Xihe Qu

Communication (MFA)
Xihe photographed at the Battersea Campus
Drilling is a multimodal mixed‑reality experience, mainly a non-linear Virtual Reality adventure focused on the symbolic and experiential significance of a drill bit. Participants have the liberty to either stand or float in the VR environment, watching a large drill bit come down from above, encircled by a captivating industrial audio backdrop. This project encourages the audience to engage with their part in this captivating journey, envisioning a future that transcends perpetual technological advancement. The goal of this symbolic virtual setting is to provoke contemplation on extractivism, the perception of industrial time, and power hierarchies, and to uncover the emotional paradoxes at the heart of modern energy reliance and technological hopefulness.
Drilling is a multimodal mixed‑reality experience, mainly a non-linear Virtual Reality adventure focused on the symbolic and experiential significance of a drill bit. Participants have the liberty to either stand or float in the VR environment, watching a large drill bit come down from above, encircled by a captivating industrial audio backdrop. This project encourages the audience to engage with their part in this captivating journey, envisioning a future that transcends perpetual technological advancement. The goal of this symbolic virtual setting is to provoke contemplation on extractivism, the perception of industrial time, and power hierarchies, and to uncover the emotional paradoxes at the heart of modern energy reliance and technological hopefulness.
Drilling, Metaphorical lmmersive Experience
Drilling display at UCL
Drilling display at UCL
Drilling, 2025
Drilling WIP
Drilling WIP
Drilling, 2025
While technological progress has brought convenience to people's lives, it has also been accompanied by profound pain: many people have been traumas in the process of social change, and although traditional documentary literature can reveal these phenomena, it often makes people lose confidence in the future. How to rebuild hope for the future has become an urgent problem to be solved. FERTILE LAND is a visual novel game based on virtual reality. Through narrative text and interactive mechanisms, players can freely switch between past and future scenes. By means of community building and other gameplay, they can gradually regain the courage and confidence to face the unknown world through collaboration and creation. The game aims to inspire people to let go of the shadows of the past and embrace the belief in the future once again.
While technological progress has brought convenience to people's lives, it has also been accompanied by profound pain: many people have been traumas in the process of social change, and although traditional documentary literature can reveal these phenomena, it often makes people lose confidence in the future. How to rebuild hope for the future has become an urgent problem to be solved. FERTILE LAND is a visual novel game based on virtual reality. Through narrative text and interactive mechanisms, players can freely switch between past and future scenes. By means of community building and other gameplay, they can gradually regain the courage and confidence to face the unknown world through collaboration and creation. The game aims to inspire people to let go of the shadows of the past and embrace the belief in the future once again.
FERTILE LAND, 2024
Drilling is a multimodal mixed‑reality experience, mainly a non-linear Virtual Reality adventure focused on the symbolic and experiential significance of a drill bit. Participants have the liberty to either stand or float in the VR environment, watching a large drill bit come down from above, encircled by a captivating industrial audio backdrop. This project encourages the audience to engage with their part in this captivating journey, envisioning a future that transcends perpetual technological advancement. The goal of this symbolic virtual setting is to provoke contemplation on extractivism, the perception of industrial time, and power hierarchies, and to uncover the emotional paradoxes at the heart of modern energy reliance and technological hopefulness.
Drilling display at UCL
Drilling WIP
While technological progress has brought convenience to people's lives, it has also been accompanied by profound pain: many people have been traumas in the process of social change, and although traditional documentary literature can reveal these phenomena, it often makes people lose confidence in the future. How to rebuild hope for the future has become an urgent problem to be solved. FERTILE LAND is a visual novel game based on virtual reality. Through narrative text and interactive mechanisms, players can freely switch between past and future scenes. By means of community building and other gameplay, they can gradually regain the courage and confidence to face the unknown world through collaboration and creation. The game aims to inspire people to let go of the shadows of the past and embrace the belief in the future once again.

About

Xihe Qu is an multidisciplinary creative director and anthropological researcher, currently based in London. Her works combine culture, digital narrative and anthropology to explore the intricate relationship between technological progress and human experience, with a particular focus on the impact of these developments on social structure, emotional health and the possibilities of designing the future.

 

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