How do we connect real-life places with those that are digitally produced?
The connection itself is the place or the essence of the place we are trying to transmit. Even if we only take a certain part of it to represent the main idea, it is there. We cannot create this new dimension without heavily basing it on a real-life place. So what exactly makes it real now? One can say that the added meaning given by the creators (us) of this new dimension gives the user a new perspective of looking through the eyes of another person and being able to visually see the representation of someone else’s mind, transmitted and transplanted onto the new dimension of the non-existent new plane of the place it was based on.
So what is the purpose of this exhibition?
For the user to explore new ways of seeing the world through the digital tools we have provided. Not only are we transforming the world we live in by scanning the new steps and digitally creating its doppelgänger, but we have also created a new, different dimension of it. We are combining this real place and these modifications of digitally altered places to help the user explore all the possibilities that exist in this dimension.
How can the spectator create a significant connection with our exhibition if the place we are showing is not real?
Well, that’s where some people might differ, as it is a real place, and it’s characteristically a place that it’s known in Edinburgh, full of stories, journeys, messages, and different people passing by every single day. It’s a bridge/path/staircase from one part of the city to the other, it connects us all together., each user will have a different meaning/idea of this place.
At what point does this new dimension become a fantasy, an unattainable dream from its creators?
The truth is, no matter what we might think, once we have created these beautiful, transformed, and carefully curated non-places based on the new steps, they become a reality, even if the reality only exists digitally. Once the user experiences the sensations that we have designed them to feel, it becomes alive. It will never cease to exist as it now lives within the minds and personal experiences of each of the users. We might not fully know what perspective each user has embedded in their mind, but that’s the beauty of this: each individual will create their own personal version of this sensory experience.
Emotions are what make a space a place (Eleni, 2023)
Daniela
