The Interview
In June 2015, when hundreds of thousands traveled through the Balkans on their way to Western Europe, Hungary started with the construction of a border fence. The influx of asylum seekers stopped, but thousands were stuck on the Serbian side of the EU-border. Even today. To enter the European Union, the asylum seekers must first pass through the transit zone of Röszke, a hidden detention center run by the Hungarian government, surrounded by barbed wire and high fences. The procedure can take up to a year and is designed to intimidate and discourage people.
Migration is a hot topic. Several (VR) documentaries have been made on the subject. These usually show the perspective of the asylum seekers. For The Interview, I want to use the compelling nature of VR to make you think about the subject from a completely different perspective: what would it be like to be an immigration officer?
The Interview puts you in the shoes of a migration officer. It is your first day on the job and in one of the blue containers in Röszke you wait to interview asylum seekers. It is up to you to decide whether the asylum seeker can stay or should be sent back. Your decision will have a huge impact on the future of this person.
I want to recreate the environment of the transit zone in 3D. We film real asylum seekers who have already been through the asylum procedure in 3D. This 3D video is integrated within the 3D environment. VR allows you to walk around the Röszke site and to come face to face with real asylum seekers.
The Interview wants you to experience migration from a different perspective. How can that experience influence your way of thinking? As an immigration officer you not only represent the system, but all of us.
Migration is a hot topic. Several (VR) documentaries have been made on the subject. These usually show the perspective of the asylum seekers. For The Interview, I want to use the compelling nature of VR to make you think about the subject from a completely different perspective: what would it be like to be an immigration officer?
The Interview puts you in the shoes of a migration officer. It is your first day on the job and in one of the blue containers in Röszke you wait to interview asylum seekers. It is up to you to decide whether the asylum seeker can stay or should be sent back. Your decision will have a huge impact on the future of this person.
I want to recreate the environment of the transit zone in 3D. We film real asylum seekers who have already been through the asylum procedure in 3D. This 3D video is integrated within the 3D environment. VR allows you to walk around the Röszke site and to come face to face with real asylum seekers.
The Interview wants you to experience migration from a different perspective. How can that experience influence your way of thinking? As an immigration officer you not only represent the system, but all of us.
The Life Beneath Our Feet
Trees evoke strong emotions in many people. They are the visible part of the forest. However, we are much less familiar with the fascinating world below the ground. According to scientists, we know more about the planet Mars than we do about what goes on below the ground surface of the forest. A forest is not a collection of individual, separate trees, it is actually a large living organism in which all the trees are interconnected.
Tree roots form complex networks underground with fungi. This mycorrhizal network - the cooperation between roots and fungi - enables the exchange of nutrients. The fungi also help trees to communicate with each other. They can warn each other of impending danger from gnawing insects. Old, healthy trees can also forward food to younger trees that lack something. This complex ecosystem also stores carbon and nitrogen compounds, helping to stabilize the climate. All these scientific insights make us look at the subsurface of forests in a different way.
With the help of VR, I want to give the participant access to this underground network. However, 'The Life Beneath Our Feet' wants to be more than just a visual experience. Thanks to other technologies like e.g. haptic suits and sleeves that enable EMS (electrical muscle stimulation), I want to make this VR a multi-sensory experience.
Together with three other participants, you become a link in this infinite network of roots and fungi. Thanks to the technology, you experience firsthand how nutrients flow through your "body"; how insects gnaw at your roots, and how seeping rainwater makes its way into deeper soil layers. Ultimately, you also experience what happens when the connection to this complex network is disconnected.
This VR aims to make an invisible and complex world accessible and understandable, so that the next time we walk through a forest, we will look differently at that hidden world beneath our feet. Because only what we understand can we really protect properly.
Tree roots form complex networks underground with fungi. This mycorrhizal network - the cooperation between roots and fungi - enables the exchange of nutrients. The fungi also help trees to communicate with each other. They can warn each other of impending danger from gnawing insects. Old, healthy trees can also forward food to younger trees that lack something. This complex ecosystem also stores carbon and nitrogen compounds, helping to stabilize the climate. All these scientific insights make us look at the subsurface of forests in a different way.
With the help of VR, I want to give the participant access to this underground network. However, 'The Life Beneath Our Feet' wants to be more than just a visual experience. Thanks to other technologies like e.g. haptic suits and sleeves that enable EMS (electrical muscle stimulation), I want to make this VR a multi-sensory experience.
Together with three other participants, you become a link in this infinite network of roots and fungi. Thanks to the technology, you experience firsthand how nutrients flow through your "body"; how insects gnaw at your roots, and how seeping rainwater makes its way into deeper soil layers. Ultimately, you also experience what happens when the connection to this complex network is disconnected.
This VR aims to make an invisible and complex world accessible and understandable, so that the next time we walk through a forest, we will look differently at that hidden world beneath our feet. Because only what we understand can we really protect properly.