Janaïne Golonka is a research engineer and cultural innovation developer. A specialist in digital mediation linked to memory, she helped create a virtual reality experience at the Camp de Rivesaltes Memorial. Baudouin Duchange spoke to her about the challenges involved in designing this emblematic project at the crossroads of transmission, history and digital technology.
Baudouin Duchange (B.D.) – Hello Janaïne, could you introduce yourself and tell us about your career?
J.G. I’m an engineer specializing in culture. I’m particularly involved in digital issues, new technologies, innovation and virtual/augmented reality. I advise, set up projects and run training courses for professionals and students.
I have a background in mediation, firstly via a degree in cultural mediation and communication, then a master’s degree in “computerized media” mediation, which I completed with a master’s degree in “communication and territory” with a view to starting a thesis.
With this thesis, I’m working on immersive memorial mediations around the First World War. I’m focusing my analysis more specifically on trench re-enactments in order to observe the impact produced by immersive experiences on contemporary representations of conflict.
In parallel, I’ve been an entrepreneur since 2012 to work with more concrete approaches to memorial mediation. I set up my agency JAÏKA in 2020. This has enabled me to work for ArtofCorner, Toulouse Métropole, the commune of Monflanquin and the art center La Chapelle Saint Jacques.
B.D. – In 2021, you’ll be working with the Rivesaltes Camp Memorial to design an immersive experience in co-construction with young audiences. What were their mediation challenges, and why did you choose virtual reality?
J.G. It all started with the call for projects entitled “Innovative digital services for remembrance and history tourism in France”, issued by the French Ministry of Defence and coordinated by the DMCA. I then met Marion Decome, former scientific director of the Memorial, who was interested in setting up this project together.
We took the problems encountered by the Memorial as a starting point for drawing up the outline of the project:
- Representation of the camp and its reconstruction challenges: The camp is now in ruins, and only a small area represents the former camp, which was immense.
- Complete the mediation offer for the 13-18 age group.
- Enhance the value of the Memorial’s archives not on display in the permanent exhibition.
- Mediation on the history of the camp: many different populations were interned at Rivesaltes, making its history difficult to understand.
- A new offer to attract new audiences: both in situ and online, for visitors with disabilities. An online version is currently under consideration.
- Public and group management: the Memorial does not have many mediators. The teams therefore wanted a mediation system that would facilitate group management.
With these issues in mind, we discussed several projects and technologies. In the end, virtual reality was the best choice, as it enabled us to work on reconstructions and immerse visitors in the camp’s interior, at different times.
At present, 8 headsets are installed in the Salle des Cartes, an area located at the end of the permanent exhibition. This positioning makes it possible to integrate the device into the discourse of this permanent tour without disturbing other visitors. A mediation workshop was also designed to surround the device so that it could serve as a starting point for discussion. Today, the focus is on making the device accessible to a wider public, given the positive feedback from visitors and the interest shown in the tool. We’re also thinking about how to enhance the content on other media.
B.D. – How did you go about designing this twenty-minute free-motion VR experience?
J.G. At the outset, we started out with a more modest project. As the enthusiasm of the Memorial teams grew, so did our scope. Our application was approved by the Ministère des Armées call for projects, and we were able to draw up a pre-scenario that served as the basis for a hackathon.
This week-long hackathon brought together 8 young people aged 13 to 20. With experience, this is the right number to be able to supervise rich work sessions. After discovering the site, the history of the camp and carrying out mediation workshops, we had them try out virtual reality experiments. Most of them had never tried one before. For the second half of the hackathon, we split them into two groups to work on two different scenario structures. They were accompanied by the Memorial team and myself. Meetings were also organized with my thesis supervisor to discuss issues of memorial mediation (e.g. how do you represent internees?), a developer for technical questions, and the Memorial’s mediators on their thematic areas of intervention (e.g. hunger, cold, hygiene in the camps…). This enabled us to settle technical questions, and make choices regarding the scenario and content. For example, we chose not to depict people but silhouettes, to evoke all the internees and make it easier for visitors to project themselves into the experience. This very rewarding work enabled us to create a final scenario inspired by the two scenarios proposed by the young people. This scenario was quickly validated, as most of the decision-makers were involved in the hackathon.
For the rest, we followed the steps involved in building a project:
- Validation of the scenario by the scientific advisory board: an essential step to ensure that narrative does not take precedence over mediation and history.
- Research in archives to select the most relevant testimonials and illustrations: 1 full-time equivalent (FTE), who was in civic service, was mobilized for several months.
- Writing voice-over texts and translation into 6 languages: For example, a partnership with a Spanish university enabled students to work on the translations via remote and on-site coaching.
- Production of soundscapes and recording of the main character’s voice-over: The main French voice-over was produced… by a young hackathon participant! She perfectly embodied the main character of the experiment. We therefore decided to take the risk of working with an “amateur”, and to work with her for 1 month on coaching and sound recording.
- Reconstruction with a 3D artist: Initially, we wanted to work with a specialist in development and modeling. But our priority was the historical reconstruction of the camp, implying a high level of quality. An experienced 3D artist was therefore preferred.
- Editing and development.
- Tests and adaptations: with in-house teams, then with the young people involved in the hackathon, then with a wide range of volunteers (technophiles or not, history buffs or not…).
- Mediator training.
We chose to work exclusively with freelancers. They have fewer constraints, fewer financial burdens, and therefore more accessible rates for sites like those linked to memory. This enabled us to cut production costs and work with a reduced budget of €60,000, which isn’t much for a VR experience lasting almost 20 minutes with free roaming. In the end, the project took 2 years to develop, from launch to operation.
Many thanks to Janaïne Golonka for sharing and making herself available. To find out more about her work, here are a few resources:
- His website: https://www.jaika.io/home
- Thesis title: Immersive experiences and memorial mediation: an infocommunicational approach to reconstructions of the trenches of the First World War.
- Article : Entering the Great War a century later – Dialogue with Janaïne Golonka from the book DIALOGUES AUTOUR DU PATRIMOINE : L’HISTOIRE, UN ENJEU DE COMMUNICATION ? Edited by Jessica De Bideran, Julie Deramond and Patrick Fraysse, Éditions Universitaires d’Avignon, 2022
- Research notebook : Com’en Histoire
Baudouin Duchange
