Ekho集体：超越歌剧系列 (Ekho Collective: Opera Beyond series)

In my previous blog post talking about our project, I examined how our Ekho Collective’s process of building our immersive installation Laila has changed during COVID-19. Now our project is almost finished, and the tickets are on sale for showings in August 2020 in Helsinki. Here, I’ve collected thoughts from members of our collective on the process of building Laila.

在我之前关于我们项目的博客文章中 ，我研究了Ekho Collective建造沉浸式装置Laila的过程在COVID-19期间是如何变化的。 现在我们的项目已接近尾声， 门票将于2020年8月在赫尔辛基发售 。 在这里，我收集了我们集体成员关于建设Laila的想法。

乔纳斯·尼西宁(Joonas Nissinen) (Joonas Nissinen)

Joonas Nissinen is our creative technologist with a background in computer graphics and artificial intelligence. He sees Laila as a digital world that balances a human-comprehensible dramatic arc and procedural generation technology:

Joonas Nissinen是我们的创意技术专家 ，具有计算机图形学和人工智能的背景。 他将莱拉视为一个数字世界，该世界平衡了人类可理解的戏剧性弧线和程序生成技术：

When creating an operatic experience, we need to have a traditional plot and narrative. By using artificial intelligence in Laila, we’re giving technology its own agency. Introducing agency means that a straightforward narrative is not guaranteed. Currently, we’re working on balancing a chaotic system that has its own will to behave in a certain way, with choreographing parts of that system to fit our narrative. This is difficult.

在创造歌剧体验时，我们需要具有传统的情节和叙述。 通过在莱拉使用人工智能，我们赋予了技术自己的代理权。 介绍性代理意味着不能保证简单的叙述。 当前，我们正在努力平衡具有特定行为方式的混沌系统，并编排该系统的各个部分以适应我们的叙述。 这是困难的。

We’re using AI in Laila in the form of boids, which are computational agents that make decisions based on a simple set of rules. Boids (a.k.a. bird-oids) are biomimetic. They exhibit flocking behaviour, which is present in nature in the form of fish schooling, ant colonies, and of course bird flocking. In Laila, the boids effectively constitute a superorganism: they are a swarm intelligence that exhibits emergent properties. The synergy of agents interacting locally according to simple rules leads to a higher level whole with much more intricate behaviour than that of each individual agent. Through this, Laila becomes a complex system: no one is able to predict everything that will happen.

我们在Laila中以Boid形式使用AI，Boid是计算代理，它们基于一组简单的规则进行决策。 Boids(又名Bird-oids)是仿生的。 它们表现出成群的行为，以养鱼，蚁群以及鸟类成群的形式存在于自然界。 在莱拉，波伊德人实际上构成了一个超级生物：它们是一群具有新兴特征的情报。 代理根据简单规则进行局部交互的协同作用会导致更高级别的整体，其行为要比每个单独代理的行为复杂得多。 通过这种方式，莱拉成为一个复杂的系统：没有人能够预测将要发生的一切。

To solve the problem of choreographing boids, I’ve created a system which allows us to toggle the boids motivations on a scale: how sensitive they are to separation, how easily they align, and how cohesively they move. Additionally, the boids’ environment is made of an ever-changing vector field generated using various pseudo-random noise functions. The field functions kind of like currents in a river — it’s easier to go in certain directions, and harder to go in others. These vector fields can also be used to enhance dramaturgy, for example by encouraging the boids to move in a spiral at a certain point in the experience.

为了解决编排编排的问题，我创建了一个系统，该系统允许我们在一定程度上切换编排的动机：它们对分离的敏感程度，对齐的容易程度以及移动的凝聚力。 此外，波多黎各的环境由使用各种伪随机噪声函数生成的不断变化的矢量场组成。 磁场的作用类似于河流中的水流-沿特定方向行驶更容易，而向其他方向行驶则更困难。 这些矢量场还可用于增强戏剧性，例如，通过鼓励小伙子在体验中的某个点成螺旋形运动。

So, our boids follow a variety of behavioural models, and react to the several forces of their world (e.g. gravity). Then, we introduce Laila’s visitors into the boids’ world by tracking them with LIDAR. With tracking, the visitors are given their own agency and field of influence. Boids are assigned to react in specific ways to their “own” visitor. Visitors also introduce changes to the world’s vector field, creating changes to the flow of its currents.

