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VR is opening up new ways to experience art

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Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#11

Post by theoh »

enoreyes wrote: post #4

I am looking forward to the day that we can walk through a computer-generated infinite gallery in virtual reality, looking at paintings and sculptures entirely generated by machine learning algorithms. Humans are going to have to catch up!

You wouldn't say that about bipedal robots winning the 100 meter sprint. And humans still run the 100 meters although there are faster mechanical ways to go that distance.

Human standards of excellence are, and IMO should be, defined by what humans can do and experience. There's not much scope for competing with or "catching up" to a technology that is inherently many times faster/smarter/more creative that a human. Competition is not the right way to look at this.

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#12

Post by andybak »

llamathrowaway wrote: post #8

I wonder if people’s perception of 'modern' paintings will change if they view them through VR. Many modern paintings are massive in scale (bigger than my bedroom in some cases) and/or have many thick, voluminous layers of paint. Jackson Pollock is a good example. Those paintings look plain and childish when viewed on a tiny screen that fits in your pocket, as you don’t feel their scale, you don’t sense the depth of…

When people ask me what unique things VR brings over other viewing technologies my answer is quite often "scale".

You can get 3D via stereoscopic displays. You can get the realism and wrap-around view from huge monitors or projectors but VR let's you see the true scale of something in a way that no other technology can (aside from "actually being there").

For viewing objects where their scale is a critical aspect, VR is invaluable. Aside from arts, architecture is another obvious candidate.

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#13

Post by andybak »

fearai wrote: post #7

vr IS art. just because someone identifies as an "artist" and makes vr doesn't mean they are making "vr art" and a graphics programmer is not making art. human creative expression is art whether made by an "artist" or programmer. now for the smarter humans/bots to tell us how it really is. thank you.

I can't parse your second paragraph. It sounds like you're making two contradictory points. Can you reword it?

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#14

Post by notus »

The only comment so far is someone named Mark who said, "If you consider that art maybe the article has merit. I guess I am just to old school and really do not see the example in this article as art. I see it as computer generated graphics not art."

I'm surprised people still think this way.

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#15

Post by nilkn »

pault wrote: post #2

On the subject, I just received an oculus quest, and I'm pretty blown away by it. I know that it will never compete with a PC-tethered device on image quality, but the quality is good enough and they have nailed almost every inconvenience that would stop the layperson from using VR regularly. It's lightweight, it's wireless, you don't need a dedicated room, the UX is seamless; you can just pick it up and start playin…

I had an original Rift (with Touch and three webcams) and a Vive. I ended up giving up on both of them for two primary reasons:

(1) Lack of inside-out tracking. The basestation solution for the Vive was at least slick and clever and not terribly inconvenient, but needing 2-3 webcams connected to your PC for the Rift was crazy.

(2) The cord to the HMD was just too much of a nuisance.

I told myself I wouldn't get into VR again until it was untethered and didn't require external sensors or cameras. Lo and behold, here we are with the Quest only a few years later. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but to me other VR HMDs feel somewhat irrelevant in comparison.

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#16

Post by Loughla »

andybak wrote: post #12
llamathrowaway wrote: post #8

I wonder if people’s perception of 'modern' paintings will change if they view them through VR. Many modern paintings are massive in scale (bigger than my bedroom in some cases) and/or have many thick, voluminous layers of paint. Jackson Pollock is a good example. Those paintings look plain and childish when viewed on a tiny screen that fits in your pocket, as you don’t feel their scale, you don’t sense the depth of…

When people ask me what unique things VR brings over other viewing technologies my answer is quite often "scale". You can get 3D via stereoscopic displays. You can get the realism and wrap-around view from huge monitors or projectors but VR let's you see the true scale of something in a way that no other technology can (aside from "actually being there"). For viewing objects where their scale is a critical aspect, VR…

Animals is what excites me most by this. Many documentaries lack real, human scale when showing animals either living or extinct.

The prospect of seeing just HOW large dinosaurs were is something that makes the 6 year old inside me just giddy with excitement.

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#17

Post by gjs278 »

nilkn wrote: post #15
pault wrote: post #2

On the subject, I just received an oculus quest, and I'm pretty blown away by it. I know that it will never compete with a PC-tethered device on image quality, but the quality is good enough and they have nailed almost every inconvenience that would stop the layperson from using VR regularly. It's lightweight, it's wireless, you don't need a dedicated room, the UX is seamless; you can just pick it up and start playin…

I had an original Rift (with Touch and three webcams) and a Vive. I ended up giving up on both of them for two primary reasons: (1) Lack of inside-out tracking. The basestation solution for the Vive was at least slick and clever and not terribly inconvenient, but needing 2-3 webcams connected to your PC for the Rift was crazy. (2) The cord to the HMD was just too much of a nuisance. I told myself I wouldn't get into…

i’ve done the vive. I have a quest it’s much better

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#18

Post by nilkn »

onemoresoop wrote: post #6
enoreyes wrote: post #4

I am looking forward to the day that we can walk through a computer-generated infinite gallery in virtual reality, looking at paintings and sculptures entirely generated by machine learning algorithms. Humans are going to have to catch up!

I tend to disagree, if it's computer generated it is not art in the general sense. Art is the expression and application of human creative skill and imagination and AI doesn't have any creativity nor imagination, nor does it have any context within the current culture. However, art can exist within this context if humans are involved somehow or have some input, and I don't mean just the coder's input.

The art world has a history of subverting what people think art is. If this viewpoint becomes common, I think we can expect to see entire high-end exhibits of only AI-generated art at some point in the future (if this hasn't already happened).

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#19

Post by b_tterc_p »

andybak wrote: post #12
llamathrowaway wrote: post #8

I wonder if people’s perception of 'modern' paintings will change if they view them through VR. Many modern paintings are massive in scale (bigger than my bedroom in some cases) and/or have many thick, voluminous layers of paint. Jackson Pollock is a good example. Those paintings look plain and childish when viewed on a tiny screen that fits in your pocket, as you don’t feel their scale, you don’t sense the depth of…

When people ask me what unique things VR brings over other viewing technologies my answer is quite often "scale". You can get 3D via stereoscopic displays. You can get the realism and wrap-around view from huge monitors or projectors but VR let's you see the true scale of something in a way that no other technology can (aside from "actually being there"). For viewing objects where their scale is a critical aspect, VR…

I haven’t found any games that exploit this yet. Traditionally it has been very difficult to make games that feature truly large entities that behave actively and not in very broad and uninterested patterns due to things like camera constraints and what not. Shadow of Colossus and it’s siblings come to mind as close examples of this almost working. But VR could make it great.

Re: VR is opening up new ways to experience art

#20

Post by wincy »

pault wrote: post #2

On the subject, I just received an oculus quest, and I'm pretty blown away by it. I know that it will never compete with a PC-tethered device on image quality, but the quality is good enough and they have nailed almost every inconvenience that would stop the layperson from using VR regularly. It's lightweight, it's wireless, you don't need a dedicated room, the UX is seamless; you can just pick it up and start playin…

I was recently at a purported “VRCade” and was expecting to have the same sort of experience you’re describing. Instead I got to play some of the dumbest games with the most terrible graphics I’ve ever experienced.

If that had been my only experience with VR I’d think it was stupid. Having owned a VR headset before I know better, but others might be really turned off by that.

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