Terraforms
What if the survival of humanity depended on leaving Earth and terraforming new planets? Terraforms explores what that process might look like, and questions how immersive art can open up collective reflection on these futures before they become reality.
Concept
Terraforms was my major MA (Immersive Arts) project at the University of Bristol, created in close collaboration with Will Quash. We developed the work together from the ground up, sharing responsibility across its creative, technical and conceptual development.
The 18-minute piece takes the viewer through a sequence of shifting environments and ideas: an abstracted Earth experiencing ecological and social destruction, a meditative passage into the vastness of deep space, arrival on a novel planet, and finally a process of terraforming that offers a sense of renewal and hope.
We designed Terraforms specifically for the Reality Emulator, a 17-metre panoramic screen with surround sound. Rather than treating the work as an individual VR experience, we were interested in what could happen when an audience encounters an immersive environment together, at architectural scale.
The technical constraints of the display became an important part of the process. The piece ran at an unusually large 14208×2160 resolution, requiring us to develop our own tools and workflows alongside the artwork itself. We built a bespoke GLSL tiling solution and a purpose-built VJ system in TouchDesigner to manage and perform the work across the panoramic display.
The Film (In Stages)
Below are 4 snippets from varying stages of the narrative, cropped for more efficient viewing across media platforms.
Warfare, fire, and sirens represent the destruction of earth. (Visual produced by William Quash)
The capitulation of earth has led to the beginning of a search through space to find new life forms. (Visual produced by Noah O'Sullivan)
Initial scans of new planet surface. (Visual produced by Noah O'Sullivan)
Process of cultivating life on a new planet. (Visual produced by William Quash)
Creative Process
Exemplar Touchdesigner Project File
Early Iterations in the Design Process
Testing Touchdesigner Files through the Reality Emulator System
BTS Cultivation Scene
Final Testing Before Showcase