“What fascinates me most about the Raumwelten VR hub is that it’s an experiment: socially, spatially, conceptually and even on the tech side… and we embrace and dive into it in hopes that we will use this platform to exchange and learn new things from this digital exploration.
Given this year’s virtual edition, we knew that it would be an impossible task to recreate Raumwelten as we know it. But, the digital can also bring new opportunities that the real cannot and focusing on these new values is key. A large part of it comes down to designing the space in an engaging and playful way that motivates people to explore, a bit like a digital pleasure garden. At the same time, it requires guidance to some extent. So at the Raumwelten VR hub, we will have staff ready to engage with the audience on a one-to-one level.
We’ve also invited some incredible speakers from around the world who are innovating and working as world builders and immersive designers/architects/creators in both digital and physical spaces.
It’s the reason why the presentations this year are not in passive Zoom formats. Instead of talking about their spaces by looking at an image on a slide, we bring users into 360 images of the real space or walk-around 3D models that help the audience understand the concept in another way. Our hope is that this kind of experience could lead to more active participation in the topic itself, launching conversations between both audience and speaker so that we all collectively reflect and pull new insights from this dialogue.
In addition to showing the presentations on traditional platforms and on the main screen of the Raumwelten VR hub, people can also hang out in the main hub space or explore the different presentation spaces at their leisure. If you miss the talk, you can still see it in the space. You will be able to choose your own avatar (a Midjourney version of the Bauhaus ballet), talk to others and travel through different portals to other spaces.
And lastly, our platform is really accessible and inclusive, which I think is really important for any new technology, especially one that is technically a Metaverse. We made the decision to use Mozilla hubs because it only requires access to a computer with wifi. There is no need to register, log in, or download anything to join. All you need to do is click a link to land in Raumwelten VR hub.”
Allison Crank, UX-Designerin, Forscherin und Kuratorin der Raumwelten 2022.