Virtual Hallucinations: Projects in VJing, virtual reality and cyberculture

Jonathan Weinel
2019 Electronic Visualisation and the Arts London Conference  
This paper discusses a variety of the author's artistic projects exploring altered states of consciousness and computer art. First, the paper will provide a brief overview of previous creative works, which include compositions of electroacoustic music, interactive visualisations, and visual music films. These previous works use the concept of altered states of consciousness as a compositional principle, as explored in the author's book Inner Sound: Altered States of Consciousness in Electronic
more » ... usic and Audio-Visual Media (OUP 2018). Following this, a variety of the author's recent creative work produced from 2016-2019 will be discussed. These works include: a series of paintings that incorporate computer graphics animations when viewed in augmented reality; VJ performances constructed using direct animation on 8mm film, computer graphics animations generated from code and audio-reactive effects; and Cyberdream VR, a virtual reality experience. These interrelated projects continue to develop the author's artistic investigations into altered states, while also referencing work such as demo scene videos; cyberdelic imagery of the type seen on fliers from the 1990s rave-era; and the recent Internet-borne subculture vaporwave, which recontextualises the aesthetics of 1980s and 1990s ambient corporate music and utopian computer graphics to construct surrealistic dystopias.
doi:10.14236/ewic/eva2019.57 dblp:conf/eva/Weinel19 fatcat:owz4meucm5eu3gifawipcd6tze