SEMI MEMORY
Adrian Steckeweh | Omega.C
Architect, XR/CG Creator |Germany, Japan
OTHER PERSPECTIVE
DETAILS OF THE WORK
AWARDS 2022 GRAND Prize / ULTRA MEDIA Prize / ULTRA CULTURE Prize
Semi Memory is based on the idea that all memories are semi-true.
This experience consists of snapshots of reality collected in Shizuoka, Kanagawa and Tokyo melted together, attempting to document spaces and architecture from the Taisho and Showa era. These spaces are slowly fading out of existence and the ones that aren’t demolished yet are often vacant and forgotten about, creating spaces of nostalgia.
While we might think that our memories are correct, they’re are rarely accurate; always tinted by our own perception, overlayed by other memories and overall only selectively stored.
Semi Memory reflects that: the data is imperfect, the textures are patchy and on top of that everyday things infiltrated the experience.
Additionally, semi (蝉) are Japanese cicadas with an overbearing chirr sound. They are a perfect representation of things unwillingly entering our memories. Every summer the soundscape in Japan is dominated by them and therefore everybody’s memory of summer.
Semi Memories has no beginning or end. It is an open world comparable to a theme park.
Walk around, discover scenes and interact with items.
The textures are higher resolution in the AR experience, but it is much more immersive and the interaction with the items is much more fun in VR. Please try both.
CREATOR PROFILE
Adrian Steckeweh | Omega.C
Architect, XR/CG Creator |Germany, Japan
My name is Adrian Steckeweh. I’m a German architect, CG creator and XR artist.
I’ve moved to Tokyo in 2016 where I work as an architect, while also creating virtual art.
Under @omega.c I create interactive Instagram effects that everybody can use on their phones.
I'm currently having an installation at Dogo OnsenArt 2022 and I'm part of MinatonoArt 2022 with an AR Effect.
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The two GRAND PRIZE winner works, 『SEMI MEMORY』 and 『my room / my sound』 both take a perceptual experience approach, with the source being "memory." Coincidentally, I felt that this was similar to the common theme of MONDO GROSSO's latest album, "BIG WORLD," which is a musical journey continuing to search for the place of the heart in a world that has changed and is changing further. The work "FORGOTTEN [Vocal: ermhoi (Black Boboi / millennium parade)]," directed by VR artist "0b4k3", was particularly noteworthy. It was more conscious of the effects of the mind than the human body, and I felt a strange affinity between the two works.
ULTRA SO SESSION Prize Jury
Shinichi Osawa(MONDO GROSSO)
Musician / Composer / DJ / Producer
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The work riches in interaction but at the same time mirrors the real world. The blending of reality and virtual is on point for the grand prize theme.
ULTRA TOUR Prize Jury
Lu Yang
Artist
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This work gave me a clear picture of what it would be like to collaborate. I also create logos, and I really liked the SEMI MEMORY logo. I selected SEMI MEMORY because I thought that the collaboration with street dancers and the cityscape feel of SEMI MEMORY would be a natural and exciting work.
ULTRA MEDIA Prize Jury
yurinasia
Dancer / Dance instructor / Choreographer
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This somewhat nostalgic world seems to fluctuate between reality and unreality. Those who experience this work will find themselves oscillating between memories of the past and the future.
ULTRA GRAPHIC Prize Jury
Issei Kitagawa
President of GRAPH / Designer / Artist
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Creating things in VR/XR is inseparable from handling three-dimensional object data. Therefore, the tools for creating works are also limited. Creation in this field is also a battle against the limitations of tools.
『SEMI MEMORY』is a work that utilizes and embraces the "peculiarities" of the tools used to create the experience. The noise created by the tools is sublimated directly into the strength of the work, and the creator's thoughts come to us in a "stripped-back form."ULTRA INNOVATION Prize Jury
Qanta Shimizu / Luca
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The work's disjointed, photogrammetric appearance and lifelessness gave the impression of a dystopia, while at the same time, it was oddly pleasant to feel a sense of utopia, a sort of theme park, with a variety of spaces with different purposes compactly grouped together. I felt that the image of a city that exists vaguely in people's memories might be similar to this kind of piecing together of memorable scenes.
ULTRA CULTURE Prize Jury
Daisuke Kobayashi
Producer / General Manager, Entertainment Business Department, PARCO Inc.
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I felt it was the best representation of the theme of creating a melting reality. The glitches in the geometry of the photogrammetry created a dream-like atmosphere and although they were created from photos of reality, it had a very surreal feel to it when you are in VR. The additional animations and sound were very well done and added to the dream like feel of the environment.
ULTRA IDEA Prize Jury
Nick den Boer
Award-winning director / Animator / Digital artist
FEATURING WORKS
Fashion, music, film, graphic, illustration, etc.
A group of new cultural experience works created together with artists who can share the realistic feeling of the same era.