Moving Image

VR, HD video, sound, 3D models, WebXR code, web browser, projector 

An interactive WebXR experience developed using A-Frame libraries, accessible via the web or using VR headsets. The work is an immersive exploration into the layered nature of subjective inner life through the motif of the four-faced Buddha Brahma inspired by traditional Thai-culture signifying the four emotions of sorrow, anger, joy and serenity. Viewers are invited to interact with the piece in real time using a web interface in an intimate physical viewing setting where the dynamically rendered audiovisual collage is projected.

Credits:

Joseph Sardin, bigsoundbank.com

"Buddha - Four Faces" (https://skfb.ly/o6UUY) by T.Koeniger is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

An experimental XR moving image bricolage inspired by Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera seeking to explore hallucinatory new media imaginaries of post cinematic art that are in conversation with modern theories of hierarchical consciousness from cognitive psychology. Interactive, web based WebXR audiovisual experience developed using A-Frame and Three js libraries and best viewed on Meta Quest 3 VR headset. Features a mix of SD and footage, WebXR based HTML interface, and experimental musical soundtrack by cello artist Sirjani B. 

Prototype for a larger XR-based project currently under development. VR features include open source animated 3D models 

An experimental mixed reality bricolage prototype of a larger XR-based project currently under development as part of my MFA thesis at University of California Santa Barbara. Designed and rendered as a fully web based interactive experience using native WebXR features as well as A-Frame library elements, also optimized for viewing through Meta Quest 3 VR headset. Features moving image footage of Bharatanatyam performance and South Indian drum soundtrack by Minnesota-based artist Arjun Acharya. VR features include open source and AI generated animated 3D models in addition to 360° skybox backgrounds from Space Spheremaps.

HD/4K/SD video loops, soundtrack, foam boards, 3D printed models, spoken word, additional multimedia (text, audio and video), smartphone or tablet.

A multichannel installation comprising spatially configured juxtapositions of looped moving image sequences, experimental soundtrack featuring spoken word and classical Indian sitar recital by UCSB Music of India Ensemble, and an HTML based web interface accessed real-time on personal devices via QR code. 

The work is an exploration of the modern cognitive psychology framework of waking consciousness as a fragmentary and hierarchically organized synthesis of various concurrently operating streams of consciousness. The viewer is invited to piece together their own "narrative" while mediating a highly dynamic environment of constantly changing audio, visual and textual elements. In other words, they assume the role of the film editor.   

HD/4K/SD video loops, soundtrack, spoken word, tablet, transcluscent fabric, slanted ceiling.

A site specific video montage comprising spatially configured juxtapositions of looped moving image sequences projected on multiple surfaces of varying textures within the viewing gallery that allows for multiple layered viewing configurations. 

The work attempts to construct a nonrepresentational visual idiom that challenges notions of temporality by combining footage shot using varying frame rates that are not synchronized or sequenced on a timeline as one would expect in traditional cinematic narratives.

AI generated 4K/downscaled HD video, AI-enhanced soundtrack, projector, HTML interface

A fully computationally generated short compilation film investigating provocative ideas such as "operational image" and "interpolations" from critical AI scholar and media theorist Antonio Somaini's work on AI video—a reworking of classical Eisensteinian film montage techniques through computational strategies of manipulations performed at the level of the multidimensional vector space (or latent space) of neural network-based text-to-video engines. Working entirely with text prompts and native UI-based optimizations, the film is a fantasy docufiction on the trail of the reclusive Naga sect of mendicant-ascetics living in the dense forests of Northern India, simulating scenes of traditional cinematographic visual grammar, spatio-temporal compression of cinematic space, and high fidelity naturalistic imagery. A postcinema experiment in the possibilities of AI choreography and narrative filmmaking, the work seeks to understand how "operational moving images" synthesized by trained computational models compare to imagery from traditional, indexical lens-based cinematic production: In what ways are they similar? Are there crucial differencesr? Can current AI video technology lead to novel, culturally contextualized and thematically coherent forms of transmodern moving images in the future? Produced entirely using commercial text-to-video AI generation tools including Runway, Kling AI, and Stable Video.

HD/4K/SD video loops, soundtrack, 3D printed models, HTML interface, personal device (tablet), monitor, projector

A multichannel spatially juxtaposed video compilation developed as a combination of site specific installation and digital gallery interface. The viewer interacts with multiple visual elements using an HTML interface on their personal device to co-author a dynamically generated visual montage that is projected on site in real-time.

The project was conceptualized as a hybrid digital cinema experiment that reimagines conventional cinematic montage using techniques like spatial juxtposition and modern new media ideas such as database-driven, algorithmic editing.

HD 1080p, Color, Sound. Spoken word and adapted prose in Malayalam. Digital soundscape designed using open source libraries.

HD video. Devised performance. Spoken word in English and Malayalam. Digitally mixed sounds and original score.

HD video, 1080p. Live location and digitally mixed sound. 

16mm color negative, HD video transfer. Original English translation of Bengali poetry. Spoken word in Bengali and Malayalam. Digitally mixed sounds and original score.

16mm color reversal, HD video transfer. Spliced and edited on flatbed. Original score composed and mixed digitally. 

Various durations.

SD 480p video, Color, Sound. 

Anthology series featuring artisans, artists, musicians from India