Turbulence: Jamais Vu Project

10 minutes VR with 6DOF

XR artist Ben Joseph Andrews lives with a disability called vestibular migraine, which impacts his sense of orientation, balance and spatial awareness.  When a bad flare-up is coming, he can sometimes experience a neurological phenomenon called ‘jamais vu’, where everything familiar suddenly seems new and different.

In this mixed reality work, Andrews uses a VR headset and a depth camera to explore jamais vu in an intimate, interactive docu-essay, asking audiences to reflect on the fragility of perception and reality. You sit at a physical desk, designed to look like Andrews’ own, before putting on a VR headset. Guided by Andrews’ voice, you are asked to complete a series of seemingly simple tasks. However, the more time passes the more the world around you becomes unstable and difficult to navigate – creating an imaginative bridge between you and Ben’s experience of the world.

Key Team Members:

Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts – Creators; Matt Faisandier & Erin K Taylor – Sound; Matt Faisandier – Composition