REVISITED

Realizing that what I wanted to make accessible – one vs more degrees of freedom – depended on the availability of VR headsets, I investigated ways to translate characteristics into easier accessible media by extracting parameters. I began by creating seamless panoramas of the storefront plane (à la Ruscha) to test whether the continuous video experience could be translated into an equally seamless static representation.

In total, the sequence pool for the four strip panoramas consisted of 156,480 sequence stripes rendered from the videos. 500 were hand-selected for each of the four manually stitched collages.

My Storefront Planes were collected in two handmade accordion fold books in a handmade box. Each stating which timelines and camera angle were represented. Each book contains two manually stitched digital collages of the Sunset Strip in 2016, both in juxtaposition of Early Morning & Afterglow light of the respective rides. So instead of using Ruscha's approach – which is riding up the Strip, flipping the book over and riding down the Sunset Strip – each book consciously juxtaposes early morning and afterglow light. By that I wanted to emphasize how the same storefront plane and place presents itself differently due to atmospheres of light. Half-things as Hermann Schmitz would say, that modulate the way in which nature appears.

The idea of wanting to depict dynamic visual space in a static collage manifested itself during a conversation with a visitor at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes (2018). While wearing the headset and experiencing the 360°VR of the Sunset Strip, she asked, “Why am I stopping now?” — the simple answer being a red traffic light.

This led me to realize that time is often deliberately excluded from the visual dynamics of collages that claim to show things 'as they are.' But our lived environment is not simply a set of fixed coordinates or geometries; it is shaped by rhythm, perspective, motion, and temporal flow, all of which can be seen in these static representations of dynamic space. Even though all four rides along Sunset Strip start and end at the same points, each differs in duration, rhythm, and the unfolding of experience.

Unlike the collages in Ruscha’s 'Every Building on the Sunset Strip' or my 'REVISITED' storefront plane, these collages visually translate temporal extension into space, rendering everything — buildings, cars, pedestrians — either compressed, normal, or stretched. Always relative to the dynamic movement of the ride, distance from the camera to static objects or individuals with own motion dynamics, and frame rate.

Spacetime tunnels again unite a selection of these separated static translations of dynamic visual space. The degrees of freedom are re-assembled into one digital virtual tunnel. I am still working on an implementation to make this accessible here on the website or via headset. Stay tuned.

In the most complex technique applied to the REVISITED source footage, the time and space axes of the videos were again flipped, - same as in the static spacetime collages - but the footage was simultaneously sliced through its sphere.

The video panoramas depict the changing topology of the Sunset Strip through rhythm, perspective, and time, compressing and stretching space according to these parameterswhile also translating the 360° scope as rotation over time. Time becomes a dimension in space, space and perspective become dimensions in time.

The REVISIT Soundtrack is part of the broader audio framework within my REVISITED project. It is the basis for the REVISIT Radio broadcast, as well as for a vinyl release with a flip-book like collage concept. Each record insert is unique, depicts and represents a specific slice of time and space of the virtual reality tunnel. Imagine it like a sliced space-sausage. By sliding the insert with the equirectangular panorama of a specific moment into the sleeve, the center-label cut-out reveals front or back perspective of that moment, again reflecting upon the projects core concepts. Removing records one by one from what I call an information block, reveals the flip book like sequence in which you move along the sequence frame section. Once you watch the videos, the connection becomes immediately clear. 150 records correspond to 5 seconds of 360° video frames.

For the soundtrack, six producers were invited to draw inspiration from the 360° videos and give them the atmospheres they wished to evoke. Each artist provided three tracks. The whole album that features 18 tracks is split into three records named after famous landmarks that we drive by in the flip book sections I wrote about earlier. Sunset Tower, Tower Records and Whisky A Go-Go.

The records also include an augmented reality extension. When placing your phone in front of the center-label cut-outs using the Artivive app, you can view the sequence of which you own a slice of, making it a collectively owned art piece.

REVISIT RADIO is a fictive radio station. It is broadcasting within the ‚Staging the Ordinary‘ installation experience and can be activated by pushing a volume pedal.

