Join Dorothea Gibbs (director of the powerful virtual reality experience Natural Reality 2:1) for a free Q&A hosted by Catherine Allen, the curator of our VR Sessions.

Dorothea's pieces are strongly inspired by how our lives are constantly infused with technology. On average, we spend 8 hours of every day on electronic devices and our ability to enjoy the beauty of nature is increasingly obliterated by both narcissism and a need to 'be connected' (often the need to take a selfie of 'enjoying' nature takes over the actual peaceful enjoyment of it). She has also become interested in how being connected in a superficial way through social media somehow creates the illusion of a friendship - and maybe even replaces real interaction.

One of Gibbs' oldest friends suddenly died recently at 33. He was a nature lover and spent any time that he wasn't working gardening and planting in the woods near his house in Buckinghamshire. Trying to remember the last time she spent time with him, she looked back at their Facebook messages. Spanning seven years, they were an intermittent flurry of random work chat, favour asking, and missed opportunities. She realised they had not met up in the whole time they were connected by this social network, which was creating the illusion of being connected without allowing them to build any real memories.

This inspired her to create Natural Reality 2:1, an immersive VR experience that explores technology's ability to disconnect us from reality. Come along and hear more about her experience of creating Natural Reality 2:1, her reasons behind her decisions, and how using VR has allowed her to highlight the power of technology to inspire and create.

Natural Reality 2:1 was commissioned by Human Nature with the support of Abundance.

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