Perennial Sanctuary is a post-nature approach to the monomyth of loss. In the ruins of an ancient cave temple, a sacred tree tells the tale of her beautiful land that falls apart and regrows. This virtual experience discloses 3 memories of her past - Remembrance, Repentance, and Resilience, featuring new media works by student artists from the Advanced Experimental 3D class and Digital Bodies Performed class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Envisioning and creating alternative experiences within simulated environments, the Experimental 3D class incorporated diversity on multiple levels to expand our world-building and creative processes. Using a range of conceptual and technical skills, the class investigated notions of "NextNature," creating speculative worlds. Course materials drew upon the study of natural phenomena and organisms as part of the database. These 3D tools allow deviation from the domain of the material world within xyz space; the software’s 3D physics simulation, forces such as gravity and other environmental qualities can be subverted to create utopias, dystopias, and heterotopias.

The Digital Bodies Performed class teaches the fundamental and advanced 3D animation technical skills relating to digital bodies. Exploring movements that both imitate and go beyond the limitation of reality, the class will incorporate various strategies in narrative, cinematic, game, sculptural, and performative practices to expand conceptual themes.

* NextNature: Koert van Mensvoort directs the Next Nature Networks Foundation in Amsterdam and Next Nature Lab at Eindhoven University of Technology