2022 | Virtual Reality
Silk Roots | NYU ITP Thesis
Silk Roots is a speculative environment that draws on history and metaphor to critique the flattening of non-Western cultures in mainstream extended reality (AR/VR) design and worldbuilding practices.
Abstract
When playing Six Days in Fallujah or Medal of Honor, it is easy to forget that simulated conflicts seldom depict civilizations beyond the biased imaginaries of Western imperialism. The popularity of first-person shooter video games that cast Afghans and Iraqis as wartime insurgents while privileging the POVs of the U.S. Armed Forces has contributed to a pervasive flattening of non-Western cultures across virtual platforms. The ‘Othering’ of identities and landscapes is a strategy that has served the military-entertainment complex for decades — from the inception of Hollywood and advanced computer graphics systems to the impending construction of the Metaverse.
Silk Roots critiques the problematic power dynamics, lexicons, and visual tropes that belie contemporary game engine and 3D-modeling applications – pixels are packed with geopolitics too. While open source tools and marketplaces have sought to democratize the creation and circulation of 2D and 3D-assets in recent years, there is not only a glaring lack of content curation, diversity, and moderation that rebounds across the Internet, but a residual whitewashing of transcultural perspectives that poses recurring aesthetic and ethical challenges to online avatars and architectures.
Through research and praxis, Silk Roots juxtaposes historical and metaphorical connections between the Silk Roads, a series of ancient trade routes spanning Eurasia, and Web 3.0, a next-gen data-driven vision for commerce and telecommunications. By reorienting past and present ideas about mapping, mobility, infrastructure, and navigation, Silk Roots questions the emergence of digital colonialisms and monocultures against the loss of heritage. Inspired by the potential of speculative environments to reimagine however, Silk Roots engages with the medium of VR as an expressive point of inquiry into its ambiguities, contradictions, and possibilities. The project proposes alternative approaches to mainstream extended reality (AR/VR) design and worldbuilding practices that foreground the inclusion of displaced, indigenous, marginalized, and multiethnic communities.
When playing Six Days in Fallujah or Medal of Honor, it is easy to forget that simulated conflicts seldom depict civilizations beyond the biased imaginaries of Western imperialism. The popularity of first-person shooter video games that cast Afghans and Iraqis as wartime insurgents while privileging the POVs of the U.S. Armed Forces has contributed to a pervasive flattening of non-Western cultures across virtual platforms. The ‘Othering’ of identities and landscapes is a strategy that has served the military-entertainment complex for decades — from the inception of Hollywood and advanced computer graphics systems to the impending construction of the Metaverse.
Silk Roots critiques the problematic power dynamics, lexicons, and visual tropes that belie contemporary game engine and 3D-modeling applications – pixels are packed with geopolitics too. While open source tools and marketplaces have sought to democratize the creation and circulation of 2D and 3D-assets in recent years, there is not only a glaring lack of content curation, diversity, and moderation that rebounds across the Internet, but a residual whitewashing of transcultural perspectives that poses recurring aesthetic and ethical challenges to online avatars and architectures.
Through research and praxis, Silk Roots juxtaposes historical and metaphorical connections between the Silk Roads, a series of ancient trade routes spanning Eurasia, and Web 3.0, a next-gen data-driven vision for commerce and telecommunications. By reorienting past and present ideas about mapping, mobility, infrastructure, and navigation, Silk Roots questions the emergence of digital colonialisms and monocultures against the loss of heritage. Inspired by the potential of speculative environments to reimagine however, Silk Roots engages with the medium of VR as an expressive point of inquiry into its ambiguities, contradictions, and possibilities. The project proposes alternative approaches to mainstream extended reality (AR/VR) design and worldbuilding practices that foreground the inclusion of displaced, indigenous, marginalized, and multiethnic communities.
Technical Details
Silk Roots was developed for Meta Quest 2 using Unreal Engine and Blender. The landscapes were crafted using height maps derived from declassified satellite imagery databases. Furthermore, audio elements and 3D models were sourced from archives and open-source collections, including SketchFab.
