DIY VR Headset Takes You on a Strange Trip Through South Africa

Young artists and designers from South Africa use laundry lids and foam to create a lo-fi virtual reality experience.

December 8, 2015, 2:00pm

The VR headset. Image courtesy of onedotzero

A group of artists and creatives (Brandon Mhlanga, Lauren Mulligan, Sharnya Singh, Kabelo Harmony Masike, and Tshepo Lesheba) in Johannesburg, South Africa have built a VR headset protoype that gives viewers a fresh—if unconventional—view of the world. Sound and visuals are piped into the headset, giving users a confusing journey through Johannesburg. The wearer's perspective is distorted so the world appears as if they're looking up at the sky, like a worm might. The piece involved footage of Johannesburg being fed into the headset while users were simultaneously led around a party, experiencing the sights and sounds of that, too.

The piece came about from Cascade ZA, a workshop run by onedotzero and the British Council, where young artists and designers were mentored by MD of onedotzero, Sophie Walter, producer Simone Sebastian, and London-based artist Di Mainstone. Mainstone says of the multidisciplinary group, called Deadly Serious v2.0, "The team were very open to this opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration. They were quick to find a unified concept relating to something that resonated with them all—hidden Johannesburg—the viewpoints of the city that are missed in the hustle and bustle of urban life."

The VR headset. Image courtesy of onedotzero

Materials for the piece were sourced from local markets to create the lo-fi, cost-effective VR device. The tubular design is wrapped around the user's head, straps on the inside allow an iPhone to play, and earphones complete the immersion. In the images it might look like there are two laundry basket lids on the sides, and that's because there are, which just goes to show you don't need costly cutting edge tech to create a VR device. You just need ingenuity—and laundry baskets.

"Johannesburg is perceived to be too busy and dangerous for anyone to take time to enjoy its skylight structures," say the group. "Immersing the user into a headset created an atmosphere of excitement that allowed the user to truly experience the scenes of Johannesburg that you normally wouldn’t have the time to enjoy."