The virtual future is now at Orange Coast College exhibit

Orange Coast College’s Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion is traveling to a maybe not-so-distant future with its newest exhibit, “Immersion: Visions of the Singularity through VR/AR.”

The group exhibition in the pavilion’s Project Gallery is crafted by invited artists and students in the college’s new immersive media program.

The display — curated by program founders Matthew Newman, a professor of film and television at the Costa Mesa campus, and Scott Broberg, a film, television and immersive media specialist — opened Jan. 29 and will be at the Doyle through April 4. It explores the theme of what curators described as “singularity” — a time when technology and humans come closer to merging.

“In the past, androids and cyborgs were provocative images of the future in which humans incorporated technology into their body [even] more than done so now — think of hearing aids, joint implants, artificial hearts and the list goes on,” Newman and Broberg said in a statement. It would be “to the point of not being able to separate what is human and what is machine.”

“I wanted the students to use the medium of [virtual reality]” — a fully simulated experience — “and [augmented reality]” — superimposing computer-generated graphics into a real-world environment — “to show us those visions,” Newman said in an interview. “What is it going to look like when we’ve reached that pinnacle of history?”

The exhibit is composed of four different sections and includes sculptures made in virtual reality, then 3-D-printed. It also has what are described as “windows” of augmented reality that can be viewed through a tablet computer provided by the gallery. And there’s an AR gallery, which shows images that have been mapped to the floor plan of the Project Gallery.

It also includes four short narrative experiences that average from a minute to about three minutes, depending on the participant interacting with them. They’re not recommended for people who get motion sickness.

“There were a lot of hurdles to jump to get the project together and late nights, but in the end, we ... [had] some good experiences overall,” said David Hartman, a professional virtual reality expert brought in to help develop the exhibit.

“Lots of pizza,” Newman joked.

A guest peers into one of the augmented reality portals for a vision of a post-singularity world in “Immersion: Visions of the Singularity through VR/AR,” an exhibit of work by invited artists and students in the immersive media program at Orange Coast College.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Though a theme was provided, it wasn’t explicitly defined for the students, Broberg said.

“It’s a very current topic being talked about now, with [artificial intelligence] and machine learning,” he said. “What’s interesting is doing an exhibit with technology vs. traditional mediums, [in which] you print a picture or you paint a picture and it’s done. You can put little touches on top of it, but with technology, you could have the whole thing done and the whole thing crashes, then you have to go back to square one and get it to work again. So that’s been a learning experience for all of us — just getting it ready for public consumption.”

Because VR and AR are such new technologies, Orange Coast College is one of the first community colleges to have a full two-year certificate program in immersive media, Broberg said. “We really wanted to strive to be the first in this area with a program like that,” he said.

“Having an exhibit like this is great for visibility, because a lot of people don’t know that there’s already college classes in this field,” Broberg said. “We really want the public to know that if you’re interested in this technology, there’s a place to go already for that and you don’t have to wait for it.”

A guest uses a headset to experience a virtual reality world at the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion’s exhibition “Immersion: Visions of the Singularity through VR/AR,” which runs through April 4 at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Doyle Arts Pavilion director Tyler Stallings said the exhibit suggests a future in which people can have more of a relationship with art.

“From an art point of view, I think oftentimes about ... issues around representation, identity — how to create more empathy for human beings,” Stallings said.

“I’m interested in the possibility of how this technology could increase that empathetic relationship by putting [the viewer] in the place of somebody who you’re not, so you see their point of view, or having some sort of relationship with an avatar in the virtual world,” he added. “No matter how many times I put on a VR set, my senses are always fooled. I immediately feel that I am within that world, so I think there is that possibility of creating those kind of empathetic moments.”

IF YOU GO

What: “Immersion: Visions of the Singularity through VR/AR”

Where: Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion, next to parking Lot D off Merrimac Way near Fairview Road, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa

When: Through April 4. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, noon to 4 p.m. March 7 and April 4

Cost: Free

Information: bit.ly/2OBncoq

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