It features all 18 tracks of the REVISIT OST. All content narrated by the radio host (Dj Joe Joe) who is pretending to be in Los Angeles on the day I recorded the 360° videos originates from the video itself. For example, from what can be seen on billboards (time and temperature indicators, upcoming season of Game of Thrones, etc.) or actual weather forecasts. The show also includes artist and track introductions, and so on.

Example: 'Hello, you’re listening to 36.0 REVISIT Radio. Its a beautiful evening out here in L.A. with temperatures in the mid 60s and the marine-layer slowly moving in from the Pacific. The forecast for tomorrow: Overcast and some passing clouds in the morning with temperatures between 60 and 71. Afternoon: Clear skies with temperatures climbing to 66 and a maximum of 74 degrees.'

Now does music and narrative influence our gaze? I tried to find out and listened to each track while watching the 360° video. Even though I repeatedly “drove” through the same virtual tunnel, I had the feeling that each track — with its distinct atmosphere — influenced my overall feeling and directed my attention toward different areas within the virtual experience. Narrated content like the announcement of the next season of 'Game Of Thrones' let me search for the billboards announcing it. The one-minute out-takes created with screen-captures reflect the core premise of the work: Spectators becoming co-producers of their own experiences, which unfold individually within the same past moment.

For this additional installation, I wanted to enrich the virtual experience of one selected 360° video by adding sound and narrated content. In other words, I wanted to stage a possible experience driving along the Sunset Strip on May 11, 2016.

For this purpose, a 3rd order Ambisonics spatial audio environment has been created using an Ambisonics Library, scripted passersby conversations and music snippets. As mentioned above, the REVISIT Radio broadcast can optionally be added to the installation by pressing the volume pedal.

Compared to stereo audio, 3rd order Ambisonics can be best understood by imagining 16 speakers placed around you. Each object you can hear, for example a car or the music in it, is treated as a distinct sound source that is precisely placed, tracked and traced. As a result, each sound reacts dynamically to spectators turning, tilting or shifting their head and with that the VR headset. The sound comes from a different direction depending on the spectators viewpoint or objects distance, similar to real life. 3rd order Ambisonics spatial audio trailer on Hear-VR-Now | 1st order Ambisonics spatial audio trailer on Youtube.

As mentioned above, the REVISIT Radio broadcast can optionally be added to the installation by pressing the volume pedal.

The Eclipse Boulevard is Rockstars’ interpretation of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles and situated in Vinewood West of Los Santos. It is known for its landmark architecture, venues and billboard landscape; in the game Grand Theft Auto V, as well as in real life.

The Vinewood Boulevard is Rockstars’ interpretation of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles and situated in Vinewood of Los Santos. It is known for its venues, walk of fame and celebrity culture; in the game Grand Theft Auto V, as well as in real life.

Following the concept of REVISITED, I made two handmade accordion-fold books for each Boulevard. In this case, I used the same 'ride - flip over - ride back' design as Ed Ruscha did in ‘Every Building On The Sunset Strip’ from 1966 and put them both in a box including a fold-out insert with contextual information.

To highlight some of the landmarks and billboards, whose 2016 real life pendants can be discovered in the 360° environments, I also walked across the Eclipse Boulevard and took pictures with GTA Vs in-built Snapmatic camera. Similar to how I would do it in real life.

What I observed emerging from moving between all these worlds is, that having explored Los Angeles in real life and the Sunset Strip through my 360° videos, made it surprisingly easy to navigate Los Santos, as many areas immediately felt familiar. After spending a bit of time in Los Santos over the years, returning to Los Angeles in 2024 revealed how strongly the game had reinforced my spatial orientation.

Rockstar’s translation is remarkably precise, capturing not only architectural forms but also overexposing clichés and cultural markers that define these spaces. They carefully blend real-world references with digital design results in an open-world environment that feels both authentic and intuitively navigable. So much for staging the ordinary. ‚No traffic, so cliché!‘