Darśana

Explore the phases:

8. Final Installation

7. Draft Installation

6. Exhibition Design

5. Interactivity

4. Visual Experimentation

3. Soundscape

2. Motion Capture

1. Inspiration and Research

8. Final Installation

A participant enters the Moss Arts Center and is welcomed by me or an usher, who hands them a brochure containing contextual and practical details about the experience. This brochure is intended to be read while they wait for their turn. When the exhibition becomes available, I or the usher escorts them into a small, intimate room with two benches. The user is asked to sit on the benches while we briefly introduce the experience, explaining that it is interactive and that they are encouraged to move or dance around the space to activate the visuals. We ask them to remove their footwear if they are comfortable doing so and offer them ankle bells to wear. Once ready, participants are invited to enter the ”virtual temple” at their own pace. The experience is motion-activated and begins as soon as they step into the temple. The first two minutes provide an introduction to Kṛṣṇa and the participant’s role in the experience, followed by six minutes of interactive engagement. During the introduction, participants are gradually transported, both visually and aurally, into the virtual Goloka, Kṛṣṇa’s spiritual realm. Initially, the space is devoid of plants, with Kṛṣṇa dancing alone in the distance. Over the next five minutes, as participants move around and interact with the environment, six species of plants gradually grow. In the final minute, during the crescendo of the soundscape, participants are transported out of the virtual Goloka. Through their devotion to Kṛṣṇa, they leave the place enriched, with fully grown plants [Fig. 8.1]. When the visuals fade to black and the sound stops, it signals the end of the session. Participants then remove the ankle bells, put on their footwear, and exit the cube.

7. Draft Installation

Scheduled for March 21st, 2024

6. Exhibition Design

Rapid Ideation:

Sketched out possible floor plans for arranging projection screens and directing participant journey, incorporating symbols and elements from Hindu mythology surrounding Krishna. And then, drafted a 3D Model in Blender.

Scale Setup:

Borrowed scaled 3D Model of the Cube from ICAT and setup screens for accurate size referencing. Met with the ICAT team for several meetings to alter the plan as per available resources and and installation feasibility.

Projection Planning:

Imported the 3D plans into Diguise for setting up projectors and pre-mapping the projection.

5. Interactivity

Experimentation (ongoing):

I experimented with a bunch of possibilities in Touchdesigner, including audio and movement reactive Stable Diffusion, particlesGPU, Body Tracking, L-Systems, and Procedural Geometry.

Workshops:

Hosted movement and interactivity workshops to study target personna's behaviour.

4. Visual Experimentation

Abstract Krishna:

Ideated an abstracted version of Krishna for diverse readability and relatability. Keeping his blue body, wide eyes, and peacock feather intact. Drew it on paper and then created and rigged a draft 3D model for motion capture remapping trials in Blender.

Stable Diffusion:

Experimented with Stable Diffusion via Automatic1111 plugin in Touchdesigner for sound-reactive visuals.

L-Systems:

Using L-System CHOP in Touchdesigner to procedurally generate the flora of Vrindavan

Landscape:

Using LFOs and Noise in Touchdesigner to instance Geometry for procedural light-weight landscape generation.

3. Soundscape

Ambisonic Recordings:

Travelled to multiple locations associated with Krishna in India and recorded ambisonic sound of streets and temples on a Zoom H3-VR Ambisonic Mic

Instruments:

Browsed the internet for open source flute, tabla, and sitar recordings. Also recorded Atlas Vernier playing a flute bought from a local craftsman in Vrindavan, India.

Spatializing:

(Ongoing) Layered all the sounds together to create a 10 minute long composition for the experience on Reaper and then spatialized it using Max in the Cube.

2. Motion Capture

`Collaboration:`

I collaborated with Julie and Shrishti, students at Siddharth Memorial Charitable Trust in India, who are learning the Indian classical dance Kathak professionally.

`Motion Capture:`

I used Perception Neuron Motion Capture suit to record their dance. I had experimented with the suit before and fine-tuned the settings for errorless capture.

`Remapping:`

Exported BioVision Hirarchical (.bvh) data files out of Neuron Axis Studio, into Blender. Remapped the animation to trial models downloaded from Mixamo, using AutoRig Pro.

1. Inspiration and Research

In Hindu tradition, individuals experiencing a "darshan" of a deity claim to have entered a trance-like state and either visually seen or felt the deity’s divine presence.

In my daily life, whenever I approach an activity with meditative focus and wholehearted devotion—whether it's leisurely strolling through nature, caring for plants and animals, simply sitting in quiet contemplation, or dancing fervently to music—I've encountered a similar profound, almost divine, energy. Hindu festivities filled with communal singing and dancing have often enabled this experience for me.

As a creative technologist, I am intrigued by the idea of collective rhythmic devotion as a device for experiencing this energy.

Hence, Darshan aims to enable devotion to divine energy, by offering movement immersed in interactive visuals and spatial audio, informed by the idea of Lord Krishna in Hindu mythology.