android-jonesThere was an immersive dome experience at the latest VRLA event called Samskara that was based upon the Hindu Vedas produced by 360art. It featured different Hindu mythological characters reimagined by visionary artist Android Jones. I had a chance to talk to Android about the intriguing backstory of this project that involves a mysterious Swami who is experimenting with the latest immersive technologies as a tool for spiritual transformation.

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Android was also publicly debuting Microdose VR for the first time at VRLA, which is a particle-emitting painting program designed for realtime VJ performances or a tool to get into the creative flow state. The experience was informed by Android’s many years doing live art performances at transformational festivals, his experiences within the games industry as a digital artist, as well as inspiration from a number of different psychedelic experiences.

You move your hands around spray painting particles in Microdose VR with a similar mechanic to Tilt Brush, but rather than drawing 3D vector lines your strokes emit a wide range of different psychedelic molecules that morph, evolve and disappear. There’s no ability to save or undo any of your creations, and so it’s like an ephemeral sand painting experience that focuses on the cultivation presence and unlocking creative flow.

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Overall, Android wants to bring virtue to virtual reality and believes that it can be a tool for our own evolution. He wants to help evolve a new type of VR artist, and to create tools for the next generation of creatives and democratize the creative experience.

Here’s the trailer for Samskara:

Here’s an example of what a performance in Microdose VR looks like:

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

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Kent Bye
  • hyperskyper

    Jesus is the only path to spiritual transformation.

    • OgreTactics

      and acid.

    • dornebob

      There is no ‘only’ way. There are many paths to transformation. And when Jesus said ‘the only way to the father is through me’, what he meant was not through Jesus himself personally, (i.e., admitting sin and begging forgiveness and giving your life to Christ and all the lies the early Christians dreamed up to scare people into joining them) but to study his teachings and follow his example of loving everyone unconditionally. The ‘only way’ is a lie.

      • Forgottenrights

        You lie, the bible does not.

    • Ebele Deji Onwugbufor

      yes jesus. and a lot of drugs

  • Get Schwifty!

    Again similar to the story about using VR to help people empathize and appreciate different viewpoints, this kind of application, at least for some folks, could have some real impact if done with thought. Any kind of experience fundamentally changes you in some way since it becomes part of the conscious and unconscious world you as an individual refer to, and there are definitely different mental states that visual stimulus can help drive you to.

  • Foreign Devil

    He got me really excited to use “medium”. Also it would be nice to name the “swami” so we can find out more about him.

  • Jolly

    This is much more like what VR should be used for. I don’t like shoot um up video games. They should stay with 2d screens. VR being a newish media, should have new experiences to offer.

  • Go find a real-time fractal generation program for VR, like Emergence Fractal Universe. That one in particular, only $5, lets you adjust the math in real-time and comes with several equations. See reality explode around you infinitely. It’ll make those Swami videos seem lightweight in comparison. Just mindblowing!

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/500470

    (I’m still looking for other real-time fractal generators, like what Boxplorer2 did on DK1. Please add some links if you know of any others)