WorkDesperados × Mathieu Dagorn
Desperados × Mathieu Dagorn
A room, a real sculpture and a virtual reality headset: everyone adds their own strokes with a virtual brush, in the colours of the artwork.
The context
Desperados was releasing a limited-edition bottle in partnership with the artist Mathieu Dagorn. The idea was to extend the artwork beyond the bottle, into an experience the public could live and make their own. We took inspiration from Tilt Brush, the virtual reality painting tool that had just appeared, and rebuilt a version dedicated to the project.
My role
I handled the technical direction and installation: designing a virtual reality painting tool specific to the project, integrating it around the real sculpture, and on-site set-up.
What it changed
The installation turned a limited edition into a participatory experience: visitors no longer just looked at the artist’s work, they added their own touch to it, with the edition’s palette.
What was delivered
A virtual reality painting tool built for the project, inspired by Tilt Brush but deliberately pared down: a minimal palette taken from the edition, and brushes carrying the brand’s patterns. A room housing the real sculpture made for the edition. Wearing an HTC Vive headset, each visitor could add their own strokes to it, echoing the world created on the bottle.
What remains
A tool deliberately poorer than the original gave better results. With a reduced palette, every stroke stayed within the artist’s world. And with few features, it could be picked up instantly: too many options would have lost visitors, most of whom were discovering virtual reality for the first time. The result was playful, understood in seconds, and everyone left with a finished piece rather than an abandoned attempt. The sculpture, for its part, gave a physical anchor: immersion is stronger when it rests on something you can touch.