Oneiris
Augmented Reality work in 2 parts, 2018
oneiris 1: animation, no sound
oneiris 2: animation with 5 channel spatialised sounds for headphone listening
Oneiris is a work that creates an oneiric space through Augmented Reality and symbolizes human’s pursuit of desire through an analogy of dreamwork. This work consists of two scenes representing different landscapes: in the first one there are trees, some plants and ruins inhabited by a tiger in HSMC whilst the second one constructs a mysterious mist over the maze garden in Kowloon Park. The latent content in both scenes can be traced back to a series of references, such as the Renaissance book Hypnerotomachia Poliphili which narrates the dream of Poliphilo and his quest for love. As Poliphilo can be translated as either “lover of Polia” or “lover of many things”, it serves as a metaphor of the idea that all human things can be dreams, even human knowledge and memories. The figure of the tiger enables many possible interpretations in various contexts like colonialism, mythologies or anthropomorphism in which a tiger could imply desire and fascination while also threat and violence. Jorge Luis Borges claims in <Dreamtigers> that “this is a dream, a pure diversion of my will; and now that I have unlimited power, I am going to cause a tiger” while William Blake asks the tiger “what immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” In another interpretation, George Bataille in his economic metaphor of scarcity of resources sees a tiger as a great consumption power of life and energy that represents expansion and expenditure. The second scene of the dream creates a landscape in a mist by infusing an atmospheric cloud and jungle sounds into the Kowloon Park maze garden. It highlights the blurred lines between realities and dreams, and positions the viewer as a wanderer in the maze. In an anthropomorphic view, a viewer is thus the tiger wandering in the garden, in between dreams, just as in the Poliphilo story.
scene 2: Hong Kong Kowloon Park, maze garden / coordinates: 22.299889, 114.171221