Empire At Sea is a Solarpunk AR drama about a group of pioneering climate scientists who move to a remote oil rig for their summer sabbatical to attempt to create a sustainable city at sea. Halfway through the summer, the big one hits and wipes out the mainland. Unable to make contact with anyone, they must fend for themselves. We drop into the story five years later and meet Lani, our young female protagonist, on the morning she sees a boat on the horizon – the first boat or sign of civilization they have seen in five years. The drama centers on whether our group should allow the strangers aboard or repel them by force.This episodic, interactive drama speaks directly to the climate change generation with a thrilling father-daughter story that addresses themes of sustainability, inclusionary vs exclusionary principles, immigration, and multicultural communities. It features a diverse and recognizable cast, including Orlando Jones (American Gods), Ayelet Zurer (Spielberg’s Munich), Geoffrey Arend (Goliath), and Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men).
In this session, I will be play testing a few work-in-progress volumetric scenes and discussing the creative possibilities for volumetric capture and branching narrative in XR. I will also demonstrate our advanced work with moving gaussian splats as a method for efficient volumetric playback in realtime.
From the Artist
Peter Flaherty is a director and interactive artist who uses intuitive interactivity and contemporary social topics to place participants in unfamiliar experiential and emotional territory. His work has shown in over a hundred international venues. He conceived and directed The Dial, an interactive narrative combining AR & projection mapping (Sundance 2019). He created and directed The Surrogate, a Virtual Reality narrative (SXSW Interactive Innovation Award Finalist 2016). He was Creative Director for Marvel Studios and Disney’s Eternals AR (2021). He is currently completing Empire At Sea, a Solarpunk AR drama about climate scientists who colonize an oil rig after an environmental catastrophe, which will premiere at Lincoln Center in 2027. He created three productions for the Metropolitan Opera: Lohengrin, which premiered at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in 2022 and at the Met in 2023, an interactive version of The Flying Dutchman in 2020, and a massive, 5-hour video projection for Parsifal in 2012. His video installation, Pass Back a Revolver, premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. On Broadway, he created the Video and Projection Design for Sondheim on Sondheim, later adapted for HBO's documentary film, Six by Sondheim. He has created interactive art installations, performances, and concerts that have toured the world with The Builders Association, Complicite, Big Dance Theater, Basil Twist, and many others. His video art has shown at the MIT Media Lab and the home of Agnes Gund (President Emerita of MOMA). He is a Professor at CalArts.
Return to all sessions