Virtual Reality as Empathy Machine: Media, Migration and the Humanitarian Predicament

Events & Announcements

Upcoming events

Currently there are no upcoming events. Please stay posted.

Past events

  • Master class & Public Lecture w/ Prof. Mandy RoseVirtual Reality and the Immersive Turn, May 15, 2025

This event was organized in collaboration with RMeS (Research School of Media Studies) & NOG (Netherlands Research School of Gender Studies) 

In this master class, we critically analyzed immersive technologies through, amongst others, media, postcolonial, and gender studies lenses, reflecting on their ethical implications. We explored the potential of decolonial storytelling to enable new ways of engaging with social realities (Rose 2018). Prof. Rose explored the challenges and potentials for social critique and new forms of knowledge as documentary makers engage with immersive Virtual Reality.

During the master class we also showed the VR production All I know about Teacher Li, which was generously made available to us by the director Zhuzmo, through the support of IDFA.

During the public lecture, Prof. Mandy Rose discussed the following:

Focusing on immersive media, and the unexpected take-up of Virtual Reality (VR) for nonfiction in the last decade, this lecture considers issues arising for documentary as producers engage the platforms, technologies and types of audience experience enabled by digital. Through case studies of award-winning nonfiction works, I’ll discuss the epistemological ramifications of the frameless media experience of VR and the feelings of embodiment and what’s known as presence which are regarded as VR’s defining characteristics. I’ll discuss tensions between the affordances of immersion and the work of social critique that has been central to documentary’s mission. In these VR projects audiences become immersants – with touch, walking, vibration, even smell and heat becoming part of media experience. I’ll consider these multisensory registers being introduced into VR experiences as an alternative to the visuality that has dominated media since its inception. Might the tactile epistemologies of VR offer an alternative to what Donna Haraway has called the “God trick” of seeing everything from nowhere? Might multisensory registers encourage an attitude that Michael Taussig has called “yielding knowing” in relation to our fellow humans and the more-than-human, providing a new direction for documentary in our age of polycrisis?

This event was organized in collaboration with Stichting Movies that Matter The Phoenix of Gaza XR [Naim A.Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb] and the NWO project VR as Empathy Machine.

Phoenix of Gaza XR is an interactive VR experience, capturing the untold stories of Gaza’s people and its transformation. Dive deep into the lives of those who endured and rebuilt. It’s more than VR — it’s a testament to resilience. The project includes hundreds of videos and images using 360-degree camera of daily activities in Gaza and the majority of historical places in the Gaza Strip before it was destroyed (about 80% of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed since October 7, 2023). The material includes images and videos of historical monuments, cultural sites, public squares, universities, schools, cafes, streets, agricultural areas, parks, beach, markets, and amusement places. This is in addition to capturing Palestinian culture through weddings, stitching workshops, dabke (traditional dance), palm harvesting, clay and pottery making, and other hand-made professions

  • Immserive Tech Week Rotterdam – December 5, 2024

On December 5, 2024 we hosted a panel at Immersive Tech Week in Rotterdam on 10 years of the empathy machine: Where are we headed?”

Since the mid-2010s, humanitarian organisations and Big Tech have embraced Virtual Reality for immersive storytelling. Chris Milk’s 2015 TED talk popularised VR as the “ultimate Empathy Machine”, which for humanitarians became a promise to re-engage audiences. However, scholars also criticised this techno-utopian vision, arguing it offers a superficial solution to complex issues and fosters self-centred empathy.

This panel analysed a decade of Empathy Machine VR, its criticisms, post-pandemic evolution, and potential ways forward.

On April 19th, 2024, Utrecht University hosted the seminar “VR for Good,” bringing together VR researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders in the Netherlands. The event aimed to map the current VR landscape, discuss ongoing projects, and build a community of practice focused on using VR for societal benefit. Participants critically examined the potentials and pitfalls of addressing societal issues through immersive technologies, sharing challenges and approaches to foster interdisciplinary perspectives on using VR for good. This blog provides a brief recap of the speakers’ talks and the conversations that ensued.

Speakers

Sandra Ponzanesi

Wouter Oomen

Lisa Burghardt

Laurence Herfs

Martijn Kors

Benjamin de Wit

Marijke de Valck

Bregje Beneck

Robert Belleman

Mirjam Vosmeer

Mathijs Leenderts

Jiaxin Liu

Layla Farmahini Farahani

Joost Raessens

Lindy Damen