New York, NY
Star Catcher
Star Catcher: Our Shared Planet an Immersive Installation
“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out and, seeing a better country, sets sail.” – Oscar Wilde In an age of new frontiers for space exploration, Star Catcher invites participants to playfully imagine a new world and its shared responsibilities. As a licensed Star Catcher, you’re welcomed to grab a net and reach up to catch Stars in a simulated night sky. To become a Star Catcher, sign up for an hour-long spot in the immersive experience: WHEN: Saturday 4/1; Sunday 4/2; Monday 4/3 WHERE: ONX Studio, 645 5th Ave, Lower Level, NY 10022 A falling or shooting star crosses the sky quickly, and elicits a wish. What kind of wishes do we want to make towards our ever changing environment? --- This is a “playtest” event where we invite you to interact with a new work in progress, help provide feedback, and have a whimsical experience with friends. About the Creators: Adelle Lin and Matt Pinner build immersive experiences to create community and social consciousness. They produce interactive, playful and thought provoking works that span a range of media and technologies. These works question our impact on the environment and the world we want to create. Adelle and Matt's practice considers how people are marginalized by technology, and blends human experience with accessible technological tools to forge deeper connections and a sense of belonging through play and simple, everyday interactions. This event is appropriate for all ages. Please bring anyone young or young at heart. Trigger warning: animated lights, reactive sound, and periods of darkness will be employed to create the immersive environment. The space is accessible with a service elevator.
Audience Role
In a specially created environment using projection and magical objects, participants enter the fictional world of Plasma, where they are licensed “Star Catchers”, given nets to catch stars in a star field. The action of catching a star is joyful, and participants are collectively creating a jubilant and beautiful scene. However, over time, as more stars are caught, the surrounding stars, flora and fauna slowly disappear, eventually leading to darkness and silence.
Ages: All ages
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About Plasma
Star Catcher is an immersive, interactive and collaborative media installation and experience. The environment is composed of a canopy of falling stars, a lush environment of prehistoric plants, a rich soundscape of nature, and butterfly nets that the audience can use to participate in the piece. Stars are real yet fictional, as our belief in them has existed far earlier than the technology which can now be used to understand them. We have long believed that stars bring good luck, and we should “wish upon” them and if we can “catch a falling star” that can bring joy and magic. The artwork employs immersive technologies to bring this notion to life. The action of catching a star with a net is joyful, and participants are collectively creating a jubilant and beautiful scene. However over time, as more stars are caught, the environment starts to degenerate. Therefore it is a delicate balance between our actions and the consequences to nature and the audience collectively gets to make that discovery and choice. This can be seen as a metaphor for climate justice – catch the star now, as tomorrow will be too late. And when we wish on a star, it signals a change of luck, a change of fortune, and of course, good omens. Whilst surfacing some of these larger questions, the game focuses on making the core interaction of catching a star a rewarding and playful experience through highly responsive and generative audio visual feedback. The star ceiling incorporates perceived star characteristics such as twinkles and spectral codes of stars. When interactive environments and audiences communicate, they participate as a kind of performer, becoming symbiotic with their environment and their actions contribute to a new embodied knowledge. The experience encourages the participants to engage with their full body through the use of butterfly nets, which further heightens the fact that they are creating impact with their participation. They instinctively choose to work collaboratively or competitively, creating emergent behaviours that differ with each round of play. By giving agency and creating this sense of collective responsibility, we empower participants to consider this utopia of people, technology and the environment part of their personal mission as well. Star Catcher was commissioned originally for “Graffiti Games” at PlayNYC in 2017, then in 2022 by Onassis Foundation NY for the NEWINC Onx showcase. Star Catcher promotes active play, while encouraging participants to contemplate, cooperate and converse, but ultimately to imagine humanity working together with nature in symbiosis.