Participants' production diary conclusions / Simona Schimanovich /

Conclusion

Were the AIMS fulfilled? Yes/no? How/why not?

"Candira"´s main themes being her search for identity and a critical reflection on the technological development in our societies - which I have introduced in my starting point - have been strongly expressed in the development of the narration and I believe that we could get our point through - that the audience could feel our message. Considering this as our basic motivation we have succeeded to make our statement - even if in a more subtle way.

Regarding my personal aims during this project, coping with the representation of abstraction, the reintroduction of the body and the construction of Candira as a provocative and rebellious dramatic character, I shall now discuss further whether and how they could be fulfilled.

1. Representation of Abstraction
>> Considering my role as a 3d-designer for the final stage my aim is to design a virtual world with very abstract aesthetics representing a high density on the conceptual level.
The worlds purpose is not to rebuild reality but construct a sensual environment for the user to experience while representing a highly abstract and symbolical stage of revelation. <<

In order to achieve the challanging task of representing a state of bliss we made use of symbolical rhetorics as well as references to the prior stages of the narration.

Through the transformation from the 2-dimensional websites to the 3-dimensional space of revelation we represented Candira´s advancing to a further level of consciousness and gaining a new dimension of understanding.
Candira has reached distance to the difficult and painful experiences in the former stages and is able to look back in wisdom and without bitterness, reentering the stages of her testing which are now just passing through her like the peeling skins of the life-renewing serpent.

Entering the 3d-world the user dives through a tunnel of 2d-images reflecting on the past stages - zooming into the atom-level, seeing the proportions before finally reaching a state of enlightenment.
This penetrating of the camera through an arrangement of freeze-frames in 3d-dimensional space presents a consequent development of a released camera penetrating the space in its depth as it was first time demonstrated in "The Wizard Of Oz" by Victor Fleming as well as an experimental approach towards cinematic cut in 3-dimensional space.

Through the Buddhist image of the lotus-flower with the jewel in its center we introduced a simple yet expressive image of Buddhism:
om mani padme hum - "the jewel of eternity is in the lotus of birth and death"
representing "a realization that the distinction between eternity and time is only apparent - made, perforce, by the rational mind, but dissolved in the perfect knowledge of the mind that has transceded the pairs of opposites. What is understood is that time and eternity are two aspects of the same experience-whole.."
And this represents a basic of "the mystery of creation: the devolvement of eternity into time, the breaking of the one into the two and then the many …"

The lotus itself is floating in a gleaming space of whiteness - representing connotations of clarity, lightness and spiritual enlightenment as well as refering to p by Darren Aronofsky where the repeated lapse into whiteness brings a state of intense mental experience.

Furthermore, through using the color-code of the different phases of Candira´s development on the website as reference each petal of the lotus stands for one of the preceding stages in the story making the final act a harmonious stage of release uniting past, present and future.

Additionally we integrated a soundscape of Japanese Buto-dance representing a state of meditation and of mental and physical flow.

Through introducing the rhetorics presented above I believe that we generally succeeded in representing this highly abstract concept through simple yet expressive means in our space-design.
During the process I discovered that representation of abstraction occurs by symbolic and referential rhetorics regarding the culture and the narrative piece.
This is an important insight - especially keeping in mind the close attachment of symbols to their respective culture it has to be considered that for a Western audience without background in Buddhist mythology of traditions of Japanese dance we as designers have the responsibility of introducing the users to the subject in order to enable them to read our rhetorics.
In case of the Buto-walk we directed the audience´s attention towards this subject already in the diary-part of the previous stage - which i consider of high importance not only in terms of continuity but especially for ensuring the user´s understanding.
Probably this would have been appropriate as well for the image of the lotus and the jewel which we did not introduce beforehand. Without question we could have secured a deeper understanding of the symbolism of this image through a previous introduction but nevertheless I hope that people with a basic familiarity of Buddhist imagery are able to recognise the lotus and partly associate its symbolism.

2. Reintroduction of the Body
>> My aim on a conceptual level is to reintroduce the body, nature and female qualities to this highly spiritual last stage referring to Sandy Stone, Manuel Castells´ discussion on the "End of Patriarchalism" as well as Joseph Campbell. <<

Through the image of the lotus-flower slowely opening and closing we were able to return to the beginning of the circle - referring to the first stage of Earth where Candira is shown with a lotus - as well as to reintroduce nature and the body in this highly spiritual stage. The natural quality is enhanced through the organical feeling of the texture of the flower as well as its movement giving the impression that it is alive.

"There exists," observes Professor J.C. Flügel in his psycho-analytical studies, "a very general association on the one hand between the notion of mind, spirit or soul and the idea of the father or of masculinity; and on the other hand between the notion of the body or of matter (materia-that which belongs to the mother) and the idea of the mother or of the feminine principle. The repression of the emotions and feelings relating to the mother [in our Judeo-Christian monotheism] has, in virtue of this association, produced a tendency to adopt an attitude of distrust, contempt, disgust or hostility towards the human body, the Earth, and the whole material Universe, with a corresponding tendency to exalt and overemphasize the spiritual elements, whether in man or in the general scheme of things."

