CLOSET

An Interactive Online 3D Exhibition

Taken place on the free social VR platform Mozilla Hubs, “Closet” is an online interactive exhibition about a Chinese queer's coming out story.

Walking inside Jude's secret "closet" filled with childhood photos, love notes, and video interviews, the audience is introduced to Jude’s personal journey of learning about her sexuality and experience of coming out.

background

China is home to the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population. Until a decade ago, LGBT people were an invisible and hidden population in Chinese society. Although legal persecution was repealed in 1997, discrimination against LGBT people still exists. A report by the United Nations Development Program in 2016 found no more than 15% of LGBT people in China came out to their close family members.

In recent years, more and more young Chinese queers seek help from the Internet and technologies to embrace their identity and sexuality. Dating app such as Blued and Rela has brought together a minority community without activism and helped a generation of Chinese come out of the closet.

I believe that coming out is not a one-time thing. I have seen so many examples that the relationships became worse when interpersonal communication is not efficient. I want to create a storytelling machine that can help tell the most important story of one’s life—the story of being yourself.

Screenshot of CLOSET under construction on Mozilla Spoke, the online tool for building virtual spaces for the Hubs.

Project Description

That’s why I created CLOSET—an online interactive exhibition about a Chinese queer's coming out story. I want to use this experimental exhibition as a case study for developing a mixed reality storytelling tool kit for people who are like me and want to share their stories to the loved ones.

The reason I used the metaphor of “closet” is that I want to encourage people to walk inside my inner world. Identity to me is like a box that I’m living in. I don’t know where it comes came from and why it happens happened to me. After I realized I was gay, I decided to hide anything related to my sexuality inside my “box”. In the beginning, I thought I was just hiding some love letters. Then there were toys, albums, handcrafts….all kinds of souvenirs. They filled up my box, and the box became larger and larger. Eventually, the box became a closet that I am living in. I carefully lied to my parents again and again and again. What I was hiding from them was not only the objects embedded with our love, but also my emotions, and my entire history of relationships. Instead of coming out of the closet, I should invite my loved ones to walk into my world and share my happiness and sadness with them. Show them that I am happy, even though I am different.

Over years of exploration in storytelling, I realize how much potential that mixed reality (MR) has in telling a story that can trigger audience’s emotions in a very short time with the ability to address five senses. With the technology of MR, stories can be told and consumed in a space. Unlike traditional storytelling that’s powered by cutting and editing, MR stories is about curation and discovery.

So, in the CLOSET exhibition, audience are welcomed into my inner world. Following my narration to walk through different spaces, the audience goes on the journey of my life and can discover pieces of stories from my childhood, my very first love, and my experience of coming out. With the live chat, emoji, and sharing functions in Mozilla Hubs, audiences are also encouraged to share their own stories.