This artwork is the video generated by Heterotopia, a multiplayer, participatory virtual reality experience that immerses your body in a field of point clouds. The user is equipped with a VR headset and explores within a designated physical area where viewers can enter and create interactions within the VR space. A Kinect is placed above the play area and records people, elements and the environment. Finally, a video projector projects the virtual space into the real world on a screen visible to the audience.
The interactions are made up of several layers: the Kinect point cloud space is synchronized with the VR space, the user sees their body in a first-person view, and their brain creates the illusion of reality. Body contact between the user, the viewers and the environment reinforces the illusion of tangibility. Pre-recorded clouds of dots tell a story, arouse curiosity and spread doubt between what is real or imaginary.
The device is inspired by the concept of heterotopia described by the philosopher Michel Foucault. In general, a heterotopia is a physical representation or approximation of a utopia, or a parallel space. It is a layering of realities combined to experience new sensations, to create new connections between visual perception and tangible feelings.