Refering to this I was expecially concerned with integrating female qualities and the body into this spiritual stage of revelation as I do not support this division which as I am convinced is responsible for very life-negating tendencies in the way we perceive our body, the position of women in society and in the way we treat nature.

Regarding the fact that through choosing Candira´s development from the elements of Earth through Air to Ether where she finds spiritual enlightenment and through the main theme of Candira´s quest for her father we were about to make an affirmative patriarchal statement (against our primal intention) supporting the same kind of logic stated above I felt a special importance to fulfill my aim breaking this way of thinking.
In this context I estimate a highly important understanding Joseph Campbell´s description of the mythological reading of the hero breaking through to the source, finding enlightenment as a state beyond opposites, "a realization transcending all experiences of form"

This understanding which is already expressed through the unity of time and eternity in the lotus with the jewel can be extended as well to a unity of male and female. Indeed, the fusing of the petals with the penetrating jewel in the center can also be read as symbolizing the sex act - generating new life and representing rebirth.
Joseph Campbell describes a tradition used during Christian baptism whose meaning can also be applied in this context:
"This rite is a variant of the sacred marriage, which is the source-moment that generates and regenerates the world and man, precisely the mystery symbolized by the Hindu lingam."

Moreover, through the soundscape of the Buto-walk we reintroduce the body in a perfectly harmonious state that includes as well mental centering in a meditative way uniting body and mind in a calm yet energetic state of flow.

3. Construction of Candira as a provocative dramatic character
>> A third, personal aim would be to present Candira as a rebellious and anarchic character that is able to provoke people to communicate their values and reflect on them.
Using the internet as a medium we are able to reach people from different countries (though most of them probably share a similar background from affluent Western societies) and it would be very interesting for me to provoke the audience through dramatic action to exhibit their point of view in order to reflect on their own position and set of values. <<

Unfortunately we were not able to fulfill this aim and provoke disturbing debate in the Mirror-part of the website.
Candira started only in the final days to become alive as a dramatic character acting and reacting to the messages she received. Even though Candira was able to confuse or even disturb people we didn´t succeed in making her provocative causing people to question their values.

Were the ASSUMPTIONS correct? Yes/no? How/why not?

One point that we have certainly overestimated is the audience´s familiarity with this new medium.

As we were experimenting here with a very new type of web-based drama where the language hasn´t been established yet I feel that the users were experiencing problems in understanding their role as interactor.

As the internet is only in very few cases yet used for telling a story it would have been appropriate for us as designers to deliver some assistance to the audience in recognising their own role in the narration that ought to be a lot more active one than in traditional media. But this problem was obviously connected with our difficulties in provocing debate and encouraging the audience to contribute more actively.

This is probably one of the reasons why people experienced Candira as emotionally touching but confusing to understand.

Being able to reach people on an emotional level is already a great asset and somehow I also feel that - maybe on a more unconscious level - we were able to get our message through but still we have to achieve greater awareness keeping in mind that we are not our audience and that we are doing pioneer-work here, using the internet as a dramatic medium and establishing a new language.

Considering this, there is no question that people do still need some time for learning to read this kind of story in its complexity, using hypertext, hypermedia, multiple viewpoints, ... and equally we designers have to learn from this experience in order to get more sophisticated in the way we are telling the story, establishing a new language and at the same time making it transparent and understandable for the audience.

But altogether I feel that there is a great power in developing this new way of storytelling - as I estimate it genuinely interactive: not only in a mechanical way of receiving audio-visual feedback but more in an intellectual sense:
The user truely interacts with the story exploring it, putting the pieces together and finally figuring out her/his personal way of reading this mosaic - finding his/her meaning.

I believe that this way of reading a story is uniquely interesting as it includes - unlike in other media - a very active contribution of the user who becomes instead of an observer of a ready-made, linear story an explorer trying to find her/his way through a net of storylines that only in a proper arrangement reveal their deeper sense.
This way of "Intellectual Interactivity" represents for me one of the great potentials of digital media and a highly interesting approach towards a new way of telling stories.

Bibliography:

Literature:
Campbell, Joseph. 1948. The Hero With A Thousand Faces
(London: Fontana Press)

Castells, Manuel. 1997. The Power of Identity
(Oxford: Blackwell)

Flügel, J. C. 1931. The Psycho-Analytic Study of the Family
("The International Psycho-Analytical Library," No. 3, 4th edition; London: The Hogarth Press)

Stone, Allucquere Rosanne. 1991. Will the Real BodyPlease Stand Up?: Boundary Stories about Virtual Cultures.
(Published in Cyberspace: First Steps. ed. Michael Benedikt. MIT Press)

Films:
Fleming, Victor. 1939. The Wizard of Oz

Aronofsky, Darren. 1998. p