Inundated with images and texts that reach us every day via personalized news feeds to capture our attention, our society is becoming increasingly numb to many unpleasant truths. While we unflinchingly spend precious time straining to scan our newsfeeds for useful information, we might also sometimes ask ourselves: what is truth and how is our perception of the reality being manipulated right now? Incessantly reading, hearing and seeing, our society is increasingly entering a vacuum of veritable information with a waking eye. But what does it take to give expression to this data and these facts that can detect truth, to bring its message back into the center of collective perception?
“Conventional media is made for listening, reading and seeing. Artistic Journalism is designed for feeling with the whole body.”
Nobuyuki Oishi, Nikkei Inc. Sr. Producer, Digital Strategy and Planning Unit
With Dataspace, the Ars Electronica Futurelab is experimenting with alternatives to conventional media reporting in cooperation with the Japanese media company Nikkei. In a virtual Zen Garden of information, in a first step they make the worldwide consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine visible and tangible for a broad public: An immersive VR environment was created for this purpose in the Ars Electronica Center‘s Deep Space 8K, enabling a large audience to immerse themselves in the topic together based on data and facts and to experience it in a truly physical way. The project is based on the concept of Artistic Journalism, which takes important topics and researches the facts as realistically as possible in order to prepare them with the means of art for the public. The immersive audiovisual presentation of data and facts thus creates an expanded perceptual space in which it is possible to actively experience, to think for oneself, to exchange and discuss with one another instead of superficially and solely consuming news.
“It’s the choice of the right language that makes content accessible to everyone. Dataspace mobilizes sensitivity and reflection.”
Nicolas Naveau, Senior Researcher & Artist, Ars Electronica Futurelab
In the sense of Artistic Journalism, the Ars Electronica Futurelab is researching even more alternative approaches to preparing data and information for a broad public. Check our projects to find out what options are already available to us for this purpose today.
You would like to visit Ars Electronica Center‘s Deep Space 8K and see for yourself the incredible possibilities that it offers? Get your ticket and come by!