In Sutu (aka Stuart Campbell)’s latest piece Future Dreaming, audiences have the opportunity to enter a magical bubble as four young Aboriginal Australians guide you through their imagined futures. The team used motion capture techniques and Tilt Brush to bring to life the stories of Ali Lockyer, Maverick Eaton, Nelson, and Maxie Coppin. Future Dreaming was inspired by the ancient Australian Aboriginal practice of Dreamtime; the interviews began with a question: “What does your future look like… one week from now?… five years from now?… 20?” Through virtual reality, participants are able to enter the fantastical worlds created by Ali, Maverick, Nelson, and Maxie’s answers to those questions.

We had the opportunity to speak to creator Sutu over email to learn more about the project.

No Proscenium (NP): Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Sutu: I love to experiment with new technologies and art techniques to discover new ways to tell stories. I come from a non-traditional comic book background, with my first comics being interactive web comics and comics for mobile apps. I then moved on to creating stories using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. I’ve created projects for big Clients such as Marvel’s Doctor Strange or Spielberg’s Ready Player One, but I’ve found my most rewarding projects to be those co-created with the young people in Roebourne — my hometown in Western Australia. The combination of mentoring and collaborative story-telling is always challenging and full of funny surprises.

NP: What, in a nutshell, is Future Dreaming about?

Sutu: I asked four young Aboriginal Australians from Roebourne to imagine their futures one week from now, five years from now and 20 years from now. I set the brief that their answers didn’t have to be super serious and that if they wanted super powers in the future that’s OK. So once they came up with their futures, I then taught them how to paint their future worlds in VR using Tilt Brush. The end result is, when you put on the VR headset you’ll meet their digital avatars who will walk you through their future worlds.

Another note… they also animated their avatars using Motion Capture technology. In the end the young people were involved in every aspect of the projects production.

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NP: Why choose VR to tell this story in this way? How does the use of VR bring the story to life?

Sutu: The concept of Future Dreaming was inspired by the Australian Aboriginal practise of Dreamtime — a mental visualisation technique where you imagine your spirit moving through the passed, present and future. Virtual Reality allowed us to create these transitions through time and space. As the young people describe their future worlds in the VR experience, those worlds materialise around them and the audience in a strange and dreamy way… in one scene you’re on the balcony of a high rise apartment and seconds later that apartment is transforming into a train gliding across the Australian outback.

NP: Who is the ideal participant for Future Dreaming?

Sutu: After showing the project in Tribeca for the last week, we found the story was very suitable for all ages. It’s light hearted, with a comical style of story telling. The ideal audience is anyone looking for a positive story about the future told through the eyes of young people.

NP: What do you hope participants take away from the experience?

Sutu: I hope they walk away with a smile on their face.

Future Dreaming is by no means a utopian vision, nor is it dystopian. It sits somewhere in the middle, a protopia that acknowledges the floors of the world, yet the young people are still optimistic and determined to seek out a positive, inclusive and colourful future.

Learn more about Sutu and Future Dreaming.

View all of our Tribeca Immersive 2019 coverage.

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