The Experience
Doors We Open is an exhibition that brings together
physical experience, live-action video, and virtual gameplay.
Entrance
E X H I B I T I O N
This overview includes our full installation. Doors We Open can also be displayed as a solo, screen-based experience.
The installation begins in a hallway, where viewers see pieces of drawings covering the walls. The musical theme of the film plays.
Individual Seating
E X H I B I T I O N
The hallway opens into a room, decorated like the characters’ living room. Each viewer is led to a station (3 total) with a screen, headphones, and a game controller.
The light dims, and the film begins.
Gameplay Introduction
V I R T U A L
We start in the virtual world to establish the basic gameplay.
You view a memory the father and son share, of Wen as a young child. Old Kang, the father, encourages Wen to draw. You can look around the scene and use the controller to move the character around the space.
A Tense Dinner
L I V E A C T I O N
Wen has returned home after not seeing his father for two years. Father and son sit together for dinner, making small talk. Old Kang discourages his son from continuing his stagnant career as an artist, advising him to come home. Wen lashes out and leaves the table, meal unfinished. He enters his bedroom and takes a moment to look at his childhood belongings.
Wen’s Memories
V I R T U A L
You enter into a dream sequence and experience Wen’s memories of his father preventing him from drawing, despite his son’s obvious talent and desire to become an artist. His father resorts to ripping his son’s drawings, scolding him, and condemning his artistic style. You feel Wen’s resentment and his diminishing confidence.
Addressing the Past
L I V E A C T I O N
Wen wakes. He joins his father in the kitchen. Wen stands there awkwardly, feeling out of place in the home. As Old Kang does dishes, he tries to connect with Wen by reminiscing about their shared insomnia. Wen, a little more relaxed, looks at his father, noticing how much his father has aged. He steps in to help with the dishes. Old Kang asks about Wen’s plans if he doesn’t get into an upcoming residency. Wen accuses his father of making decisions for him based on his own past failures.
Old Kang contemplates his son’s answer.
Old He’s Memories
V I R T U A L
Old Kang enters his own room, and you experience his memories and pressures of being a father. You see him at a reunion, among his college friends and peers, as they talk about their children’s ambitions and success. The memory shuts off before its Old Kang’s turn to speak. You then see him in his late 20’s, as he plays the piano during a jazz audition. He looks up at the small, disinterested audience, and his face falls. You finally see Old Kang after he’s ripped up his son’s drawings, alone, feeling remorseful, but that he’s done the right thing.
A Gesture of Acceptance
L I V E A C T I O N
Old Kang leaves his room and sees Wen in his room, working on finishing a comic. Wen ignores his father as he enters. Old Kang gently picks up a few drawings from the pile on Wen’s desk, then sits down by his son. Old Kang acknowledges Wen’s talent, and asks him if he can have a copy when it’s finished. Surprised, Wen nods and continues working. They sit together in a more comfortable silence.
Establishing a Home
V I R T U A L
Later, you experience Wen leaving his room to enter the hallway with some pens in his hands. Different voices from Wen’s past play, some encouraging, some dissuading. You take the pen and start creating beautiful shapes and particles, decorating the home. The foreign hallway feels a little more familiar, a little more like home.
As you look back to admire it, some of the shapes start to crack and warp, unnoticed by Wen.
A Step Back
L I V E A C T I O N
Wen walks over to his father’s room to say goodnight, but finds it empty. He sees a medication bottle and investigates for a moment.
He walks to the living room, where Old Kang is stretching and massaging his own back. They start to say goodnight, when Old Kang expresses some worry about his son. Wen wants to argue back, but chooses against it.
Building a Bond
V I R T U A L
You experience Old Kang walking into the hallway, where every corner is covered in Wen’s art. The art almost feels overgrown. You appreciate the beauty of it, but the pages on the wall start to crack and rip, and the melody that is playing starts to miss notes and play broken chords. You try to mend the drawings, but it's not enough. You see a piano, and walk up to it. You start to play, and the world begins to mend itself and restore into its previous state.
Separation
L I V E A C T I O N
The next morning, Old Kang and Wen pack together before Wen leaves. Old Kang hands Wen a set of pens. Wen accepts and takes them with him. They make their way to a train station, where Old Kang wishes his son luck.
They part ways.
An Old Potential
L I V E A C T I O N
On his way home, Old Kang walks by a music store. He gazes in, looking contemplative.
The door opens.
Gameplay Introduction
V I R T U A L
We end the film with Old Kang and Wen standing face to face in the hallway, behind them, a series of doors opened to get to each other. We zoom out and see all the memories and hallways experienced by both. The world crumbles to dust.
Roll credits.
A Memento
E X H I B I T I O N
Visitors to the exhibition are given the finished comic drawn by Wen, illustrating his past and future dreams.
The comic, From Dust To Dust, is created by illustrator Jeremy Leung.
Experience
Doors We Open
View the Doors We Open Demo.
Full experience coming January 2022.