A brand-new immersive gaming experience created over Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s year-long residency at Studio Voltaire will make its debut from 31st January. This will be her first solo exhibition in a London institution following collaborative projects with institutions such as Serpentine in London.

The themes of Brathwaite-Shirley’s work encompass digital space, archiving, and the potential futures of transgender Black and Brown bodies. Brathwaite-Shirley “hacked” a VR headset’s technology to create an audience-operated controller for “THE REBIRTHING ROOM.” Instead of an individual screen experience, the audience will interact with a large-scale projection-mapped environment through teamwork to navigate the space efficiently. The game, which takes place in a forest, asks players to be “reborn in authenticity.” Through the use of technology, Brathwaite-Shirley’s work aims to archive Black trans experience and envision Black trans lives in settings.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995, London) is a Berlin/London-based artist. She received a BA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London in 2019. Brathwaite-Shirley works predominantly in animation, sound, performance, and video game development. Their practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell the stories of Black Trans people. Danielle’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions and performances at institutions such as Artnight Dundee (2023), David Kordansky, LA (2022), Science Gallery, London (2020); and MU Hybrid Art House, London (2020).