What if we could see from another perspective? What if we could view the world through the eyes of an animal? This summer, Undershed, Bristol, invites audiences to experience the world through the eyes of animals, natural elements and even an entire galaxy. This major new exhibition of award-winning virtual reality allows audiences to hunt through the night as an owl, navigate a war-torn city as a dog, explore a flooded river, and play as wildfire in a climate-ravaged future Los Angeles.
Uniquely, this exhibition has been co-curated by six young people from schools across Bristol, whose ideas and interests have helped shape every aspect of the show. Over four months, six students worked alongside Watershed’s Lead Curator, Amy Rose, and the production team to create an exhibition designed to resonate with 14- to 16-year-olds. Together, they explored themes including climate change, ecology, conflict, identity and imagination before selecting the artworks, shaping the visitor journey and helping develop the exhibition’s public invitation. The project, it seems, it timely, as Museums Association reported that across England in 2025, there was a 10% decrease in young visitors to museums and galleries. This is compounded by the fact that children in London are more likely to visit these institutions than those growing up elsewhere in the country, making this show’s place in Bristol even more relevant.
Curator Amy Rose explains: “Working with our Young Curators has been a brilliant and eye-opening process. The group brought fresh ideas, deep curiosity and contemporary insight to the process of curating and designing SENTIENTS, helping us create an experience that speaks directly to the questions and concerns of a new generation. The show includes brand new work alongside beloved pieces from the world of immersive experiences – and we’re very excited to bring them together in this way.” SENTIENTS brings together groundbreaking works by internationally acclaimed artists Marshmallow Laser Feast, Alice Beucknell, Alan Kwan, David O’Reilly and Demelza Kooij, who each explore what it means to experience the world through more-than-human eyes. These practitioners are pioneers in the field of digital art and technology, creating never-before-seen techniques to allow people to inhabit new worlds.
The show opens with In the Eyes of the Animal, a VR experience from Marshmallow Laser Feast that transforms visitors into a mosquito, dragonfly, frog and owl, revealing the hidden sensory world of a forest ecosystem. The piece is emblematic of MLF’s creative output. Most recently, Of the Oak at Kew Gardens, London, celebrated the oak tree as a living monument of vital ecological relationships and species interdependence. Participants were invited to explore the rhythmic interplay of breath, connecting deeply with the oak’s ecosystem and its essential role in sustaining biodiversity. At Undershed, audiences wear specifically designed haptic vests that synchronise physical vibrations with the experience.
David O’Reilly’s multi-award-winning interactive work allows every object in the universe, from bears and blades of grass to planets and galaxies, to become playable characters. The soundtrack is made up of quotations from philosopher Alan Watts, narrating as participants travel between outer and inner space, exploring an interconnected universe without enforced goals, scores or tasks. O’Reilly is a major figure in digital art and independent games. His 11-minute trailer for the games project Everything won the Jury Prize at the 2017 Vienna Independent Shorts film festival, qualifying it for an Academy Award – making it the first ever video game trailer to be considered for an Oscar. Also on display is Alice Bucknell’s The Alluvials, which moves across animated film and video game, offering a striking vision of a climate-altered Los Angeles. The piece invites visitors to inhabit wildfire, wolves, rivers, Yucca moths and Joshue trees as they explore themes of ecological grief, resilience and environmental change.
Elsewhere, Scent by Alan Kwan makes its UK debut. This haunting cinematic game places viewers in the role of a dog wandering through a conflict zone, gathering the souls of the dead. The game fosters a raw, sensory experience of fear, darkness and fleeting moments of hope. Stripped of specific historical or geographical markers, the project explores what it means to witness without power. At Undershed, the game is presented in a darkened room where the floor is covered in grass and logs, emphasising the idea of nature being enveloped by man-made darkness. Kwan explained: “I wanted to create this space for people to put in their own imaginations – and relate to what they are experiencing in the real world.” Finally, Wolves from Above is shown in the welcome area of the gallery. Presented by Demelza Kooji, the video piece is a meditation on a pack of wolves filmed from the air. The elusive animals inhabit a tranquil space where sounds of playful growling, sniffing and licking feel oddly nearby. It is evident that the wolves are communicating, but as outsiders, those listening are left out.
SENTIENTS is a groundbreaking show that traces connections between young people in the local community and practitioners that are defining the digital art on a global scale. In inviting visitors to surrender their human perspective, the exhibition asks one compelling question: how might seeing through other eyes change the way we see ourselves? When we think about the issues the next generation faces – climate catastrophe, international conflict, the rise of Artificial Intelligence – these lessons in compassion and collective action take on a renewed relevance.
SENTIENT is at Undershed, Bristol until 13 September: watershed.co.uk
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Alice Bucknell, The Alluvials. Courtesy of the artist.
2. Alice Bucknell, The Alluvials. Courtesy of the artist.
3. Everything ©David O’Reilly.
4. Scent, Alan Kwan. Courtesy of the artist.
