A virtual insight into being blind

As in our Preview announced, the premiere of Notes on Blindness at the We Are Cinema. At Club Icon, part of the Restaurant TAOWhen we arrived, the attendant asked us to take a seat downstairs in the lounge until the 8 p.m. show started. At 8 o'clock sharp, we were back upstairs and didn't even have to show a ticket. Instead, we were asked to choose a snack - there was a choice of everything from chocolate bars to popcorn and crisps, whatever the heart or rather the taste buds desired. A nice little addition.

Good support

The lady then asked us to sit on one of the swivel chairs and explained in great detail the process and how the VR glasses work. Apparently there were some technical problems at the two performances before. The devices would overheat very quickly. If this happened in the first 15 minutes, she could restart the film. Otherwise she would take the particulars and they would find a solution - either a new ticket or money back. Sounds fair. And to be upfront, there were no major technical glitches at this last screening of the evening.

After everyone had put on their glasses, the counsellor went around again to see if everything was clear and reminded some of them to also turn around or look down and up.

An emotional, impressive story

With a little practice as far as VR tools are concerned, I quickly got started. I selected the language (German - English - French) and started the application. For about 45 minutes I listened to the unknown, beautiful and partly scary acoustic world of John Hull, who went blind in 1983. The narration was very vivid and emotionally charged. It was possible to put oneself in the world of a blind person purely from the narration. For example, it makes sense to me that a blind person actually only hears activities. And that rain sounds much nicer than snow.

A beautiful virtual world

But the mystical images in the 360° virtual world were also beautiful. The makers worked with a lot of glittering contours so that you could not see the objects or people completely clearly, but still perceived them as such. The viewer is accompanied by the acoustic narration and it is pointed out every now and then where one might discover something new.

Exciting interaction

During the performance, the audience must become active themselves, because Notes on Blindness is an interactive virtual reality project. The touchpad on the glasses can be used to create wind. The wind causes the feathers of a bird to swirl forward and the contours of a swing and several trees become visible. For me, this was the most impressive effect and at the same time the most beautiful images in the whole film.

It is also possible to make the footprints disappear or activate objects by fixing them with the gaze. The spectators are instructed to do this by a short, simple text so that the attendant does not have to give any further instructions, provided that everything technical works.

With all these impressions, the 45 minutes flew by. But the most impressive way to experience the virtual world with Notes on Blindness is to see it for yourself. The other performances and more information can be found at We Are Cinema.