The Art of VR

It's exciting to see the art world embrace digital technologies like virtual and augmented reality to bring creative ideas to life in new ways. Last week,  Sothebys hosted a two-day conference and exhibition ArtofVR, produced by the VR Society of Hollywood & AMD Radeon.

There were a broad range of experiences available, ranging from the NY Times 360 video 'Take Flight' on the Voyager (haptic-enabled seats), as well more fully immersive experiences like 'Microdose', which has been described as Google Tilt brush on LSD.  Unfortunately I missed the animated VR adventure 'Raising a Ruckus', which had a long viewing line, however the experience is supposed to be available soon at the IMAX VR centers.

Some of the best works were by the independent artists like Cabbibo (Issac Cohen), who used photogrammetry VR (the process of digitizing real environments ) to transform a basic couch into an  an immersive, psychedelic VR experience. Kevin Mack, who I first discovered over a year ago at VRLA, shared 'Zen Parade' a beautiful and surreal experience within a 3D animated world​ of brilliantly colored living sculptures. I also found some of the AR art to be pretty impressive, such as the works by Zenka that featured prints and digital overlay displays. 

The exhibition also included a range of other works that I wouldn't necessarily describe as 'art', such as a Spiderman game and a Dell virtual simulation of a car model.  I hope that we continue to see more artists embracing these new technologies and a bigger influx of creative works represented next year at the festival.