Summary

AFTERLIFE is a mini online music festival. In collaboration with the renowned European UNSOUND music festival, we designed a vast virtual world and curated 18 artists from across Asia, including visual artists, experimental musicians, and DJs. During the pandemic, our goal was to connect global audiences while fostering new creative expressions and experiences.

Process

Since 2018, my team and I have been exploring the potential of online performances. With the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, this need became more urgent. Many creators began using multiplayer games like Minecraft and Fortnite as platforms for their performances. However, my team at NAXS and I aspired to build an artistically expressive space from scratch, centered around the concept of an “online afterlife.” We aimed to create an online Limbo, a “Temple of Data,” as people gradually transitioned from the physical to the virtual world.

In June 2020, we launched the open beta version of AFTERLIFE, testing the capabilities and limitations of the Unity engine on the WebGL platform. We developed many custom shaders, striving to achieve the best experience with minimal hardware requirements. We also enhanced our existing multiplayer system to support MMO-level connectivity. In October 2020, we expanded the scale of AFTERLIFE through a collaboration with UNSOUND Festival. We designed nine layers of space, each with a unique theme, paired with 18 artists, allowing audiences to explore different worlds during the performance.

From the onset, we envisioned AFTERLIFE as a long-term project, continuously expanding and inviting diverse artists to contribute to its creation. Therefore, I aimed to develop a versatile graphic programming event system. After researching various graphic programming paradigms, we chose Trigger-action programming (TAP). Although AFTERLIFE did not continue to evolve, this system has been applied in many subsequent projects, including the Protoworld social platform.

We curated and hosted 17 artists from AsiaDeveloping shader and multiplayer systemSystem structure of AFTERLIFE

Credit

Production Team

Director: Yi Kuo, Hanyu Feng
Technical Director: Yi Kuo
Visual Director: Hanyu Feng
Artist Director: Meuko! Meuko!
Unity Developer: Yi Kuo, Kuopen Wang
Fullstack Developer: Yi Kuo
3D Design: Hanyu Feng, EG Lio, Yi Kuo
Graphic Design: Hanyu Feng

Artists

Music Performance & DJ Mixes:
ASJ(HK), Leevisa(KR), Wanton Witch(TH), Mars89(JP), Sonia Calico(TW), 33EMYBW(CN), Hyph11E(CN), Gabber Modus Operandi(ID), Alice Hui-Sheng Chang(TW) + Dutch E Germ(US), NONEYE(TW), Scattered Purgatory(TW), Meuko! Meuko!(TW), Software2050(TW), Prairie WWWW(TW), Alex Zhang Hungtai(US/CA), Doggo taxi(TW)

VIDEO Screening : Tianzhuo Chen : TRANCE - Behind The Scenes

Gallery