MYRIAD. Where we connect.
VR Experience
MYRIAD. Where we connect.
VR Experience
Category
Virtual Reality
Art & Science
Data Visualisation
Role
Co-Creation
Author
Artistic Direction
Art Direction
Story and Text
A poetic journey along the paths of migratory animals
Myriad – Where we connect. takes the audience on a global journey through our interconnected world in an emotional yet informative, interactive, and immersive way.
In this 32-minute Virtual Reality experience, the audience follows the journey of three protagonists: the Green Sea Turtle, the Northern Bald Ibis, and the Arctic Fox. These creatures travel along wind and ocean currents, across continents, and over soaring mountain ranges as they make their way around the globe. Each journey weaves new scientific insights into fascinating, emotional stories of survival and perseverance. The audience can participate in these journeys and experience the emotions themselves before learning about successful resettlement and reintroduction stories, such as the human-led migration of the Bald Ibis and its reintroduction to the Alps.
„MYRIAD. Where we connect.“ was developed in close collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and an interdisciplinary team of international scientists, using real data from over twenty thousand tagged animals. These data, sourced mainly from specific research projects and from the Movebank database—a long-term project by the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior—combine research on animal migration, behavioral biology, climate science, and infrastructure development. Myriad takes this scientific foundation as the core base showing the complexity of animal behavior and how global animal pathways have been influenced by anthropogenic changes to the environment.
The poetic storytelling, artistic language and unique soundscape translates this data in an empathetic experience that connects human imagination with knowledge about the global interconnectedness of our planet’s ecosystems.
Science and Art – Carbon as connecting element
A central artistic element of „MYRIAD. Where we connect.“ is carbon and function as narrative ans aesthetic link between content and form.
Flexible and ubiquitous, the chemical element carbon forms the basis of all life on Earth. Simultaneously, it assumes significance in the current climate discourse when existing as carbon dioxide.
Handmade charcoal drawings are integrated into all MYRIAD’s digital formats, blending analog and digital elements in its visual design. In a sculptural setting, the charcoal drawings transform into a spatial environment.
See the world through the eyes of many
Every year, myriads of living beings migrate across our planet. These migrations, in regular rhythms, are like the pulse, the heartbeat of a single living organism. They are part of the natural rhythm of life and one of the most vivid examples of the close interrelationships and interdependencies that characterize life on our shared planet. Follow their paths and see the world through the eyes of many.
Festivals & Exhibitions
2021
Sandbox Immersive Festival
Beijing, China
MC2
Grenoble, France
Centquatre
Paris,France
Invr.Space
Berlin, Germany
MEET Fondazione Cariplo
Milan, Italy
Laboratorio Aperto di Modena
Modena, Italy
Museo Nazionale del Cinema
Turin, Italy
M9 – Museum of the 20th Century Venice
Mestre, Italy
Eye Filmmuseum
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA)
Moscow, Russia
Espronceda – Institute of Art & Culture
Barcelona, Spain
IKSV Salon & Kolektif House (Maslak)
Istanbul, Turkey
Portland Art Museum
Portland, USA
Awards
2021
La Biennale di Venezia
Official Selection
Japan Prize
Winner – Digital Media Division
Raindance Immersive
Award Nominee – Best Documentary Experience
Epica Awards
Winner Silver – VR/AR
Fivars
Official Selection
Geneva International Film Festival
Shortlist
Red Dot Award – Best of the Best
Winner – User Experience
Red Dot Award – Best of the Best
Winner – Spatial Communication
Red Dot Award
Winner – Illustration
Telly Award
Winner Silver
2022
Art Directors Club
Winner Silver – Data Visualisation
Art Directors Club
Winner Silver – VR Experience
Art Directors Club
Winner Bronze -Advertising | Terminal
Art Directors Club
Winner Bronze – Illustration | Spatial experience
Art Directors Club
Honorable Mention – Audio Design | Spatial Experience
Art Directors Club Europe
Winner Silver – Spatial Design
Art Directors Club Europe
Winner Silver – Interactive & Mobile Data Visualisation
Annual Multimedia Award
Winner Silver
World Congress of Science & Factual Producers
Official Selection
Silbersalz Science & Media
Participant & Award Nominee
VR Awards
Official Selection
CPH:DOX
Official Selection
BIFAN | Beyond Reality
Official Selection
Lovie Award
Winner Silver
Next Reality Contest
Winner
Anthem Awards
Winner Gold – Digital & Innovative Experience
2023
IF Design Award
Winner – Communication/Apps/Software
"MYRIAD ... is art and empiricism, arthouse comic and visualized science. Above all: a journey in the best company."
Sueddeutsche Zeitung
"These are immersive experiences that impart knowledge in an exciting way and create lasting memories of the museum visit."
Vito Oražem, Director Red Dot Design Museum, Essen
"The result is visually minimalist, but impressive and conceptually compelling."
PAGE Magazine
"... for all their abstraction, the movements of the animals seem sensationally real."
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
"The half hour I spend under the VR goggles is so densely narrated that I want to do a second round with the three animals right afterwards."
WDR5 Scala
"You can dive right into the lives of endangered animals. It's a fascinating experience. You experience a completely different reality."
RBB Kultur
Credits
Directors
Lena Thiele
Sebastian Baurmann
Dirk Hoffmann
Production
Interactive Media Foundation
Filmtank
Saskia Kress
Michael Grotenhoff
Screenplay
Lena Thiele
Cinematographer
Nico Alexander Taniyama
Dirk Hoffmann
Sebastian Baurmann
Authors/creative directors/art directors
Lena Thiele
Sebastian Baurmann
Lead visual artist
Dirk Hoffmann
Technical director
Torsten Sperling-Ufer
Interaction programming
Christoph Espig
Mateusz Marchwicki
3D artists
Nico Alexander Taniyama
Christian Rambow
Katharina Przyborowski
Animal rigger and animation
Florian Friedmann
Hendrik Rost
Music
Rutger Hoedemaekers
Sound
Christian Barth (Creative Sound Director)
Andrew Mottl (Sound Designer)
Julian Ferreira da Silva (Technical Sound Designer)
3D green screen captures
Michael Grotenhoff
Christian Zipfel
FX design
Robert Werner
Production lead
Sebastian Baurmann
Kerstin Klewitz
Thorsten Schwarck
Jochen Watral
Voice over
Dulcie Smart
Benjamin Völz
Scientific support
Johannes Fritz (Waldrappteam/LIFE Northern Bald Ibis)
Karl-Heinz Frommolt (Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)
Eva Fuglei (Norwegian Polar Institute)
Thomas Krumenacker/Christian Schwaegerl (RiffReporter)
Nicole Kube & Tom Bär (Deutsches Meeresmuseum Stralsund)
Martin Wikelski (Max-Planck-Institute of Animal Behavior)
Ascension Island Government
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
University of Exeter
An project of Interactive Media Foundation and Filmtank in co-creation with Miiqo Studios and Artificial Rome.