Walking, not Running, and Getting Nowhere is a series of mixed reality performance explorations which explore an immersive experience for my avatar and myself as my avatar through a first-person point of view.

Above: Walking, not Running, and Getting Nowhere (Exploration #1)

In Walking, not Running, and Getting Nowhere (Exploration #1) my avatar is set to animate a walk on the spot in Second Life® on top of a screen broadcasting a live video feed of a walk from ‘real’ life. Alongside is a heads-up display (HUD) showing my ‘real’ life position as the walk occurs. My ‘real’ life walk is source media/experience for my avatar, augmenting its Second Life® experience and inverting what is often the purpose of virtual worlds, augmenting our ‘real’ life experience (e.g. through Second Life® social networking etc.).

The result is a mixed reality experience for my avatar walking in a visual space beyond its own yet with no control or actual locomotion, extended as a result of streaming lag, augmented in some ways yet futile in others.

Above: Walking, not Running, and Getting Nowhere (Exploration #2)

In Walking, not Running, and Getting Nowhere (Exploration #2), my avatar is set to animate a walk on the spot in Second Life® on top of a screen broadcasting a live video feed of a walk on the Moon in Google Earth around the perimeter of the Apollo 11 landing site (Google Earth API, 2011). Exploration of the perimeter of the site reveals one of a few locations on the Moon which is documented in detail and has a distinct edge/boundary where photographic detail is of a noticeably lower quality outside the site. This site and its boundary are reminiscent of ‘virtual’ worlds, notably traditional gaming worlds, which often have a boundary that hems the user in.

The Moon walk is source media/experience for my avatar, augmenting its Second Life® experience. Unlike Exploration #1 where Second Life® and ‘real’ life are mixed, here another ‘virtual’ world, itself a representation of ‘real’ life, is employed and folded into Second Life®.

The result is a ‘virtual’ reality experience for my avatar, already within a virtualised world, walking in a visual space beyond its own with no control or locomotion yet constantly reminded of the limitations of that ‘virtual’ experience.

Above: Images of both performances, click to view.

To view more images of this work and others from the Yoshikaze “Up-In-The-Air” Second Life Residency please see the Yoshikaze Residency set on Flickr.