Oyat
About
Oyat is a XR immersive experience that weaves together ecology, natural disasters, ink painting, and the Taoist cosmological view. The work is inspired by the 2022 wildfire that broke out in the Dune of Pilat, the largest dune in Europe. The title Oyat in French refers to the European marram grass that grows on the dune. The plant plays a key role in stabilising the dunes, but intriguingly, once the dunes have become stable, the plant gradually disappears. Oyat interlaces virtual interaction technologies with the mental and physical experience of ink painting. In the work, the viewer’s bodily movements become metaphors for brush and ink—painting, listening to, and creating nature within a virtual space—as a way to reflect on ecology and catastrophe. Upon entering the tree, viewers listen to sounds transformed by and composed using speaker connections attached to the withered wood, and paint on its surface using hand tracking to reveal breathing rhythms and burning flames, flowing like ink. Through mixed reality, viewers are led into a space where the boundary between virtual and real dissolves, bringing them closer to the reality of nature itself. Towards the end of the experience, viewers encounter a poetic space composed of marram grass, maritime pines, and shifting dunes. The space evokes the rebirth of the Dune of Pilat scorched by wildfire, with its landscape rearranging based on the viewer’s bodily movements. The viewer is hereby assigned the role of a creator : with raised arms, planting new pines in the sand; led to enter a secluded space of contemplation as they closely observe the marram grass, surrounded by shimmering rock. Creative Team Director | Tuan Mu Artists | Tuan Mu, Rodolphe Macabéo XR Software Developers | Lin Hung, Huang Chien-Jung Composer and Sound Creator | Rodolphe Macabéo 3D Scanning | Rodolphe Macabéo Typographer | Lucas Macabéo Special Thanks | Dana Kim Supported by the National Culture and Arts Foundation
