"Eye to Eye": Visitors to Re Publica were able to enter into dialogue with a lab bunny via VR. Peta, Kolle Rebbe and Demodern put visitors in a VR cage where they can share their experiences with the trapped animal.
Hopping through the forest - only to suddenly end up in the lab. On the wrong side of the glass pane. Imagining that is really bad - experiencing it virtually chokes you up.
The animal welfare organisation Peta describes the virtual reality dialogue with a rabbit as a social experiment. "Eye To Eye" was created together with the creative agency Kolle Rebbe and the digital agency Demodern. The first people to try it out were visitors to the Re Publica internet conference in Berlin. A German trailer tour is planned. Hendrik Thiele, Head of Creation and Major Projects at Peta: "We live in a technology-obsessed world. Virtual reality offers us the opportunity to reach people who have previously paid little or no attention to the issue of animal rights."
In "Eye to Eye", Peta and the creative team do not simply send viewers into the world of a laboratory animal, slaughter animal or circus animal with the help of VR glasses - there is a dialogue. Demodern has hired an actor to bring a rabbit to life in real time. This is made possible by a face re-enactment system that transmits the actor's voice and facial expressions live to the virtual character. Added to this is a haunting sound design by German Wahnsinn.
And suddenly something is possible that is otherwise not possible: the visitors to the experiment talk to an animal - and have to answer its questions.
"For the first time, humans and animals are meeting at eye level for a conversation that opens our eyes - and our hearts," says Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of the animal rights organisation, about the project.
Andreas Brunsch, Executive Creative Director Digital at Kolle Rebbe, says: "The rabbit surprises with real emotions and empathy. It is a game with user expectations that sets new standards for what is possible in virtual worlds." Alexander El-Meligi, Managing Partner and Creative Director at Demodern: "This project not only shows what can be achieved visually and technically with virtual reality, but also what opportunities this immersive medium offers for storytelling and storydoing."
Source: WUV / Youtube
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