3D WORLDS ⁽²⁰²²⁾

A selection of still life compositions made over 2021-22 to teach myself 3D design. 

Featured on: TheDesignKids, StillHere StillLife, GirlTalk
See more: Instagram︎︎︎

Bouquet

English Breakfast

Slice of Life

Sunset Ceramic

Archway

Bougainvillea

Summer Afternoon

NAZAR ⁽²⁰²³⁾

What can the protective practices of the ‘Nazar’ (evil eye) teach us about navigating the optics of attention and surveillance in networked technology?

Exhibitions: ‘Intertwine’ London, The Pluralist︎︎︎

︎︎︎About the Project

The Installation

Nazar is an interactive installation that consists of a face detection algorithm designed to be lightweight, real-time and highly accurate using a convolutional neural network (CNN), Open CV in Python and Flask.

It has a live feed and can detect multiple users at once.

I designed a range of Neo-Amulets stickers inspired by the motifs and visual language of evil eye amulets, designed for wearability, visual interest and effective Dazzle. The participant creates their own unique tangible camouflage to evade the digital face detection algorithm.

︎︎︎Why Nazar?

The Installation

The concern around data privacy, biometric and facial recognition, and surveillance capitalism is only increasing by the day.

How to tell a story about protecting yourself from surveillance, while bringing in the familiar, widely used protective practices of using evil eye amulets?

My aim was to examine the similarities between today’s hypervisibility, surveillance, the evil eye belief found primarily in non-western cultures, and their relationship to the gaze.

︎︎︎Dazzle the Eye

The Process

Amulets confuse, misdirect, fascinate, dazzle the evil eye.

Evil Eye practices are designed to misdirect the malignant gaze. Instead of looking at you, it gets distracted by the amulet on your person or in the surroundings.

Translating that same property to surveillance, I built upon a face camouflage technique called CV Dazzle (created by Adam Harvey), which involves creating certain colourful patterns on your face to deflect face detection algorithms.

I designed and created a range of glossy stickers, inspired by the motifs and visual language of evil eye amulets, designed for wearability, visual interest and effective Dazzle.

︎︎︎Dazzle the Eye

The Installation

When you Dazzle yourself, you’re hyper-visible to other people. Everybody will look at you, but you’re invisible to computer vision. It repels a specific kind of gaze while allowing you to be visible- just like evil eye amulets.

ROOTED ⁽²⁰²³⁾

Rooted is an Augmented Reality (AR) experience, made in collaboration with Snap Inc. for the new-gen Spectacles, their wearable AR glasses. 

TEAM: Cyan D’Anjou, Madhavi Bhagwat, Mary Lucas-Afolalu, Nikita Raina
ROLE: Concept, AR Development (Lens Studio)

Exhibitions and Press: Cromwell Place︎︎︎

︎︎︎Activation

The Experience

With the Spectacles, follow the sounds of affirmation, surrounded by tessellations that inhale and exhale with you.

Upon starting the lens, participants are asked to stretch their hand out in front of them as a sign of reaching out into nature. Hand-tracking activates the start of the guided audio meditation and the following appearance of the tessellating 3D visuals which sets a breathing pace. Duration: 3 minutes.

Scan the snapcode on the Snapchat app:
(Optimised for Spectacles)

︎︎︎Breath

The Idea

The act of breathing is both essential to human life and part of the cycle that feeds plant and tree growth. 

This symbiotic relationship allows us to connect with the natural world in a language that is familiar to both of us.

︎︎︎Mindfulness

The Visualisation

Drawing from the breathing practice of Pranayama, our project draws attention to the life energy that is contained in our bodies and the control we have over how we release it into the world.

The 3D visuals draw from the ‘Breath of the Compassionate’, a geometric pattern symbolising symmetry, harmony and unity. 

The spoken affirmations are phrases that can be said by a human or a non human natural entity (a tree, for example).

︎︎︎Connection

Exhibition at Cromwell Place, London | 14-16 Sept, 2023

The project was shown at the Snap x RCA show ‘The Arrival of a Train’ at Cromwell Place in South Kensington.

‘Arrival of a Train’ Private View

Team Rooted!

Sink or Swim ⁽²⁰²²⁾

How might we conserve stories of Water and its intangible cultural heritage, set against the backdrop of climate change? A sound-driven Virtual Reality installation, comprising headset VR, projected animation, ambient audio and scent.

TEAM: Shuyue Li, Madhavi Bhagwat, Hadar Vishne
ROLE: Concept, Interviews, Writing, VR development (Unreal Engine)

︎︎︎The Experience

Sink or Swim tells the sonic stories of six people and their personal and cultural memories of water.

The unique methodology of this project involved recording participant interviews, collaborating with a poet to turn those interviews into poems, and having the original interviewees narrate and re-record their poems; which were then developed into immersive soundscapes.

Collaborators: Hadar Green (poet)
Interviewees: Huiwen Ren, Mao, Matt Dixon, Sharon, Sofia Economou, Tanvi Babbar and Ye Zhang.

CYFACE ⁽²⁰²²⁾

A transmedia installation for participants to reflect on the effects and influence of mediated information on the marketing of identity. The installation experience spanned 3D animation, audio, sculpture and headset VR.

TEAM: Annop Khunwong, Madhavi Bhagwat, Tanvi Babbar, Tanya Chaturvedi, Zhenzhen Tian
ROLE: Concept, Design, Installation, VR Development (Unreal Engine)

︎︎︎The Story

Worldbuilding

A science-fiction about two sections of society, the aspirational Klailas, a cloud city that sells a heavily advertised ‘digital face’ to Lok (affected by bio-warfare) that promises a better life.

The experience was divided into two parts: Lok (in the real world) and Klailas (in the virtual world) and took the viewer through the journey of a Lok person who 'achieves' the digital face and ascends to Klailas.

︎︎︎Two Worlds

PART ONE: LOK

We had sculptures and masks of the Lok people, and projected ads from Klailas they experienced in their daily world. Visitors could use to hear the thoughts of the Lok and an audio narration alternative through headphones.

PART TWO: KLAILAS  
We put projections of clouds and ambient music while the visitor lays down on a mattress to could blissfully immerse themselves in the world of Klailas. Our VR experience is still a work in progress, which is why we also included some 3D renders of the storyboard along with the prototype.

Physical Installation in ‘Lok’

Virtual Experience in ‘Klailas’