DAPPER digital arts performance practice - emerging research
Storytelling in Immersive Virtual Environments 3- Paradigm Shifts: Virtual Reality and performance futures
After the influx of new examples of VR work, the third SIVE event by Dapper and the IOCT, which took place 23rd March 2018, continued to focus on the practices, challenges and opportunities of creating performance work for/with/in Virtual Reality.
Some artists are using VR technologies to reimagine existing performance work, others to offer new perspectives on performance making, and others who are exploring new relationships with their audiences. This event created an opportunity for those making work for/with/in VR to come together to share and develop practice challenges relating to performance and VR.
The event focused on an array of research questions- In what ways are current VR technologies helping artists to re-imagine their practice? What new work is being created and is this having an impact on professional performance practice? How might the use of VR technologies open up new models and/or possibilities for collaboration between artists and technologists? What new performance environments are being created within VR and how might this change how audiences access and engage with professional performance? How can VR enable audiences to engage with performance work in new ways, both collectively and individually? What can VR offer professional performance practice that a traditional ‘live’ experience cannot? What can we learn from emerging VR practice across other sectors to inform and extend professional performance practice as a whole?
The day included talks by Catherine Allen (Limina Immersive), who focused on audience engagement with different forms of VR, and Esteban Fourmi (AΦE), who presented his experiences of making and touring a piece of VR performance work.
There was also an opportunity for group discussion and exchange, as well as a chance for participants to share developing practice with others.