Looking Outwards 08: The Creative Practice of an Individual

The work I chose to look into for this week is from Mike Tucker. Specifically the project he did at Magic Leap. Mike Tucker describes himself as an interactive director, designer & developer. The project was an interactive an immersive space that combined art and music. More specifically, Mike teamed up with Sigur Ros to manifest the DNA of a new sound in a new reality. The website write, “Tónandi, which translates to sound spirit in Icelandic, is an interactive audio-visual exploration of the sounds and spirit of Sigur Rós.” What I admire most about Tucker’s project is that it combines art from three different sensory fields. As art and music can be seen as forms that fill and take up space, using touch to generate and change that space makes this project both complex but also grounded in the everyday. Although it is taking a big step into a world that is heavily based on computer generated data, the way the work is both immersive and grounded in the human experiences of the senses makes the piece feel more real then a lot of the other VR projects I’ve seen and read about. Mike Tucker, seen in his lecture, presented his work very pragmatically. He first begun by explaining the ‘why’ in his project followed by the ‘how’. Making sure every detail of the work was explained including the specifics of the technology. What I think made his presentation effective was the way he reached into the world of possibilities within the listener’s mind. He combined visual “proof” that essentially backed up what he was trying o achieve on the philosophical level. In addition, Tucker used key words such as “new reality” and “tomorrow” which hint at this sense of reachability and accessibility to the everyday person. Almost as if he was saying that dreams do come true. Making his work that much more appealing to the public.

Website link: https://mike-tucker.com/

Project link: https://world.magicleap.com/en-us/details/com.magicleapstudios.tonandi