Folkwang

folkwang is...virtually traveling by Mario Sittek

Mario Sittek studies Industrial Design at the Folkwang University of the Arts. In his semester project "Retirement holidays at the brink of reality", he explored virtual travel from home.

The project "Retirement holidays at the brink of reality" offers users the opportunity to take a trip in their own living space. This type of travel is particularly suitable for people of retirement age as a CO²-saving alternative to long-haul flights and cruises. But even in times of curfews and social distancing, I wish that travel programs like this were already the norm and that I could choose where I travel to from my balcony today. This way, semi-virtual travel could add variety to life in the same place and provide a break from possible stress or even anxiety. It is also possible to travel to these destinations with another user, who would appear as an avatar in each other's space and be able to interact. Continuing to be able to experience things with other people without having to come into personal contact would be very useful at the moment.

Photo: Mario Sittek
Photo: Mario Sittek

And this is how virtual travel works: the "Retirement holiday" program is launched via the "Microsoft HoloLens". The HoloLens is a mixed reality platform. Interactive holograms are loaded into the real living space and form the virtual part of the journey. Familiar travel behavior can be incorporated into the experience, so preparations and rituals can be maintained to ensure a more complete travel experience. The travel options are unlimited. Programs can be created for any type of trip. For example, one of my test subjects' travel requests was an "all-inclusive hotel experience" on Mars.

One advantage of semi-virtual travel is the variety and abstract nature of the possible destinations. In addition, it saves CO² emissions if travelers do not need transportation to get to their destination. One advantage of the "mixed reality" used in this project, especially compared to "virtual reality", is that the real space around the users remains visible and therefore no orientation problems such as "motion sickness" can occur.

Mario Sittek, Industrial Design degree program (M.A.)

The project was developed under the direction of Carolin Schreiber (Industrial Design | Strategy & Vision and guest professor for the DEMENZ DINGE project with a focus on Social Design | Design & Participation at Folkwang) and Dr. Anne Caplan (Wuppertal Institute).