MALI

MALI is a virtual reality experience built inside a metaphysical memory garden- a space where memories exist as living entities that can be revisited, allowing them to live on. The project is centered around the intersection of personal and collective memory as something that is growing, living, and fading.

MALI uses the lens of amnesia and the 1984 Union Carbide incident to raise questions around the fragmented and fragile nature of memory, especially when it exists beyond the individual.

As new personal and collective stories take root in the garden, MALI expands- holding space for unresolved questions to persist across time.

Categories : Virtual Reality, 3D, Immersive Audio, Experimental Film
Year : 2025/ ongoing

Tools/ Softwares : Unity, Polycam, Blender, Cinema 4D, Touch Designer, Reaper, Adobe Suite, Open Art

Team : Saumya Shukla, Udayan Vajpeyi, Aakash Chhabra, Winifred Adeyemi (Africaseenandheard), Revant Dasgupta, Daulat, Sinja

THE IDEA // PROOFS OF CONCEPT

A comic was the first medium in which the concept was explored, which also acted as a proof-of-concept for the development of the project further. The frames were taken to Adobe Aero to make an immersive experience with audio that took the viewer through the idea, and supported the visuals.

As a visual experiment, a photograph was photocopied repeatedly until its details disappeared. The process mirrored the erosion of memory over time- showing how repetition, distance and neglect shape what is remembered.
Photograph/ photographed: Abdimalig Ibrahim

PROCESS (GARDEN)

The first set of iterations of the garden were made on Unity, using the in-built assets- as a mock of the opening sequence. This was tested with people on the VR headset.

The stylistic choices needed the assets to be an extension of the illustrative language from the proof-of-concept.

The assets were later sculpted in clay and scanned to then be imported into 3D workflows for cleaning, rendering, rigging and animating

The sculptures were laid out in the virtual garden, post which some had interactions integrated.

PROCESS (FILM 1)

Storyboard for "The Space Between US", which acted as an aesthetic direction for the film.

PROCESS (FILM 2)

Storyboard for the film on the Union Carbide disaster of 1984, with the frames based on a poetic reflection on the incident and its aftermath rather than factual documentary-style depictions.

The images were generated using Open Art, on a model trained that used the sketches as style and composition references- before being taken to Touch Designer for subtle transitions.

A replica of the Statue of Mother and Child , an iconic public memorial commemmorating the 1984 Union Carbide disaster. It was created in 1985 by Dutch Sculptor Ruth Waterman alongside survivors.

PLAYTEST AND FILMS

MALI_A_V.mp4

MALI A/V version // Soundtrack: Revant Dasgupta | Sound Design: Saumya Shukla| Script: Saumya Shukla, Aakash Chhabra | Voiceovers: Joe Hirst, Nadia Wooten, Audrey Renouf, Sinja (and Ventcislava Nekova, Harismita Govindaraj)

Copy of The Space Between Us.mp4