Crafted using Kinect technology, Unity 3D animation and parametric speakers, we recreated Mímir's Well in the lobby of 134 Peter Street, inviting visitors to gaze into its waters and slip into a deep history of wisdom and memory in a purely personal way.
Stepping up to one of the nine sides of the well, users were met with their reflections, which soon morphed into an animal of Norse lore. As visitors experimented with their newly adopted forms, a rich universe of sound enveloped them while their surroundings transformed into one of the nine Norse worlds. From the dark, foggy caverns of Svartalfheim, to the crackling molten valleys of Muspelheim, to the light, serene paradise of Asgard, these vividly animated lands and their acutely textured soundscapes unspooled a symbolic story of memory. With their senses immersed and their changed selves staring back at them, visitors were able to imprint their own experiences on the well and form their own interpretations of what they were seeing and feeling.
Using this responsive environment, we were able to whisk visitors away to an ethereal realm of myth and magic. There, they were left to contemplate their own memories, while they pondered what Odin may have sought on the day he sacrificed his eye to drink from Mímir's Well.
