Bodhi is a multimedia installation that uses projected animations on an encompassing curved screen along with an interactive floor and accompanying audio. By combining these media elements to give form to the area of critical environmental issues, Bodhi brings these issues spatially and temporally closer to the participant, giving a tangible link to the urgency of the ecological crises we face today.
The participant enters the installation and finds themselves immersed in a picturesque, expansive landscape; the first an icy polar area, the second underwater in the sea and the third in a dense rainforest. The participant is free to walk around and explore the space, noticing how the visuals of the ground interact with their footsteps: the ice sheet cracks, the seabed sand shifts and becomes murkier and the rainforest floor of tree debris and leaves shrivels and decays. Simultaneously, the landscape ahead of the participant deteriorates into a depiction of the effects humans are having on these environments, highlighting how human intervention with our planet's environment is having disastrous consequences.
Bodhi is also a demonstration of diverse media disciplines coming together to create a unique experience. Three different environments are vividly rendered on a large screen that fills the participant's field of vision, while a compelling soundscape further enhances the participant's sense of immersion. These visual and audio elements are brought to life for the participant through the interactive floor, which allows the environment to react to the participant's footsteps. Blending the more traditional audio-visual features of the project with the highly mechanical design of the motion-tracked floor showcases the exciting possibilities within new media artworks.
The project was completed by a four-member team who conceptualised and created every aspect of the piece. The motion-tracking was designed using a Microsoft Kinect device and bespoke code; the animation and audio were produced using various programs and design and editing techniques. The physical set-up of the installation was also measured and made by the Bodhi team.