因此，我们的辫子遵循各种行为模型，并对世界上的几种力(例如重力)做出React。 然后，我们通过LIDAR跟踪莱拉的访客，将他们介绍给波伊德世界。 通过跟踪，参观者将获得自己的代理机构和影响力领域。 投标被指定为以特定方式对其“自己的”访客做出React。 参观者还向世界的矢量场引入了变化，从而改变了其潮流。

As our boids move through the timeline of Laila and react to this aggregation of influences, butterfly effects are created. This means that initially small changes in the system created by the interaction of the boids may accumulate into larger changes later on. That introduces an element of unpredictability and mystery to Laila.

当我们的小伙子们穿越莱拉的时间轴并对这些影响进行React时，就会产生蝴蝶效应。 这意味着，最初由波德相互作用产生的系统中的小变化可能会累积为较大的变化。 这给莱拉带来了不可预测和神秘的元素。

奥利·基尔皮(Olli Kilpi) (Olli Kilpi)

Olli Kilpi is our motion designer and visual artist, pictured here evaluating the crispness of Laila’s projections. He shared his thoughts on what he’s learned during building Laila, and how he feels about the project at the stage that it is now:

Olli Kilpi是我们的运动设计师和视觉艺术家 ，在这里合影，评估了Laila投影的清晰度。 他分享了自己在建设Laila期间学到的东西以及在现在这个阶段对项目的感觉的想法：

At this point in the project, close to its finalisation, we’re wrestling with balancing the experience’s certainty with the degree to which it generates itself. We want to give the visitor freedom and a role in the story. We also want to impart our own story to the visitor. We’re finding a balance between these two things — how the user will be able to interact, and to what extent they can affect what they experience.

在项目的这一点上，接近完成阶段，我们正在努力平衡经验的确定性和经验本身的程度。 我们希望赋予访问者自由和故事中的角色。 我们也想将自己的故事传给访客。 我们正在这两件事之间找到平衡点-用户将如何进行交互，以及它们在多大程度上可以影响他们的体验。

I’ve worked with VR and fine art before, but designing a 360-degree dome brings entirely new challenges. In VR, there are more pixels and precision. However, in 360 we have a person’s full field of vision as our stage — rather than the limited tunnel vision offered by most VR goggles. In VR, the perspective of the user moves along with them, since they are in the experience alone. Here, I’ve built visuals that work for all of our visitors simultaneously, since the space, and thus the perspective, is shared.

我之前从事过VR和美术工作，但是设计360度球型圆顶带来了全新的挑战。 在VR中，像素和精度更高。 但是，在360中，我们将一个人的完整视野作为我们的舞台，而不是大多数VR护目镜所提供的有限的隧道视野。 在VR中，用户的观点与他们一起移动，因为他们只是在体验中。 在这里，由于空间和视角是共享的，因此我构建了可同时用于所有访客的视觉效果。

An interesting thing about this project is that since this is a new field of design, there are no existing rules. I’ve realised that in a 360 setting, the traditional rules of composition that exist on a flat page do not apply. This environment is more natural, like walking in nature — it is not a snapshot of an environment, or an environment viewed through a certain lens, but rather an environment in and of itself.

这个项目的有趣之处在于，由于这是设计的新领域，因此不存在现有规则。 我已经意识到，在360度设置中，平面页面上存在的传统构图规则不适用。 这种环境更自然，就像在大自然中漫步一样-它不是环境的快照，也不是通过特定视角观察的环境，而是其本身的环境。

Saara-HenriikkaMäkinen (Saara-Henriikka Mäkinen)

Saara-Henriikka Mäkinen, our experience and visual designer, talks about what she’s learned about Laila during user tests:

我们的经验和视觉设计师 Saara-HenriikkaMäkinen讲述了她在用户测试期间对Laila的了解：

Since we’ve crafted Laila to react to its visitors, it’s intriguing to see how many levels of reshaping our visitors bring to the work. Each person has their own personality, memories, and preconceptions, which all affect their interpretation of the work. These things also affect how they interact — with both the work and the members of their respective visitor group. For example, one of our test visitors remarked that “I didn’t move, since nobody else moved either”. Another remarked that “I’m that person who wants to break up groups — I want to move independently.” Evidently, some see Laila as a playing field: they start controlling or even dominating the experience. Then again, some visitors don’t want to be noticed, and would rather disappear within the work.

