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Indigenous virtual reality experience shows a Toronto reclaimed by nature

Click to play video: 'Virtual reality set shows an Indigenous Toronto overcome by nature'
Virtual reality set shows an Indigenous Toronto overcome by nature
Renowned Indigenous artist Lisa Jackson shows a desolate Toronto that has gone back to its roots in this popular virtual reality experience open to the public. Kamil Karamali has more – Sep 18, 2018

Longtime Toronto resident Janet Rodriguez had never tried on a virtual reality (VR) set before walking up to the booths temporarily set up at Nathan Phillips Square Tuesday — but her first experience brought tears to her eyes.

Biidaaban: First Light showcases Toronto like no one has ever seen before. The virtual reality experience displays a future where nature has completely taken over the city.

Coverage of virtual reality on Globalnews.ca:

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It takes users through three locations.

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Nathan Phillips Square is flooded, with City Hall merged with fauna, and a woman can be seen using her hands to dig through soil to grow vegetation. It also goes underground to Osgood subways station, where plants and vines are growing through concrete. The user also stands at the edge of a building across the city square, looking over at a skyline that’s even more jagged because of the crumbling infrastructure.

The five booths set up at Nathan Phillips Square throughout the week had anywhere from a half-hour to an hour-long wait on Monday.

The virtual reality film runs eight minutes and was produced by the National Film Board of Canada in collaboration with the City of Toronto.

But the entire purpose of the futuristic and nature-filled Toronto setting is to bring Indigenous culture to an urban setting.

“We think of Indigenous places as far away, in remote places, on reserves — but actually half of Canada’s Indigenous population lives in cities,” said Anishinaabe artist Lisa Jackson, who created the project.

“It was based on my thinking that cities are as Indigenous as anywhere else. So let’s bring those languages and those ideas back and center them back into the city and reclaim the city square.”

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The film is narrated in three Indigenous languages: Wendat, Mohawk and Ojibway, with English translations.

Biidaaban was released in the spring of 2018 and was first showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The virtual reality movie will now be featured at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival.
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