Low-Life — LI YI-HO Portfolio

Essential Handwear for Consciousness Migration
Paxville
The Insider
A Glimpse of the Mind Landscapes

LOW-LIFE

It is an XR installation that translates the sensory world of a cockroach into a human-perceivable experience.

It features a special chair equipped with three vibration parts: antennae, wings, and cerci, which mimic the feedback cockroaches rely on to detect messages.

Type: Commission, Concept Museum of Art vol.7, Solo Exhibition, Digital Art Center (DAC.tw)
Role: Artist / Installation Designer
Materials: PC VR, Handmade Chair, Vibration Motors, Bass-shaker
Techniques: Arduino, Unity, Motion Capture
VR Specs: HTC VIVE PRO / 6-DoF / Single User / 15 minutes
Production Duration: 14 months

Cockroach’s antennae

Build a traditional Taiwanese kitchen scene in VR

Cockroach’s wings

Imagination of the compound eyes: using the shader as a filter, to mimic the cockroach’s sense of sight

The green rays represent the records of the viewer’s head movement

Cockroach’s cerci

● CONCEPT

“Low-Life” is an immersive VR experience that allows the viewer step into the life of a cockroach exploring a human kitchen. As viewers navigate the environment, their path shifts depending on the direction in which they turn their VR headset. The installation features a specially designed chair equipped with three vibration devices: antennae, wings, and cerci, which mimic the sensory feedback mechanisms cockroaches rely on to detect messages. The work is divided into two parts: VR visuals (what you see) and somatosensory devices (what you feel). Viewers can explore the kitchen from a microscopic perspective, with the cockroach serving as the narrator of the human living space. It also employs VR to explore the relationship between humans and cockroaches, seeking to expand the viewer's daily imagination of the cockroach community. It invites the viewers to observe the symbiotic interaction between cockroaches, humans, and other creatures in the kitchen.

Living as Another Creature?

Cockroaches, living alongside us, feed on our leftovers and thrive in the spaces we occupy. In the forgotten, messy corners of our world, so many intriguing things continue to unfold. I often imagine that if I were to shrink one day and explore the vast world around me, what secrets would I uncover? Even the smallest scraps of rubbish hold human stories. To transform into a cockroach, humans would need to develop new body parts, but more importantly, they would have to change the way they perceive the world. After studying the concept of "vision", I discovered its strong connection to brain structure. This means that even if I were to acquire a real cockroach’s compound eye and connect it to advanced medical devices, humans still wouldn’t truly experience what a cockroach sees. As a result, I decided to design the concept of the compound eye based on my imagination.

Different Paths and Encounters

The path changes with head movement. To provide the viewer more freedom in exploration, the route is designed to depend on the viewer’s head direction and its stay duration, making each experience unique. The green rays in the image represent the real-time records for each second, captured from Unity’s play mode. In different corners of the kitchen, various scenarios unfold—sometimes the viewer encounters a mouse, other times different cockroaches, or even a fierce gecko. There are three possible endings to the story: being trapped in a bottle by a little girl, being hit by the father, or quietly slipping away from the sink when the mother isn’t paying attention.

● Integration of Software and Hardware

For the antennae, two small 3V motors are attached to the VR HMD, activating whenever the viewer encounters other creatures. For the wings, an extendable bracket holder, with two 5V motors on the panel, is connected to the viewer’s back, vibrating in sync with the cockroach’s flight. Finally, the cerci, a set of bass shakers installed into the seat, provides larger-scale vibration feedback from the chase by the cockroach’s enemies in the kitchen.

● Interactive Chair Design: Semi-prone Position

In general, VR experiences are designed for seated or standing viewing. To make the viewer feel more immersed as a cockroach (rather than riding a "cockroach vehicle"), I created an interactive chair that enables semi-prone viewing. I also used Arduino to synchronise three parts of vibration feedback with VR storylines.

LOW-LIFE

Artist: Li Yi-Ho
Technical Director: Tsai Tsun-Hung
Technical Assistant: Chian Yuan-An
Game Asset Artists: Wang Chai-Je, Lai Jing-Yu
Motion Capture Assistant: Lin Jin-Xuan, Wang Xin-Hong
3D Models, resources from: CGTrader, TurboSquid

Supported by:
Department of Communications Design, Shih Chien University
DAC.TW (Digital Art Foundation)

2021