We Are Dead Animals

We Are Dead Animals is shown as an installation in the DocLab Exhibition and is part of the VR Gallery.

After his previous project about the dead animals around us (Dancing with Dead Animals), the filmmaker and animator decided to dedicate not only his further work but also his name to dead animals. For his new VR game, Tote Tiere Maarten (“Dead Animals Maarten”) created a desolate landscape—his interpretation of paradise—you can fly through with the guide of your choice.

In this environment you encounter dead animals that you can revive. You can also read about their deaths—someone’s beloved pet cat died of old age, a rat was found floating in the water, a spider Maarten found by his back door. He made the 3D animations using photograms of each dead animal. What you do with them is up to you. Will you keep them to play with later, release them into paradise, or eat them to fuel your body with much-needed energy?

This compassionate if somewhat macabre project explores our relationship with animals and mortality. After all, we’ll all be dead animals in the end.