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Plastic Ocean

Plastic Ocean is a game which represents how both conscious and unconscious actions and habits of human beings lead to ocean pollution.

Tiger Tian, Luize Rieksta, Nhi Pham Le Yen

https://vimeo.com/419260901

Description

“Plastic Ocean” is a game which tells a story about ocean plastic pollution and how humans contribute to it. Although originally “Plastic Ocean” was meant as a VR experience, alterations had to be made because of the current situation. There are two scenes in the game. In the first scene, the user finds themselves in a common multi story building living room. There are plastic containers scattered around the room and the player can interact with these plastic containers around – pick them up and drop them. The player then finds a television and clicking it triggers a video to play. After watching a short clip about ocean pollution, the user teleports to an underwater world. At first it is pristine and clean and many sea creatures are swimming around. The user follows a guided path by seaweeds and overtime notice plastic containers from the first scene appearing around them in the ocean. Eventually all sea creatures disappear and plastic takes over the ocean. After making a loop around the ocean it is possible to teleport back to the first scene in the living room to reflect back on the actions taken in the first scene.

IM Abu Dhabi
IM-UH.3311
Alternate Realities
VR\\\\\\\\AR
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Deliberate Negligence

This project explores the strategic positioning of suicide barriers in the NYUAD campus.

Luize Rieksta, Maria Calderon, Will Mlekush

https://vimeo.com/419241270

Description

For this piece, we drew inspiration from Alex Villar’s “Temporary Occupations”, which shows how the infrastructure and architecture of a space enforce movement and determine spatial codes. We decided to adapt Villar’s concept to our campus and its infrastructure, more specifically – the suicide barriers that NYUAD implemented after the transition to the Saadiyat campus. This adaptation focuses Villar’s concept on the social issue of suicide. Positioning ourselves in the vulnerable spaces between these barriers, we interrogate such responsive spatial interventions, asking questions of purpose, effectiveness, and agency. 

Why place suicide barriers in some areas and not others? There are notable gaps near the Torch Club and around various sets of stairs on campus. There are also gaps on the high walls behind the Campus Center, an area of low pedestrian traffic. Surveillance cameras were also placed around most of the non-barred areas. What benefit comes from these cameras’ placement? How do these barriers contribute to dealing with suicide? What constitutes an effective intervention? How does the presence of these barriers affect the behaviors of residents and visitors?

IM Abu Dhabi
IM-UH.1013
Understanding Interactive Media – Critical Questions & Theories
Performance,Art
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Climate Glitch

“Climate Glitch” is a photography series representing the climate change in three different locations.

Jana Pocuchova, Luize Rieksta, Amy Kang

https://vimeo.com/418923239

Description

“Climate Glitch” displays three series of glitched photos, in which each series depicts different natural environments—in Latvia, Slovakia, and South Korea—that are being destroyed by human society.

Each photo for the different locations is glitched twice using a sound software Audacity. The first glitch is done through an effect called “delay” and the second through “reverse”. “Delay” refers to how people delay taking action to preserve the environment and “reverse” signifies people’s attempt to reverse back the harm they have done to it. The first glitch of “delay” inevitably damages/distorts the environment, and the second glitch, or the attempt to “reverse” it, makes it worse. With this depiction of the glitched photos, we hope to alarm the audience about the destruction that humans bring to nature, often regardless of whether it is intended to harm or help the environment, if done perfunctorily.

We represented climate change-related topics from our home environments: deforestation in Slovakia, temperature rise in Latvia and pollution from tourism in Korea. However, our glitch algorithm is not just applicable to one image. The fact it can be repeated on any image is an extension of the algorithm itself, which connects to the point that climate change is a topic concerning everyone.

IM Abu Dhabi
IM-UH.1013
Understanding Interactive Media – Critical Questions & Theories
Art