Case TBD00708

A Deception of Senses

A cinematic experience for Apple Vision Pro, exploring humanity’s enduring fascination with perceptual deception as a gateway to different ways of understanding reality.

Designed for a broad audience, no prior knowledge is assumed.

The case leaves room for playful discovery as much as philosophical reflection.

Case TBD00708 — the subject

500 years of evidence.

Long before digital media, artists, scientists, architects and illusionists were already questioning the reliability of perception.

Case TBD00708, known as A Deception of Senses, reconstructs selected moments from this ongoing investigation: images, inventions and experiments that quietly changed the way we “see”.

Field notes — the experience

Not classified as a film.
Nor as a game.

A series of encounters in which images, sound and space become part of the same narrative. Some moments ask only to be observed. Others quietly invite participation.

Best described as a controlled exposure.

Field notes — the observer

Spatial computing is often described as a new medium.

Here it’s treated as a timeless one.

Nothing here exists simply to be looked at.

Everything exists to change the way something else is seen.

Reality has always been an evolving interface.

This experience proposes one more.

Every interaction has a consequence.

Not every consequence is immediate.

Every scene begins with something familiar.

Few end there.

Ancient optical devices and synthetic worlds are separated by centuries.

Not by intention.

Silence is used as carefully as sound.

Both shape what follows.

Memory and imagination rarely occupy separate rooms.

This experience doesn’t ask them to.

What begins as observation becomes participation.

The transition is easy to miss.

Some objects belong to history. Others belong only to this encounter.

Both are treated as evidence.

When the experience asks for action, it matters.

Observer access

Public release has not yet begun.

Thirty-three participants will receive access to Case TBD00708 before its public release. Each invitation is issued individually.

Observation concludes with a single question: What did you notice first?

Something special will be issued afterwards.

Admissions remaining.

Observer access opens in September 2026.

File details

Provenance

Case TBD00708, A Deception of Senses, is produced by Ultra and Ferryman Collective, in the company recorded below. All names appear here with their knowledge.

Produced by
Ultra  +  Ferryman Collective
Partner institutions
Museum Panorama Mesdag, The Hague · MEET Digital Culture Centre, Milan · Department of General Psychology, University of Padua
With the special presence of
Marina Apollonio
Personnel

Recorded Contributors

The complete production record for Case TBD00708, A Deception of Senses, is available below.

Directors
John Volpato,
Valentina Temporin
Spatial narrative design
John Volpato,
Valentina Temporin
Creative direction
John Volpato
Art & Development
Generative systems software engineer
Matt Pfeiffer
Swift developer
Jaques André Kerambrun
3D graphic specialist
Franco Raineri
3D artist — mimetic objects
Federico Lucifora
Developer & technical design research
Abdurrahman Furkan Balci
Production coordinator
Silvia Falcone
Production assistant
Wanli Hu
Audio & Post
Sound design
John Volpato
Video and motion graphics
Alessandro Tortelli
Voice Cast
English voice
& main character Soul
Stephen Butchko
Research & Production
Scientific advisor
Prof. Marco Bertamini — University of Padua
XR production liaison
Agnese Pietrobon
Special Thanks

Giovanni Longhin · Alvise Zen