The Italian Room is a room-scale virtual reality (VR) installation exploring the anticipation of post-war Italian migration to Australia through themes of cultural identity, memory, aspiration and belonging. The installation uses immersive environmental storytelling to invite participants to reflect upon the hopes and uncertainties associated with leaving one's homeland and beginning a new life in an unfamiliar country. Set within a modest, deteriorating domestic interior in post-war Italy, the experience places participants in the imagined living space of a prospective migrant preparing for departure. The small, confined room contrasts with the promise of opportunity represented by a care parcel received from Australia.
At the centre of the room is the open care parcel, a box containing Australian products, packaging and promotional imagery. Familiar representations of Australian food, beaches, sport and suburban life communicate an idealised vision of a distant country. These objects evoke the aspirations associated with migration while introducing questions about how national identity is communicated through everyday products, advertising and popular culture.
The contrast between the deteriorating Italian interior and the colourful Australian objects establishes a visual narrative of two cultures and two understandings of home. The installation invites participants to consider how Australia may have been imagined by prospective migrants, while reflecting on the cultural identities and expectations associated with migration.
Rather than attempting to reproduce a universal migrant experience, The Italian Room offers a personal and reflective interpretation of the period, exploring how familiar and unfamiliar objects can communicate memory, identity and the anticipation of cultural change.
At the centre of the room is the open care parcel, a box containing Australian products, packaging and promotional imagery. Familiar representations of Australian food, beaches, sport and suburban life communicate an idealised vision of a distant country. These objects evoke the aspirations associated with migration while introducing questions about how national identity is communicated through everyday products, advertising and popular culture.
The contrast between the deteriorating Italian interior and the colourful Australian objects establishes a visual narrative of two cultures and two understandings of home. The installation invites participants to consider how Australia may have been imagined by prospective migrants, while reflecting on the cultural identities and expectations associated with migration.
Rather than attempting to reproduce a universal migrant experience, The Italian Room offers a personal and reflective interpretation of the period, exploring how familiar and unfamiliar objects can communicate memory, identity and the anticipation of cultural change.
Immersion, Presence and Environmental Storytelling
Virtual reality provides a distinctive medium for environmental storytelling through its capacity to create a sense of presence: the subjective sensation of being within a virtual environment rather than simply observing it through a screen.
Drawing upon Slater's (2009) theoretical framework, presence can be understood through two complementary concepts: place illusion (PI) and plausibility illusion (Psi).
Place illusion refers to the sensation of being physically situated within a virtual environment, despite knowing that the experience is computer-generated. In The Italian Room, this is supported through a head-mounted display, stereoscopic vision, head tracking and natural physical movement within the room-scale environment.
Rather than observing the historical interior from a fixed viewpoint, participants can move through the space, examine its furnishings and explore the visual relationship between the deteriorating accommodation and the Australian objects. The spatial arrangement, environmental detail, materials and lighting are designed to support a coherent sense of being situated within the represented environment.
Plausibility illusion refers to the sensation that events occurring within a virtual environment are actually happening, even when participants recognise that the situation is simulated (Slater, 2009; Slater et al., 2022).
While The Italian Room primarily employs static environmental storytelling rather than complex interactive events, the installation explores the potential for plausibility through the coherence of its historical setting and the narrative significance of its objects. The illuminated parcel provides a focal point that encourages participants to approach and investigate its contents, suggesting a personal moment within a larger story of migration.
The installation therefore places particular emphasis on place illusion and the potential for environmental storytelling to contribute to the perceived credibility of a virtual situation. Its use of visual fidelity, lighting, spatial composition and culturally recognisable objects reflects an ongoing interest in how virtual environment design can influence presence and emotional engagement.
Video: The Italian Room walkthrough (2018) https://vimeo.com/299812783
Immersion, Presence and Environmental Storytelling
Virtual reality provides a distinctive medium for environmental storytelling through its capacity to create a sense of presence: the subjective sensation of being within a virtual environment rather than simply observing it through a screen.
Drawing upon Slater's (2009) theoretical framework, presence can be understood through two complementary concepts: place illusion (PI) and plausibility illusion (Psi).
Place illusion refers to the sensation of being physically situated within a virtual environment, despite knowing that the experience is computer-generated. In The Italian Room, this is supported through a head-mounted display, stereoscopic vision, head tracking and natural physical movement within the room-scale environment.
Rather than observing the historical interior from a fixed viewpoint, participants can move their head while sitting on a chair through the space, examine its furnishings and explore the visual relationship between the deteriorating accommodation and the Australian objects. The spatial arrangement, environmental detail, materials and lighting are designed to support a coherent sense of being situated within the represented environment.
