In today’s films, those responsible for visual effects have a crucial role. Although they are unsung heroes in most cases, these creators shape the layer that can make a film’s many scenes leap from the screen and leave an impression on the audience. Kevin Scott Mack is no stranger to visually intensive films, having served as visual effects supervisor for such movies as Fight Club, Speed Racer, Ghost Rider, and many more.
He’s also taken home an Oscar for his work on What Dreams May Come, a film featuring the late Robin Williams. Now, he’s bringing abstract art to life via a new VR application called Blortasia that releases on January 5th, and UploadVR had an opportunity to discuss the project with him ahead of time.
Plenty of VR apps offer the chance to create interesting works and explore them in different ways, but Blortasia is to be approached as a piece of art itself. As a matter of fact, Blortasia is literally a world of abstract art and visitors get to explore it by flying around.
“Blortasia is inspired by visions, nature, technology, neuroscience, artificial life, and physics,” Mack says. “I’ve been dreaming of virtual reality and being able to transport people into my art all my life.”
The experience is an extension of his other work under the Shape Space VR brand, Zen Parade, a work that earned him a Proto Award nomination for Best Independent Experience.
Blortasia started as an experiment to see what Mack could do with the Vive when he received one at the Unity Vision Summit in February of last year. Over nine months it grew into a collection of sculptures that are ever-evolving and give visitors a surreal experience with trippy visuals that may bring to mind hallucinogens — and that’s not a mistake.
“In the ’90s, after years of exploring psychotropics, Timothy Leary and Terrence McKenna shifted their focus to the consciousness expanding potential of VR,” Mack reflects. “I’m trying to pick up where they left off, while adding an artistic perspective to the evolution of consciousness.”
Mack says he’s had visions all his life and has been dreaming of virtual reality since he was four years old. That plus his interests in neuroscience, artificial life, mysticism, meditation, psychedelics, and lucid dreaming no doubt contribute to his incredible capacity to create intense imagery in the film industry, and now, within VR.
Blortasia will be available on January 5th on Steam for $4.99.
