“Journey Into Self” is an immersive VR experience based on theories from cognitive science and personal inspiration. It deconstructs the abstract self into a four-layer spherical virtual space resembling a spiral gallery. Each layer gradually constructs shapes representing time, space, emotions, cognition, and beliefs within the inner world. Adopting a first-person perspective, viewers accompany protagonist Anne as she tours the gallery, jumping to different time points in her life and interacting with Anne at various ages to help her rediscover and understand herself. While experiencing Anne's life, the piece also offers viewers a fresh domain and perspective to contemplate the self, inviting them to use the structure of this virtual space as a reference to create narratives about themselves.
Director: Chloe Gao | Year: 2023 | Duration: 15 Mins
Jounery into Self
Space
The space has seven huge floating spheres with beautiful visuals. The story and scene inside each portal are based on user input.
Each sphere has different textures related to the user's information and choices. Users will see visual guidelines and can step into the sphere by following them, which will turn into a portal to a completely different space and world.
Backstage
The Backstage has an installation on the ceiling that takes over the entire surface and reacts to the sound. At this level, the user experiences the hidden emotions of the entire Marfa.
This level is completely dark at the beginning. When users enter the Backstage level, they can barely see anything; they can only hear the background sound of the Selfspace.
Theater
The Theater has a small pond in the center of the space, with a rock floating on the water in the middle of the pond.
On this floor, the user will realize everything they went through and every NPC they met in the Selfspace, It’s a representation of themselves from the selected period of time.
Once the user completes this realization, their journey in the Selfspace is finished, and they will be teleported back to the MARFA world.
