Theatrum Mundi: “The Heart of Scotland”

As Technical & Environment Artist

In collaboration with artists Ahmet Rüstem Ekici & Hakan Sorar. Exhibited in House of Brothers Lounge @ Contemporary Istanbul: Bloom, Istanbul, Turkey.

Unreal Engine + MIDI controller + Gamepad (3-Screen installation) / 2023

“Theatrum Mundi: The Heart of Scotland” is a virtual world experience designed with a game engine. The viewer has the ability to change the scene through a control panel. They can intervene in the atmosphere, sound, colors, and physical conditions of the stage. Thus, the viewer shapes the virtual landscape and can observe the world from their desired angle. This experience allows a passive spectator to become an active experiencer.

Inspired by Scotland, the viewer navigates through a virtual landscape in the form of a drop and encounters philosophical waypoints such as existence and cycles.

“Theatrum Mundi” is a metaphorical concept that has been prominent in Western literature and thought from Ancient Greece to the present, as seen in theories such as Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” and was popular among certain writers during the Baroque Period. This interactive experience is designed based on this concept.

Technical Overview: An interactive level (environment & logic) design in Unreal Engine (inspired by Scotland Landscapes), that users interact with via a Gamepad & a MIDI controller interface, both to navigate the character (droplet of whiskey) and to change the weather conditions (rain, snow, dust, cloud coverage, wind speed, etc.), time of the day and many camera related features, such as self rotation, look-at angles & distance, in real-time. Philosophical messages are shown and whispered to the user when passing through certain points in the map/landscape.