ManicVR is a virtual reality documentary that introduces users to the exuberant, chaotic and complex world of bipolar disorder.
For the past 3 years, Felicia and François Bertin have used their sister Kalina Bertin’s voicemail as their personal diary. Guided by the siblings recorded voices, the user embarks on a journey to decipher the cycling whirlwind of mania, psychosis, and depression. Through room-scale, real-time interaction and 3D worlds, we discover the destabilizing effects of bipolarity—the heightening of senses and the untamed imagination that accompanies this complex and mysterious condition.
“Above all, we applaud the work’s ambition to use expanded animation technology to seek understanding for a debilitating condition.”
(Jury statement, Golden Nica for Best Computer Animation, ARS ELECTRONICA)
Those affected by manic-depression disorder can go for years before realizing and accepting they have this mental illness. It is not just the people with bipolar disorder whose lives are affected, but their families, friends and social environment. Relatives may not comprehend the experiential world of a person living with bipolar disorder, yet it is this very knowledge that helps maintain the relationship throughout all the disorder’s phases. ManicVR humbly seeks to bridge this gap. By offering a journey into the poetic hallucinations and the beautiful but frightening imagination that can accompany manic-depression, this immersive experience aims to raise awareness and build empathy around the real, lived conditions of bipolar disorder.
In collaboration with Kalina’s siblings, the team consulted with psychiatrists and scientists from the Douglas Mental University Institute, the MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research in Cambridge and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute.
“Manic is the most effective use of VR as a medium I’ve seen”
Participant, Sheffield Doc Fest
The UX architecture of ManicVR is inspired by the natural, built in narrative arc of bipolar disorder type 1 (the type that Felicia and François have been diagnosed with). Six immersive environments were created to act as milestones of the experience. All are based on the same blueprint—the structure of Felicia and François’s bedroom—anchoring them in a reality that builds, transforms, and collapses around the user.
ManicVR had its world premiere at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in England in June 2018 before heading to the World VR Forum in Switzerland, Busan International Film Festival, Taiwan Film Festival, Storyforms Camden International Film Festival, Open City Documentary Festival, Madrid’s La Mirada Eléctrica, One World Festival in Prague and more. It has been exhibited at the visionary Phi Center in Montreal, the Schering Stiftung and the Kleisthaus in Berlin. Manic VR was the Winner of Best VR experience at Dok Neuland-Dok Leipzig 2018. It was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Immersive Experience in 2019 and is the Winner of the prestigious Golden Nica for Best Computer Animation at Ars Electronica, 2019.
Watch MANIC VR discussed in the OLD HackingXR event: The Arts and Science of VR
Format: HTC Vive, Room-scale Real-Time interaction
Production: EyeSteelFilm and Dpt.
DIRECTOR : Kalina Bertin
CREATIVE DIRECTION: Kalina Bertin, Sandra Rodriguez, Fred Casia, Nicolas S. Roy
PRODUCER: Sandra Rodriguez, EyeSteelFilm__CreativeReality, Nicolas S. Roy, Dpt.co.
CODERS: Josquin Zabka, Alexandre Bordereau, Paul Georges
3D artist: Hugo Forget
ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN: David Drury
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Stéphanie Emond
MANIC VR is a companion piece to the feature documentary film Manic by Kalina Bertin.