Winner best creative technology award – IDFA DocLab competition / Immersive non-fiction 2021.


Somewhere 200 years in the future, on the ruins of the symbiosis inhospitable Anthropocene, after climate change has changed the world beyond recognition. The post-human biotope is rich and teaming with new artificial or enhanced biochemical life: genetically altered lifeforms, (chemical) robots, hybrid technologies, autonomous intelligent systems. They are all sharing resources, habitats, bodies and information in an inclusive way: Symbiosis.

Symbiosis is a multisensory VR experience that invites you to temporarily leave your human body behind and inhabit the world as a slime mould, a toad, or a plant. Wearing a custom haptic suit, participants are immersed in a virtual world enriched with smells, sounds, and plant-based snacks tailored to each creature. The result is an experience that is as philosophical as it is physical. Symbiosis draws inspiration from biologist and philosopher Donna Haraway, whose work imagines a future where humans hold a less central place, willingly sharing power and agency with non-human life.

In an era of climate crisis and ecological upheaval, the installation asks: what might true symbiosis between humans, animals, and technology actually feel like? The installation is both performative and social. Each visitor is simultaneously spectator and performer, choosing a character that represents a specific human-animal or human-technology relationship. Participants share the virtual space and play symbiotic roles in one another’s stories, with all characters converging at the end in a collective food ritual. Physical sensation is central throughout. Each VR experience is paired with a soft robotic wearable that enables haptic feedback, making the speculative virtual body feel surprisingly real.

A series of specially designed, all-vegetarian snacks created by the Michelin-starred chefs of Karpendonkse Hoeve brings the virtual food world into physical reality through unexpected tastes and textures. Rooted in Haraway’s Staying With The Trouble and The Camille Stories, Symbiosis challenges anthropocentric and humanist assumptions, inviting visitors to genuinely reconsider what coexistence, rights, and relationships between all living entities could look like on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Making physically tangible posthuman body architectures within a post humanistic social context, questioning current Humanistic, Anthropocentric and Liberal beliefs.