Case Study 20: “Touch the Unreachable”, a concept design on how to use interactive storytelling techniques

“Touch the Unreachable” is a concept design on how to use interactive storytelling techniques, video, 3D animation and graphic visualization for art education purposes. The “Touch the Unreachable” concept is an application designed for a museum environment and aims to promote knowledge of Finnish cultural heritage. Through 14 panels painted within the pavilion, the experience helps the visitor understand how Finnish figurative communication identity was build at the end of the 19th century and how the same illustration traditions are still in use during our time. Step by step the visitor follows Finnish artists through history and comes face to face with the same problematic situations as experienced by the artists. The main task of the visitor is to establish a theme and create four example prints that reflect Finnish culture and identity for the Finnish Pavilion in the Paris World Exhibition of 1900. Through doing and experimenting, the visitor builds up his or her own understanding of how the Finnish image identity was built at the end of the 19th century. The journey follows historical facts and chronology during 1899-1900 in Finland and Paris. Wemmeri and Ludzia (the tutor and antagonist characters) follow the visitor’s movements throughout the journey and actively participate in his or her actions.

The journey is based on the narrative structure of Peter Howitt’s 1998 film “Sliding Doors”. The application is designed as a touch wall using Flash technology, video, and animation. The thesis work relates to the project of 3D reconstruction of the Finnish Pavilion in Paris built in the year 1900, produced by the Media Lab’s Systems of Representation research group, led by professor Lily Diaz. The concept design consists of both a design & content document, and various artworks, including the visual study for the interface and the 3D characters of Wemmeri and Ludzia.

For more information please visit : www.virva.biz/thesis
Virva E. Auvinen, New media Designer
Interaction, Narrative, Illustrative  & 3D design for Digital Media