by J.Grosz (CZ), J. Vyskočil (CZ)

The installation Monolith consists of a light sculpture surrounded by four virtual reality stations. We are using four infrared depth sensors that can visualize the participants skeletal structures. These sensors also create a volumetric point cloud that encompasses the entire installation space and anyone within it. This three dimensional stream is then spatially mapped onto a virtual world which is one thousand times larger than reality. This results in four separate virtual worlds which arel all placed within a cut on the Monolith. The point clouds generated from the real world data are reaching inside each of the virtual worlds from their boundaries. Using a combination of network structures and volumetric fragments in conjunction with a 3D stream enables participants to explore both virtual and real worlds simultaneously. Navigation inside the virtual world is controlled by a series of hand movements. Participants can fly freely through the virtual environment by pointing their index finger. In addition to this, the movements of the participant’s hands within the empty space also generate data that is used to further alter the network structures.

The Monolith was created by Jakub Grosz and Jiří Vyskočil during the spring of 2017 following an invitation to participate in exhibition KAMILA ŽENATÁ and Guests: Event Horizon (Finale). The exhibition took place in Prague in the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art between June and September 2017. The Monolith was after installed at ELI Beamlines laser research facility near Prague for another 8 weeks. At both locations, large number of visitors experienced the installation.

DOX Exhibition Curators: Milan Ohnisko, Kamila Ženatá

HVM PLASMA Ltd. (sponsored the construction of the installation)

ELI Beamlines (hardware support)

RICOH Czech Republic Ltd. (provided projectors for the DOX Exhibition)