Me, Myself & My Avatars:

It takes 2 + Ponyboy

2023

Virtual reality experience of playable non-human avatars as multiplayer

"Me, Myself & My Avatars: It takes 2 + Ponyboy" is the sequel to the previous work "Me, Myself & My Avatars (or remapping the homunculus)". That earlier one is a virtual reality experience that makes three strange, non-human avatars tangible: one with extra limbs, one consisting of multiple bodies, and one that allows you to control the entire environment with your movements. This series is now complemented by two further avatars that deviate even more from human form and habit. Unlike the single-player mode of its predecessor, these additional bodies are arranged for two simultaneous players to explore the peculiar bodily experiences together.

Ponyboy

This avatar has the physique of a horse, but a human look. Its control is similarly ambivalent: The player moves in it like a horse on all fours, but controls it in an upright position (biped). The complexity of such an alternative control goes beyond the intuitive notion of real body and virtual movement, and as Ponyboy you will literally break new ground.

It takes 2

As the title suggests, this level requires two players to control a single avatar. Both are in the same virtual body and only by coordinating with each other can they move their shared avatar and interact with the environment within it. This setting allows us to go beyond the traditional boundaries of our bodies and experience what it would be like to share and control a body with someone else on the playing field of virtual reality.

Experience Design & Programming: Lena Biresch

Puppetry & Programming: Nico Parisius

3D Art: Tore Nobiling & Tim Mayer (Curvature Games)

Exhibitions & Showings:

Test Playing, Glaserei, Hamburg: 06/17/2023

Spy on Me #5, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin: 10/17-19/2024

PAD03 - Performing Arts & Digitalität Festival, Wiesbaden: 10/24+25/2024