Ever wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of a bee? With the experimental VR project BBEE, Erik Geslin at Noroff University College invites you to experience nature from a non-human perspective, and reflect on our role in the ecological web.
A new form of play and design
In an age marked by ecological uncertainty and a growing disconnect between humans and the natural world, new ways of thinking about technology and design are urgently needed. At Noroff University College, the research initiative Center for Non-Anthropocentric Play (CNAP), led by Dr. Erik Geslin and Dr. Filipe Pais, explores this shift through interdisciplinary projects inspired by biocentrism, ecofeminism, and posthumanism.
– We wanted to create an experience that’s not about dominating nature through technology, but about listening to and learning from it. BBEE invites us to see the world from the bee’s perspective, quite literally, says Erik Geslin, Associate Professor at Noroff University College (NUC).
BBEE – Becoming Bee is one such project. Through a poetic and experimental VR installation, participants step into the sensory world of a bee — an insect vital to ecosystems, yet increasingly threatened by industrial agriculture and environmental degradation.
From Kunstsilo to Kilden
Developed with Dr. Filipe Pais and funded by Cultiva and Noroff’s internal research programs, the first version of BBEE premiered at Kunstsilo Art Museum in Kristiansand in June 2024. Later that year, it was expanded into a full-scale live performance at Kilden Performing Arts Centre, where virtual reality met live music and dance.
On stage, dancer Wilma Nielsen performed inside the virtual world, while audiences experienced the bee’s point of view projected in real time behind a live orchestra. The result was a powerful, multisensory performance blending art, technology, and ecology in a way few had seen before.
An aesthetic inspired by bees and art history
Rather than pursuing photorealism, Geslin chose a style inspired by Impressionism and Pointillism. With point cloud graphics, the virtual environment evokes how a bee might sense light, motion, flowers, and danger — in a way that feels fragmented, fleeting, and alive.
– It’s not about how humans see bees, but how a bee might perceive the world, explains Geslin. This poetic, visual approach deepens the project’s goal: to rethink how we relate to other species and open new ways of being in the world, ethically and technologically.
Next stop: Kyoto
BBEE is now drawing international attention. In 2025, the project will be exhibited in Japan in collaboration with Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. There, it will be reimagined for a large-scale, advanced VR system — continuing its mission to inspire alternatives to human-centered design and storytelling.
