6 x 9

With 1000,000 people in solitary confinement, 6×9 sought to replicate the sensory deprivation and conditions of people who are locked in four walls for a long time. Users experience nine minutes of little stimulation and small quirks with their vision.

Virtual reality can help bring new senses to users. Yet sometimes, the same experiences can also show deprivation on the same emotional level.

6 x 9 aims to show the user the psychological damage that can ensue from spending 23 hours a day in a 6 x 9 cell. The use of Virtual Reality to convey social issues, dubbed Immersive Journalism, aims to ensure that the individual viewing the piece, is fully immersed and gains a deeper understanding of the issue. A paper by Søren Lund Nielsen and Penelope Sheets titled: “Virtual hype meets reality: Users’ perception of immersive journalism“ states that narrators (journalists) give context to a story, fully interactive experiences – combined with effective storytelling and appropriate choice of subject matter –  appear to help content have a stronger impact on a receptive audience (Karlin et al., 2018).