YI Kuo

Summary

Ghost Island is an Audio-Visual performance and VR creation project, a collaboration between the NAXS team and experimental music producers. We explored the potential of 3D scanning and game engines in live performances, presenting Taiwan as an island interwoven with technology and polytheism, reflecting its continually shifting identity. This project has been performed and exhibited in over twenty countries, offering various experiential mediums including performance, VR, and web versions.

Process

Audio-Visual, as an art and performance form, has a history of several decades. With the development and popularization of game engines, my colleagues and I believed that the real-time interaction and 3D rendering capabilities of game engines could create immersive experiences in live music performances, different from traditional Audio-Visual shows.

At the start of the project, we first collected a large amount of Taiwanese temples and streets using 3D scanning, then constructed a virtual world in the game engine that blends science fiction with reality. Subsequently, I developed related performance controls, music signal analysis, and feedback systems. During performances, I would navigate the scene in first-person view like in a game, or control the camera and various effects like a live movie.3D Scanning

From 2018 to 2020, Ghost Island was performed in over 20 countries across Europe and Asia, including the opening performance of the Transmediale art festival (2020, Berlin, DE), Primavera Sound, and others. Additionally, Ghost Island produced a VR installation version exhibited at the Taiwan Biennial (TW), Sonar HK (HK), and LEV Festival (Madrid, ES).

2020, VR installation version, Taiwan Biennale