Hymn to the Fallen:
Hymn to the Fallen includes two parts.
Hymn to the Fallen( Part I)
Hymn to the Fallen( Part I) is a 13min 25 sec video piece narrating the process of using photogrammetry in making virtual models of four architectural structures in Changsha, China, including Zhongshan pavilion, Chenqian Mansion, one unknown building in the Chaozong District, and Tianxin Pavilion. Photogrammetry is the technology of generating virtual 3D models by aligning images together. Paralleling with the narration of making virtual models, the memories of the Wenxi Fire of 1938 attached to these four buildings sneak into the narrative. Model construction and memory construction of the Wenxi Fire 1938 coincide together metaphorically, practically, and conceptually. The video ends with a family ritual memorializing dead family members. This ritual is the hymn to the dead, the link to the past, the epilogue of the intersection of real and virtual, and a footnote on memory construction.
Hymn to the Fallen( Part II)
Hymn to the Fallen( Part II) is a virtual reality piece that the singular encounter of virtual reality experienced through HTC Vive VR headset is transformed into a collective experience by connecting the VR headset and HD projector. The process of making virtual architecture models in the VR is narrated in the Hymn to the Fallen( Part I). This VR space is chaotic, multi-layered, and lacking an origin; it is composed by various elements coming from different places: archived images, daily acne treatment performance video, photogrammetried architecture and objects, found footages of TV series referring to the Wenxi Fire of 1938, an interview with an old man, and so on. This VR space is liminal that it is real and not real at the same time. Audiences fly in this virtual reality space and are fully awareness of the existence of their body. The floating memory of the Wenxi Fire of 1938 meets the virtual reality experience which echos the last line of Hymn to the Fallen( Part I): Memories are like digitalizing physical beings/They are Real/They are Virtual/They are Virtual Realities.
Hymn to the Fallen (Part I)
Hymn to the Fallen (Part II)
