ECOLENS
COP29
// VR experience
// With the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, the SaveDnipro, UAnimals and Mriya Productions teams presented a VR installation about the consequences of the war for the nature of Ukraine in the Ukrainian pavilion at the COP29 global climate conference.
// This installation is a combination of 360⁰ immersive technology, VR glasses and stereo sound. More than 700 guests of the Ukrainian pavilion from all over the world were amazed by what they saw. Forests burning, animals dying, missiles hitting – all in a panoramic video, complemented by a three-dimensional soundscape. Some were excited, some were shocked, and some could not hold back tears.
Representatives of Brazil, Malaysia, Madagascar, Germany, Kazakhstan, India, Bolivia, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Indonesia, Thailand, Lithuania, Italy, Uganda, Canada, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Slovenia, Norway, France, and other countries gained experience of immersion in virtual reality. Among those who watched the VR content were high-profile guests:
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, US Secretary of Energy;
Kerry McCarthy, Minister of State for Climate Change, UK;
Simonas Gentvilas, Minister of the Environment of Lithuania;
Anton Gerhard – Member of the German Bundestag;
Seymour Mardaliyev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Ukraine;
Jeffrey Payette – Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, and others.
All of them received a list of steps proposed by Ukraine that will punish the aggressor and help nature heal its wounds.
The immersive content was created by Artem Ivanenko and Mriya Production, Ukrainian immersive communications developers, winners of international creative festivals such as Cannes Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Ciclope Festival (Berlin) and others. The immersive 360⁰ artistic video sequence is complemented by spatial sound, which enhances the emotional impact on the viewer.
// Artem Ivanenko from Mriya Production shares his observations:
‘We are often asked why we chose this format. To which I answer that over the past three years, the topic of war has become peripheral for most people in the world, they are ‘tired’ of war. That is why we chose to influence the basic feelings of the audience. With this immersive experience, we pass information through the heart of the viewer, keeping him or her as the main character in the centre of the events. And this is what makes the emotion last for a long time, and with it, the information we want to convey to everyone.’
The VR experience is an artistic video 360 and spatial sound. The video does not contain documentary footage – only the director’s vision of the tragedy and problems in Ukraine that came with the outbreak of the war.
