Much of Marina Abramovic’s celebrated art focuses not on physical objects, but a transfer of energy: the elusive chemistry between people, the effects of time, and the shared human experience. The digital experience acts as a virtual time capsule, bringing to life five objects Abramovic wants to preserve for the future. For Traces, Abramovic was asked by WeTransfer’s digital arts platform, WePresent, to select five items to preserve for future generations: the Rose of Jericho, quartz stones, a stone from Mars, the Vincent Van Gogh painting The Starry Night and the Susan Sontag book Regarding the Pain of Others. WeTransfer turned this inspiration into an immersive virtual time capsule using a combination of 3D execution, video, animation, sound design and text, accessible via a microsite on your computer or mobile phone. The experience was visited over half a million times in its first month and celebrates the artist’s creative process.

WeTransfer’s digital arts platform, WePresent, commissioned Abramovic to select five items to preserve for future generations. Abramovic chose the Rose of Jericho, quartz stones, a stone from Mars, the Vincent Van Gogh painting The Starry Night and the Susan Sontag book Regarding the Pain of Others.

WeTransfer turned this inspiration into an immersive virtual time capsule using a combination of 3D execution, video, animation, sound design and text - a whole immersive environment with a vignette of experiences, and user interface designed to accompany different user types. These include users that like to explore and discover as they go, users that want instant navigation or structure clarification, and so on.

A variety of techniques were used across the five different pieces of the site. These include image depth shaders, custom particle shaders, animated skeletal animation and real-time refraction techniques. The approaches were carefully thought out to ensure a balance between appearing realistic and performance.

The way users can interact with 3D objects are reflected in Abramovic’s view on them. For example, since she finds the Rose of Jericho fascinating, the open and closed blooming states of the flower represent a kind of eternity, The Starry Night is composed of particles.

The Traces experience was made available via a dedicated microsite accessible by computer or mobile phone by anyone in the world for free. The promotional campaign generated earned press coverage and social media support to drive web traffic to the site.

The site was launched on 9th September 2021 with the campaign ending on 9th December 2021. The content is still available to access globally for free.