NOW PLAYING: 59 ACRES

Artist Marike Splint’s work has a knack for getting us to reconsider the spaces around us, whether they are human made, natural, or somewhere in between. NoPro’s first real exposure to Splint’s craft was Among Us, part of the LAX Fest back in 2016. That work has been staged in a few more locales since then with the series wrapping in 2020.

Since then Splint has been working on The ACRES Series — “ a series of geolocated soundwalks built in the video game engine UNITY, that cast the landscape and the natural environment as the main character and as a canvas for refection” — of which three instances have been developed.

The latest is 59 ACRES, which uses a custom app and guides guests from the La Jolla Playhouse box office around UC San Diego and its environs, making sure that what they are hearing is synched up to what they are seeing as they move through the campus. We caught up with Splint via the magic of email about the project, which debuted as part of the Without Walls Festival and is ongoing.

This is No Proscenium’s NOW PLAYING, a look at ongoing immersive experiences & events. To learn more about how your event could be considered for the feature check out How To Get Covered By NoPro.

NoPro is 100% reader & listener supported. Join our Patreon campaign to secure & expand our coverage of Everything Immersive!

NO PROSCENIUM: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?

Marike Splint: 59 ACRES is an immersive and site-specific soundwalk starting at La Jolla Playhouse that takes the audience on an urban odyssey through the UC San Diego campus. It comes in the form of an app. Once downloaded, you can do the walk using your own device and headphones at your convenience. I often like to describe this piece as a VR experience without the V. It invites the audiences into a heightened experience of their immediate surroundings, as if they are walking through a documentary film that is live scored.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

MS: I am always looking to create experiences in public space that make us re-see our immediate environments, experiences that make you notice things that would otherwise go unnoticed, telling the stories behind the facades. In the case of 59 ACRES, I looked at the biotech hub that is UCSD, and I wondered — what questions lie at the origin of a place like this? We build universities because we want to research something. So what is the base research question, the first spark of curiosity, that led to the existence of this place? Can I distill it back to a question most of us can relate to?

Get NoPro Newswire’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

SubscribeSubscribe

And in the process of tracing back this question I ran into all kinds of other origin stories — those of the trees on campus, the origins of the landscape before any development, the origins of the campus layout. And so before I knew it I found myself interweaving all these origin stories.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

MS: First of all, the amazing immersive sound design by composer Jonathan Snipes, composed fully of local field recordings (including overnight droprigs on trees and on plazas). Second, what you won’t really “see” as an audience member but what is essential to the experience is that we built it in UNITY, a video game engine, using video game functionalities and applying them to this walk in the real world. We also geolocated the content, so to do the experience, you have to follow directions to the starting point and open the app there. This video game technology combination of using the GPS on your phone creates a seamlessly timed experience, no matter how fast or slow one does the walk, full of was-that-part-of-it moments.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

MS: UCSD is a place that can be really busy and full of students at times, and feel quiet and empty at others. So, we had to design a piece that works for all kinds of circumstances the audience might find the campus in. We did discover though that sunset is the best time to do the piece. Can’t beat the dramatic lighting design that the sun is giving us at that time of day. The natural light change definitely has an impact on how the experience resonates, especially the end.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

MS: To get in the mood for the soundscape, you can listen to 32 ACRES by Jonathan Snipes on Bandcamp, which is the album of a previous soundwalk we made. We can also spoil that The Lorax makes a special appearance in the piece, so you may want to brush up on your Dr. Seuss. Lastly, if it’s been a while since you have put your ear against a seashell and listened to the sound of the ocean, see if you can find one and surrender to the magic of listening to it. A love for conch shells lies at the heart of the 59 ACRES experience.

Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.

NoPro is a labor of love made possible by our generous Patreon backers. Join them today and get access to our Newsletter and Discord!

In addition to the No Proscenium website and our podcast, and you can find NoPro on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and in the Facebook community also named Everything Immersive.