ABOUT
VVSSL („Vessel“) is a research and development nonprofit focused on shared direct experience.
We develop new media formats, installations, immersive tools and systems that expand how people experience sound, presence, and connection, individually and together. Our process unfolds through research, experimentation, artistic production and public presentation.
VVSSL’s team has deep roots in sound, immersive art, and creative technologies, with current affiliations and past collaborations including the Institute for Sound and Music, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, National Geographic, Tribeca Film Festival, The Feuerle Collection, Berliner Festspiele, Goethe-Institut, and ZKM | Center for Art and Media.
VVSSL works
from research outward.
We partner with institutions in science, academia, architecture and urbanism, and the public sector, including municipalities and government bodies, to develop new understanding of how sound shapes human experience. That understanding is then translated into formats: programmes, installations, and systems that bring it directly to audiences.
We also act as a mediator between artists and research institutions, bringing the questions that live practice generates into dialogue with the knowledge that science produces, and finding ways to make that exchange felt by a public audience.
Sound is at the heart of what we do. It is also, for us, a deliberately social medium. Where much of the technology defining contemporary listening pulls people into private worlds through headphones, screens, and algorithmic streams, VVSSL moves in the opposite direction. Every format we design is built for a shared experience.
The result is a body of work that moves between the research institution and the public square, treating the distance between those two places as the most interesting territory there is.
Research
Crafting direction and fueling growth. We analyze your goals, market, and audience to create a robust strategy that sets the foundation for success.
Artistic Experimentation
Building stories that resonate. From visual identity to messaging, we design brands that connect with audiences and stand the test of time.
Immersive Formats
Where creativity meets functionality. We craft immersive and responsive digital experiences tailored to drive engagement and achieve your goals.
Programs
Bringing ideas to Life. From concept to execution, we ensure a seamless and impactful launch that propels your project into the spotlight.
VVSSL grew out of processes set in motion at the Berlin Institute for Sound and Music. As the ISM team’s work evolved through cultural productions, research partnerships, and collaborative initiatives, it became clear that a new kind of organisation was possible: one built around a more focused question, and a more direct relationship between research and shared public experience.
Nick Meehan, Joanna Petkiewicz, and Holger Stenschke founded VVSSL to pursue that question together. What they built is a research and development company focused on sound, designed for cultural presentation and production, and oriented entirely around shared direct experience.
Together with Benjamin Miller, Eckehard Güther, and Tobias Götz, whose mastery of spatial audio and sonic craft has shaped every VVSSL production, the team brings a rare depth of artistic, technical, and cultural expertise to every project.