Reconnecting with nature
A VR experiment
The Experiment
The first part of the project involved providing virtual reality therapy to 10 participants over a period of 7 weeks, providing one session a week. This experience was transmitted through different olfactory, sound, and visual stimuli. The participants were given 360 virtual reality glasses showing a chosen landscape. They were able to move their heads in any direction but were not able to walk freely within the landscape. They were given headphones (sounds were registered with a 360 microphone) through which they heard the sounds associated with the landscapes they were viewing.
The Short Film
Our short film presented itself as a succession of encounters with different residents from the same care home in Barcelona. All of them were incapable of travelling or going out without some kind of assistance and were therefore bound to the same environment and urban stimulus. In the three months in which we followed them, we got an increasing feeling of intimacy as we learned more about their past lives and current living situation. We wanted to make visible the anxiety inducing environments of residencies while presenting nature as a safe environment in which we can all benefit to immerse ourselves with. We hope to highlight the increasing disconnectedness of our society with nature as well as the ageist behaviour which characterises it, causing ongoing neglect and disrespect of our elders. We would also like to erase some taboos and immerse the viewer into the understanding of what it means to age and how it feels.
Objectives
Our project was twofold and proposed two objectives. The first and most important part was to deliver a relaxing experience and to explore how we could best bring the benefits of nature to those who are unable to experience it firsthand.
Secondly, we wanted to document the process and produce a short, non-fiction film aimed at a general audience. We believe documenting this project would allow more people to see virtual reality as a force for good, and introduce this technology to a wider audience so that people who could benefit from it most will have a greater chance of accessing it.
Finally, in a world dominated by urban centres, where the current climate crisis threatens our vital natural world, it is important to remind ourselves that nature is essential for our mental and physical health. In the context of today’s environmental crisis and future climate predictions, we will only be able to develop true activism and efforts to help this planet and its wildlife if we remember our essential connection and reliance on nature.