Asset Dump is the prototype for an educational, interactive XR experience. A virtual landfill to “take you to places you would never want to go.” Users can virtually explore the mechanics of a landfill and learn about specific issues, such as how plasterboard fires are caused. This digital interaction provides a safe but visceral way to understand the physical dangers and chemical processes of landfill. Part of the Unfolding Worlds exhibition made during an XR lab showcase during the Folkestone Triennial. A short video was made with soundtrack by Hall and Peter Coyte,
Learning how the Unreal Engine works has been eye opening experience. During the lab I discovered the world of virtual assets, individual items found in games and VR, sold in huge digital stores like Epic, a vast digital junkyard, where real-world items are painstaking produced for sale to those developing games and, in our case, virtual worlds. Anything can be purchased for a price some assets are free, most are not aesthetically pleasing and somethings I wanted to do were not possible in the time frame.
The experience reminded me of sci-fi writer Philip K Dick’s Perky Pat game; he predicted a future where colonists on Mars live horrible lives trapped in caves and took a drug called Can-D to allow them to experience virtual layouts of homes and communities back on earth.
The digital junk you can see here is the tip of an iceberg really; I discovered it is slow, painful and time-consuming work to place unique items separately on the landfill – so with very limited time and no budget, it was about getting a feeling, this is why you are seeing similar waste items.
It also got me thinking about the low paid workers in third world countries who make assets and programme virtual worlds, and the digital waste we don’t see and my teenage son who spends his all his days in a dark room which is quite cave like, making assets on blender under the light of his PC.
Huge thanks to Gavin and Tom and everyone at Screen South.
Sound and Music Magz Hall, Peter Coyte https://www.petercoyte.com/ and Hélène Williams
Magz Hall 
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