If we could “arrive” at any place instantly through the online world, would we still be eager to visit frequently? Recalling past experiences in life, my mother emigrated from Myanmar to Taiwan with her family in search of an ideal life, and she often keeps in contact with relatives who immigrated to the United States through online video calls every weekend. In the blink of an eye, it has been more than 10 years since they’ve met in real life.
During the pre-production process, I asked my relatives in the United States to use their smartphones to download the same 3D scanning app, and log in to my account, so that they could simultaneously see the same files. Then, through a video call, I taught them how to scan the environment of their home in the United States, so that I could turn their living space into a 3D model file and place it in our living space in Taiwan. The audio in the VR is a conversation in Burmese between my mother who emigrated to Taiwan and my aunt who immigrated to the United States. Messages that appear from time to time on the upper right corner of the screen are the daily online texts they send each other to maintain their relationship. The camera seems to move freely between different spaces. “This” and “that” seem close yet far away, but the deformed and blurry scans of people and space show the true appearance of perception and memory.
