Leviathan Legacy: Part 1, 2018

Leviathan Legacy: part 1 is the first instalment of an immersive VR trilogy.

Part 1 begins on a beach in Cuba at nightfall, 150 years into the future. Although seemingly science fiction, the narrative of the Leviathan Legacy Trilogy is informed by ongoing dialogues between Dawood and the Marine Institute at Plymouth University, the leading marine centre in the UK.

From this research-based discourse, Dawood proposes what our future landscape might look like and some of the key issues that might shape it, such as hybridogenesis: which covers symbiosis, cross-breeding, as well as human intervention in species. These issues are woven into the backstory of Dawood’s environment where rising sea levels and calcification of the oceans have led to new hybrid species and new social hierarchies.

Leviathan Legacy Trilogy forms part of Dawood’s larger Leviathan universe, looking at human and marine ecologies.

Click here to view a trailer.

Written and directed by: Shezad Dawood

Produced by: Miranda Sharp

Commissioned / supported by: Generously supported by DSLcollection, Plymouth Arts Centre, The Marine Institute at Plymouth University, University of Westminster’s Institute of Advanced Studies and the CreativeXR programme - an initiative from Digital Catapult and Arts Council England. Courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions.