UIUX | INTERACTIVE DESIGNER | TECHNOLOGIST
AFTERLIFE:REBIRTH
Alt: Rebirth of the Ten Courts of Hell
VR Immersive Storytelling (Concept)
Afterlife:Rebirth (2022)
Alt: Rebirth of the Ten Courts of Hell
Singapore Arts Week 2022 Open Call - Proposal Pitch
Jyu x WayeArt x Tusitala Books
The brief from Singapore Arts Week in 2022 was to create an interactive project around the theme of "Play" and to revolve our work around a local author/poet.
With that in mind, I really wanted to work with something traditional and horror. This resulted in a Virtual Reality Immersive Storytelling piece* about the afterlife and rebirth, where one reflects on the journey to a renewed self through a cultural perspective. The narrative of Afterlife:Rebirth is taken from the first half of the local poem “Hungry Ghosts” by Koh Jee Leong, which depicts a 5-year-old child experiencing the different courts of hell at Haw Par Villa- except that "hell" for a 5-year-old is... slightly different.
In this piece, with the idea of a child’s view of Buddhist hell in a surreal and abstract perspective, we play with what is real and what is a social construct. The concept of 2D artefacts in a 3D space plays with our ways of seeing, as items look real from afar but become flat upon closer inspection. when you mess with your own perspective- just like how we are looking at old traditions and perspectives with fresh eyes.
This experience will be driven with Unreal Engine and presented on the Oculus Go.
Concept Art by Waye:
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Unfortunately, the project was not shortlisted for the open call. I wasn't surprised, because we also took a gamble to work with a poet who had a bad history with NAC (who made the decision for shortlist). This was also a project that had to be done from scratch, which further reduced chances due to the cost implications.
Meta took interest in the project, but my fellow artist decided against working with them. Overall, I wasn't disappointed at the outcome, as I saw value in exploring crazy ideas that I couldn't in a corporate sphere. It was a nice change from all the excel sheets I oversaw.