/virtual reality (13)

Four projects by students at ECAL (Media Interaction Design) explore the possibilities of VR. From alternative interfaces and public space to architectural interface and what its like to experience the environment of yellow ants.

Created by Automato, ‘Objective Realities’ is an installation and performance that explores the idea of how does it feel to be an object in a smart home. It includes a series of VR experiences that change the perspective from a human point of view to the one of an object, inviting users to see and act in a virtual smart home with the capabilities and limitations of a specific object and listen to the invisible chatter that happens between networked things and the home.

DiMoDa is a VR-based ‘digital museum for digital art’ initiated in 2015. After a busy 2016 the museum’s second iteration is currently showing at RISD Museum in Rhode Island. The museum’s co-founder Alfredo Salazar-Caro sheds a little light on where there platform has been, and where it is going.

At its best, creative inquiry offers intellectual nourishment, empowerment and solace. At the end of 2016, we need all of those, which is why remembering – and celebrating – the outstanding work done this year is all the more important. Over the past twelve months we’ve added more than 100 projects to our archive – and with your help we’ve selected the favourite ones!

Created and Directed by Anita Fontaine and Geoffrey Lillemon with W+K Amsterdam, Bitmap Banshees is a VR experience set inside a dystopian Amsterdam, where a gang of biker banshees have taken over the city and are out to get you.

Created at the Bartlett School of Architecture / Interactive Architecture, Palimpsest uses 3D scanning and virtual reality to record urban spaces and the communities that live in them. The project aims to question/test the implication if the past, present, and future city could exist in the same place, layering personal stories and local histories of the city at a 1:1 scale.

As 2015 winds down we look back at almost 200 extraordinary projects we’ve covered this year on CAN. And as is the case every year, picking the ten ‘best’ is hard if not impossible, as each of them has driven the conversation around the state of art and design in their own unique way. And yet, the following ten works stuck with us and, if anything, make great starting points for reflection and inspiration as we head into the new year. Until we continue our coverage in early January: happy holidays and thank you all for a great 2015!

Created by convivial project, The Probable Universe is an interactive audio-visual installation generating an infinite combination of projected worlds in a physical environment using an industrial robotic arm.

In the Eyes of the Animal is the latest installation by Marshmallow Laser Feast, commissioned by the AND Festival and set in Grizedale Forest, that takes visitors on a fascinating journey allowing them to fly above the forest canopy, come face-to-face with hi-definition critters and embody various animals as they traverse the landscape.