MR Installation  |  Quest 3  |  Work in Progress

Novocene is a mixed reality experience that uses headset technology to offer a transition from  immediate exhibition environment into an atmospheric simulation. The interactive installation creates unique aesthetics to unfold a narrative that explores the Anthropocene, the geological era dominated and shaped by humans, until it’s very end.

The viewer is immersed in an essayistic journey that reflects on humanity’s greatest challenge to transform its environmental impact sustainably and the rampant exploitation and burning of environmental resources. Deep Dive sees itself as an artistic examination of the global climate crisis that aims to evoke empathy for scientific facts. As a philosophical reflection, the work aims to inspire a global sense of responsibility and the urgency of taking action.

After putting on the headset, viewers first find the familiar exhibition situation around them. The familiar outside world is brought into the VR glasses thanks to the passthrough optics, but simulated organic structures soon grow out of the ground until the viewer is completely surrounded by an abstract natural landscape. This growth phase is a leap back into a primeval past, from where the Anthropocene is recapitulated in all its phases.

As soon as the storyline reaches the impending rise in sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, the exhibition space is flooded by a roaring, slowly rising water level until viewers are completely submerged in the flood and find themselves surrounded by surging masses of water…

In Collaboration with Hera Project | HTW Berlin

Novocene was selected by the XR Open Call jury of HTW Berlin’s AURORA XR School for Artists in April 2024. As a result, it is now being developed in close collaboration with HTW’s interdisciplinary project team, with co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund under the INP-III program and the kind support of the Senate Department for Culture and Community.