CLOVE

2024

2024

Data Visulaize

Data Visulaize

UX / TouchDesigner

UX / TouchDesigner

Through an interview with JPL scientist Anthony Bloom, I realized the importance of making complex carbon cycle data more accessible through visualization. Although my approach wasn’t part of the final tool in the D2D project, it was included in the final presentation and received positive responses from both the public and researchers. This experience affirmed the power of visualization in bridging the gap between scientific research and public understanding.

Key Terms

Key Terms

Key Terms

Existential Immersion

Rather than aiming to erase awareness of the medium, existential immersion invites users to become more aware of their own presence, body, and perception within the space. It involves emotional, cognitive, and phenomenological engagement, where the act of being becomes part of the experience itself.

Technical Immersion

A state in which the user becomes absorbed in a digital environment through seamless interfaces, sensory fidelity, and uninterrupted interaction. It is often driven by advancements in hardware and software that aim to make the technology 'disappear' and the experience feel natural.

Embodied Presence

The felt sense of being physically located and grounded within a space, shaped by the body’s movements and sensory input

Absence of the Body

As theorized by Drew Leder, the body often “disappears” from conscious awareness in everyday life—only reappearing in moments of discomfort or dysfunction. This absence allows us to act fluidly in the world, without constant bodily awareness.

Existential Immersion

Rather than aiming to erase awareness of the medium, existential immersion invites users to become more aware of their own presence, body, and perception within the space. It involves emotional, cognitive, and phenomenological engagement, where the act of being becomes part of the experience itself.

Technical Immersion

A state in which the user becomes absorbed in a digital environment through seamless interfaces, sensory fidelity, and uninterrupted interaction. It is often driven by advancements in hardware and software that aim to make the technology 'disappear' and the experience feel natural.

Embodied Presence

The felt sense of being physically located and grounded within a space, shaped by the body’s movements and sensory input

Absence of the Body

As theorized by Drew Leder, the body often “disappears” from conscious awareness in everyday life—only reappearing in moments of discomfort or dysfunction. This absence allows us to act fluidly in the world, without constant bodily awareness.

Existential Immersion

Rather than aiming to erase awareness of the medium, existential immersion invites users to become more aware of their own presence, body, and perception within the space. It involves emotional, cognitive, and phenomenological engagement, where the act of being becomes part of the experience itself.

Technical Immersion

A state in which the user becomes absorbed in a digital environment through seamless interfaces, sensory fidelity, and uninterrupted interaction. It is often driven by advancements in hardware and software that aim to make the technology 'disappear' and the experience feel natural.

Embodied Presence

The felt sense of being physically located and grounded within a space, shaped by the body’s movements and sensory input

Absence of the Body

As theorized by Drew Leder, the body often “disappears” from conscious awareness in everyday life—only reappearing in moments of discomfort or dysfunction. This absence allows us to act fluidly in the world, without constant bodily awareness.

Research Question

Research Question

If immersion is the promise of virtual space, can it be fulfilled in the absence of the body?

Can touch be digitized not to replicate reality,
but to construct
a new form of embodied presence?

What does it mean to exist?

Phenomenology, Object Oriented Ontology(O.O.O), Existentialism

What does immersion mean in digital spaces?

Haptic Feedback vs Haptic Communication, Interactive Media Art, Human Centered Design, Human-Computer Interaction(HCI)

What is the meaning and value of senses in
perceiving myself and the world?

Phenomenology, Tactile Modernity, Data Feminism, Cognitive Science,

What is the meaning and value of senses in perceiving myself and the world?

Phenomenology, Tactile Modernity, Data Feminism, Cognitive Science,

Are we heading toward a Crisis of Human Existence?

Or can digital spaces, through existential immersion, engage with the Angst at the heart of our being and open new pathways for understanding ourselves?

What does it mean to exist?

Phenomenology, Object Oriented Ontology(O.O.O), Existentialism

What does immersion mean in digital spaces?

Haptic Feedback vs Haptic Communication, Interactive Media Art, Human Centered Design, Human-Computer Interaction(HCI)

What is the meaning and value of senses in
perceiving myself and the world?

Phenomenology, Tactile Modernity, Data Feminism, Cognitive Science,

What is the meaning and value of senses in perceiving myself and the world?

Phenomenology, Tactile Modernity, Data Feminism, Cognitive Science,

Are we heading toward a Crisis of Human Existence?

Or can digital spaces, through existential immersion, engage with the Angst at the heart of our being and open new pathways for understanding ourselves?

This first prototype video captures how the presence of an object is revealed in space the moment my body comes into contact with it.

Visualizing
the Moment of Touch

Visualizing
the Moment of Touch

In Progress Show

In Progress Show

In Progress Show

Insights from In Progress Show

Insights from In Progress Show

Insights from In Progress Show

Moving from Physical Touch to Virtual Presence

Moving from Physical Touch to Virtual Presence

After conversing with the visitors, I realized that the experience of one's body coming into contact with the world could be a key to questioning our own existence between the physical and the virtual. A virtual space, where the body is absent, offers a unique environment to explore whether the presence or absence of the body plays a meaningful role in internalizing space.

Based on this, I developed a prototype that positions oneself between the physical and the virtual and as a phenomenological experiment —one that asks how it feels to sense one's existence even in the absence of physical embodiment.

Iterations

Iterations

Iterations

Version 1_Building Pipeline

Version 1_Building Pipeline

Version 2_Visual Aesthetics

Version 2_Visual Aesthetics

Version 3_Narrative

Version 3_Narrative

  • Make the digital twin interactable

  • Evolved from scattered points to spatial effects

  • Choose Quest 3 after comparing with Vision Pro

  • Shift from Shader Graph to VFX

  • Design storyboards to visualize the narrative

  • Write narrations to shape conceptual framing

User Testing

User Testing

User Testing

Placing people floating between
reality and virtuality

Placing people floating between
reality and virtuality

"Our absence might be
what makes this space feel complete"

Process of the Experience

Process of the Experience

Process of the Experience

Scan the area to create a digital twin using the PolyCam app installed on your phone

The generated 3D model is first imported into Unity, and then the headset is worn to enter the virtual experience

Interact with the surroundings by following the voice embedded in the prototype

Experience from the prototype

Experience from the prototype

Experience from the prototype

Tracing purpose through process

Tracing purpose through process

Tracing purpose through process

This video was created prior to the symposium and focuses more specifically on background research, prototyping, and design aesthetics.

Details in Design Practices

Details in Design Practices

Details in Design Practices

What value does this project hold?

What value does this project hold?

What value does this project hold?

  • Challenge conventional approaches to haptic design

  • Highlights the absence of the body as a defining condition of digital space

Foundation for rethinking the role of touch in virtual environments, moving beyond mere immersion toward a more nuanced understanding of interaction and presence

Personal Reflection

Personal Reflection

Personal Reflection

This project began as a personal question: Can I truly exist in a space where my body is absent?
Through prototyping and reflection, I explored how touch — or its absence — shapes our sense of presence.
It opened a doorway between design theory and experiential practice, and became the starting point for critically questioning the blind faith and fantasies we hold about virtual reality.

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