Unfold The Universe

A VR Experience and Conceptual Art Installation

Ashley Zelinskie - Visuals

Raquel Acevedo Klein - Music Composition / Visuals

Asher Kurtz - Music Composition / Audio Engineering

Unfold the Universe integrates 3D audio and VR to avail humans of an instrument that provides us with an unparalleled lens into our past: the James Webb Space Telescope. The VR space consists of a double helix structure, inspired by a JWST image capture of a spiral galaxy. While the architecture of the space reflects how JWST is able to provide us with hi-def images of our universe and of our origins, its double helix structure mirrors the structure of our own DNA, a hi-def map of our genetic code. Visitors are invited to move up and down a set of stairs for each helix. Embedded in each stair are platforms where visitors can interact with spatialized pieces of music. Each spatialized piece applies scientific concepts and data processes from JWST to processing sound data and constructing a musical composition. Much in the way that JWST serves as an instrument to process our cosmic history, each musical work serves as an instrument to process scientific concepts and illuminate our awareness of who we are and how we came to be.

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Currently the VR space is available in early stages on Mozilla Hubs but is in the middle of a transition over to Mona, and Unreal where things will continue to be fleshed out.

A glimpse into the project will be showing at the Texas Eclipse Festival in collaboration with Microdose VR in April. The music Raquel and I composed will be featured in this presentation and many more exiting things are coming later this year. 

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