Bear 71 VR

Bear 71 is a groundbreaking interactive documentary experience, told from the point of view of Bear 71, a female grizzly bear living in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The project blurs the line between the wild world and the wired one, as we follow various wild animals from the moment they were implanted with a GPS receiver and a chip. Deer 48, Fox 21, Bear 71: the park rangers know exactly where they are every moment of every day, and they film their daily comings and goings using special security cameras all over the park. Bear 71 lets us watch over their shoulders, revealing how humans coexist with wildlife in the age of networks, surveillance and digital information. Originally released as a web experience in 2012 (and nominated for the IDFA DocLab Award), Bear 71 is considered a seminal piece in the history of interactive documentary. As part of DocLab’s 10-year anniversary, IDFA and the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision co-commissioned the original creators of the project to reimagine the experience in a new medium.

This project was presented as immersive installation Bear 71 VR.