Inspired by the term "Schizophrenia", SCHiZO is an artificial reality installation which devised to place the audience in a new environment away from reality to evoke the feeling of fear and anxiety which is similar to how schizophrenic patients suffer from their anxieties. Coincidentally, high levels of anxiety can develop schizophrenia. The lower case ‘i’ refers to us human whereas the rest of the capitalized letters represent our thoughts and emotions. Although emotions are invisible, we beings are defenseless against strong emotions and they get the better of us.
The purpose of this project is to study the human behavior when encountering such emotions and how they visualize the emotions which are unseen. The objective of this project is to induce anxiety and fear throughout sound and environment. A blank canvas will be ready for the audiences to express their emotions they are currently experiencing. The audience is given a set of headphones to wear and a flashlight as a guide and help the audience complete their task listen to the sound of eerie atmosphere,and some sound effect of everyday objects in a dim, claustrophobic room,at the same time have to search for paint brushes in a completely dark room to proceed the simulation.
The Installation
The main frame of the environment is a narrow dark walkway which is illuminated by a single dim light at the end. Ordinary objects and antique pictures will be attached to the walls. The end of the walkway, where it is illuminated, a blank canvas will be placed on the easel. Three types of phobias can be triggered through this simulation, which are Nyctophobia, Scopophobia, and Claustrophobia.
The internal views of the installation
Nyctophobia
When the dim environment incorporates with the Holophonic sound effects, it can trigger audiences’ awareness of what would, or could, happen when in an unknown narrow walkway.
When the dim environment incorporates with the Holophonic sound effects, it can trigger audiences’ awareness of what would, or could, happen when in an unknown narrow walkway.
Scopophobia
The idea of putting antique photographs and mannequin to trigger audiences’ social anxiety, It also induces Scopophobia, which is the fear of being watched.
Claustrophobia
Placing large objects such as drawers and boxes in order to stimulate audiences’ fear of being enclosed in a small walkway or room and having no escape until the end of the simulation.
Placing large objects such as drawers and boxes in order to stimulate audiences’ fear of being enclosed in a small walkway or room and having no escape until the end of the simulation.
Holophonic Audio Effect
Holophonic sound is a sound effect that uses stereo effect and played in two channels , substantially one channel for each ear. It can stimulate the brain to reproduce a realistic and three-dimensional sound within the audience. Holophonic can induce emotions by increasing the acoustic intensity and switching tracks of the audio to let the audience perceived that something is approaching them.
Holophonic sound is a sound effect that uses stereo effect and played in two channels , substantially one channel for each ear. It can stimulate the brain to reproduce a realistic and three-dimensional sound within the audience. Holophonic can induce emotions by increasing the acoustic intensity and switching tracks of the audio to let the audience perceived that something is approaching them.
Sound Effects
Ordinary sound effects play an important role in the audio simulation. Most of the selected sound effects are recognizable to a general audience but heard in an unfamiliar environment. For example, the sound of a child giggling , door squeaking and breaking glass in a completely dark room. Most of the sound effects are constantly exposed to a person in everyday life, but when the environment is changed, the interpretation of the sound could be different.
From Left : Vanessa Yeoh, Jeremy Joseph Pinto , Right: Cheng Leong Wai, Foo Yi Chyuan.
Thank You!
