You’re standing in the middle of a dark room, with nothing but a lantern in your hand.Nothing to see, except the silhouettes of sound.

“_get lamp” is a spatial XR performance exploring a spatial soundscape. Equipped with a ‘sound-lantern’ the performance navigates through a sonic landscape of sound in space. The lantern as a speaker brings ‘light’ into the soundscape in making the various sound-sources audible. The motion of the lantern is tracked and the bodily movement in physical space is transferred and processed in the digital game environment in real-time.The perception of sound becomes ultimately a very physical sensation.

The performance is trying to provoke an alternate conception of Virtual Reality in overcoming the strong first sense experience of the visuals and promotes a fully immersive spatial sonic experience of stepping inside a soundscape with the use of spatialisation of audio sources. It’s the critical attempt to cut off the VR goggles in order to fully explore the potentials of spatialized sound in VR.

Ultimately, the question arises: how to compose sound with and through space as well as once bodily movement within it. It’s an attempt to rethink an alternate navigational strategy within the virtual game space that is truly spatial and sonic.

Author
Stefan Maier

Artists
Aliya Davletova, Stefan Maier, Maxim Shchapov

Stefan Maier (AT)

Stefan Maier (1994, Austria) is an artist and XR designer with a background in architecture based in Vienna. In his work he explores how technology could alter our sensual perception and the way we engage with each-’other’. 

Currently, his work focuses on the relationship between space, sound and the body. Thereby, spatial-audio and motion-tracking became an integral part in his artistic practice, where he examines spatio-temporality and how sound is composed with and through motion in space. 

His portfolio includes mixed-reality drawings, sculptures, physical installations, screenings, and interactive audio-visual experiences and has been exhibited internationally, such as at Bangkok Design Week (2020, Bangkok, THA), Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans (2019, Orléans, FRA) and Ars Electronica (2021, Linz, AUT). He holds a START-Stipendium Scholarship (2021) in Architecture and Design by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, Austria.

Aliya Davletova (KZ/AT)

Aliya Davletova (1995, Kazakhstan) is a transdisciplinary artist. Her background lies in graphic and information design, which has further developed into her artistic practice, where she integrates various media from physical and virtual reality. She explores the boundaries of alternative worlds, where the connection between fantasy and reality inseparably influences each other. Crystallizing the ephemeral world into the visible, Aliya explores the concept of human, their body, their soul, and ongoing transformation in the face of constantly changing social and political factors of our world.

Maxim Shchapov (AT/RU)
Maxim Shchapov is an artist and designer based in Vienna. In his practice Maxim explores the fields of game art and experimental play, focusing on  emergent narratives, collective storytelling, and subversion of traditional gameplay and interactivity patterns. His projects include both physical artefacts, performances, as well as digital experiences, all intertwining to create new meanings.