silence of a resonating mind

Silence of a Resonating Mind is an interactive hand tracking VR experience, which invites a moment of silence for the ruminative. Based on theory of flow, emotional affect and neuroscience of psilocybin therapy within individuals suffering from depression, the experience intends to foster mental flexibility as you move through a soothing abstract world.

Inspired by the impermanence and movement of natural phenomena, comforting repetitive generative visuals invite you to reconnect with your awareness, in stillness and by moving with intuition and care.

The experience invites focused attention surrounded by audio-reactive strings and aurora gradients. From stillness, you transition into exploration of wave-like bioluminescent particles, which evolve to fully embrace you in galactic light.

Silence of a resonating mind intends to create a regenerative virtual space of slow richness to let one reenter the physical world grounded and reconnected.

Music composed by Signe Visby Nørregaard

Silence of a Resonating Mind is one of the first VR experiences which uses hand tracking to interact with a world of wave-like particles. It draws upon the mindfullness practice of shifting the feeling of conscious experience away from the centre of the body and into the surrounding environment, erasing the boundary between self and everything else. 

The experience intends to foster mental flexibility by creating a virtual experience so different from anything in the physical world, that for a short moment the inner monologue is silenced, and all there is left is pure awareness in the experience of the surrounding environment. Silence of a Resonating Mind seeks to let people with excessive rumination (as in during depression) experience how a moment of silence can be found within even the most ruminative mind.

The project is based on neuroscientific research on the effect of psilocybin therapy on individuals suffering from Major Depressive Disorder, and poses the question of how a VR experience can affect the brain in similar ways.

The generative interactive elements of the experience are developed using the Visual Effects Graph in Unity. The floor and pillow is modeled in Blender.