Let immersive take you away
It’s been another jam-packed week in Immersive-ville with Punchdrunk being announced as latest resident of the Woolwich Creative District in London; more Sundance wrap-ups appearing with coverage of all the experimental AR/VR work in the New Frontier Program; fast fashion retailer H&M announcing that they’re ditching Paris Fashion Week for an immersive theatre activation in Arizona; and artist Marina Abramovic announcing a new mixed reality project.
Here at NoPro, we put out a call for reviewers and interviewed folks from Portland and Brooklyn their new family-friendly immersive experiences and reviewed one experience that took place in London, one at the Getty Villa in LA, and another that took place only on the Internet. Plus: shows, shows, shows.
More on all that below!
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ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK
No Proscenium Managing Editor and NYC Curator Kathryn Yu catches up with Tom Pearson, one of the Artistic Directors of Third Rail Projects (Then She Fell, The Grand Paradise, Ghost Light, Behind the City) in New York City as the company prepares to launch a new show in DC, Confection.
They discuss the creation of Then She Fell, its influence on immersive creators, as well as Tom’s work as an immersive educator, as a poet with The Sandpiper’s Spell, as a documentary film producer on Between Yourself and Me, and also with TRP’s Global Performance Studio in Russia and China.
(Tom also hints at an upcoming Third Rail Projects’ show that is currently in development and planned to premiere in late 2019.)
FROM THE WIRE: SHOWS, EVENTS, & EXPERIENCES
Charlotte, NC: Broken Bone Bathtub
Cincinnati: No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Denver: Bluebeard’s Castle
LA: Grunge Shop Tavern; Whisperlodge (Remount); The Drunken Devil: Black Magic; Poetry Brothel’s Dungeon: Be Mine; Valentine Van
Oakland: No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man
Portland, OR: Dream|Logic
Winnipeg, MB: Hedda, Reimagined
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Submit your show to us here or at pitches@noproscenium.com.
REVIEWS
From No Proscenium:
A ‘Heart’ In The Right Place with ‘The Archive of Educated Hearts’ (The NoPro Review)Inside the site-evocative storytelling experience set inside a garden shednoproscenium.comRite, Resurrected: fourlarks’ Triumphant ‘katabasis’ (The NoPro Review)The show comes back after historic fires shut down the original Getty Villa 2018 productionnoproscenium.comCrafting A Connection Through Creation In ‘LiVEPLAY’ (The NoPro Review)Keight Leighn goes beyond the digital in this online theatrical experiencenoproscenium.com
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
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“Here is our first (and so far only) escape room review for Kentucky, in case anyone is interested:”
CALL FOR REVIEWERS!
STORIES
From NoProscenium.com and our Twitter feed:
BAM’s ‘Teknopolis’ to Offer AR/VR Art for the Whole Family (Q&A)An interview with Steven McIntosh, BAM’s Director of Education & Family Programsnoproscenium.comPortland’s Hand2Mouth Brings Childhood Fantasy to Life with ‘Dream|Logic’ (Q&A)We interview director Jonathan Walters about the new kid-friendly immersive shownoproscenium.comImax Ditched VR-but Big Theaters Are Buying InOnce upon a time, the company with the biggest screens in the world made a big bet on virtual reality. Imax opened…www.wired.comHow London's immersive theatre became a surprise Chinese hitPunchdrunk Theatre Company has come a long way - literally - from the Paddington warehouses and dilapidated Docklands…www.standard.co.ukPunchdrunk announced as latest resident of Woolwich Creative DistrictPublished: Friday, 8th February 2019 Pioneering theatre company Punchdrunk is poised to make Woolwich its new home…www.royalgreenwich.gov.ukThe best VR and AR of the Sundance Film FestivalSundance's New Frontier section showcases some of the most ambitious and interesting experiments currently being done…www.theverge.com'Playable shows are the future': what Punchdrunk theatre learned from gamesWhen one critic hailed the company's immersive show 'game of the year', founder Felix Barrett explored video games'…www.theguardian.comMarina Abramovic presents a world first for her latest performance: 'The Life' in Mixed Reality …Art and technology combine for a world first with Marina Abramovic, the pioneering performance artist, and the…fadmagazine.comH&M Is Changing Direction With an Immersive Theater Project in Sedona, ArizonaH&M is known for spectacle, from its annual fashion shows in Paris to its blockbuster parties celebrating its…www.vogue.comBringing the Star Wars Universe into VR: The Making of Secrets of the Empire - AIXR.ORGAbout Secrets of the Empire and its Creators: Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire is a hyper reality VR experience…aixr.orgHow I Got Here: Punchdrunk founder Felix Barrett - Creative ReviewPunchdrunk is best known for turning disused spaces into theatrical playgrounds - creating immersive shows where…www.creativereview.co.uk
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
“RISE Escape Rooms has closed their 3 outstanding escape rooms. The good news is, the games aren’t going too far! This interview talks a bit about the past and future of RISE and their games.”
