The VR Distribution Issue

This month's good stuff

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If the emerging ecosystem for distributing and marketing VR/AR/XR/MR documentary and art seems elusive to you, you're not alone. In our lead piece, Immerse Producer Ingrid Kopp talks with the field's leading curators and producers to uncover where this work is being shown, and how in the world artists might get paid to make it.

Plus, Editor-at-Large Sarah Wolozin interviews Fred Volhuer—the CEO of Atlas V—to discover why artists will create the next models of VR distribution.

OK, great—so let's say we figure out how to distribute all of this. Now how are we going to regulate it to make sure it doesn't decimate our democracy even further? Immerse Editor Jessica Clark ponders this question in her column, Interface Everywhere.

Out in the field, yet more is percolating:

In Beacon, Kopp highlights Joburg tinkerers, wildly imaginative creations, AI thoughtfulness, UK funding opportunities and VR in India.
Suvi Andrea Helminen takes readers behind the scenes of her production, Flux, an interactive documentary about deconstructing gender.
Lori Landay, a professor of cultural studies at Berklee College of Music, unpacks the expanding concept of "data capture." She asks: "As we watch, listen, play, and create in captured experiences, how are new realities and new ways of being created? What is captured? By whom? What can be released?"
Creative technologist Or Fleisher wonders whether we're approaching the end of the "uncanny valley"—and, if so, what this will mean for our relationships with the ubiquitous machines that serve us.

Want to join the conversation? Please get in touch if you have news, projects, or events you would like us to consider: editor@immerse.news.

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What we're reading & watching

Meow Wolf and the experience economy. "The more time I spent with Meow Wolf’s founders, the more I found myself alternately wanting them to succeed and fearing what success might look like."

Videogames and the concept of flow.

Minecraft is releasing Minecraft Earth, an augmented reality-driven mobile game that blockifies the planet.

Mobile VR’s dying gasps mean new life for standalone and tethered VR.

A playlist on gender, race and power in AI: Some of the greatest hits and deep cuts from the literature.

Concordia’s Jason Edward Lewis wants ethical artificial intelligence with an Indigenous worldview.

New Ways of Seeing —Can John Berger's classic decode our baffling digital age? James Bridle asks this question of artists including Stephanie Dinkins and Trevor Paglen in a fascinating new radio series.

Daniel Birnbaum Interview: from the traditional museum to the world of VR.

Museums fall in love with experiences—but what is their core mission? Pair this with The #FutureMuseum Project What will museums be like in the future? Museum professionals from across the globe weigh in.

Take a look at all the good stuff in the works at POV Spark, a new initiative helmed by Opeyemi Olukemi.

"It doesn’t have to be good; it just has to be." Laura Herzfeld on journalism and experimentation.

The Arts Sector contributed $763.6 billion to U.S. Economy in 2015. “The data confirm that the arts play a meaningful role in our daily lives, including through the jobs we have, the products we purchase, and the experiences we share.” We already know this—but perhaps someone should tell Trump, who keeps trying to impose budget cuts on the NEA.

Who is going to make artist Kahlil Joseph's BLKNWS a media biz reality?

Projects we're eyeballing

Deepfake Salvador Dalí takes selfies with museum visitors.

The Atomic Tree is a journey into the memories of one of the most revered trees in the world: a 400-year-old Japanese White Pine bonsai that witnessed—and survived—the atomic blast in Hiroshima.

AI-generated sculpture is made from the shredded remains of the computer that designed it.

Wonderscope is an augmented reality app for kids from the folks at Within.

Doctor fans rejoice! The BBC has just released an animated VR film Doctor Who: The Runaway voiced by Jodie Whittaker.

Hypnospace Outlaw is a hilarious satire on internet stupidity and venality—and it's a game!

Gymnasia is a perfectly creepy and very beautiful stop-motion and CGI piece that takes place in an abandoned school. A collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada, Felix & Paul Studios, and Clyde Henry Productions, Gymnasia recently premiered in the Virtual Arcade at Tribeca Immersive and is now available to download on the Oculus Store.

Coming up

Festivals and Events Find even more events here.

AI: More than Human is on at the Barbican in London May 16-August 26. Explore your relationship with artificial intelligence.
Sheffield Doc/Fest takes place June 6-11. The Alternate Realities projects have been announced and there is also a fantastic summit featuring Tea Uglow, Jepchumba and Karen Palmer, among others.
Opera Beyond—the Finnish National Opera and Ballet are getting up to some exciting immersive adventures. There is a conference in Helsinki on May 30-31 with speakers including Gabo Arora and Sarah Ellis.
HUM(AI)N: Being Human in the Age of Technology is a fantastic new exhibition at Phi Centre in Montreal. May 28-September 15.
Phi Centre will join the 58th Venice Biennale presenting the work of two female artists. The exhibition includes a mixed media installation entitled Invasor, by Mexican artist Renata Morales, and Rising, a virtual reality piece by Marina Abramović that explores the effects of climate change and ascending sea levels. May 6-July 6.
The Gray Area Festival takes place in San Francisco, July 25-28.
XOXO is an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online. Portland, Oregon, September 5-8.

Submission Deadlines

Submissions are open for the Venice Film Festival. The VR entry form must be filled out by May 31.
CPH:LAB is open for submissions. The lab is conceived as an incubator for documentary projects that seek to explore the potential of digital technologies and advance new visions of what a documentary can be in a digital age. It offers a space for experimentation and collaboration in creative, cross-disciplinary partnerships across film, the creative arts, science, technology and social entrepreneurship. Deadline June 15.
IDFA Doc/Lab is open for submissions. Deadline August 1

Immerse is an initiative of MIT Open DocLab and The Fledgling Fund, and is fiscally sponsored by IFP. Many thanks to our other funders: JustFilms | Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

Editor: Jessica Clark (Dot Connector Studio)
Project Producer: Ingrid Kopp (Electric South)
Editor-at-Large: Sarah Wolozin (MIT Open DocLab)
Founding Producer: Sheila Leddy (The Fledgling Fund)
Contributing Editor: Kamal Sinclair (Sundance Institute)
Associate Editor: Carrie McLaren (Dot Connector Studio)
Assistant Publisher: Michelle Polyak (Dot Connector Studio)

Editorial Board:
Diana Barrett (The Fledgling Fund), Kat Cizek (MIT Open DocLab), Caspar Sonnen (IDFA DocLab), Mark Atkin (Crossover Labs), Zeina Abi Assy (Tribeca Film Institute)

Header design by Hayrettin Gunc