Limbo

The core artistic conceit of Limbo, a VR documentary film, is to make the liminal space of seeking asylum in the UK experientially tangible. The fragmentary, incomplete nature of 3D scanning becomes a visual metaphor for the fractured reality of displaced existence—where identity, memory, and belonging exist in perpetual fragments.

Limbo was created in collaboration with journalists at The Guardian, and in response to a series of in-depth interviews with asylum seekers and those involved in the asylum application process.

ScanLAB’s virtual world aims to represent the sense of isolation that many interviewees spoke about, caught between two lives, that of the place they left and the new one they hoped to build. The aesthetic has the quality of a dream or nightmare where worlds are fragmented, blurring the lines between reality and memory.

The work journeys through a collaged world of real spaces - combining mobile mapping of the City of Manchester, terrestrial scans of properties across the UK and a series of live action 3D scanned people. This live action element of the project brings the digital world to life; shoppers pass by on their mobiles, a dog barks, a barista serves coffee and, crucially, the final interviewer looms around you firing questions in the final scene. The voices in the soundtrack are those of real refugees who guide the viewer through the experience - from arriving in an unfamiliar city to acute worry for loved ones left behind, concern about not being allowed to work, and the Home Office interview on which so much rides.

What is it like to flee your home and start again in a new country?

Asylum seekers live on £5 a day while they wait to hear whether they can stay in the UK. This virtual reality film for The Guardian allows you to experience how this period of limbo feels, waiting for a decision that will affect the rest of your life.

Between April 2016 and March 2017, 36,846 people applied for asylum in the UK. As of March, a backlog in cases meant the total number of people still waiting for a decision stood at nearly 31,500. While asylum seekers wait for their Home Office interview and the subsequent decision, they live on £5 a day and are unable to work or choose where they live. In Limbo you step into their shoes and experience their state of mind while you wait for the decision that will determine the rest of your life.

In 2021, Limbo was chosen to be part of the ‘Immersive Arcade: The Showcase’ on the Museum of Other Realities platform, featuring the best British XR works since 2000. Download it here for Steam or Viveport.