STARGAZER // FULL DOME MOZILLA HUBS EXPERIENCE

Kris Pilcher (US), Cenk Guzelis (AT), Josecarlos Florez (PE), Quadrature (DE) and Mohsen Hazrati (IR), Curated by Santeri Suominen (FI)

ARS ELECTRONICA

Solar Orchard Garden

“Stargazer” is a hybrid deeply participatory installation, which consists of two complementary and connected parts: a globally accessible mysterious virtual reality world in Mozilla Hubs and a spherical projection site in Barcelona. It encourages attendees into spatial exploration and deep engagement, to traverse a border between a virtual and physical world and connect with someone on the other side: Ars Electronica visitors from around the world can meet and interact with local people in Barcelona by visiting the space in Mozilla Hubs and interacting with its elements, and vice versa, Barcelona locals can interact with an international audience by visiting the dome projection site and engaging with its elements. 

Stargazer is an experiment of hybrid presence, an artwork situated between two interconnected sites – a dome projection in Barcelona and the virtual world in Mozilla Hubs.

The virtual world of Stargazer draws its visual inspiration from a pre-scientific understanding of the cosmos, materialised as Platonic solids. It encourages visitors to engage playfully, create and share their own mini narratives as pictures and question the concepts of communication, distance, time and presence. It’s like sending a virtual message in a bottle into space: The pictures alter the dome projection site in Barcelona, where visitors observe changes to their visual environment in real time. Who sees these messages, what is their impact, and how will they respond?