nl12 | lab is currently working on The March a virtual reality on the culture of war. Expected Spring 2026
This film shows the working process of the VR The March. Introduction to the team in Amsterdam, clips from inside the VR and the co-operation with artist children in Kharkiv, Ukraine at the Aza Nizi Maza studio.
The March is a non-linear immersive VR that deals with our relations and responsibilities with war, inequality, violence and social conflict. The experience is about culture and consequences of war in our society. Visitors will find themselves in the shoes of perpetrator, victim and passive spectator. War is close and we’re part of it.
The March is produced for various stages such as museums, media festivals, (media) theatres, but also for schools, libraries and other institutions. With our project we seek a broad collaboration with very diverse disciplines.
The March is intertwined with a multitude of visual narratives. The visual content comes from our homes where we – consciously or unconsciously – keep the remnants of our history. Our (violent) history is hidden in the little statues on our bookshelves, tropical plants in our living rooms and many remnants in the public world around us. In the virtual world objects, photos and other elements merge into a new visual language as a connecting factor. Guided by disparate variations on march music, we wander through the era 1860-2025 with metaphors of winners, losers and victims.
The March is a mirror, not a lesson. By bringing objects and images from our surroundings in a surrealistic environment where it could be interpreted in completely different ways, we give our audience the opportunity to reconsider its value and meaning and afterwards start a search on their own traces of the past. By doing so we put (personal) archives into the centre of our conversation about change. It could encourage us to share and discuss our own images, stories, songs and objects that are hidden in our personal archives and traditions. This could be a starting point for dialogue with others. We might find all sorts of common grounds in where we stand today and can build on for tomorrow.
If we could turn to a mindset that events in history determined the crisis of today we might conclude that we share a responsibility for it. The problems we face in this timeframe are immense and dialogue is our key to survive. History has taught us that blindly following someone who is ‘right’ is a recipe for disaster.
With The March we want to create a tool for dialogue. Not just the people involved like victims, their offspring or sympathisers but especially passive bystanders and also: perpetrators. By being heirs of history and consumers of world trade, we’re all involved and therefore share responsibility. The March wants to open our eyes to these traces, make us realise that even if we experience peaceful times, we should not forget or lose interest in the misery of others. We should be part of an active approach to solve conflict anywhere in our world.
The content of The March is serious and sometimes confronting, still we believe it’s suitable for all audiences, also for children.
