Artist
SONA
With SONA, we are exploring virtual reality formats inspired by the navigational skills of blind people. Since 2023, we have been developing games and performative installations using spatial sound in workshops with blind and visually impaired co-creators. Our team consists of 11 programmers, sound designers, AI experts, inclusion designers, and workshop designers from Cologne.
Artwork
SONA – Diving in the Dark
SONA – Diving in the Dark is an audio-VR diving game for smartphones. Players experience the game in total darkness using headphones, head tracking, and their entire bodies – navigating entirely through 3D audio. Players dive through a flooded city, reanimating voices from the past and serving them as post-apocalyptic taxi drivers. The stories, characters and voices of the game are created by our team of blind and visually impaired game designers. In 2026, the same team will guide players through the experience and perform live at festivals across Germany and France.
At MUNICH BEYOND, you can come and try it out for yourself: equipped with just a pair of head-tracking headphones, you'll dive into a virtual underwater world.
Audio-VR Smartphone-Prototype: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1itCDnTHLfHi5mOCxKUjha8TD53WRtbek/view
Running Time: 20 - 25 Min
〷◠‿◠〷 This project is part of our festival track "MUNICH Beyond" supported by Film Fernseh Fonds Bayern (FFF).
〷◠‿◠〷 This project is part of our festival track "Medicine of the future" funded by the Science Year 2026.
In collaboration with
Bald buchbar