The exhibition “Living The War”, co-organised by the Delegations to the OSCE of Ukraine, the EU, Canada, the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, and curated by the NGO “The Game Changers”, opened on Wednesday 21 February. The initiative was originally founded by a group of Ukrainian marketing and digital production experts shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Since then, “The Game Changers” have been expanding their “Ukraine: War in VR” database of 360 degree photo, video, and sound material. Drawing on their material, their virtual reality exhibition project allows a unique sensory impression of Russia’s invasion and its devastating impact on Ukraine. The “Living The War” exhibition has reached world leaders, parliamentarians, and citizens from across the world.

In Vienna, the exhibition was set up in the Hofburg, where the OSCE convened a Reinforced Permanent Council on Friday 23 February to commemorate the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To access the virtual reality (VR) showroom, visitors had to step through a real-life artefact, a burnt door. The door had been salvaged from a residential building in the town of Borodyanka, destroyed by Russian bombing on 1 March 2022. At least 41 people were killed during these attacks.

Equipped with the VR goggles, visitors were transported into different scenes demonstrating the impact of the invasion on life in Ukraine. One could see and hear a Ukrainian artillery being fired in Soledar, witness rescuers and firefighters responding to a Russian missile attack on Kyiv, and observe cleaning-up and reconstruction efforts in various Ukrainian cities. Visitors could also access 360-degree photos with their smartphones. The multisensory VR perspective enabled a full immersion into situations that would have otherwise been difficult to convey using traditional media.

Marking the opening of the exhibition, Ambassador Rasa Ostrauskaite, EU Permanent Representative to the OSCE observed, “This exhibit vividly illustrates the high price paid by Ukraine and its population.“ Viktoriia Kuvshynnykova, Chargée d'Affaires a.i. of Ukraine’s delegation to the OSCE, emphasised “the need to remember the daily struggle of Ukrainian civilians confronted with air strikes and shelling by Russia.”