KANEKO’s Amanda Kephart said those resources are to help guests digest the lingering emotions in a proactive way. KANEKO partnered with legal and immigration groups to educate viewers on what they can do to learn more about the immigration process. Then guests are left alone, but the exhibit isn’t necessarily done. A former border patrol agent described what it was like witnessing people die of heat strokes.
after a gang threatened to kill and dismember her 2-year-old son. There’s Manuel, who left his family to secure a job to send money back to his relatives. Toward the end you meet the people who re-enacted their journey and harassment while trying to cross the border. They wave their weapons, shouting at the group - yelling questions and commands, poking terrified people in the migrant group, and looking for anything to identify anyone or the group’s coyote. Border patrol agents seemingly pop out of nowhere with their Humvee headlights targeting you and the group of migrants. The visuals first show dehydrated and injured men and women taking cover in the dead of a desert night while a helicopter suddenly blazes overhead. The virtual reality experience explores the true-life trek migrants make as they flee their homes and their families in Central America to, what they hope, is a better life ahead in the states.Ī few brief notes from Iñárritu – both in English and Spanish – remind viewers at the beginning of the exhibit that what they are about to experience in virtual reality is a horrifying reality experienced by so many immigrants.Īfter guests make their way through a chilly holding room, they walk barefoot across uncomfortable desert pebbles to put on the VR equipment. Iñárritu, the award-winning director of films such as Birdman and The Revenant. 'CARNE y ARENA' translates to flesh and sand. It is a very, very different way to allow someone to experience an artist's creative passion." It's multi-sensory it's audio it's visual it's tactile.
I think we frequently have that old connotation, or that old memory of walking into walls and it being really blocky and not very 'real.' And this experience is very different than that," Kephart said. "This experience, I hope, will widen what people view as a creative experience. KANEKO is one of the few places in the world right now where guests can see the exhibit after numerous sold-out international tours.Īmanda Kephart, the center's community engagement manager, said KANEKO isn’t a typical gallery art space, but a creative environment that can suspend work from its ceilings and feature large-scale exhibits, such as the virtual reality experience it’s currently showing: 'CARNE y ARENA.' A new virtual reality art exhibit at KANEKO in Omaha gives viewers a close-up glimpse into the immigration crisis at the U-S, Mexico border.