What if mankind could exchange thoughts with an animal? What if it could ask us inconvenient questions and make us realise how deeply related animals and humans actually are? What would we say if the animal wants to know why we kill and eat it? Empathy grows through personal dialogue. If you understand your opponent, you open up to them and are more willing to take their point of view and change your own. The idea was to engage humans in an eye-level conversation with an animal, to make people rethink their consumer behaviour towards areas ranging from food to fashion and beauty. Because all of these are largely based on the suffering of living creatures. And because rabbits are exploited for food, clothing, experimentation, hunting and entertainment, a bunny is the perfect ambassador for animal rights.
Describe the execution
We set up the world’s first application to combine VR with live acting. At numerous events and festivals throughout Germany and the US, a rabbit welcomed people to a virtual world with an eye-to-eye dialogue. Nothing was scripted. Everything was open. Because there was no bot technology behind the virtual animal. It was triggered by a psychologically trained PETA activist. He controlled the rabbit through facial recognition and body-tracking technology. His movements and facial expressions became the rabbit's movements and facial expressions. His voice became the rabbit’s voice. Live, in real time. The PETA activist was equipped with various virtual environments (slaughterhouse, forest, laboratory, etc.) and a massive amount of facts that he could refer to during the natural flowing conversation. Custom binaural sounds contributed to a deep level of immersion and understanding. At the end of the dialogue, the user received a virtual letter from the rabbit. When they took off the VR headset, they found a physical letter placed in front of them, a compassionate plea for the value of life. In that moment the virtual and real world became one.