This is current work-in-progress, a project called Observatory
I expect to update this page periodically, so check back often for updates.
May 2023, Cincinnati, Ohio USA
Working on the project, I have been installing statues and lights
in the crypts around the sancturary of the Temple of Hathor in Dendera.
The five chapters trace the Zodiac from its origins in the Paleolithic period, through the Younger Dryas
period (a time of great climate change), and from the birth of Civilization in the middle east until the
present and into the future, this project follows the presence of the Zodiac and its place in the cosmology of
human experience.
At the end of each written chapter, the viewer is transported to a virtual world related to the flow of
the text, which traces human culture from the ancient past to the distant future with a focus on the Zodiac.
Here is the saame scene from more recent work in progress (June 2022, benb)
a more recent screen cap is here:
In the Temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt, the Zodiac was preserved for posterity on its ceiling.
This model also is currently under construction, and will serve as the "bumper sim" after chapter three.
Here is another picture of work in progress on the same place in the temple from February 9, 2022.
am enjoying examining the heiroglypic wall compositions.
After exploring each temple, the visitor is transported interactively into the next written chapter.
In this way, the project blends written and navigable 3d expressions to share ideas about humanity.
I am working on finishing the text for Chapter Two: The Younger Dryas, and starting Chapter Three: Cultural Evolution.
Still researching a lot of interesting questions about the Y-chromosome bottleneck and the spread of cultural heritage from Egypt to Rome, Europe and America. I am observing the process with a focus on the development of the calendar and a cultural complex consisting of polished greestone (jade), pottery, copper, and arrowheads. The general period of inquiry for now is that period after the Younger Dryas as the northern and western lands were repopulated and trade routes were slowly restablished during the Holocene (post-Ice Age) era until now. The Y-Chromosome bottleneck seems culturally significant to me and seems relevant to understanding the nature of cultural evolution during the period in question.
| April 20, 2022 Working lately on third chapter; possibly too broad a mandate for one chapter, stretching from the Younger Dryas, extending to the Modern Era. I have been seeking to trace culture through the duration of the Holocene period; lately studying Bronze Age Collapse, Y-Chromosome bottleneck, cosmological evolution, Egyptian, Roman, Venetian, British empires. Relating these to climate events, like around 535 AD one. Exploring space telescopes and extraplanetary human activity on Mars, Moon, and elsewhere. Here is a recent work-in-progress pic... |
| I am working on a new navigation controller for my 3D scenes, click to move with free look. This is to build maximum interoperability of the project with display systems including desktop, laptop, phone, web, cave, headmount, and others. Keeping the user interface design with one-hand operability facilitates a wider range of display interface possibilities. So I hope this controller system will be an improvement. I need to install it in one or more scenes and have people try it to see if it works well for people. 04/23/22 so far, i am thinking it is easier but less immersive for players/viewers... the vrmouse controller is not as easy for tilting to view up and down, but smoother for navigation.... |
4/23/2022 Got the VRMouse controller in. The Click2Movefreelook is still kludgie and feels incomplete, so I am going with VRMouse for now. It is more elegant but I am very concerned about its non-tilt tendency. I hope that I can convert the Dendera temple into a CAVE system, maybe the whole Observatory project into a CAVE system, so the ceiling could be rendered in physical reality while the touchscreen shows the player view.
I am contemplating the idea of good people who contribute wonderful things to the world but they get wiped out physically, so that no one knows rationally that they existed, but their ideas remain current and their stories and myths and values remain extant in the culture, and they inform and guide the future. So with the zodiac. I felt this when I visited Lascaux, the connection to the hand of the original artist. The moment of marking.
People claim to monopolize or own or claim the symbols of the ancient past of humanity, but they cannot do it. The symbols retain their power above human intervention, because they are more perfect than humans, being immortal ideas, abstractions, concepts of mind.
june 16, 2022
I have a lot of new textures and objects installed in the temple. There is so much more to do, the real temple is covered from floor to ceiling with picture-writing, and there are many unique, notable elements to construct.
-benb 2022