VIRTUAL CITIES

Virtual Cities is an Art installation, initially constructed at The Factory Gallery In London. It exists both physically... and virtually.

Physically, it’s a formation of foam blocks which you can walk around and sit on, assembled as an abstract cityscape.

Virtually, it’s an immersive digital painting, drawn in the exact position of blocks using Tilt Brush technology.

We used the HTC Vive to scan the space, giving an accurate position of the blocks visually within the headset, transporting you to this Virtual City. The VR experience is heightened as you can walk through the space and touch the physical towers. This makes for a far more immersive feeling, as haptic feedback and a connection to the real world is amplified. Our Creative Director, Paul Nicholls, painted an abstract cityscape over the course of two weeks on top of the blocks in VR.

"I’m really interested in creating installations which combine digital medias with physical spaces. VR is a truly immersive medium, but very disconnected with the physical world. So this tries to connect the two in an artistic format. There is a sense of surprise and wonder when people first put on the headset and the bland grey blocks transform into a vibrant, intricate cityscape".

Both the painting process and the resulting artwork was projected onto the gallery wall as a form of visual theatre.

The digital painting from VIrtual Cities can be downloaded straight to the:

Vive - vr.google.com/sketches/c4JEQENPuwL
or 
Sketchfab - sketchfab.com/models/5ab3706b14194516bf695add2d9cb9c0