Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley confronts gaming, VR and rebirth at Studio Voltaire

‘I always played games,’ says artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. ‘Gaming was something that was always around me. But, to be honest, it felt magical – I had no idea how someone would get Wesley Snipes from Blade into the Blade game. To me, it made no sense. I didn't grow up with a technical background. And so when I started doing art, that was far away from my abilities.’ 

Brathwaite-Shirley has drawn on this passion for her first institutional solo exhibition at Studio Voltaire, London. Immersive gaming experience, ‘THE REBIRTHING ROOM’, utilises VR technology to pull the viewer into other worlds, exploring different environments in an imagining of the possibilities for Black Trans lives. Players are in control, at the helm of a system exposing their fears and insecurities.

When designing the game, she was keen for viewers to let go of their bodies, fully immersing themselves in a new, digital reality. ‘We're often having conversations, with people saying that the world is holding me back, there are certain limitations that I have that are present. But we'll also talk about some things that we’re doing, like, I'm not getting up early enough, I'm not working on these things, I could be doing extra here. And sometimes it's easier to focus on the larger things than things that you are completely in your control.’

Brathwaite-Shirley addresses this in the game, with players being asked to pick what they’re struggling with – are they scared of failure, or anxious? Or do they have a problem with addiction, or are they always talking themselves down?  ‘I know they'll feel they don't want to say it out loud. And that's kind of what I'm banking on,’ she adds.

Rather than the traditional headset, the VR here is in the form of a sculpture that the wearer moves to light up the screens, eschewing the isolated world of the headpiece and forcing the wearer to confront their insecurities in a room full of people who could help them. ‘Something that I always had a dissonance with is that sometimes it feels hard to get into the cracks of your crowd. Because there's that gap between your activity that works up on stage, and the state that they're in when consuming work. For example, when I go to a movie theatre, I'm in a relaxed position, I can eat my popcorn, I can leave to go the toilet, it's very relaxed; even if the film is incredibly intense and has a very specific message, I'm receiving it in the most gentle way I possibly can. But I feel that when you have a work like this, which is very interactive, the environment is also very freaky, everything fits into one, it's a lot harder to just take the work in. You have to chip away at it yourself. And then it chips away at you hopefully, as well. So it's a joint chipping journey.’ 

‘THE REBIRTHING ROOM’ is at Studio Voltaire until 28 April 2024

Later this year, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley will have a major solo exhibition, commissioned by LAS Art Foundation, at Halle am Berghain, Berlin

studiovoltaire.org