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Ephémère

Ephémère (1998), is an interactive fully-immersive visual/aural virtual artwork which furthers the work begun in Osmose (1995).

Ephémère is iconography evolved through Davies' long-standing practice as a painter, and, as in Osmose, is grounded in 'nature' as metaphor: archetypal elements of root, rock, and stream etc. recur throughout. In Ephémère however, this iconographic repertoire is extended to include body organs, blood vessels and bones, suggesting a symbolic correspondence between the chthonic presences of the interior body and the subterranean earth.

START: winter spring summer autumn END
Landscape: blooming leafing yellowing falling leave
Earth: germinating fruition decay embers/ashes
Body: body/organs/eggs bones dust
Spatio-Temporal Structure of EPHEMERE

While Osmose consisted of nearly a dozen realms situated around a central clearing, Ephémère is structured vertically into three levels: landscape, earth, and interior body. The body functions as the metaphoric substratum under the fecund earth and the lush bloomings and witherings of the land.

Ephémère is also structured temporally. Even as the immersant roams among all three realms, no realm remains the same. The landscape changes continually, passing through cycles of dawn, day, evening and night, from the pale of winter through spring and summer to the climatic decay of autumn. While the participant may spend an entire session in one realm, it is more likely that they will pass constantly between them, immersed in transformation.

Throughout, the various elements of trees, rocks, seeds, body organs, etc, come into being, linger and pass away. Their emergings and withdrawals depend on the immersant’s vertical position, proximity, slowness of movement, and steadiness/duration of gaze, as well as the passage of time: for example, in the earth, seeds sprout when gazed upon for any extended length of time, rewarding patient observation with germination, inviting entry into the luminous interior space of their bloom.

The only constancy is the ever-changing river: when the immersant surrenders to the pull of its flow, it metamorphosizes from river to underground stream or artery/vein and vice versa, summoning in the corresponding visual/aural elements of each realm. This strategy serves to provide a non-linear means of navigation through the three realms, in addition to that of the immersant’s breath and balance.

Deep within the earth, rocks transform into pulsing body organs, eggs appear, and aging organs give way to bone. After fifteen minutes of immersion, the experience slowly draws to a close, its endings dependent on the participant’s location, as the landscape’s autumnal leaves, the earth’s roots and rocks, the body’s bones, give way to drifting ashes, embers and dust. No journey through Ephémère is the same.

All the transformations and interactions in Ephémère are aural as well as visual. While the visual elements pass through varying phases visibility and non-visibility, light and darkness—and in the case of the landscape, progress from the more literal to the abstract—the sound is also in a state of flux. Localized in three-dimensions and fully interactive as in Osmose, it oscillates between melodic form and mimetic effect in a state somewhere between structure and chaos, adapting moment by moment to the spatio-temporal context of the immersant within the work.

Ephémère was inspired by an actual place on the slope of a mountain in rural Quebec: its roots and rocks, seeds and streams, bloomings and witherings, appear in Davies’ work like apparitions. These days however, fewer songbirds return there to nest, frogs and salamanders have less young, and the maple trees are dying from acid rain from smelters in the American midwest. In some ways, Ephémère is a lament, an elegy, not only for the ephemerality of our own lives, but for the passing of the splendour of the natural world as we have known it.

The user-interface is based on full-body immersion in 360 degree spherical, enveloping space, through use of a head mounted display. In contrast to manually based interface techniques such as joysticks and trackballs, Ephémère incorporates the intuitive processes of breathing and balance as the primary means of navigating within the virtual world. By breathing in, the immersant is able to float upward, by breathing out, to fall, and by subtlety altering the body's centre of balance, to change direction, a method inspired by the scuba diving practice of buoyancy control.

Whereas in conventional VR, the body is often reduced to little more than a probing hand and roving eye, immersion in Ephémère depends on the body's most essential living act, that of breath—not only to navigate, but more importantly—to attain a particular state-of-being within the virtual world. In this state, usually achieved within ten minutes of immersion, most immersants experience a shift of awareness in which the urge for action is replaced by contemplative free-fall. The experience of being spatially enveloped, of floating rather than flying or driving is key to the work. Being supercedes doing. Solitude is a key aspect of the experience, as the artist's goal is to connect the immersant not to others but to the depths of his or her own self.

