Project Concept

Virtuelle Mauer / ReConstructing the Wall will be a virtual reality (VR) installation, an interactive 3D computer graphics environment that allows users to experience a section of the Berlin Wall and its surrounding neighborhoods in some of their former complexity. Using interactive VR dramaturgical techniques such as simulation, interaction and time travel, we will develop a 3D interactive installation consisting of a network of scenes whose sequence users will determine via their own actions. Building on the spatial and historical characteristics of a specific location along the former death strip, we will embed archival materials (sound, images, propaganda posters, film, etc.) within a 3D simulation of the site so that users metaphorically experience the "zeitgeist" of that time as in a surreal dream.

Virtual reality technology was originally developed by the US military for training jetfighter pilots. Today it is primarily used for violent "ego-shooter" computer games and for 3D simulations of vanished historic monuments. Our goal, however, is neither game nor historic preservation, but rather an encounter with the city and the Wall, and with the human drama that arose where the two collided. Our approach is to involve users as participants in history - not in the role of omnipotent armed combatants but as normal people who must live with the presence of the Wall.

For a description of the location treated in the project, see the link "Site."

For information on development of the dramatic concept and production of the final project see the link "Development."

For details on how the Virtuelle Mauer / ReConstructing the Wall installation will be exhibited, see the link "Presentation."

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