Head researcher: Célia Quico
“Beyond the Lighthouse” aims to create engaging immersive experiences of singular seascapes, in order to promote a greater awareness among young people about the urgency to preserve natural and cultural heritage - particularly in coastal areas more vulnerable to the effects of global warming and climate change.
Lighthouses are lifesavers most of all, preventing shipwrecks nearby the coast.
However, lighthouses are also witnesses of the transformations which have been occurring in coastal areas, over decades or even over centuries.
Since lighthouses were consecrated for long time to be used by human keepers, they have inscribed in them a myriad of events that only exist as such for human presence.
Lighthouses are a hybrid human achievement: they were built to prevent accidents, but also, they are “agents” of storing stories of human deeds – and also their misdeeds!
The project team wants to explore the educational value of immersive experiences, using Virtual Really (VR) and Augmented Really (AR) as tools to promote a pro-environmental mind set and eco-agency.
The target audience is young people, particularly, from 10 to 18 years old.
Nature conservation and preservation of cultural heritage are core values of the project, in which sustainability is a transversal concern.
Natural reserve areas such as Berlengas are prime places to witness the delicate balance between nature and humans, as well as to elaborate future scenarios of a thriving world, in which humans are integral part of nature, rather than a agent of conspicuous consumption and destruction.
University Lusófona, Portugal
LUCA, Belgium
IADT, Ireland
Universidade de Évora, Portugal
- Mónica Brito (consultant)