既然我们精心设计了Laila以使其对访客产生React，那么令人感兴趣的是，我们看到访客对工作进行了多少次重塑。 每个人都有自己的个性，记忆和成见，这都会影响他们对作品的理解。 这些事物也会影响它们与工作以及各自访问者组的成员之间的交互方式。 例如，我们的一位测试访问者评论说：“我没有动，因为其他人也没有动”。 另一位评论者说：“我就是想要分手的人，我想独立行动。” 显然，有些人将莱拉视为一个运动场：他们开始控制甚至主导体验。 再说一遍，有些访客不想被别人注意到，宁愿在工作中消失。

Since they contain different types of people, each group has a unique experience — on both a mental and concrete level. For example, if two friends join different groups and then discuss Laila, they may not recognize everything the other is talking about. Since group dynamics affect which visuals and sounds are produced, the other group’s visitors may not have experienced a specific section.

由于他们包含不同类型的人，因此每个小组在精神和具体层面上都有独特的经验。 例如，如果两个朋友加入不同的小组然后讨论Laila，则他们可能不认识对方正在谈论的一切。 由于小组动态会影响产生哪些视觉和声音，因此其他小组的访客可能没有经历过特定的部分。

Through Laila, we want to offer possibilities for people to have insights about the work, together. They learn how Laila interacts by observing each other. In this sense, Laila is both a personal and a shared journey.

通过Laila，我们希望为人们提供共同了解工作的可能性。 他们通过相互观察来学习莱拉如何互动。 从这个意义上讲，莱拉既是个人的旅程，也是共享的旅程。

Minja Axelsson(此博客的作者) (Minja Axelsson (the author of this blog))

I’m an experience designer and robotics researcher. Here are some of my thoughts on the meanings in Laila:

我是一名经验丰富的设计师和机器人技术研究员。 以下是我对莱拉含义的一些看法：

Laila is a fantasy of our futures — dystopias, utopias, and realism. Our visitors experience all of these possibilities, and participate in their creation. I hope that through this, visitors can get some ownership of the work. Even if the visitor decides to experience Laila as a passive receiver, their presence still affects how the work unfolds. This carries parallels to the real world: passivity is also a choice that carries consequences. I’m a bit of an activist, so I’m interpreting this work through that lens: the choices we make matter.

莱拉(Laila)是我们未来的幻想-反乌托邦，乌托邦和现实主义。 我们的访客体验所有这些可能性，并参与他们的创作。 我希望通过此，游客可以对作品有所所有权。 即使访客决定体验Laila作为被动接收者，他们的存在仍然会影响作品的展开方式。 这与现实世界具有相似之处：被动性也是带来后果的选择。 我是一个激进主义者，所以我通过这个角度来解释这项工作：我们做出的选择很重要。

In Laila, nobody can choose what will happen by themselves. It’s a complex system, built through the interaction of its AI and visitors. The ideas behind Laila have been inspired by chaos theory and the butterfly effect: how a small change in the initial state of a system can create large effects at a later state (i.e. a tornado’s path being influenced by the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly weeks earlier), and how a seemingly random systems have underlying patterns and interconnectedness. Laila has a lot of parameters, and in theory there is an unlimited amount of things that can happen, within a certain framework. When visitors enter the work, a specific reality is created, with opportunities opening and closing up. It’s related to the Copenhagen interpretation — a certain reality is created when it is measured, and other options collapse out of potential existence.

