VR Loved Life Experience
Immerse yourself in a unique VR experience designed for older adults with memory difficulties.
About the Project
VR Loved Life is a unique VR experience which began as a means of communicating with older adults who were living with memory difficulties.
The content of VR Loved Life takes a multidisciplinary approach combining several areas of storytelling, communication, fine art practice, interaction design, and other design-related practices with elements of cyber-therapy (CT) while also raising awareness of particular dementia related conditions.
VR Loved Life, was inspired by the fieldwork which recorded the thoughts and recommendations of participants, their carers and their families as they progress through the trauma of being diagnosed within the dementia spectrum. The VR-experience directed by Dr Terri Smith, aims to raise empathy and understanding of dementia and the people living with the condition.
This VR experience has highlighted some of the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration, and in a similar spirit this research draws inspiration from healthy ageing, reminiscence practice, art and design, and the emerging field of virtual reality to benefit older adults with dementia and awareness of the condition within the wider community.
Due to the sensitive nature of the shared life-accounts and ethical guidelines; the participants’ feedback was re-interpreted as audio and visual imagery, produced via voice re-recordings and tilt-brush 3D ‘drawings’. A curated collection of participant shared-stories in visual form, were added to the completed creative project, thereby preserving and maintaining the results from the fieldwork. For example, architectural structures within the VRE such as: the neo classical doorway, 19th century Irish cottage and the 1960’s bungalow; rural landscapes, visualised as the beach and the woodland glade were created to represent certain aspects from the fieldwork. The omission of physically recognisable human figures within the VRE was based on the ethos that a familiar, yet neutral VRE space would afford a broader chance of viewer connection with the VRE content. Therefore, the audio and visual material would extend beyond the personal; evoking a sense of community ownership and promoting further community association.
Other overt imagery such as: the small red-sailed Clipper boat and the Robin within the cottage, relate simultaneously to recounted personal shared stories, as well as broader cultural references by means of popular songs, re-released in the 1950’s. For example: James Kennedy’s Red Sails in the Sun Set, and Harry Wood’s When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along).
Universal themes such as celebration and nature, featured heavily within the fieldwork responses. These themes may also act as a means to embody unifying memories/ common reminiscing anecdotes that a majority of the general public may personally relate to.