Plausibility illusion refers to the sensation that events occurring within a virtual environment are actually happening, even when participants recognise that the situation is simulated (Slater, 2009; Slater et al., 2022).
While The Italian Room primarily employs static environmental storytelling rather than complex interactive events, the installation explores plausibility through the coherence of its historical setting and the narrative significance of its objects. The illuminated parcel serves as a focal point that encourages participants to approach and explore its contents, suggesting a personal moment within a larger story of migration.
The installation therefore places particular emphasis on place illusion and the potential for environmental storytelling to contribute to the perceived credibility of a virtual situation. Its use of visual fidelity, lighting, spatial composition and culturally recognisable objects reflects an ongoing interest in how virtual environment design can influence presence and emotional engagement.
Swinburne University of Technology Alumni High Tea pop-up art gallery (2018)
Presence, Emotional Engagement and Empathy
A central artistic intention of The Italian Room is to explore how immersive virtual environments might encourage emotional engagement with historical and cultural narratives.
By positioning participants within a modest post-war Italian interior, the installation invites them to consider the uncertainty and anticipation associated with migration. The parcel from Australia represents the promise of a different future, while the surrounding environment communicates the circumstances and familiar cultural setting that may be left behind.
The relationship between presence and emotional engagement is important to this approach. When participants experience a sense of being physically situated within a virtual environment, they may become more receptive to its spatial, emotional and narrative implications.
However, presence does not necessarily produce empathy, nor does an immersive experience reproduce another person's lived reality. Rather, The Italian Room uses the potential of VR to create opportunities for perspective-taking and reflection on the experiences of migration, cultural identity and belonging.
The installation also considers how national identity is constructed and communicated through visual culture. Australian products, advertising and familiar cultural symbols represent a particular image of the country, inviting reflection on how Australia was perceived by prospective migrants and how these representations contribute to broader understandings of Australian identity.
Implementation and Exhibition
The Italian Room was developed as a short, room-scale immersive VR experience using three-dimensional computer graphics and a head-mounted display (HMD).
The installation was presented using the HTC Vive, allowing participants to explore the virtual interior through stereoscopic vision and room-scale positional tracking. The experience was designed to last approximately one to two minutes, encouraging participants to move naturally through the environment and examine the objects that communicate its narrative.
The virtual environment uses detailed 3D modelling, materials, textures and lighting to establish a visually coherent representation of a post-war Italian domestic interior. Particular attention was given to the relationship between environmental detail, visual fidelity and the participant's perception of being situated within the space.
The installation was first presented at Smart Storytelling Day on 13 October 2018, associated with the International Mobile Storytelling Congress (IMSC) and the Mobile Innovation Network and Association (MINA).
Continuing the Narrative
The Italian Room explores the anticipation of departure and the aspirations associated with migration. Its narrative concludes at the threshold of an imagined journey, where the promise of a new life is represented through objects received from a distant country.
The installation provides the conceptual foundation for The Australian Room, a new companion VR artwork exploring the experience of arrival in post-war Australia.
Where The Italian Room presents a parcel from Australia as a symbol of opportunity and aspiration, The Australian Room reverses this relationship. A parcel received from Italy becomes a connection to family, cultural traditions and the homeland left behind.
Together, the two works explore contrasting perspectives on migration: the anticipation of departure and the uncertainty of arrival. Through immersive environmental storytelling, they invite reflection on the relationships between place, memory, cultural identity and the evolving meaning of home.
Project Documentation
First exhibited: Smart Storytelling Day, 13 October 2018
Event: International Mobile Storytelling Congress (IMSC) / Mobile Innovation Network and Association (MINA)
Medium: Room-scale virtual reality installation
Hardware: HTC Vive head-mounted display
Experience duration: Approximately 1–2 minutes
Event: International Mobile Storytelling Congress (IMSC) / Mobile Innovation Network and Association (MINA)
Medium: Room-scale virtual reality installation
Hardware: HTC Vive head-mounted display
Experience duration: Approximately 1–2 minutes
Project video: https://vimeo.com/299812783
References
Slater, M. (2009). Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1535), 3549–3557. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0138
Slater, M., Banakou, D., Beacco, A., Gallego, J., Macia-Varela, F., & Oliva, R. (2022). A separate reality: An update on place illusion and plausibility in virtual reality. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 3, Article 914392. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.914392
Witmer, B. G., & Singer, M. J. (1998). Measuring presence in virtual environments: A presence questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 7(3), 225–240. https://doi.org/10.1162/105474698565686
