EARTH DAY VR ART CHALLENGE 2021
For Earth Day 2021, ROTU invited Artists globally to create Virtual Reality Art surrounding Music.
THE PROMPT:
IN RHYTHM OF THE UNIVERSE: IONIA,
WE USE MUSIC THEORY TO RESTORE OUR EARTH.
WHAT IS YOUR MUSICAL SUPERPOWER?
FEATURING:
ALENA GUDOROVA - CLEMENCE POWNEY - EWAN ROSE - KAYLEIGH SMYTH - DONGSUK LEE - LUCY BOYD-WILSON - LAURIE O’NEILL - TAHMINA KHANAM LUNA - EMILIA GOZZANO - GENE BUBAN - JULIEN KLEBER
At ROTU, we believe that Earth Day should be every day, so please join in by sharing your artwork with us @ROTUvr including the hashtags #EarthDayEveryDay #SaveTheHarpa
"My only musical superpower is to be able to listen to it all day long and to need it to create.
So I decided to mix a Moebius ribbon and a chromatic wheel to express the kind of feelings and places where music can take me to endlessly..."
"Mon unique pouvoir musical est d'être capable d'en écouter à longueur de journée et d'en avoir absolument besoin pour créer.
J'ai donc décidé de combiner un ruban de Möbius et une roue chromatique pour exprimer les différents sentiments que la musique peut me faire ressentir et le genre d'endroits où elle peut m'emporter indéfiniment"
The ROTU VR Earth Day Art challenge gave me the opportunity to reflect upon my relationship and connection with 'nature'’ not only in relation to the celebration of the true beauty of untouched wildlife but also our human nature and how we express ourselves through the gift of music. I truly believe music is magical, and it underpins my practice as a VR Artist as I often look to music for inspiration and feeling.
In this Tilt Brush piece especially, I am identifying my vocals as my musical superpower, as I am often told my music makes people feel relaxed, safe, and sometimes even sleepy. I always love this feedback, and I really wanted to try to materialize this feeling into a living, breathing place that hopefully visualizes this fantastical synchronization between music and nature.
I explore motion: motion inspired by the flows and processes of natural environments.
The movements of grasses and trees, breezes and running water, growth and decay.
And I am always inquiring “What combination of stimulating and absorbing and meditative can be achieved?”
"I am the Willow Tree. My superpower is the song I sing when the wind blows through my leaves in the moonlight. As I sing, the tears I weep flow into the earth, and new life blooms all around me." I have always loved willow trees...they seem so beautiful and magical. When I heard this theme I decided to bring a willow tree to life. It sings it's sad song while watering the ground below it, helping magical flowers grow. ~WillowmoonArt
“My piece is meant to show how music infuses my art and carries me through art block and other struggles in my life. Even in the midst of a creative winter, music still brings life and color to the world in the form of inspiration.”
"In this piece of art, I wanted to combine both the beautiful scenery of Ionia, and my own personal interpretation. I focused on an outdoor scene with elements from the game : the symbols can be seen hidden in luxuriant vegetation. To answer the prompt : "What is my musical superpower", my answer was easy : I am a Harpist! My Harp represents the spirit of the Harpa, pictured as the butterfly gently resting on the Harp. I wanted to represent the vibrance of the elements reacting to the music, with shots of light converging towards the Harp and going up to the butterfly. “Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings.” ― John Muir"
"A huge inspiration for my art piece was the wonderful and magical world of Ionia. I created the scene as an expression of 'The Power of Voice'’ It depicts an elf queen who uses her voice to unleash the power of healing for the earth and all living beings
in the form of a phoenix-like bird that flies to wherever this power is needed."
"Meine große Inspiration für "The Power of Voice" war die wundervolle und magische Welt von Ionia selbst - ich durfte die Demo des Spiels spielen und es hat mich jetzt schon verzaubert. Die Szene die ich kreiert habe ist meine Interpretation für die Kraft der Stimme. Eine Elfenkönigin die ihre Stimme benutzt um die Kraft der Heilung für die Erde und alle Lebewesen entfesselt in Form eines Phoenix-artigen Vogels der dorthin fliegt wo diese Kraft gerade benötigt wird."
I wanted to represent a connection between nature and music, and I imagined that little fairies would collect light gems to balance the world through music. The light gems would form a circle of light that emits sound waves, maintaining the balance of the nature. I imagine this bond to be both strong and fragile: it regulates an important connection, but one wrong musical note could take it down.
Ho voluto rappresentare una connessione fra musica e natura, e ho immaginato piccole fate che collezionano gemme di luce per mantenere l’equilibrio dell’ambiente grazie alla musica. Le gemme luminose formano un cerchio di luce che emette onde sonore le quali mantengono l’equilibrio naturale. Immagino che questo legamesia forte e fragile al tempo stesso: regola una connessione importante ma una sola nota musicale può distruggerlo.
If I had a musical superpower, it would be to be able to communicate to all forms of life. This painting is about the interactions and harmony between the magical creatures and plants of a faraway place in the heart of the forest. Thank you ROTU and I wish everyone in the Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia team all the best.
Winter Sonata: Nature is the subject of my work. And winter is my favorite season. In winter, all living things seem to sleep or do not move. But it feels like it's not stopping, but preparing for another start. The cold air and wind in winter, the sound of snow falling, and the silence. These things feel like music to me. This is the feeling I felt when I went to the winter mountain.
I created Allegra meditating with sound runes as a visualization of sound healing represented in the game Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia. Audio reactive brushes in TiltBrush were used to synchronize with music in real-time and provide a kinetic simulation of the healing sound in motion. The right music can help plants grow, improve memory, reduce stress and depression, and thus, help heal the world in real life and in the game.
