VR Imaginary Friend Archive
Concept
This is an imaginary friend archive in VR. The VR work allows users to explore the imaginary friends of other people (based on real ones from the lives of others) and create their own imaginary friend (based on a real one from their life) in VR.
The idea of imaginary friendship is analysed expansively in this work and reaches beyond the idea of them simply belonging to childhood or states of psychosis. The kinds of imaginary friends explored include social media relationships, gods, grindr matches, fan relationships with rockstars and more. This is a collective inner-social subworld.
Audience
Audiences can use the VR headset to explore imaginary friends of others.
Space
Minimum of two VR devices. Extra VR headsets can be ordered if the expected audience size and space is large enough.
Isolated area for 4 metre radius per VR device. An attendant needs to show audiences how to use headsets and monitor the VR headsets.
Attendants
Attendant necessary to help people with headsets.
Installation
Chuan Lim and I will need to setup VR systems. A VR tech will be on call through the show incase of any failure to the systems during operation.
Benefits
- Challenges contemporary understandings of imaginary relationships especially with prevalence to online relationships.
- Invites audience to consider and recreate some imaginary relationships from their life.
Challenges
- Audience privacy in sharing these imaginary relationships. Contracts must be drawn to protect audiences.
- Ethical considerations of audience sharing such relationships, consultation with psychologist concerning this work and clear measures taken with ethical considerations for audiences.
Covid Accommodations
This work could potentially be downloaded on personal home VR headsets or online versions of the VR work could be shown on a browser. However, it is not ideal to have a browser version of a VR work and limiting to people with home VR systems reduces the audience substantially.