Dream Vortex: Artwork in Interactive 3D

Abstract

Dream Vortex is a virtual art installation with interactive 3D objects, developed for a CAVE, Oculus Rift, or 3D monitor by artist Meredith Tromble and scientist Dawn Sumner. The central structure is an interactive vortex of hand-drawn dream images that appear in 3D space before the viewer, accompanied by a sound environment. A viewer interacts with the vortex by selecting dream emblems with a game controller. With it, the viewer has the ability to "touch," move, and compose the images, much like picking up physical objects and moving them around. Once a dream is selected, the vortex disappears; the chosen dream and a suite of related dreams fade into view. For the time span of a typical dream (a few minutes) the viewer can interact with them, moving, resizing, and arranging them in new patterns. The dreams are contributed by the research community at UC Davis, so conceptually the work links "opposites": subjective and objective knowledge; 2D and 3D space; and our oldest and newest art-making media.