“Come to our February Meetup in San Francisco:”
“Escape room designer Jerry Belich, co-creator of the 2017 Golden Lock-In Award-winning Utopia at Riddle Room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, needs your help with his survey about immersive design accessibility.”
From Michael Anderson of ARGN:
“Tender Beta claims it’s a new dating site in closed beta, with challenges over the next 6–8 weeks designed to help you find your ultimate soul mate. The Game Detectives figured out how to gain access to the closed beta through deaddrops, puzzles, and phone calls. Something else is going on here.”
“The indie game Heartbound has an online puzzle trail that culminates in secret instructions that will change the play experience of the game, opening up something bigger. Graeme at ‘2 Left Thumbs’ provides a great walkthrough of the first phase of that process.”
From Kellian Adams Pletcher, Green Door Labs:
“Boston Immersive Theater Maker (Incantrix), Game Designer, and head of the Boston Festival of Indie Games Caroline Murphy won a Bit Award for her work with Boston’s Game and Immersive community.
“This award could have gone to any regular old beat ’em up 2D indie game designer but it went to an indie whose primary work space is LARP and immersive theatre, which I think shows what potential we have to build killer immersive work in Boston, and why our immersive scene has such a decidedly strong games bent.”
“The Playable Theater team is on the move! They’re doing a series of 3 workshops on immersive theatre and location-based gaming including creating fictional worlds, working with actors and training audiences. It’s a great collaboration of game people and theater people out of Northeastern University.”
From Ricky Brigante of Pseudonym Productions:
“Pseudonym Productions has been accepted into the Creative Startups accelerator program with Meow Wolf, the very same program that jump started Meow Wolf on the path toward their tremendous ongoing success. We’re thrilled to have this opportunity starting next month to work with Meow Wolf’s founders among other inspirational mentors to help build a long term, sustainable business based on our own unique brand of immersive experiences.”
“It’s interesting to watch the word ‘theme park’ slowly become redefined. As technology-based experiences mature, a collection of individual interactive experiences such as those found in the overseas Legend Heroes Park and the upcoming touring Halo Outpost Discovery (along with examples like Two Bit Circus) have begun to attract terminology traditionally associated with sprawling outdoor experiences. The concept of the indoor theme park has been evolving for a few decades and while a convention hall full of laser tag and virtual reality doesn’t exactly live up to the full scope of what “theme park” means, it is a new step beyond indoor rides being a requirement. Themed entertainment is still just scratching the surface of what is possible at different scales.”
Legend Heroes Park, The Tech-based Entertainment ParkLEGEND HEROES PARK, The Tech-based Entertainment (TBE) Park showcasing Virtual & Augmented Reality, Hologram, Motion…www.legend-park.comHalo Outpost DiscoveryWelcome to Halo: Outpost Discovery, a touring fan experience that brings the Halo video game universe to life. This…halooutpostdiscovery.com
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