During public installations of Ephémère, immersion takes place in a private chamber facing a large darkened space where museum visitors can witness the immersive performances as they take place in real time: aurally, as sound is generated by the participant’s behaviour within the work; and visually, as imagery generated from the immersant’s point-of-view is projected in real time onto a large-scale video screen. The shadow-silhouette of the immersant is projected live onto another screen, emphasizing the relationship between bodily presence and the immersive experience.

Videos

Team credits

  • Concept, direction, art direction by Char Davies
  • Computer graphics by Georges Mauro
  • Custom virtual reality software by John Harrison
  • Sonic architecture/programming by Dorota Blaszczak
  • Sound composition/programming by Rick Bidlack
  • Restoration and remastering by Glen Fraser

Technical specifications

Since 2002 Ephémère has been ported onto PC.

(Initial development 1998: SOFTIMAGE®|3D modeling, animation and development software; Silicon Graphics Onyx2 Infinite Reality visualization computer).

Mac computer, sound synthesizers and processors, stereoscopic head-mounted display with 3D localized sound, breath and balance tracking vest, motion capture devices, video projection and shadow-silhouette screen.

Inquiries

For inquiries, and high-resolution images for publication, please contact Tanya Das Neves, Assistant to the Artist and Director of Immersence Inc., at [email protected]

Publications

For further information, see the following articles and publications:

2023

Gibson, Steve
Immersive Environments and Live Visuals
Live Visuals – History, Theory, Practice.
Steve Gibson, Stefan Arizona, Donna Leishman and Atau Tanaka, eds. New York, NY, USA: Routledge (2023), pp. 322-323, illus.

2018

Kaganskiy, Julia
Neue Arten des Sehens und der Wahrnemung
Die ungerahmte Welt: Virtuelle Realität als künstlerishes Medium - Exhibition Catalog.
Basel, Switzerland: Christoph Merian Verlag (2017), pp. 58-64, illus.
Kaganskiy, Julia
New Ways of Seeing and Perceiving
NEURAL. Pimping the Eye, VR Now.
Isssue 59 (2018), pp. 6-9, illus.

2017

Boisclair, Louise
Variations connectives de l'installation interactive
Inter, art actuel n°125 - Connectivités.
No. 125 (2017), pp. 20-23, illus.
Rafferty, Penny
Virtual Reality // Healing Practice: An Interview with Char Davies.
BERLINARTLINK: The Insider's Guide to Contemporary Art and Culture
Jan. 04, 2017

2016

Fraser, Glen
Immersed in Restoration: The Legacy Project
La Fressa d'en Glen: Glen Fraser's Blog
Glen Fraser, ed. (Nov. 11, 2016). illus.
Molly Gottschalk
Virtual Reality Is the Most Powerful Medium of Our Time
Artsy
Molly Gottschalk, ed. (March 16th, 2016), illus.

2012

Nick Bailey interview with Char Davies
Technology at the Service of Art
Creatie
Suzanne van Nierop, ed. Netherlands Vol. 9 (3) (June, 2012), pp. 44-47, illus.
Ramírez González, Margarita
Génesis de una estética de la realidad virtual
Cuidad de México, México: Institutio Nacional de Bellas Artes y Litteratura (2012), pp. 85-88, illus.

2011

Malpas, Jeff ed
The Place of Landscape: Concepts, Contexts, Studies
Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT press (2011), pp. 19-22, 26

2009

Robert Russett
Hyperanimation: Digital Images and Virtual Worlds
Herts, UK: John Libbey Publishing (2009), pp.172-195, illus.

2007

Angerer, Marie-Luise
Von Begehren nach dem Affekt
Zürich-Berlin, Germany: Diaphanes Verlag (2007), pp. 32-34, illus.
McRobert, Laurie
Char Davies’ Immersive Virtual Art and the Essence of Spatiality
Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press (2007), pp. 3-10, illus.
Paterson, Mark
The Senses of Touch
Oxford, UK: Berg (2007), pp. 117-125
Popper, Frank
From Technological to Virtual Art
Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT press (2007), pp. 191-197, illus.

2006

Thwaites, Hal
The Immersive Experience of Osmose and Ephémère: An Audience Study
Engineering Nature: Art and Consiousness in the Post-Biological Era
Roy Ascott, ed. Bristol, UK: Intellect Books (2006), pp. 291 - 297
Wands, Bruce
Art of the Digital Age
New York, NY, US: Thames & Hudson Inc. (2006), pp. 28-30, 104-105, illus.

2005

Bleicher, Steven
Contemporary Color: Theory and Use
Clifton Park, NY, US: Thomsom/Delmar Learning (2005), pp. 157-159, illus.

