DEKAT DIGITAL 2019 - 2020

EDEN LABS/TULIPS AND CHIMNEYS
“Virtual reality speaks to what you’re born with. When you put a headset on for the first time, you don’t have to
be a technical person to consume information, so that for me is the biggest thing. If we can start taking devices to
the education sector, the learning sector for example, we’re going to start seeing a huge impact in Africa in terms
of leap-frogging.” Eden Labs present arts and technology sessions where students are introduced to artists whom
Rick refers to as ‘makers’. This comes from the idea of DIY culture combined with the influence of technology and
the sharing of knowledge.
“Some of these artists have used computers before, while others have never touched digital tools, but when we put
them inside a VR headset, we see a change happening in only five minutes. Artists and makers leapfrog because of
tools such as VR and augmented reality. We’ve had countless people come in and experience VR, and immediately
buy VR systems after their new experience.”
Eden Labs has also created The Mixed Reality Workshop (TMRW Gallery) in Rosebank, which runs independently. It
is a space where members of the public can access technology, and noteworthy projects have been developed with
artists like Mary Sibande and Wayne Barker. The projects are collaborations that expose people, who don’t usually
work with technology, to the medium. Visitors refer to the virtual reality experience as gaining access through ‘art
machines’, striving to remove the technicality from these immersive experiences.
Ann Roberts and Brooklyn Pakhati, director and gallery manager respectively, encourage young, lesser-known
artists who aren’t usually exposed to virtual reality to attend sessions at Eden Labs and then in turn submit their work
to the TMRW Gallery. As virtual reality comes into its own, putting a friendly face on it and using approachable
ways of exposing how other people experience it, offers the possibility of introducing this technology into the
medical industry and the education sector.
“We want to plant a flag, not just for virtual reality, but for Africa,” Rick says. “At some point, as this kind of
technology becomes more accepted, we want South Africa to be known as a place where people can go to find
solutions to challenges in other sectors.”
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