在莱拉，没有人可以选择自己会发生什么。 这是一个复杂的系统，通过其AI和访问者之间的互动而构建。 莱拉背后的思想受到混沌理论和蝴蝶效应的启发：系统初始状态的微小变化如何在后来的状态下产生较大的影响(即龙卷风的路径受到远方机翼拍打的影响)蝴蝶周之前)，以及看似随机的系统如何具有潜在的模式和相互联系。 莱拉(Laila)有很多参数，理论上，在一定框架内可以无限量地发生各种事情。 参观者进入作品时，会创建一个特定的现实，并打开和关闭机会。 它与哥本哈根的解释有关-在测量某种现实时会创建该现实，而其他选择则会因潜在存在而崩溃。

While Laila is an experience with a storyline in the traditional sense, I think this philosophy is still present in the work. People contribute a voice recording of themselves before they enter Laila, through which they actively take part in building its world. I hope this gives people the feeling that their voices matter, and are incorporating themself into a complex whole. I’ve enjoyed hearing from visitors that they’ve experienced the work as meditative. I see this as evidence that it gives space for them to stop and think. I’m interested to see what thoughts it sparks about our humanity, technology, their relationship, and what kind of future we will build together.

尽管莱拉(Laila)是具有传统意义上的故事情节的经历，但我认为这种哲学仍然存在于作品中。 人们在进入Laila之前会为自己录制语音，通过它们他们积极参与建设世界。 我希望这能使人们感到自己的声音很重要，并将自己融入到一个复杂的整体中。 我很高兴听到来访者说他们经历了沉思的工作。 我认为这是证据，为他们提供了停下来思考的空间。 我很想看看它对我们的人文，技术，他们之间的关系以及我们将共同建立什么样的未来产生什么想法。

埃西·霍塔里(Essi Huotari) (Essi Huotari)

Our AI interaction designer Essi Huotari discusses the role of storytelling in designing AI interactions for Laila:

我们的AI交互设计师 Essi Huotari讨论了讲故事在为Laila设计AI交互中的作用：

I view Laila as having three fundamental actants: the story, the AI, and the visitors’ interactions. My biggest design challenge has been balancing our control of Laila’s story with power given to the AI and the visitors to affect this story. Alternating between having and losing control is the driving force of our work.

我认为Laila具有三个基本角色：故事，AI和访客的互动。 我最大的设计挑战是平衡我们对Laila故事的控制与赋予AI和访问者影响该故事的力量。 控制与失去控制之间的交替是我们工作的动力。

I think what defines storytelling is the significance of time: a timeline, even an abstract one, structures a story, and gives it intention. Certain things happen after other things. Since Laila has a storyline, we sometimes need to grasp control from the visitors and the AI to move the story forward. This separates Laila from many other interactive installations, which function more like playgrounds with a given set of rules always in effect. Finding the correct places to intervene is the real challenge. I think telling a story and giving a visitor full control are two ends of a spectrum. Laila moves along this spectrum during its storyline.

我认为讲故事的定义是时间的重要性：时间线，甚至是抽象的时间线，都构成了一个故事，并赋予了故事意图。 某些事情接other而至。 由于Laila具有故事情节，我们有时需要掌握访客和AI的控制权才能使故事向前发展。 这将Laila与其他许多交互式设备区分开来，后者的功能更像是具有始终有效的给定规则的游乐场。 找到正确的干预位置是真正的挑战。 我认为讲故事和完全控制访客是频谱的两个目的。 莱拉(Laila)在故事情节中沿着这一趋势前进。

I think the most intriguing part of the design process has been making space for experimenting, and making use of happy accidents. It is fascinating to design for an experience with AI agents that have agency of their own. Instead of choosing predetermined actions, I have had to search for correct combinations of parametres, goals and laws of physics within Laila that result in the AI behavior that we are looking for. As a designer, I’m used to making decisions about the specific look and feel of finished work. Here I have to relinquish some of that control. In return, we have discovered delightful AI behaviours and interactions that we couldn’t have imagined beforehand.

