East Beijing Road is an asymmetric VR installation that reimagines the stories of a building with a history spanning over 100 years in Shanghai, China, whose residents were compelled to move out due to an ongoing gentrification policy.

The project addresses the perceptions of the past and present, the fluidity of archives, and the meanings of ruins. A synthetic space was reconstructed based on 3D photogrammetry models captured in this building. The audience, both inside and outside VR, must use distinct interfaces and experience different visual presentations to collaboratively unfold the story. Old and new, digital and analog, real and fictional, and virtual and physical elements interweave. The asymmetrical design in interactive storytelling blends different times and spaces, allowing the re-enactment of the past through audience collaborative actions, raising questions about the relationship between interactivity and the visibility of the past.

Director:

Haoran Chang

Haoran Chang is an artist, media art researcher, and experimental game designer. He is pursuing a Phd. degree at York University in Cinema and Media Studies. His practice and research focus on the immersive media, game studies, and health humanity in XR. His works have been shown in many international conferences and festivals, including ISEA, xCoAx, CHI Play, and HASTAC. He has also exhibited works in museums and galleries, including CICA museum in South Korea, Walter Otero Contemporary Art in Puerto Rico, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, Hunan Museum of Art in China, Center 3 in Toronto and many more. He is also the founder of Mixed Reality collective Chameleon Gallery.

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