The immersive environment as a driver for environmental change; addressing the Out of Sight, Out of Mind impacts of the Anthropocene on the Mar Menor, Spain

Abstract

Out of Sight, Out of Mind is a unique interactive 360° video experience of the Mar Menor that manifests the Anthropocene effects on the landscape as augmented, surreal and metaphysical interpretations of the artist’s experiences, during their residency and available secondary scientific data of the Mar Menor ecosystem. Through environmental, social, economic and cultural observations and encounters the team developed an immersive 360° environment that incorporates video and audio recordings with augmented, imaginary and predicted realities transformed from scientific data in obscure and profound guises. This 360° telematic installation incorporating live audience interaction within the original 360° video experience was exhibited at the Centro Cultural Puertas de Castilla in Murcia in May 2019. This collaborative project was developed following a ten-day residency on the Mar Menor, a 170 km² saltwater lagoon on the south-east coast of Spain in September 2018, where the majority of the primary research took place by gathering 360° video material from observations, experiences and interviews. The project has been developed by a team of three UK artists, each bringing specialist experience and knowledge of 360° video to undertake the research and create a unique understanding and manifestation of the changing ecosystem of the Mar Menor. This collaborative project includes and combines Paul Sermon’s co-located telematic experiences in 360° live video environments, Charlotte Gould’s immersive 360° animated augmented reality and Jeremiah Ambrose’s gaze-controlled navigation through 360° video narratives. This practice-based team of artists undertook this research using a range of video and gaming software and advanced hardware devices, including Insta360 Pro 8K video cameras and Oculus Rift head-mounted-displays in conjunction with live video switchers. This has produced a range of ultra HD 360° outputs involving stereo 8K and real-time 4K environments with augmented live 360° video and animation sequences through live chroma-keying effects.