Blazo Kovacevic

Argumentative reality

6 September 2019 - 28 September 2019

Reception:  Friday, September 6th, 6-9pm

About the exhibition

This mixed reality (MR) project will allow user(s) to have a drone-like first-person view of a re-enactment in which a van carrying 54 illegal immigrants travels and crashes on a highway. Using an iPad’s AR engine, a regular table surface will be transformed into an interactive scene whereby the viewer can freely enter the scene in real time. Observing the re-enactment on an iPad screen, the participant can approach the scene from different angles by moving around the table and zooming in and out.

The Argumentative Reality is envisioned as new media re-enactment based on media reports of a particular vehicular accident that happened near town of Leskovac in Serbia on February 24, 2015. On that early morning a cargo van was carrying 54 illegal immigrants originating from Algeria, Bangladesh, Burma, Laos, Kashmir, Nigeria and Syria. Utilizing the new iPad’s augmented reality (AR kit) engine, I will offer a drone-like first-person view of the re-enactment, showing the last several minutes of a van carrying 54 illegal immigrants traveling and crashing on the highway. A regular table surface will be transformed into interactive stage, invisible to the naked eye, depicting the van’s catastrophic crash. Looking through the screen of the iPad, the viewer will be able to go around the table and observe the scene from all possible angles and zoom in and out in the real time. Other appropriate enhancements such as X-Ray views showing the inside of the van will be also be available. Please see this simulation for a similar environment: https://vimeo.com/240728132 The illusion of the moving van will be achieved by using a treadmill: a constantly changing landscape around the moving van (positioned in the middle of the scene when moving) scrolls in the opposite direction to that of the van. The exact location of the crash will be recreated digitally at the end of the doomed journey when the crash takes place. Special effects borrowed from the game and entertainment industries will make the crash itself vividly disturbing and convincing by depicting the van flying through the air, its impact and associated effects – bent metal, smoke, dust, glass… This visual spectacle is augmented with appropriate special sound effects, thus reinforcing the immersive experience.

This project is awarded by the Harpur College Subvention Award (Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY).

Experience the work here

Opening Night