The Memory of Aden Walker (2015)
An immersive experience of a memory from the future
Thesis at Parsons Design and Technology 2015
'The Memory of Aden Walker' explores the possibility of how humans will relive and explore their memories in a speculative future. The science in the film evolves from our current technological inclinations, reaching a deep confluence of the real and virtual. The film is shown through the memory of a transhuman who loses himself in his own virtual memories of his dead wife. Could technology change the fate of human memory?
The film is experienced through a version of the Google Cardboard, which is a head mounted display allowing users to be fully immersed in the memory. Apart from being an audio/visual piece, users feel the vibration from the memory allowing the experience to become multi-sensorial.
My interest in memories through photographs, videos, objects and relics has grown over time. I admire how they take me back in time and allowed me to experience my past or somebody else’s journey. Over the years, I realized my short term memory capacity was extremely poor compared to my friends’ and often have a tough time recalling a past memory. Visual and auditory representations of a memory often unlock various memories in my brain and have brought a past experience back to life. My research then began in making them more immersive and real to provoke emotional responses.
With the advent of wearable computing, will we be able to seamlessly record our memories and experiences without a physical device? How will that change the way the we see and remember our lives? In what way would we experience memories in the future?
With The Memory of Aden Walker, I explore one possibility of how transhumans could relive memories in the future. In this speculative future, Aden (Mark Puchinsky) uses his skills as a virtual designer to bring back his dead wife Simone (Rachel Griesinger) from his memories of her. He is assisted by his childhood friend Z (Joseph Dunn) who specializes in virtual touch. Together they hack into his brain allowing him to be with his wife through his virtual memories. Aden is conflicted by the addiction of his virtual wife & his physical self.
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