Star-Stuff: a way for the universe to know itself

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Available on Oculus AppLab at https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3367089710082568/

Inspired by Carl Sagan, Star-Stuff: a way for the uni­verse to know itself is an immer­sive expe­ri­ence cre­ated to remind imm­er­sants of their fun­da­men­tal con­nec­tion to human­ity and the Universe. This hybrid VR art­work brings two people together remotely or in a co-present instal­la­tion. In both cases, the aim is to give users a new per­spec­tive on them­selves, human­ity, and the Universe. It is a rela­tional art­work which cre­ates “free areas, and time spans whose rhythm con­trasts with those struc­tur­ing every­day life…” (Nicholas Bourriaud, 2002)

Floating in space, your hands are trans­formed into a myriad of con­stel­la­tions while stars emanate from your heart, orbit­ing your body in a mes­mer­iz­ing cosmic dance. Moving and play­ing with the stars, you form a galaxy unique to you and your move­ment. Looking closely you can see the stars live out entire lifetimes—being born, expand­ing as they grow old, and col­laps­ing into bright flashes of super­novae. Time seems to stand still as eons flash by in this med­i­ta­tive experience.

Another person joins the expe­ri­ence, flick­er­ing into view in the form of another con­stel­la­tion. The grav­i­ta­tional effects of your bodies draw your stars towards each other, form­ing a new col­lab­o­ra­tive and dynamic sculp­ture in the night sky as you play and dance together. Star-Stuff affords the impos­si­ble expe­ri­ence of not only being a galaxy but meet­ing one too. By refram­ing the body in a shared aes­thetic this unique expe­ri­ence encour­ages imm­er­sants to see them­selves and others in a common light, as “star-stuff” brought to life, free of super­fi­cial char­ac­ter­is­tics that divide and bias us.

Following an intu­itive and reflec­tive process, my aim was to create a trib­ute to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos which inspired to my own curios­ity to under­stand our place in the Universe. Likewise, I hope to inspire others to see under­stand­ing the Universe as a way to better under­stand our­selves. It is not only a process of sci­en­tific inquiry but one of philo­soph­i­cal and spir­i­tual dis­cov­ery. Looking out to the stars allows us to see deeper inward. In the same way Star-Stuff simul­ta­ne­ously shows imm­er­sants the stars’ life­cy­cles while giving them a med­i­ta­tive space to dis­cover them­selves and see strangers and friends in a new light. My hope is that those who expe­ri­ence it come away with a glimpse of the fun­da­men­tal con­nec­tion which we share not only with each other, but with the Cosmos from which we are born. “We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” (Carl Sagan, 1980)

Music: Dale Nichols

Upon Return

Gravity + Sleep

Media Gallery

Screenshots John Desnoyers-Stewart CC BY-SA 4.0. Last image of some­one inter­act­ing while facing the camera Marc Yungco © Kreis Immersive, 2021. All other photos by Julia Read, 2021 CC BY-SA 4.0.

Publications and exhibits

Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2022. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition. FIVARS 2022, Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, November 28. https://fivars.net/stories/storiesfall2022/star-stuff/.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2022. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition. VRE Fest Italy, Milan, Italy, Milan, Italy, October 6. https://www.vrefest.com/en/official-selection-vre22/.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2023. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition. Immersive Technologies Seminar Series, University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, February 8. events.ok.ubc.ca/event/immersive-technologies-seminar-series-expanding-social-realities-through-abstract-embodiment.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2022. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition. SFU Surrey Community Open House 2022, Surrey, BC, Canada, Surrey, BC, Canada, October 27. sfu.ca/surrey/open-house-2022.html.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2022. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” In ACM SIGGRAPH 2022 Immersive Pavilion, 1–2. SIGGRAPH ’22. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3532834.3536198.
Desnoyers-Stewart, J. (2022). Star-Stuff [Hoame VR]. Hoame VR. https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3367089710082568/
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2022. “Star-Stuff.” VR Meditation App. Hoame VR, July. https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3367089710082568/.
Desnoyers-Stewart, J. (2022). Star-Stuff [Oculus AppLab]. https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3367089710082568/
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2021. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Curated Virtual Reality Exhibition. V-Unframed, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada, October. https://www.alliancefrancaise.ca/v-unframed/.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2023. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition. Victoria Extended Reality (XR) Mixer, KWENCH, Victoria, BC, KWENCH, Victoria, BC, October 19.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2022. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” In SIGGRAPH ’22  Immersive Pavilion, 1–2. Vancouver, BC, Canada: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3532834.3536198. (Download)
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2023. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” Invited Virtual Reality Exhibition. Night of Ideas Vancouver | More? Slow is Beautiful, BCIT Downtown Campus, Vancouver, BC, BCIT Downtown Campus, Vancouver, BC, February 1. pwias.ubc.ca/events/feb-1-night-of-ideas-2023/.
Desnoyers-Stewart, John. 2023. “Star-Stuff: A Way for the Universe to Know Itself.” H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada, December.

https://blog.siggraph.org/2022/11/twinkle-twinkle-little-star-stuff.html/