Author Archives: Elixa Neumann

Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass is the first VR experience presented to the public by the Louvre Museum and is conceived as part of the Museum’s seminal Leonardo da Vinci exhibition which commemorates the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death in France. Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass reveals the latest scientific research on da Vinci’s artistic innovation and his painting techniques and processes through exceptional visualization in virtual reality, bringing them to life.

A Clever Label is a documentary experience that enables audiences to unearth hidden connections between anti-equality lobbyists, senior Australian politicians and international organizations. Unlike a traditional documentary with a fixed narrative and one-way communication, Documentary host Michela Ledwidge invites audiences to independently follow threads that intrigue them to form their own conclusions.

At the height of the Safe Schools debate in 2016 queer trans woman Michela Ledwidge walked past a rally at Town Hall where 15-year old children spoke of the suicide of one of their classmates. This is the week when Australian politicians used parliamentary privilege to equate homosexuality with paedophilia. Michela felt shame at her own ignorance on the debate and wondered why the Australian religious right had such a hold over a supposedly secular society like Australia. She set out to explore the links between anti-LGBTQI lobbyists, senior Australian politicians and international organisations based in the US. Her idea – use the new medium of Virtual Reality to create a space in where complex issues could be explored and digested. In the process she shines a spotlight on decades of rarely reported research that documents the rise of the Australian religious right and on key questions that cut to the heart of our democracy. Who supports these groups? What motivates our politicians? How do echo chambers impact our ability to understand complex issues? Using the Australian Christian Lobby as a starting point, Michela literally “plays” with the data, exploring the literal and figurative threads of financial and political influence on LGBTQI politics as she explores the hidden sources and motivations behind anti-equality messaging. A Clever Label asks the questions and challenges the audience to seek out their own conclusions on some of Australia’s most polarizing issues.

In this immersive virtual reality experience from Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, spend days in the life of someone who can no longer afford a home. Interact with your environment to attempt to save your home and to protect yourself and your belongings as you walk in another’s shoes and face the adversity of living with diminishing resources.

Researchers from Stanford have run thousands of participants through this experience in an effort to study the effect of VR experiences on empathy. Across our studies, we demonstrate that a VR experience changes helping behavior more than other types of perspective taking exercises, and the effect lasts months afterward. While this 7-minute journey does not come close to immense burden of living without a home, researchers continue to find that VR experiences can be a powerful tool to help put oneself in the shoes of another.

Experience the Energy: Take the Tour

Put on a virtual reality headset and see what it is like to be on multiple worksites in the energy industry. You can experience conventional and automated drilling, SAGD, mining, processing, natural gas and liquids pipelines. Get up close and see the careers and leading-edge technologies that are transforming the Canadian energy industry.

Experience the Energy: Take the Challenge

Experience the energy in a whole new way. Do you like working with big ideas, specialized machines or doing work that is physical? Take the challenge to see how your skills align with 10 exciting careers in oil and gas. Try your hand at drilling, adjust valves to maintain pressure, and send one-of-a-kind robot assistant, Appo into the field to look for hazards. Test yourself to find out which occupations are the best fit for you in the Canadian energy industry.