Vesak
A technological ritual festival A temple data center for blessings, wishes and memories and the deepest desires
“Vesak“ depicts a series of vignettes and sequence of happenings: Technological religious festival curating immersive light, sound, machines and blessing creatures. It’s about healing of self. Visualizing faith. Being earnest, and celebrate techno-spirituality.
Worldbuilding
digitized incense and scripts/manual
Art + robotics + spirituality
Set lives free on mercy and blessings
Monks used to devote their entire life on praying, finding and serving - now replaced or developed new roles
“Blessing Drones“
Worldbuilding
Digitized incense and ritual practices, virtual drone blessings and religious jobs are developing new roles. Is religion becoming self-serving? How does one cope with the technological intervention from their culture, roots, value, mythologies and history?
What’s going on
It’s about dealing with scenario like this. What’s hidden under the secularized and commodified religious practices? The tone of this film is set for being earnest. It’s a vessel of compassion.
Worldbuilding
Vesak Festival: CGI Documentary
Atmosphere references
Baraka. Ron Fricke
Koyannisqatsi. Godfrey Reggio Lessons of Darkness. Werner Herzog
3 Scenes: The prayer apartment and creature ideology scene is around one minute each. They build up the intensity and provide visual & plot clues for the final temple festival scene, which will be 4-5 minutes, with flashback/cuts of the previous scenes.
Prayer Apartment
Blessing Creature Ideology
Temple Festival
Concept/moments
Concept/moments
Concept/moments
Temple Environment:
Need to be designed: 1.monk costume 2.robot arm ornament
Monk Costume: Structural, clear silhouette, partially reflective
Monk Costume: Current Sketch Design
Prayer Apartment Environment:
Not cyberpunk futuristic. In this near future, the use of drones, household robots and multi use screens are very common and we will see those in various shots.
Need to be designed: Prayer’s costume
Prayer Costume: Soft, comfort, transluscent, shape similar to monk’s costumr but less dramatic
Fish Creature Ideology Space
The creature scenes are “fantasy“ AR on top of “reality“. The creatures should have a feeling of sublime scale/texture. They are the vessel of blessings and wishes.
Need to be designed: Creature overall shape Creature detailing (texuring? ornaments?)
Blessing Creature Detailing Ideas_Rock/scripts Historical References
Atmosphere/design references
Traditionally rocks, stones and pebbles are considered to be alive and storage of prayer’s wishes. Buddhism scripts sometimes are engraved on precious stones. In Tibet, prayers add rocks on top of another, in order to combine different wishes and empower the spirituality. Memories and wishes here almost become fluid.
Fish references
Detailing references
The blessing creature is a fish looking, digital avatar that the prayers “order“ online. The ornament or texture needs to be design is small scale, symbolic headset decor that draws inspiration from rocks and engraved scripts
Robot Arm & Digital Incense
Need to be designed: Robot Arm/Incense shape, texture
Robot Arm Redesign: the shape should remain as the look of robot arm, but manifest the designed texture and ornaments. Emphasizing traditionally efficient, cold and totalitarian technology is here ritualistic and humanistic.
Knot, rope, beads, “tattooed” surface patterns. Static when not moving, mild movements when arm in use.
The installation aims to investigate robotics’s complexity and it’s nature of repeatedly accomplish similar tasks over and over. Assigning personality to the robot arm/drones, the audience will be invited into the space, surrounded by robotic “prayers“ and digital insence. The experience is also enriched with other sensory elements: wooden insence smell, touch of rug textile and sound of Tibet bells.
2. Projections / digital screens Displays existing and current ritual practice footages digitally. Creating contrast and providing juxtaposition with robotic physical installation
1. Robotic Fabrication design digital insence based on religious patterns and art, used as main light source for the installation
3. Props Ready made/found objects/existing buddhism offerings
4. Audience / actor TBD - choreagrapher, visitor, etc
Vesak Shrine: Installation and Experience
Everything in the proposal serves as placeholder for now
Vesak Shrine: Installation and Experience Vesak Shrine takes the format of an installation space, curating a series of short podcasts and interviews. Audience are invited to immerse themselves into the space of light/audio mapping, they are able to choose an object in the space and hear their stories. The objects here are presented as “blessings“, the podcast would be (semi-scripted?). Interviewees tell their wishes and prayings as the blessing objects. (they are the objects: fruit, fish, lotus, a bowl of rice, etc.) The the wishes will be told from the blessing objects perspective (third person). An alternative of the object is a scene/environment where the interviewee prayed or made their wishes before that is memoriable.
Audio/Story reference
Visual: short animation of objects