Stiftung Deutsches Meeresmuseum

'Museum 2.0' was the guiding principle behind the latest installation in the OZEANEUM Stralsund. Now, all visitors of the museum can become virtual divers in a specially created area - and that even without a diving license. NABU's popular Virtual Reality Experience OstseeLife allows anyone interested to dive to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in virtual reality. Thanks to the good cooperation between the Stiftung Deutsches Meeresmuseum and NABU, the first digital, interactive exhibition within the OZEANEUM was realized. From the initial idea to the implementation, the entire installation was created here in house and installed by the core team at Ozeaneum.

Visitors can now explore the bottom of the Baltic Sea wich is directly next to the Ozeaneum. "OstseeLIFE is an exciting addition to our visitor offer. In this way, we address new target groups, strengthen cooperation with marine nature conservation and work together especially for the protection of marine mammals in the Baltic Sea," says Dr. Harald Benke, Director of the German Marine Museum.

Up till now the reserve of divers, NABU now makes it come alive for everybody. For the first time anybody can discover the secrets and beauties of the Baltic Sea – without flippers and snorkel, from home or on the move. With the title OstseeLIFE (Baltic Sea Life) NABU created the first virtual underwater reality VR film for the German audience of the sea that it borders in the north-east. With VR glasses the “dive” through the Baltic Sea becomes deceptively real.
With our innovative WebVR technology users navigate the virtual underwater journey with their own eyes. Nevertheless, this 360° reality can be discovered without VR glasses with PC, tablet or smartphone. Once "submerged" several biospheres can be selected with a mouse click or touch.

Furthermore, a well-known voice can be heard: German actor Axel Prahl, who most people know as Kommissar Frank Thiel from “Tatort Münster” (Commissioner Frank Thiel of “Crime Scene Münster”) on the ARD channel, talks about grey seals and seagrass meadows. Actress Ulrike Knospe was also present and tells amazing stories of the Baltic Sea's denizens.

With OstseeLife NABU wants to increase awareness of how diverse, but also how endangered the fascinating ocean world on our doorstep already is. Overfishing, industrial use, intensive ship traffic and ongoing pollution threaten flora and fauna of the Baltic Sea.

The filmmakers needed two weeks and 25 dives to capture six marine biospheres. They include: the seagrass meadow, lungs and nursery of the Baltic Sea, the cretaceous reef off Rugia, millions of years old, or ancient ship wrecks which give a new home to cod and conger eels. Thus came into being a kaleidoscope of the Baltic Sea with a variety that few would believe.

40 hours on the boat, sometimes in storm and rain, had to be borne by our production team. Just the first dive with the heavy self-built 360 degree rig with 16 cameras ended with zero visibility because of chalk clouds formed by a thunderstorm.