Where the Sun Sets Blue
Where the Sun Sets Blue
An immersive virtual companion to a Mars-themed gallery exhibition
Artist Felicitas Rohden examines the creative interplay between art and science, specifically through close collaborations with scientists and researchers. The sculpture exhibition “Where the Sun Sets Blue” is a result of a series of email correspondences between the artist and professor Sukjin Han in 2018, when he was commander of NASA’s Hi-SEAS Mission VI, an experimental Mars simulation mission located on the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii.
The purpose of the simulation is to examine what physical and psychological challenges a crew faces in the extreme isolation. Rohden’s inquiries unearthed many sensory and emotional experiences amongst the crew, such as loneliness, distance and the unfamiliar. At the gallery exhibit at Kunst & Denker Contemporary in Düsseldorf, the visitor is able to start understanding the red planet beyond the photographs transmitted from rover trips and invited to seek answers to the question, “How do we, as humans, live in a reality we know is not actually real?”
ALTR was commissioned to create an interactive website that would serve as a digital supplement to the in-person exhibition, a COVID-era directive meant to expand access to gallery art. Our team was tasked with reinterpreting the exhibit as an expressive translation of the artist’s goals rather than simply render the sculptures in digital form. The in-person experience conveys the confinement, seclusion and disorientation that Han and crew experienced in the simulation. How do we recreate that for a screen experience?
Screenshots from wherethesunsetsblue.com showing artist edition
Our solution was to develop a strong storytelling narrative for the website alongside the artist. The exhibit is centered around a series of six book objects, each written and designed from the perspective of the five senses: taste, smell, hearing, touch, sight and synesthesia. We used storyboards based off these sensory experiences to build an architecture and navigation scheme for how the visitor would move through the digital “Mars” space.
Concept sketches
Early storyboards
In close collaboration with our web developer, we utilized 3D graphics and animation using Cinema 4D and WebGL to create a series of simulated landscape environments. We commissioned original music and score to be used throughout the site for a fully immersive experience.
Early 3D and motion tests
3D model development
Early AR study
The exhibit debuted from May - August 2021 with the website as part of the visitor experience. ALTR provided the gallery with promotional content pulled from the website and the site was featured in the exhibit catalog. Everyone can freely access the digital exhibit at wherethesunsetsblue.com.
Credits:
Concept & Creative Direction: Felicitas Rohden
Development & UX Design: Dain Blodorn-Kim
Music & Score: Luke Calzonetti & EC Band
Gallery visitor using website
Promotional video on gallery’s Instagram
Exhibition catalog
