_Rozsypne

In the summer of 2014, the village of Rozsypne in the eastern Ukrainian countryside found itself in the midst of a raging civil war, with the lives of its inhabitants unsettled by the destruction and chaos at their doorstep. The suffering of Rozsypne only made international news after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down, killing all 298 passengers and raining debris, bodily remains and other traces of human life over the fields and homes of the village—whose name translates as “scattered.”

While international coverage of the crash mostly centered on Western European lives, this poetic roomscale VR experience offers a fragmented window into the life of Nina, an elderly woman living in Rozsypne. Although the piece is experienced entirely in a headset, it premiered at IDFA 2019 as part of an installation that gave a sense of the world to be encountered, including sunflower-print fabric. Moving through the distinctive Ukrainian sunflower fields in VR, the viewer witnesses the details of Nina’s austere but cozy home and experiences the feeling of this faraway reality up close. Created using Blender and Unity, the piece is a vivid 3D immersive exploration of mourning and endurance.