Bini Oculus

by Telcosystems
Bini Oculus, 15 December 2017 at Klankvorm #4 V2_ Rotterdam. Photo by Pieter Kers.

3D technology has been around for more than a century. The first public 3D-test screenings took place in New York in 1915, organized by Edwin Porter and William Waddell. Despite its long and rich history, the technology has mainly been used for what the industry intended: to generate three-dimensional illusions in the most realistic manner possible. Despite its long history, 3D was never developed much further beyond this initial ‘trick’.

Aims

Bini Oculus (‘double vision’) explores the possibilities of two-eyed vision and create new experiences that lie beyond the 3D illusion. The main aim of this project is to make the digital 3D cinema infrastructure accessible for experimental and performative use in ways that 3D can be explored and used to the full potential of this technology.

Research Questions

  1. To develop 3D as an instrument that can be used for the representation of two image streams, one for each eye.
  2. Explore phenomena such as ‘binocular rivalry’, ‘multi-stable visual perception’, and ‘interocular suppression’. Binocular rivalry occurs when each eye receives a different picture. Instead of seeing the two images mixed, one sees them one after another. Multi-stable visual perception, the spontaneous alternation between two or more perceptual states, occurs when the sensory information is ambiguous. And interocular suppression occurs when one eye is watching a moving image, while the other one sees a stationary image. Instead of seeing the two images mixed, the stationary image is suppressed for longer periods.
Bini Oculus, 15 December 2017 at Klankvorm #4 V2_ Rotterdam. Video by Zahra Karimpour.

Test film

Bini Oculus is part of the research project TESTFILM, a series of projects and films which address the impact of new technological developments in digital filmmaking and their implications for the future of artists’ cinema. These films, installations and live performances also put to the test the (im)possibilities of translating analogue experiments into the digital realm.

Partners

Research partners: Indyvideo, Matthijs Munnik, Xpand
Co-production partner: Klankvorm (NL)
Supported by: Creative Industries Fund NL, City of Rotterdam
Additional support by: Centre for Visual Arts Rotterdam

Experiments

Experiment 1: Proof of concept demonstration with prototype shutter device and modified 3D glasses
Experiment 2: Proof of concept demonstration with prototype shutter device and modified 3D glasses