Rebirth Reality — Interactive Art Exhibition
Guest Post by Kejaun Tate @RebirthAttire
College Station has been a home of mine for the last 4 years while undergoing the completion of my undergrad degree. Over the course of my time being here, I have been presented multiple opportunities to grow, from friends and new networks formed, to exposure to different lifestyle experiences. The city itself has fostered a lot of my growth as an individual, so I took it upon myself over the last year to develop a project to give back to the city. My only aim for this project was to provide college station the most progressive, creative art exhibition to date through mediums of mixed media.
What was born from this stemming thought became Rebirth Reality, a collaboration exhibit between Rebirth and GranielloCa. exploring the integration of augmented and virtual technologies within the environment of art. The seed was planted from a cohort of mine, Micheal Hawkins, who is on track to receive his Masters of Education in Educational Technologies. One day he shared with me the wonders of emerging technology and difference they can poise in a learning setting, of the emerging technologies showed to me, Metaverse was a platform that presented me the opportunity to turn my dream into a digital reality. Being the creative mind I am, I instantly knew a route we could go to deliver an astounding experience for the community and my friend, A.M. Biggs, and I ventured out to find a home for this exhibition essentially leading us to DEGALLERY where we were given the chance to execute the said vision.
I feel one of the most unique aspects to what we put together was the environment we created. The merging of technology and art appealed to a diverse population in the city as people of all races, ages, and interest came together to experience something new together. Augmented reality is very much embedded in today’s society through social media apps like Snapchat, etc. However in the art setting, it is a foreign concept, and that was our secret weapon. We designed 4 interactive experiences through the Metaverse software that included featured character scenes, brand dialogue, 360 video scenes, photo portal scenes, and more. This interactive station then in conjunction with the projected art complimented the design of the exhibition allows patrons to comfortably be curious in their exploration. My partner in business, Channen Henderson, then challenged me to expand the idea of a interactive exhibition through the use of a virtual reality headset. We were able to cast some of the interactive stations' experiences to the VR headset, thus creating an immersive station that allowed the patrons of the exhibit to take the next step forward and emerge into the art experience we designed, essentially bringing the idea of integration full circle.
The theme of Rebirth and resurrection presented through the exhibition served to deliver our interpretation of new beginnings through a unique experience that combined modern art with the potential future of digital museums via the medium of AR/VR technology. Overall the experience was 1 of a kind, and through our sheer creativity, we were able to deliver a project that opened the city of college station to the wonders of emerging technology, whilst exploring a novel concept as a collegiate student. I am currently in the works of looking for ways to scale the project, this 1st trial has only gotten my mind racing with the potential of the idea.
I hope you enjoyed reading about the wonders of your technology and how it is empowering growth in a variety of educational settings.
