{"id":22746,"date":"2024-09-22T14:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T19:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/?p=22746"},"modified":"2024-09-23T09:03:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T14:03:21","slug":"ocean-of-memories-soundwalk-collaboration-with-chromic-duo-brings-augmented-reality-experience-to-aggie-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/09\/22\/ocean-of-memories-soundwalk-collaboration-with-chromic-duo-brings-augmented-reality-experience-to-aggie-park\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ocean Of Memories’ Soundwalk Collaboration With Chromic Duo Brings Augmented Reality Experience To Aggie Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Augmented reality, soundscapes and storytelling will come together in an event titled \u201cOcean of Memories,\u201d Oct. 1 at 5 p.m. in the Swaim Amphitheater in Aggie Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The soundwalk was created by artists in residence Dorothy Chan and Lucy Yao \u2014 known as Chromic Duo<\/a> \u2014 in collaboration with students and faculty in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Participants will be audibly guided via a smartphone app through Aggie Park, visiting stations that encompass stories about bodies of water through visuals, narration and sounds. Headphones are encouraged for an immersive, narrative experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guests will experience augmented reality as objects orbit around their screens through the app created by Dr. Edgar Rojas-Mu\u00f1oz<\/a> and students in the Visualization<\/a> program and the College of Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan and Yao worked with students in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts from fall 2023 to spring 2024. In October, they came as guest artists to perform a concert at Rudder Forum<\/a> that blended classical music, traditional and toy piano, synthesizer and recorded voice samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For \u201cOcean of Memories,\u201d the artists worked with students in seven classes in the Visualization; Performance and Visual Studies<\/a>; and Music Performance<\/a> programs to create performance concepts and music compositions, as well as developing the augmented reality elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheir interest in combining performance and technology is really person-focused, and human-focused in an exciting way,\u201d said Dr. James R. Ball III<\/a>, associate dean for industry and community engagement and associate professor of Performance Studies. \u201cThey are keen to use the tools that we have available to tell really important human stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chromic Duo collaborated with the college to focus the story on one of the United Nation\u2019s 17 Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>. Of the 17 goals, \u201cLife Below Water<\/a>\u201d generated the most responses from students as they created thesis statements, performances and artwork inspired by the prompt. Chan and Yao curated these elements for the final piece. Yao said they enjoyed making a multidisciplinary project with students who were open to \u201cexpanding the traditional definition of being an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just music or painting by itself, but how all of these different mediums \u2014 writing a script for a story, putting together scenes with visual artists, working with people who are in computer science and engineering \u2014 can all collaborate to make a powerful story for people to experience,\u201d Yao said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s where immersive experiences with augmented reality can be really fun to create.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan and Yao gathered research from Texas A&M\u2019s Sea Grant<\/a> and Texas A&M\u2019s Office of Sustainability and Campus Enrichment<\/a> to work with students in discovering issues that involve ocean life. Chan said they asked students to think about things they connect to in their community and things they are passionate about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe hope that students can keep doing the work beyond this project to create work that will spark change. It\u2019s just the beginning,\u201d Chan said. \u201cThey exhibited so much thought in the process, and generated such great material. There is really a lot of potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n