Stasi interrogation methods, subway escape, travelling along a motorway without a car: the Vragments team of journalists, developers, graphic artists and scientists expands our reality in virtual space. Everyone can use their Fader product to tell their own story in a virtual and simple way without any complex technology - with text, sound, images, video and, of course, in 360 degrees. We spoke in the MediaTech Lab Lounge of Studio Five with the company’s five founders - Linda Rath-Wiggins, Stephan Gensch, Rony Esterluss, Tino Breddin and Marcus Bösch - about houseboats in Copenhagen, Deutschlandfunk, the HPI and XR history.
As Vragments’ five founders, we are …
interested in explaining complex topics through immersive solutions in the fields of AR and VR. We are building a platform called Fader that makes it possible to build and publish interactive VR stories easily and fast.
Our business idea was born …
because we want to lower the technical hurdles for creative people, storytellers and journalists so that they can offer their stories in immersive and interactive formats.
Fader is …
a web-based VR platform where VR stories can both be built as well as experienced.
I had my first VR experience …
on a space station. Somewhere in nowhere. A friend had familiarised us with new VR technologies and drawn our attention to the first journalistic VR stories. Then it quickly became clear: this is the medium of the future.
Best VR product ever / or best VR experience ever …
is our VR application about the Stasi interrogation methods. We are very proud of this cooperation with Deutschlandfunk Kultur and the journalist Jana Wuttke. As part of the experience, users can use original audio and a computer-generated interrogation room to understand the interrogation methods used by the Stasi to extricate confessions. The original audios are really moving.
But there are also great Fader stories from our users. We’ve already been in houseboats in Copenhagen, in English windmills, and on a moped in India.
Our current “baby” to try out …
is Fader. Just register, upload your own pictures or films, and off you go.
The five founders – a woman and four men - got to know each other …
in different places. These included the Helmholtz-Gymnasium in Potsdam, in the pub, and in joint seminars held for the University of Potsdam and the Hasso Plattner Institute.
In our opinion, Potsdam is…
important! Three founders come from Potsdam or live in Potsdam. Berlin is just a suburb 😀
In 2021, Fader will be…
THE go-to platform for XR stories.
We have many years of experience as…
Journalists, IT experts, designers, lecturers, concept developers, consultants and storytellers.
We offer…
Courage, commitment and creativity.
Our favourite location for networking in Babelsberg is…
The meeting room at the Media Tech Hub. This is a place where we can brainstorm, discuss and meet with partners, customers and interested parties.
We recommend every startup…
To have a broad-based team, passion, room for error, room for success, and lots of patience.
You can find us…
at August-Bebel-Str. 26-53, 14482 Potsdam - above Studio Five, on the 3rd floor and here on our website.
About MTH Blog
The media technologies of the future are already being used today – not only in the entertainment sector, but also in a wide variety of industries. Christine Lentz meets up with tech enthusiasts, established companies and researchers for our monthly MediaTech Hub Potsdam blog to tell the stories behind the innovative business models.