Collisions.
Multi-disciplinary artist Lynette Wallworth is turning her acclaimed VR project Collisions into a series.
Wallworth and Collisions producer Nicole Newnham have spent the last twelve months touring the work, during which they engaged with several communities about the possibilities of VR to transport viewers into their world.
“The people who invited us [in] are thinking about this technology in a very different way,” Wallworth tells IF.
“Collisions takes you somewhere as a visitor in a very particular orchestrated encounter, and then something’s revealed to you by the community that you’ve travelled to.”
Wallworth is planning first to film an Amazonian tribe in Brazil, whose chief she met through Jeff Skoll’s social enterprise initiative Skoll Stories of Change.
“It takes four days to get in to where they are. But the chief experienced Collisions and had a completely clear picture of the way it could be used from their perspective.”
“I’m grateful and excited for this invitation – that they’ve seen something in Collisions that they can relate to, that they think is of use.”
Wallworth is keen to observe how virtual reality is consumed by other cultures.
“We sent headsets in to this particular group so that they could experience Collisions, so that they could understand what we would be coming with. And, interestingly, they all lay down when they put the headsets on. For them, the sense was [that] they were now bodyless, and in order to intensify that state they wanted to lie on the ground. So that’s the thing I think is fascinating: the way it feels to them is very different I think.”
Wallworth envisages around five episodes, each focusing on a different community.
Partnerships are still being worked out, though the artist is doubtful the VR and mixed reality project would be the right fit for a broadcaster.
Collisions premiered at Sundance's New Frontier last year. In October the work screened at the Adelaide Film Festival, which invested in the project.