“The Eye and I Vol. 1” is a VR experience that illuminates the surveillance crisis with music from legendary electronic musician, Jean-Michel Jarre and visuals from award-winning VR director and artist, Hsin-Chien Huang. The story comes from the French word "surveillance", which in English originally referred to “eyes in the sky”, or a pair of eyes above us watching everything that happens below. The one-hour long experience centers on the concept of “panopticon,” introduced by English philosopher and social theorist, Jeremy Bentham, in the 18th Century. While experiencing, viewers can “walk” into 18 different rooms/ cells to feel the surveillance hidden in both real and virtual world, and to reflect on what surveillance really is.
For the exhibition booth design, the artist is going to stick to his belief, “storyliving,” and put it into practice. The patterns in the work will be the wallpapers of the booths in order to recreate the scenes in “The Eye and I Vol. 1.” By doing so, viewers can have a better immersive experience when watching “The Eye and I Vol. 1”. They can deeply feel the atmosphere of "surveillance" and "prison" from the work.
South by Southwest (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas, USA, is a huge celebration of music, tech, gaming, media, movies, innovators, and influencers, with hundreds of events going on for nine days. Film, interactive and music are the biggest draws. SXSW provides an opportunity for global professionals at every level to participate, network, and advance their careers.
The SXSW Film & TV Festival includes, Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, and XR Experience Spotlight, etc. SXSW announced select titles from XR Experience and other categories for the 30th edition of the SXSW Film & TV Festival on Jan 11. “The Eye and I Vol. 1” is honored to be part of the lineup. It’s expected that the immersive exhibition design is going to invite viewers to explore more in the work, and the artist would have greater opportunities to interact and communicate with artists and professionals from all corners of the world at SXSW, continuing to expand the influence of the new media art.

SXSW Link: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2023/films/2078956

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