How can new technologies change, enrich or even replace the encounter with the element of water?

“Is Memory Data?” invites you to discover water as an interface – between human and technology, between physical and virtual experience. At the same time, it marks the beginning of a new, experimental format: the Dornbracht Research Lab.

The Dornbracht Research Lab seeks open-ended dialogue. It does not present ready-made solutions but involves the viewer in the process of innovation development. Using virtual reality, it shows future scenarios and raises questions: What does technology enable us to do? What potential does it have for experiencing water? What effect does this have on us – and is this desirable?

“Development cycles are becoming shorter and shorter, which is why we believe that market research in this specific form only works and produces findings quickly enough if we work on topics in an interdisciplinary and iterative manner.” – Andreas Dornbracht

Hyper Fountain

The “Hyper Fountain” is an immersive virtual reality installation that makes you experience the element of water in an unprecedented, playful way. The installation takes a subversive approach, in keeping with the Dornbracht Research Lab’s claim to be experimental. The digitally heightened virtuality mastered by the technology contrasts with what is a simple and seemingly provisional realm of experience which is full of playful moments.

“‘Is memory data?’ alludes to fundamental questions: Can a virtual experience potentially trigger the same reaction in us as an actual, physical experience? And if that were the case, does it still matter whether we have experiences in reality or in the virtual world?” – Mike Meiré

The Dornbracht Research Lab expands on the company’s long-standing cultural commitment. Since 1996, Dornbracht has sponsored and initiated selected cultural projects, curated and co-designed by Mike Meiré. For “Is memory data?”, two culture projects from the past have been rediscovered and revisited with digital means: “E-R-S Energetic Recovery System” (2002) and “Noises for Ritual Architecture” (2008).

E-R-S Energetic Recovery System

The installation “Energetic Recovery System” by Mike Meiré is the utopia of a ritual architecture. It structures the human actions in a linear arrangement, comparable to the process in a car wash: a pipeline to cleanse the consciousness. The body and mind are emptied to experience in the process: What lies deep within me? Which resources are available in my deepest depths? A journey in which reality stands side by side with virtuality. The vision of the possibility of a personal "redesign".

Noises for Ritual Architecture

What would ritual architecture sound like if it consisted of tones? The sound collages initiated by Mike Meiré and composed by Carlo Peters represent the attempt to dematerialize space, to translate it into corresponding sounds and animated graphics. More than ten years after the first presentation, “Noises for Ritual Architecture” is now being revisited with state-of-the-art technology. The topics however have remained the same: It is about immersion and adding new dimensions to space and experience.