In a world where the fine line between the physical and digital domain gets increasingly blurry, it is easy to lose sight of the roots that anchor our identities in the community. Cahaya XR seeks to find a place in the borderless Metaverse for the social and cultural narratives of Penangites to continue surviving.
By Koay Choon Sean
The big question remains for both the cognizant and uninformed: What is the Metaverse?
It is “everything everywhere all at once”. Sorry, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Michelle Yeoh. It has to be said.
Any attempt to truly understand the Metaverse is a journey down the rabbit hole. For the literary, it’s best to start with Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson. Fancy something on the big screen? Try Ready Player One (2018).
But what if you can go beyond this reality to experience it? What if you can enter the Metaverse—or one manifestation of it?
Enter Cahaya XR (2022).
The First Edition
The Metaverse is deemed to be a new paradigm shift for the arts. But on major headlines, all we see is Non-Fungible Token (NFT).
We cannot deny that capital moves the world and people. But the Metaverse is more than that.
Read more: On the NFT Wagon
“It can be a space for immersive and inclusive community storytelling through the expressions of art,” said Luvenia Kalia, the Creative Producer of Cahaya XR.
However, Maitree—the studio behind this inaugural outing to the Metaverse in Penang—is no stranger to this territory. The Australia-based creative digital studio has previously approached visual storytelling projects, such as Rising Tide and Reimagining the Village, through VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) technologies.
If Cahaya XR (which stands for eXtended Reality) is anything to go by, it is a test screening for the first instalment of a promising franchise that seeks to reaffirm community narratives through contemporary interpretation.
It is a journey uncoincidentally connected with the powerful symbolism of the number 3: three months, three local artists, three mentors. The result? Bewildering.
Meet Morpheus? Nope, just the Oculus
The physical manifestation of Cahaya XR was rather unassuming, enclosed in a modest room in The Whiteaways Arcade. At the rear of the room where the magic happened, six white rotating stools were placed feet apart from one another to allow the visitors to navigate comfortably (and minimally) in this physical universe.
What was on the stool, however, had the visitors thrilled. To those who were not previously acquainted with it, the Oculus VR headset appears to be a prop from the set of a sci-fi movie. Except it works.
(L-R): The Oculus VR headset and controllers; and navigating in the Metaverse (Photo credit: Koay Choon Sean)
Experiencing immersive memories
“Before the existence of the museum, the cave was the original enclave for knowledge. And since the context of memories is at play, we thought of using a legacy-based setting to greet visitors as they step into our version of the Metaverse,” explained Luvenia.
In the middle of the cave, a luminescent pillar rises to the sky. Without any cue, columns of words appear around the pillar and ascend against the pull of gravity. It is like a scene out of The Matrix.
Except they are not binary numbers. Those words represent the slivers of memory from the local communities. It is an apt exemplification of how past narratives are central to the continuous social and cultural development within society.
The cavernous lounge with the pillar of memories. (Photo credit: Cahaya XR)
From the centre of the cavernous lounge, visitors are given the choice to manoeuvre further to any of the three available porticos. Two of them project instantaneous appeal because of their discernible manifestations in the form of heritage shophouses—which are synonymous with Penang.
A feast for the eyes and ears—Kah Ki Lang by White Bones. (Photo credit: Cahaya XR)
The edifice inspired by the Straits Eclectic architectural style houses the works of White Bones. In Kah Ki Lang (loosely translated as “Our People”), the husband-wife tag team with the mentorship of creative technologist Steven Voon seeks to bring out the rich cultural depth of the Baba Nyonya (or Straits Chinese) community through a sensory experience of sight and sound.
Read more: White Bones: On making art as a creative couple
Upon entry into the brightly-lit virtual space, three panels of static artwork appear. A “Play” button on the side of the works prompts further activation. As the animations unfold, visitors are immersed deeper into the memories through a barrage of conversations in the local Hokkien dialect. The Oculus VR did an amazing job in rendering a wholesome, corporeal experience amidst the virtual setting. The audible voices from both the community and the surrounding environment also inject a layer of intimacy into the experience.
Re-enactment of the Street of Harmony—The Pulau I Call Home by Ysabel Loh. (Photo credit: Cahaya XR)
On the opposing side of the lounge, an imposing building in the Art Deco style marks the gateway into multidisciplinary artist Ysabel Loh’s The Pulau I Call Home. It is the most compelling experience out of the three with pocket universes for the visitors to roam and, eventually, get lost in.
The six different settings—from the botanical garden and the hawker stall to a re-enacted Street of Harmony—present spatial-linked recollections as well as narratives from the locals. As opposed to the clean lines observed in White Bones’ works, the artistic expressions by Loh are raw yet vivacious.
Luvenia mentioned that Loh constructed the entire space in the Metaverse through the tilt brush method with the mentorship of VR artist Michelle Brown and the aid of the Oculus VR—which is nothing short of overwhelming.
The final room, however, delivers an element of surprise.
What’s your call?—The Pulau I Call Home by Ysabel Loh (Photo credit: Cahaya XR)
The overarching question of “What’s next for Penang’s art scene?” looms above all else, with two palpable probes underneath: To Stay, or To Leave? Clicking these probes confront you with confessions from local creatives that put forth the harrowing realisation that there is much more to be done for the art fraternity in Penang by those with money and authority.
Buried memories and lost faces—Docking Days by Kabilan. (Photo credit: Cahaya XR)
The third and final space in Cahaya XR’s version of the Metaverse takes its shape in a rather unusual fashion. Instead of the heritage buildings as seen in the previous two works, the artist Kabilan adopts the approach of a wooden bridge as the entryway into his virtual space.
Titled Docking Days, it is a VR documentary that explores the community stories within the decks of the unforgettable yellow ferries of Penang. The service was, unfortunately, terminated in January 2021 after 126 years and has since been replaced with modern yet uninspiring rapid ferries.
With the mentorship of local filmmaker Quin Ooi, Kabilan creates a moving chronicle that rouses the buried memories of those who are still around to remember, for whom the ferry was more than a way of commuting. The faceless souls could be a representation of those we are not acutely aware of—yet they exist within that space in our shared subconsciousness.
Above all, the blast from the ferry’s horns evokes a sense of nostalgia for days that are lost to time.
POTENTIAL SEQUELS AND SPIN-OFFS
“The one thing about experimentation in a sandbox such as the Metaverse is the ability to prevent permanent damage to the real world. Beyond that, we can create an interactive dimension for both the artists and the communities that transcend the limits of distances.
“The question we are asking in Cahaya XR now is—how can we make it more accessible than ever?” said Luvenia.
Read more: Luvenia Kalia on immersive art and preserving the heritage of Penang
She also quipped, “Together with what’s next, I also have to ask myself—who’s next in the potential list of funders?”
Koay Choon Sean (Andy) reads just about anything and everything. Is he a writer too? Maybe. His life is all about curiosity.
The First Edition of Cahaya XR might have ended with George Town Festival 2022, but the gateway to their Metaverse is still open (enter through here).