Respected architecture and design curator Paola Antonelli had an idea to create an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience that could bring life to the design process. To realise this, Antonelli teamed up with content creators Sibling Rivalry to create an episodic VR experience called &Design.
The creators hope that &Design will help explore universal themes such as death, love play and the notion of self. The project was realised with a grant from Samsung’s VR Video Pilot Season, and officially unveiled at the Tribeca Film Festival.
“Design is one of the highest and most complex expressions of human ingenuity,” Antonelli explains. “Design is about life. It tells us who we are, where we have been, and where we are going. With &Design, we are giving viewers a deep experience of what makes up this creative field, and we are describing a fascinating and diverse universe, of creators, thinkers, and makers.”
Antonelli worked closely with Sibling Rivalry partner and Creative Director Mikon van Gastel to bring &Design to life, which features various groundbreaking designers from around the world such as Neri Oxman and the members of the Mediated Matter Group at MIT’s Media Lab, roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro in Osaka and others who will be some of those creating what the future will look and feel like.
“With this series the question we kept asking ourselves was: ‘Why in VR’?”, says van Gastel, “The episodes could be 2D, some could be podcasts but the four we produced were specifically chosen because their stories lent themselves to be experienced dimensionally.”
The project took almost two years to get from concept to final product, with most of the footage shot on a Samsung 360 Round camera, the team tried to combine live-action 360-degree filmmaking with graphic design and visual effects.
According to Sibling Rivalry EP Shelby Ross: “The goal for &Design is to make the world of design accessible to a diverse audience. We look forward to working with partners both in the traditional environment as well as with emerging technologies to create a platform where &Design can show us the world of design and can change the way we look at the world.”
Further news on new and upcoming VR projects will be reported on here at VRFocus.