THE CIRCLE REVEALS
《环形启示》
360° Immersive VR Project | 2022
《环形启示》
360° Immersive VR Project | 2022
This 360° film offers a VR immersive experience highlighting the environmental crisis behind the NFT debate. Despite the growing adoption of NFTs in various fields, the truth is that their energy consumption is alarming. In response, this project introduces a fictional system called Cir-clean, which aims to achieve the cleanest NFTs possible. The film invites the audience to explore five different scenarios in the virtual world, including the Cir-clean main system, the data space, the system crash, the invisible host world, and the white space. By immersing the audience in these scenarios, the film encourages reflection on how to find better ways for the digital world and the real environment to coexist harmoniously.
这是一个以VR为主要体验媒介的360°沉浸式影片, 表达了NFT行业背后的环境危机。尽管NFTs在各个领域的应用越来越多，但事实是它们的能源消耗令人担忧。该作品引入了一个名为Cir-clean的虚构系统，旨在实现最清洁的NFTs。影片邀请观众探索虚拟世界中的五个不同场景，包括Cir-clean主系统、数据空间、系统崩溃、看不见的主机世界和白空间。通过这场沉浸体验，鼓励人们思考如何找到更好的方法，让数字世界和现实环境和谐共处。
< ACHIEVEMENT >
Exhibited at the DAO exhibition in Bond Street, London | Sep 2022
该作品在伦敦邦德街 DAO数字艺术展展出
Here is the production video:
This is a 360° video and is recommended for the best immersive experience with VR devices. If viewing on a computer you can also browse the panorama by dragging your mouse, mobile devices such as mobile phones and iPad can be freely moved around. Thanks for watching!
欢迎观看成品视频
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*若无法打开上面的Youtube视频，请点击上方的红字跳转至B站观看
该视频是360°视频，推荐使用VR设备获得最佳沉浸式体验。如果在电脑端观看也可以通过拖拽鼠标浏览全景，手机iPad等移动端可自由移动设备体验全方位视角。感谢观看！
Here is the process film:
欢迎观看幕后制作视频
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Our project was inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Circular Ruins". Inspired by him, we chose the shape of the circle as the look of our main system. We hoped the audience can experience the inner workings of an environmentally friendly system and ultimately see the infinite illusion that refers to Borges' "The Circular Ruins".
博尔赫斯的短篇小说《环形废墟》是本作品的灵感来源之一。在他的启发下，我们选择了“环形”作为我们主要系统的外观。我们希望叙事开始后，观众可以体验到这个“最清洁的”系统的内部运作，并最终见证我们虚构的这个系统背后的真相。
Why & Motivation
Non-Fungible Tokens are largely issued on PoW networks, the largest of them being Ethereum. Such networks rely on coin mining, which requires vast amounts of energy to conduct complicated calculations using advanced computers and specialized mining hardware. The equipment requires a lot of power and produces considerable amounts of heat, resulting in carbon emissions. If taken in an absolute sense, anything hosted on blockchain technology emits carbon. But given the prominence that many NFTs have received due to media coverage, they have been heavily associated with energy-intensive and carbon-emitting activities. We want to make people aware of this problem through immersive experiences created in the virtual world.
NFTs代币主要在PoW网络上发行，其中最大的是以太坊。这样的网络依赖于挖币---这需要大量的能源，使用先进的计算机和专门的采矿硬件进行复杂的计算。这些设备需要大量的电力，并产生相当多的热量，导致碳排放。如果从绝对意义上讲，任何托管在区块链技术上的东西都会排放出碳。但鉴于许多NFT因媒体报道而获得的突出地位，它们与能源密集型和碳排放活动有很大关联。我们希望通过在虚拟世界中创造的沉浸式体验，让人们认识到这个问题。
Imagination
We speculate a system that can achieve the cleanest NFTs target, engaging the audience to think about how the digital world can better coexist in harmony with the real environment ——Circlean
‘ Circle + Clean = Circlean ’
It inspired by the fiction The Circular Ruins, which visualised our imagination of this system into a circle. And since we wanted to set it up as the cleanest NFT system, then the two words Circle and Clean combined to form the name Cir-clean. We imagine that it can achieve the cleanest NFTs target, using technologies that enable humans to coexist sustainably with our environment. In our storytelling, audience will experience how the ‘Cir-clean’ works, including how the new system is compatible with past technologies such as blockchain, how the energy pollution caused by each NFT is optimised to achieve the ideal effect of no pollution. We wanted to creating this fictional Cir-clean system to express our imagination of how human beings could do our best on it.
