VR is now a tool in the ongoing struggle to bring an end to nuclear weapons.
This week saw the premiere of The Day The World Changed, an interactive VR memorial, held at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway. The piece was shown to commemorate the work of this year’s prize winner, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). It uses photogrammetry and 3D scanning to bring viewers first-hand accounts of the terrors of nuclear weapons.
Created by new VR studio YesPleaseThankYou, which was founded by the UN’s Gabo Arora and former Oculus Story Studios member Saschka Unseld among others, The Day The World Changed takes viewers to Hiroshima, Japan. There they’ll witness the horrific aftermath of the atom bomb that was dropped on the city at the end of the second world war, complete with accounts from survivors. Archived footage and content will also be repurposed for the experience.
“VR experiences are intimate places that we can visit in a way that makes them, by definition, a modern kind of memorial,” Unseld said of the project. “The Day the World Changed is an intimate history and commemoration of the victims of nuclear weapons and a cry for change of the world we now find ourselves in.”
You’ll be able to find The Day The World Changed at museums around the world, and it sounds like a home release is planned too.
