SHIFTING HOMES

THIS AUSTRALIAN AND PACIFIC CONTRIBUTION AT THE 17TH VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE IS INFORMED BY THE PERILS OF CLIMATE CHANGE – SPOTLIGHTING RISING SEA LEVELS IN SAMOA AND WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THOSE AFFECTED.

Under the curation of Tristan Wong and Jefa Greenaway, Shifting Homes is the creation of artists Daniel Stricker, from DP Immersive, and Vincent Heimann. The virtual reality (VR) piece was one of 10 Australian participants selected to represent Australia and the Pacific in the Architecture Biennale. All of these have been included in the INBETWEEN exhibition, which focuses on cultural diversity and the power of architecture to build connections between First Nations cultures in Australia and the Pacific region.

A Shifting Homes NFT (non-fungible token) artwork was also launched concurrently for sale with half of the proceeds donated to the village of Poutasi (featured in the piece) and the other half to future DP Immersive social impact projects. The artwork was powered by PoS blockchain, claimed to be the most environmentally friendly bitcoin, and carbon o set by O setra.

Simultaneous global launches for Shifting Homes took place on 21 May 2021 in New York (NewLab with OVR Technology), Apia SAMOA (presented by the Australian High Commission to Samoa) and Melbourne, through the AIA, which also unveiled the INBETWEEN exhibition.

As part of the project, DP Immersvie, in partnership with The Hub, SkyEye, the Ministry of Communication and Technology Samoa, and the National University of Samoa has also announced a remote learning program to empower and educate participants in the Pacific region (Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji) to create their own unique immersive experiences. The program teaches students VR, AR (augmented reality), NFT creation, photogrammetry, LiDar scanning and commercialisation in order to create a new ‘global village’ platform working with social impact experiences in new media.

THE ARTWORK

The independent state of Samoa is a low-lying South Pacific country that is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels. Recent discoveries of ancient complex societies along the unprotected shorelines of the state are also being threatened by the rising sea levels. Shifting Homes presents a VR world of archeological features, vanishing cultural histories, and past, present

SHIFTING HOMES PRESENTS A VR WORLD OF ARCHEOLOGICAL FEATURES, VANISHING CULTURAL HISTORIES, AND PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE MODELS IN ORDER TO PREPARE THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES FOR THE CHALLENGES ON THE HORIZON.

and future models in order to prepare the local communities for the challenges on the horizon.

The narrative is told from the perspective of the influential citizens of the village of Poutasi, Falealili district, southern coast of Upolu, specifically Mayor Seuseu and the village’s High Chief, Joe Annandale.

Seuseu provides the emotional backbone of the piece by revealing a personal story of his village, including the distressing move to vacate his family’s long established ancestral home.

ARTISTS’ STATEMENT

“Rising sea levels threaten recent discoveries of ancient complex societies along the shorelines of Samoa – featuring monumental earth platforms, enigmatic star mounds, stone pathways and walls extending many kilometres. Elevating ocean levels are now threatening to destroy these prehistoric sites and dislocate coastal communities. On the southern coast of Upolu in Samoa, we conducted remote sensing to find archaeological features, preserve vanishing cultural histories and ultimately begin preparing local communities for further displacement.

“This information allowed us to bring the village to life within Virtual Reality (VR), recreating its past and present in an immersive and vivid way. Vitally, the VR experience presents future outcomes for the village in regards to climate change. Through experiencing rising waters and further dramatic outcomes indicated through scientific data, Shifting Homes emphasises the urgency of this issue to outsiders.

“Like many low-lying island regions, this Samoan village is currently dealing with climate change and its physical, mental and spiritual impacts. Our partner, the National University of Samoa nominated this village as it is a traditional village on the southern coast that is not being protected in lieu of climate change, and is one of the first places to be a ected by rising sea levels. It is also significant due to its ancient archaeological sites. It evokes not only the modern village life and connection to Country, but traditional village life as well. The site extends into the virtual world, bringing to life its cultural and spiritual heart to connect with the outside world.” ar