

“Nonspaces” Group Exhibition at Akbank Sanat, Istanbul. Curated by Ceren Arkman, Irmak Arkman

Samsung Gear VR headset experience; “Nonspaces” Group Exhibition at Akbank Sanat, Istanbul. Curated by Ceren Arkman, Irmak Arkman

Special 8K screening at MUSE Event Series, The Village, San Francisco

Left, Murphy Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition at SOMArts, San Francisco. Right, “Subsequence” Group Exhibition at Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, Photo by Marco David

A still from Morphogenesis visual content.

Special 8K screening at MUSE Event Series, The Village, San Francisco

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.