A VR Experience of Climate Change.

Produced and Directed by Guy Schofield and David Gochfeld.

 

You are in a small submersible, descending to the base of an offshore oil platform to inspect the pipeline. As you follow it along the bottom, through the darkness and murk, you have a series of encounters, each progressively stranger and more disquieting.

216 Below is speculative fiction, based on real scientific projections of the worst-case emissions pathway. Imagine a future where oil and gas consumption continues unabated, the oceans continue to rise, and “climate adaptation” means societal collapse.

You begin the piece without this knowledge and no instruction but to follow the pipeline. As you explore the world, the limited visibility and immersive sound design build a sense of creeping menace. Gradually, you will piece together meaning from the wreckage.

 

Selected images and concept sketches by Guy Schofield.