“Zikr: A Sufi Revival” is a 17-minute interactive social VR experience that uses song and dance to transport four participants into ecstatic Sufi rituals. It also explores the motivations behind followers of this mystical Islamic tradition, still observed by millions around the world. Sufism is a branch of Islam that is often cast as esoteric. But in Tunisia, Sufism is deeply bound to national heritage and popular culture, especially through music. In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Tunisia is also looking for Sufism as a viable and more individualistic alternative to conservative Salafi movements.

The social component of this experience allowed four participants to see each other and effect each others’ environment through a rope of prayer beads. Participants also interact with each other through dance and other objects that alter the experience itself. “Zikr: A Sufi Revival” needs to be shared between people. The installation also include antechambers decorated with art to prepare participants for the rituals.

Understanding Sufism, by its very nature, is experiential. “Zikr: A Sufi Revival” takes four participants on an interactive journey into the world of ecstatic ritual, dance and music, in order to explore the nature of faith alongside followers of this mystical Islamic tradition. Singing and dancing alongside Tunisian Sufis, you can activate visual and experiential features through your movement. With this physical interaction with Sufi traditions and interviews with its practitioners, the experience aims to introduce new facets of Islam, revealing a practice of inclusion, acceptance, art, joy and understanding.

Created by Gabo Arora, John Fitzgerald, and Matthew Niederhauser
Produced by Sensorium, Superbright, and Tomorrow Never Knows