Immersive installation artist Darren Vukasinovic wants to see more nuanced conversations around video games, technology and mental health. While acknowledging potential problems, particularly around addictive technologies, Vukasinovic also wants us to talk more about the potential for joy, connection, and real consciousness-shifting play that comes from new creative tools.
Vukasinovic has a background in filmmaking and VR (virtual reality) and is an immersive artist who creates experiences that intersect technology, art and storytelling. When asked at parties what he does, he says he “transforms physical spaces into fantastical worlds that spark curiosity and wonder, to create entirely new types of experiences for people of all ages.” ages.”
Vukasinovic is one of three prominent speakers participating in Mind Games: mental health and the world of digital games, a free Creative Exchange public conversation taking place on October 5, as part of Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW, September 30 – October 8, 2023). Panelists will explain why people game, where gaming and mental health can intersect, and how gamification is used across many different industry sectors to improve mental well-being.
Alongside Vukasinovic, other speakers on the panel are: Sarah Sorrell, of games industry charity Safe in our World; academic and professional clinical psychologist, Dr. Vasileios Stavropoulos; and moderator Holly Ransom, founder and CEO of consultancy Emergent and author of The avant-garde.
Before the conversation and in advance World Mental Health Day Tuesday October 10, Arts Center » asks Vukasinovic about technology, mental health and the type of art that interests him.
Arts Center: How did you become a Metaverse artist?
I was an early adopter of Oculus: I have extensive experience in film (writer/director) and the potential for total immersion in a story deeply attracted me to the potential of the technology. I’ve always viewed virtual reality (and, later, augmented reality) as the next frontier in cinema and experiential storytelling. The basic format of the moving visual image hasn’t changed in over 100 years, and the advent of virtual reality was also a tectonic shift in what a screen medium could be. At first, there were no formal courses or paths to follow – it was a bit of the Wild West – and I quickly taught myself, through forums and sharing knowledge with other pioneers, tutorials available in open source, and probably the most important aspect of adopting something you’re unfamiliar with: hands-on, fearless experimentation.
What motivates you as a creator/artist?
I’ve spent a lot of time exploring the interplay between mythology, mindfulness, and neuroscience – how the external experiences in our lives can shape our internal world. In this sense, my passion as an artist is to create experiences that have a profoundly positive impact on anyone who enters these spaces. Places that allow people to abandon themselves, to explore, to escape, to learn – holistically, to be in touch with wonder and the unknown.
What is your own journey with mental health and video games/VR/AR?
From the age of five, I was programming computers. I have always considered digital as a form of art. I’ve been in the industry since the early days of niche computer user groups trading floppy disks, and I’ve seen so many radical changes and frontiers in digital technology (and their effects) on human life. I also experienced firsthand the kind of isolation and encapsulation of another “tribe or reality” that gaming can create. This has distinctly positive potential (connecting people around a common community), but also a double-edged sword: when this world is more validating than the real world, you get dissociation.
Ultimately, a disconnect between the life you lead (physically) and your digital identity can lead to spirals of addiction and depression – gaming provides validation and adrenaline, and the real world seems like a place of rejection. Experiencing this myself and seeing it in others, I am acutely aware that interactive gaming engages an individual both intellectually and emotionally, and the question of whether this will be a good or bad thing is also rooted in the nature of the “game world”. » as well as the mental health of the individual.
There are a lot of worries and fears about screen time, video games, children, and mental health issues. What would you say to counter this or expand our understanding?
Firstly, and at the risk of disagreeing with some people, no game in itself can create a problem. We must recognize that any problem – a propensity for addiction, depression or other mental health problems – is pre-existing. A game, or a screen, does not create this problem – it becomes the main goal to escape the problem in the first place. It’s true that games – and screens in general – are constantly designed to fuel adrenaline and provide neurological responses that seem appealing to the individual. So, yes, there is an engineering side to this where things are designed to be addictive through reward/challenge mechanisms. But that’s the nature of trying to create something “appealing” or “fun.”
I think the conversation around this topic needs to be divided equally around “engineering intent” and the ability to create games/experiences that enforce positive neural pathways and behaviors, to the extent that it takes recognizing that a gaming/screen time addiction is indicative of a larger underlying problem and simply blaming the attention medium/outlet is not the answer.
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What are the most exciting and empathy-generating applications of VR technology in health or wellness that you have seen or can we expect in the near future?
One of the greatest potentials of virtual reality (and the real world immersion I currently work in) is to create real “experiences” that people have not had (and perhaps could not never have) in the “real world”. The experience can create new neural pathways, change a person’s biochemistry (even for a short time, but permanent changes can ensue), and create incredible levels of empathy. When you think about it, this means that you can shift someone’s perspective from their own worldview to someone else’s. You can take someone somewhere to have a first-hand experience. Knowledge is powerful, but experience is everything.
A VR experience that I often refer to is Notes on blindness, which is a sensory and psychological simulation of blindness. This experience is not something you can fully convey in a 2D film or book; in fact, “walking through it” is powerfully moving. With the Quest 3 just announced, the fusion of digital into the real world will go even further: merging a hypothetical experience with a real experience, so that your personal reality is shifted and altered in a way that can move you deeply.
Your bio states that your work is “built on fundamental principles derived from neuroscience, psychology, mythology and spirituality, creating spaces that spark curiosity in the conscious mind in order to influence the subconscious in positive ways and significant. Can you give us some examples?
An experiment that I am currently working on, Transverse orientation, is an immersive experience on a room scale. It uses real-time projection mapping to digitally transform the entire space. This “world” is then fully interactive and responsive to the presence of individuals through advanced tracking of movements in physical space: people’s movements and orientation are directly mapped in and out of the digital world, merging physical and digital. Finally, thanks to biofeedback, the way people “feel” in the space is also a factor in the responsiveness of the space. Imagine a fantastic world of bioluminescence that responds both to people’s physical movements in space, but also to their feelings – an entire world that is an outward reflection of the inner state of individuals and of the social group as cohesion . These types of experiences not only spark the individual’s curiosity and a sense of awe and wonder, but are also driven by social cohesion mechanisms that allow strangers to form bonds and awareness among themselves through intuition and open play.
What do you hope to come out of the Mind Games event on October 5? Where would you like the conversation to progress?
With the proliferation of gaming technologies – literally every smartphone, console and computer – combined with the potential of VR/AR, which is now becoming more and more mainstream, we are at a time in history where a large number of People have access to devices that can either become a negative pathway to addiction and escape, or a positively powerful tool to help reshape the mind in a positive way. Panels like this are very important in building a mainstream conversation around potential rather than the issue.
Where can we find examples of your work?
It’s the secret sauce! Much of my VR work has been done for specific companies or government agencies where it is used in a non-public manner. I am building Transverse orientation and, thanks to securing additional funding, I plan to launch it early next year. What is this space (or, I should say, watch this space transform!).
Mind Games: mental health and the world of digital gaming is presented by Creative Victoria. It will take place on Thursday 5 October 2023, from 11am to 12.30pm, Swanston Hall, Melbourne Town Hall, 90-130 Swanston Street, Melbourne; FREE, but reservation essential.