我认为设计过程中最引人入胜的部分是为实验创造空间，并利用快乐的事故。 设计具有自己代理权的AI代理的体验非常有趣。 除了选择预定的动作之外，我还必须在Laila内搜索参数，目标和物理定律的正确组合，这些组合会导致我们正在寻找AI行为。 作为设计师，我习惯于对完成工作的特定外观和感觉做出决策。 在这里，我必须放弃一些控制权。 作为回报，我们发现了我们以前无法想象的令人愉悦的AI行为和交互。

伊娜(Iina Taijonlahti) (Iina Taijonlahti)

Our choreographer Iina Taijonlahti is fascinated by how visitors move within Laila, and talks about its meaning within the work:

我们的编舞家 Iina Taijonlahti着迷于游客在Laila中的移动方式，并谈论其在作品中的意义：

Essentially, a social choreography is created by the visitors within Laila. Laila carries the same conventions as the outside world. Even in a grocery store, people are creating choreographies without realizing it. The way people move depends on a wealth of parameters: whether you know someone, what culture you’re from, and what equipment you move with. Another interesting thing is that depending on the perspective of the visitor, they can act as a member of the audience, or a performer within the work. It’s playful: am I being observed, or am I the observer? In a way, the curtains through which visitors enter Laila act as an entrance to a stage.

本质上，莱拉内的访客创建了社交编舞。 莱拉(Laila)具有与外界相同的惯例。 即使在杂货店中，人们也正在创建编舞而没有意识到它。 人们流动的方式取决于许多参数：您是否认识某个人，您来自什么文化，以及使用何种设备。 另一个有趣的事情是，根据访问者的角度，他们可以充当观众的成员，或者是作品中的表演者。 这很有趣：正在观察我，还是观察员？ 从某种意义上说，访客进入莱拉的窗帘就像是舞台的入口。

I view the space that Laila is built inside of as highly technologically advanced. Laila’s sphere is very unconventional and immersive, as a result of seeing things in 360 degrees all the time. Visitors have commented that they lose their sense of time and place.

我认为Laila内置的空间是高科技的。 莱拉的领域非常规且令人身临其境，这是因为始终可以360度观看事物。 访客评论说，他们失去了时间和地点感。

An interesting thing about Laila is that we’re giving agency to actants that are not human. This is done through Laila’s AI agents — its swarm intelligence. In this way, Laila is related to the concept of post-humanism, since it is concerned with non-human perspectives. Questions I’ve been pondering are: How can we let go of the ideals of rationalism and humanism, where human intelligence is of central importance? How can we give space to other senses, and new ways of experiencing and distributing power?

关于Laila的一件有趣的事情是，我们将代理权授予非人类的演员。 这是通过Laila的AI代理-群体智能来完成的。 这样，莱拉就与后人道主义概念有关，因为它与非人类视角有关。 我一直在思考的问题是：在人类智慧至关重要的地方，我们如何才能抛弃理性主义和人本主义的理想？ 我们如何才能给其他感官空间以及体验和分配力量的新方式？

海基·海斯卡宁 (Heikki Heiskanen)

Our media technology engineer Heikki Heiskanen examines his experience creating Laila:

我们的媒体技术工程师 Heikki Heiskanen考察了他创建Laila的经验：

Working with so many talented people from different fields — such as software development, visual arts, sound design, and opera — has been enthralling. Since Laila is a new type of artistic concept, it has required knowledge from diverse domains. As we’ve integrated this new information and knowledge into Laila, its concept has evolved along the way. This type of working process, where visions from multiple viewpoints come together and are incorporated into one coherent whole, includes its own unique challenges and triumphs.

与来自不同领域(例如软件开发，视觉艺术，声音设计和歌剧)的众多才华横溢的人合作非常令人着迷。 由于莱拉(Laila)是一种新型的艺术概念，因此需要来自不同领域的知识。 随着我们将这些新的信息和知识集成到Laila中，其概念也随之发展。 这种类型的工作过程将来自多个视角的愿景融合在一起，并整合为一个连贯的整体，其中包括自身独特的挑战和成就。

As we’re preparing to open Laila to visitors, I hope it will be seen as an example of the storytelling capabilities of immersive and interactive technologies. The soundscape is amazing and the visuals are highly imaginative — I’d describe Laila as a magical experience.

在我们准备向游客开放Laila的过程中，我希望它将被视为沉浸式和互动技术的叙事能力示例。 音景令人惊叹，视觉效果极富想象力-我将Laila描述为一种神奇的体验。