Bluet
Augmented Reality Text Object
Unity · AR Foundation · ARKit
Created in collaboration with Yuzhu Chai
Role: Conceptual framing, Spatial translation of text, interaction design, AR implementation
Bluet (2019) is a portable augmented reality text object designed to transform language from linear signifiers into three-dimensional form. The work translates three interwoven narratives—nonfiction, fiction, and an unwritten poem—from a source text of the same title into a spatial text structure. Written by Yuzhu Chai, the text reflects on blue and intimacy through three distinct perspectives.
The structure of Bluet takes text as its primary material. Language is arranged spatially, forming a three-dimensional object that can be approached, circled, and encountered from many positions. Meaning emerges through spatial relationships—what becomes legible from a distance, what comes into focus up close, and how perspectives shift as the viewer moves in relation to the text.
As an AR object, Bluet is intended to be placed within different physical environments. Using plane detection, the text object is anchored to the surrounding space and remains fixed as the viewer moves around it. The location where the work is situated—and the spatial features of that environment—directly shape how it can be encountered. Stairs allow the text to be seen from above, large open areas invite movement around and through the structure, and confined spaces restrict navigation. The physical site functions as part of the system, enabling certain viewpoints while limiting others.
The project emerges from a dialogue between traditions of concrete poetry and electronic literature, bringing together spatial approaches to language with computational and systemic thinking. Through this dialogue, language becomes something to be navigated and inhabited—structured by spatial rules, physical constraints, and the relationships between text, body, and site.
Bluet does not resolve into a single, authoritative encounter. What is seen, revisited, or left out of view depends on movement, distance, and positioning over time. Intimacy arises through proximity and sustained engagement—through returning to the work from different perspectives and allowing meaning to form through spatial experience.
Virtual Adaptation
For its exhibition at Fixity Equals Death, The Wrong Biennale (2019–2020), Bluet was adapted into a browser-based 3D environment. In this version, a procedurally generated geometric space replaces the physical site while preserving the work’s underlying logic.
Each page refresh generates a new spatial configuration. The text remains constant, but the conditions governing navigation and viewpoint change, producing different paths, alignments, and moments of legibility. The system resists a stable or repeatable encounter, extending the work’s investigation into how spatial context and navigation shape meaning.
Instruction:
Return - Full Screen
WASD or Arrow keys - Character movement
Mouse movement - Character's view
Mouse right button click - Zoom in / out
Space - Jump
Refresh the webpage to randomly regenerate the geometric space