2004

Davies, Char
Virtual Space
Space: In Science, Art and Society
François Penz, Gregory Radick and Robert Howell, eds. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (2004), pp. 69-104, illus.
Crawford, Ashley
A Natural Dimension
The Age
(January 5, 2004)

2003

Davies, Char
Landscape, Earth, Body, Being, Space, and Time in the Immersive Virtual Environments Osmose and Ephémère
Women, Art, and Technology
Judy Malloy, ed. Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT press (2003), pp. 322-337, illus.
Davies, Char
Rethinking VR: Key Concepts and Concerns
Hybrid Reality: Art, Technology and the Human Factor. Hal Thwaites, ed. Montreal, QC, Canada: International Society on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (2003), pp. 253 - 262, illus.
LEONARDO
Char Davies: Ephémère
Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology
Vol. 36 (4) (2003), Front & Back Cover
Morse, Margaret
The Poetics of Interactivity
Women, Art, and Technology
Judy Malloy, ed. Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT press (2003), pp. 16-33

2002

Gigliotti, Carol
Reverie, Osmose and Ephémère: Dr. Carol Gigliotti interviews Char Davies
Deepwell, Katy, ed. n.paradoxa, international feminist art journal
Vol. 9 (Eco)Logical (2002), pp. 64-73, illus.
Palmer Sarah
Immerse Yourself
The West Australian - Today
Friday, August 9, 2002, illus.
Pesce, Mark
Head Games
Game On
London, UK: Barbican Gallery (May, 2002)
Zelanski, Paul and Mary Pat Fisher
COLOR
London, UK: Laurence King Publishers (August, 2002)

2001

Cutler, Randy Lee
010101
Canadian a|r|t|.
Vol. 18 (3) (Fall 2001), pp. 118-120, illus.
Forde, K.
Electronically motivated - an 010101 online chat
OPEN, The Magazine of SFMOMA
San Francisco, CA, US: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2001), pp. 28-38, illus.

2000

Davies, Char
Landscape, Earth, Body, Being, Space, and Time in the Immersive Virtual Environments Osmose and Ephémère
Emergent Futures: Art, Interactivity and New Media
Angela Molina and Kepa Landa, eds. Valencia, Spain: Institució Alfonse el Magnànim, Diputació de València (2000), pp. 47-58, illus.
Lyall, Marta
Traversing the Wilderness of Body
Shifting Ground: Transformed Views of the American Landscape
Rhonda Lane Howard, ed. Seattle, WA, US: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington (2000), pp. 54-55, illus.

1999

Davies, Char
Ephémère: Landscape, Earth, Body, and Time in Immersive Virtual Space
Reframing Consciousness
Roy Ascott, ed. Exeter, UK and Portland, OR, US: Intellect Books (1999) pp. 196-201, illus.
O'Donoghue, Karl
The Real and the Virtual: Char Davies
Art Bulletin
Vol. 16 (87) (June/July, 1999), pp. 22-24, illus.
Ray, Stephanie
The Collectibility of Nature
Limn - Magazine of International Design
Vol. 1 (4) (1999), pp. 12-13, illus.
Wertheim, Margaret
Out of This World
New Scientist
Vol. 161 (2172) (February 6, 1999), pp. 38-41, illus.

1998

Davies, Char
Changing Space: Virtual Reality as an Arena of Embodied Being
The Virtual Dimension: Architecture, Representation, and Crash Culture
John Beckman, ed. New York, NY, US: Princeton Architectural Press (1998), pp. 144-155, illus.
Brew, Kathy
Digital Portfolio - Char Davies
Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress
Vol. 5 (5) (October/November 1998), p. 79, illus.
Gagnon, Jean
Dionysus and Reverie: Immersion in Char Davies' Environments
Char Davies: Ephémère, exhibition catalog
Ottawa, ON, Canada: National Gallery of Canada (1998)
Goldstein, Jon
Silicon and Acorns
TIME digital
(October 5, 1998), p. 16, illus.
King, Charles
Char Davies and Ephémère
Silicon Graphics Online
(October, 1998)
McDonagh, Patrick
Char Davies' Ephémère
Softimage Online
(1998)
Mirapaul, Matthew
An Intense Dose of Virtual Reality
The New York Times Online
(July 9, 1998)
Tuer, Dot
The Second Nature of Simulation: Mirroring the Organic in the Virtual World of Char Davies' Ephémère
Char Davies: Ephémère, exhibition catalog
Ottawa, ON, US: National Gallery of Canada (1998)