This artwork explores the boundaries between physical existence and virtual consciousness through two interrelated components: a single-channel video and a digitally scanned spatial image.
The video component, created using game engine technology in the Machinima tradition, examines the psychological and physiological states that emerge when consciousness inhabits virtual reality. Characters engage in philosophical dialogue questioning fundamental perceptions: "Is what you see the same as what I see?" and "What constitutes reality versus illusion?" Through these virtual avatars, the work investigates the liminal experience of uploading consciousness into phantasmal digital bodies.
Complementing this is a photogrammetric reconstruction of a now-vanished physical space. Using precise imaging measurement techniques, the work captures and preserves the volumetric dimensions and light conditions of a space that no longer exists in material reality, yet persists in digital form. This preservation of absence further interrogates the ontological status of digital existence.
Together, these elements create a dialogue between presence and absence, materiality and simulation, examining how identity and perception transform as we increasingly inhabit digital realms that both mirror and transcend our physical experience.
Digital Reality (2023)
Single Channel Video
8 mins
Treasure Hill Artist Village, Taipei Taiwan