‘ Circle + Clean = Circlean ’
It inspired by the fiction The Circular Ruins, which visualised our imagination of this system into a circle. And since we wanted to set it up as the cleanest NFT system, then the two words Circle and Clean combined to form the name Cir-clean. We imagine that it can achieve the cleanest NFTs target, using technologies that enable humans to coexist sustainably with our environment. In our storytelling, audience will experience how the ‘Cir-clean’ works, including how the new system is compatible with past technologies such as blockchain, how the energy pollution caused by each NFT is optimised to achieve the ideal effect of no pollution. We wanted to creating this fictional Cir-clean system to express our imagination of how human beings could do our best on it.
我们设定了一个能够实现最清洁的NFTs目标的系统，让观众思考数字世界如何能够更好地与现实环境和谐共存--Circlean。
它的灵感来自于小说《环形废墟》，它将我们对这个系统的想象形象化为一个环形。由于我们想把它设定为最清洁的NFT系统，那么Circle和Clean这两个词就组合成了Cir-clean这个名字。
我们想象它可以实现最清洁的NFTs目标，使用使人类与环境可持续共存的技术。在我们的故事中，观众将体验到 "Cir-clean "是如何工作的，包括新系统如何与过去的技术如区块链兼容，每个NFT造成的能源污染如何被优化以达到无污染的理想效果。 我们想创造这个虚构的Cir-clean系统来表达我们对人类如何在其中发挥最大作用的想象。
Scenes Design & Storyline
Scene 1 - Circlean system
As the camera progresses, the audience slowly enters the main system of Cir-Clean, which runs all related behaviors of NFTs, and all activities are calculated by the chips on this building (this is a fictional utopian virtual worlds that emerge in the future, based on the concept of Solar Punk, using technologies that enable humans to coexist sustainably with their environment). In this scene, the audience will follow the orbit and be able to watch the building freely in 360 degrees. At the same time, the AI narration will tell the audience how Cir-clean works, including how the new system is compatible with past technologies such as blockchain, how the energy pollution caused by each behavior is optimized to achieve the ideal effect of no pollution.
随着镜头的推进，观众慢慢进入Cir-Clean的主系统，它运行着NFT的所有相关行为，所有的活动都是由这个建筑上的芯片计算出来的（这是一个在未来出现的虚构的乌托邦式的虚拟世界，基于Solar Punk的概念，使用使人类与环境可持续共存的技术）。在这个场景中，观众将跟随轨道，能够360度自由地观看这个建筑。同时，人工智能旁白将告诉观众Cir-clean是如何工作的，包括新系统如何与过去的技术如区块链兼容，如何优化每个行为造成的能源污染，达到无污染的理想效果。
Scene 2 - Data Space
After viewing the external environment of the main system, the audience will enter one of the spaces of the building. This is the place to carry all the commercial activities such as auctions and bidding for all NFTs. The audience will see this bizarre scene wrapped in some trading data, and through the narration, they will learn how the Cir-clean platform uses carbon neutrality and new deep ecological technology to offset carbon emission caused by NFT in different steps.
在观看了主系统的外部环境后，观众将进入一个空间。这里是承载所有NFT活动的地方，如所有NFT的拍卖和竞价。观众将看到这个被一些交易数据所包裹的奇异场景，通过解说，他们将了解到Cir-clean平台是如何利用碳中和和新的深层生态技术，分步骤抵消NFT造成的碳排放。
Scene 3 - System Breakdown
In the previous scene, everything was running normally, but suddenly the alarm system of the Cir-clean system began to sound, and gunpowder smoke was accompanied by a flashing red alarm! The audience was surrounded by smoke, escaped from the space and returned to the outside environment, watching the main building fade away.
