A vicarious tour

Unreal Engine game

‘A vicarious tour’ is an interactive archive developed using Unreal Engine, commissioned for The Architecture of Staged Realities in 2021. The archive allows a user to explore digital models of Disney cruise liner interiors via the Point Cloud Lounge, itself modelled on part of the RMS Titanic. The interiors were recreated by running video footage, originally uploaded to YouTube by Disney adults and influencers, through photogrammetry software.

In addition to its content, the playing of the game itself reveals some of Disney’s logic: the constant drive towards (highly controlled) interaction and participation. Scattered throughout were objects that connected to the wider research project, including a fibreglass palm tree and commemorative mug.