Could you Relax in an Artistic Co-creative Virtual Reality Experience?

Abstract

Our work contributes to the design and study of artistic collaborative virtual environments through the presentation of immersive and interactive digital artwork installation and the evaluation of the impact of the experience on visitor's emotional state. The experience is centered on a dance performance, involves collaborative spectators who are engaged to the experience through full-body movements, and is structured in three times, a time of relaxation and discovery of the universe, a time of co-creation and a time of co-active contemplation. The collaborative artwork ''Creative Harmony'', was designed within a multidisciplinary team of artists, researchers and computer scientists from different laboratories. The aesthetic of the artistic environment is inspired by the German Romantism painting from 19th century. In order to foster co-presence, each participant of the experience is associated to an avatar that aims to represent both its body and movements. The music is an original composition designed to develop a peaceful and meditative ambiance to the universe of ''Creative Harmony''. The evaluation of the impact on visitor's mood is based on "Brief Mood Introspection Scale" (BMIS), a standard tool widely used in psychological and medical context. We also present an assessment of the experience through the analysis of questionnaires filled by the visitors. We observed a positive increase in the Positive-Tired indicator and a decrease in the Negative-Relaxed indicator, demonstrating the relaxing capabilities of the immersive virtual environment.