在之前的场景中，一切都在正常运行，但突然Cir-clean系统的警报系统开始响起，火药味的烟雾伴随着红色警报的闪动..在这一过程中，观众们被烟雾包围直至镜头转出了空间，回到了外面的环境，看着系统逐渐分崩瓦解。
Scene 4 - Invisible World
While falling, the audience can see that there are countless hosts running below and producing a lot of polluting emissions. At the same time viewers saw some screens broadcasting the Circlean news. This subterranean world is a combined expression of our virtual VR world and the real physical world, and it also makes the audience realize that from our fictional narrative, the environmental sustainability and clean energy technologies preached by Cir-clean are actually dream bubbles. We found out that NFT and blockchain technology still requires many physical factories to maintain all digital activities, including this Bitcoin mining factory in Kazakhstan. We then used this as a model to create this scene behind the Cir-clean system and a fake news to expose the fact that the industry requires huge negative impacts on the environment. The audience realizes that the so-called "Clean" of the entire system is just a beautiful fantasy, and the "underground" world is actually a real factory that still needs a lot of work to maintain the operation of the superstructure. The imaginary utopian world of "above" cleanliness contrasts sharply with the physical world of "underground" factories that are constantly running, causing enormous environmental pollution, as a source of energy to keep entire systems and digital worlds running.
在下落的过程中，观众可以看到下面有无数的主机在运行，产生大量的污染性排放。同时观众看到一些屏幕在播放Circlean的新闻。这个地下世界是我们虚拟的VR世界和真实的物理世界的综合体现，同时也让观众意识到，从我们的虚构叙事中，Cir-clean所宣扬的环境可持续发展和清洁能源技术其实是梦幻泡影。我们发现，NFT和区块链技术仍然需要许多物理工厂来维持所有的数字活动，包括我们在调研过程中发现的一个在哈萨克斯坦的比特币采矿工厂。然后我们以此为模型，创造了这个Cir-clean系统背后的场景和一个“假新闻”，以揭露该行业需要对环境产生巨大负面影响的事实。观众意识到，整个系统的所谓 "清洁 "只是一个美丽的幻想，而"地下 "世界实际上是一个真实的工厂，仍然需要大量的工作来维持上层建筑的运行。想象中的 "上面 "清洁的乌托邦世界与 "地下 "工厂的物理世界形成了鲜明的对比，后者作为维持整个系统和数字世界运行的能量来源，不断运转，造成巨大的环境污染。
Scene 5 - White Space
At the end the audience enters a white space as the end of the journey, which is filled with quotes from Borges. We hope the audience can reflect about what we are trying to say after experiencing this story. As the fictional Cir-clean system goes from thriving to collapsing, is it fantasy or reality?
最后，观众进入一个白色的空间作为旅程的终点，里面充满了博尔赫斯的语录。我们希望观众在经历了这个故事之后，能够思考我们所要表达的东西。当虚构的Cir-clean系统从繁荣到崩溃，它是假象还是会是现实？
Softwares
< OUTCOME >
VR
recommended for the best immersive experience with VR devices
推荐使用VR设备获得最佳沉浸式体验
360° display on mobile devices
mobile devices such as mobile phones and iPad can be freely moved around
电脑端和手机iPad等移动端可自由移动设备体验全方位视角
- Statement -
电脑端和手机iPad等移动端可自由移动设备体验全方位视角
- Statement -
声明
1. This project is not intended to negate the efforts of existing platforms to create cleaner NFTs, but rather to provoke the audience to think about how the digital world can better co-exist in harmony with the real world.
2. Some of the NFTs that appear in the project are images of NFT artists' work in OpenSea.
3. In one of the scenes we adapted a BBC news story (about a mining factory in Kazakhstan) and incorporated it into our story.
4. The plot of this project is fictional.
2. Some of the NFTs that appear in the project are images of NFT artists' work in OpenSea.
3. In one of the scenes we adapted a BBC news story (about a mining factory in Kazakhstan) and incorporated it into our story.
4. The plot of this project is fictional.
- 本作品并不是否定现有的platforms对打造更清洁的NFTs作出的努力，而是为了引发观众对数字世界如何更好地与现实环境和谐共存的思考。
- 场景中出现的部分NFT为OpenSea中NFT艺术家作品的图像作为引用。
- 我们在其中一个场景里根据BBC的一则新闻（关于哈萨克斯坦的采矿工厂）进行了改编并融入了我们的故事。
- 本作品的剧情均为虚构
- 场景中出现的部分NFT为OpenSea中NFT艺术家作品的图像作为引用。
- 我们在其中一个场景里根据BBC的一则新闻（关于哈萨克斯坦的采矿工厂）进行了改编并融入了我们的故事。
- 本作品的剧情均为虚构