Primal Tourism

Primal Tourism (2016) is a virtual reality art project, where tourism, science fiction, technology and speculations on future climates merge with escapism. The core of the project is an exact and full-scale virtual replica of the iconic tourist island Borabora in French Polynesia. The landscape is developed based on other people's imaginations and ways of looking at Bora Bora as an Island. The shape of the Island is based on satellite maps, have have been converted into the space of the landscape. Natural scientific illustrations of the region’s future water levels and ecosystems have been combined with native primal species from Bora Bora. On the Island are also a series of more narrative locations which are based on tourists photographs shared online, on reddit, as well as drawings of Bora Bora by Dutch explorers who went there on behalf of the Dutch East Indian Trading company during the 18th century. VR, climate speculations, tourism and a dream-like alluring form of landscape intertwine. (Source: https://www.jakobsteensen.com/#/primal-tourism-island/)