About
Intimacy and echo in virtual worlds
GHOSTED is an XR installation about intimacy and echo across parallel dimensions — how are relationships carried across physical space and cyberspace? The work forms part of the larger project Metaphysical Archeology, which addresses the traces we leave behind as we move through digital worlds.
The installation is intended to exist in two forms simultaneously: a physical object in a forest glade, and a digital experience accessed through that object. A QR code is the threshold between them. GHOSTED currently lives online — access it at karohall.github.io/GHOSTED
The Questions
What do we leave behind?
- What traces do we leave behind when moving through the virtual world?
- How real are the conversations and relations we initiate and experience online?
- How do our words and actions online mirror our personas in the physical world?
The Physical Installation
A wall in the forest
A 3×2 metre plywood wall stands in a forest glade, detailed with laser-cut acrylic. Surrounding it are concrete gravestones. Visitors approach and find a QR code sign. They scan it with their phones (no app download required, compatible with iOS and Android) and the wall transforms from something seemingly flat and closed to something deep and private.
Through the phone's camera, the wall reveals fragmented lost digital conversations. As viewers move through the space, different fragments appear. The AR layer maps onto the physical wall, so the experience is inseparable from standing in that specific place.
Technical Build
Built in Unity with AR Foundation
The AR experience was built in Unity using AR Foundation for cross-platform smartphone compatibility.
The decision to require no app download was deliberate: friction is the enemy of encounter. If visitors have to install something, the forest moment is broken. The QR-to-browser pipeline keeps the threshold as thin as possible.
The medium is the phone. The phone is the key.
