The Memory Ship

Designed and built for a friend's wedding, the Memory Ship was an immersive installation piece which allowed users to navigate through a projected world of video clips using a captain's wheel. The barn functioned both as a way for the guests to learn more about the bride and groom as well as a mysterious, building-sized toy.

At the back of the wedding venue was an old shed - a tiny barn, really - which we cleaned out and equipped with a projector and an old bedsheet on the far wall. In a virtual environment, I positioned the videos around a giant circle, and surrounded them with a particle system of glowing orbs. The orbs used the same HEX palette that controlled a series of Japanese lanterns flanking the physical screen. To control the entire thing, a captains' wheel was placed at the center of the room, mounted on a wooden pedestal and connected to a rotary encoder. The rotary encoder controlled the both virtual environment and the Japanese lanterns, blurring the conceptual line between the two.

Testing the Japanese lantern LEDs.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, with groups gathering at the captain's wheel for long stretches of time. Because the videos were staggered - groom - bride - groom - bride - stories began to blur, and a kind of super narrative emerged, much to the delight of the guests. Grandparents in particular enjoyed revisiting the videos, and would delegate younger cousins to operate the wheel for them.

A short clip from the event can be viewed here.

The barn, transformed for the event.

Testing the Japanese lantern LEDs.

An early rendering of the setup.

The barn, several months before the event.