![]() The viewer can look around freely using their virtual reality headset to explore the reality of the other person, the cameras are driven by motors and servos to give the viewer agency. In the case of the more guided, narrative virtual reality experiences that don't require both subjects to mirror the movements of the other, the "performer" goes through different actions, while audio of them telling a story is played for the viewer. ![]() realize that the other body is from another person, and you don’t invade this" ![]() "What would it be like if a man could see through the eyes of a woman? Would he act in the same way?" The team has run many different experiments placing someone in the body of another, such as looking through the eyes of an migrant worker as they talk about their experiences, but the goal is always empathy, a connection with another person. "In Brazil there are many problems with violence against women, which comes from their own partners," Bertrand explained. Each set up costs around €500, or $685 but the "gender swap" setup requires two sets of equipment to function, one for each participant. The cost of the equipment BeAnotherLab is using to create this illusion is modest: The group uses secondhand PlayStation Eye cameras, arduino-powered servos and motors to control the movement of the camera, laptops, and Oculus Rift headsets. "Would you better understand the other if you see through their eyes?" "How would you feel to swap your body with another?" Philipe Bertrand asked me. Warning: the videos in this story contain nudity and may be considered not safe for work. The demo Girl Mirror Look is a very rudimentary way for someone to experience inhabiting the body of a woman, but a group of artists, programmers, and activists are taking the idea much further by using low-cost virtual reality equipment to achieve something that sounds like science fiction: They’re allowing people to trade bodies. The illusion of being myself, but in the body of a woman instead of a man, makes me dizzy. My brain doesn’t quite know what to do with this information. There is a mirror in the room, and in it I don’t see myself, but a woman. I’m wearing my Oculus Rift development kit, and the virtual reality hardware gives me the illusion of being in a comfortable room in an Italian villa. It’s disorienting to look in the mirror and see yourself as another gender.
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