Everything Immersive This Week (8/23/20)
New horizons
Soooo, don’t expect too much commentary out of me this week. I had some (long delayed) oral surgery and I might be a little loose thanks to the pain killers that are keeping the ouch-factor at bay.
And no, before you ask, I was not on them when I recorded the podcast closer this week. That was right before I went in. Recovery is going GREAT, let me tell you. (Aside from that whole “lose track of Sunday morning because the vicodin knocked out parts of your short term memory” bit. But hey: what a great week to forget yourself?)
There is one thing I DEFINITELY want to draw you attention to, however, and that is the launch of the PUBLIC BETA of EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE our our new SEARCHABLE website that will quickly become your go-to resource for discovering new immersive and interactive work of every type.
Show links in this roundup will now open up in the new EI site, and from there you can continue your search based on location, event type, and select tags like “comedy,” “team,” “puzzles,” and more. As always our goal is to make it easier for you to find your next great adventure.
We’ve been working behind the scenes on the site for some time now, and after having tested it with creators over the summer we’ve learned so much. Now that we’re opening it up to everyone we’re going to learn a hell of a lot more.
The work has been undertaken by one man — an amazing web dev named Chris Grim who reached out to me almost two years ago to see if I was interested in a project like this and I let him know I was just waiting to find the right person who was as passionate about making this work as I was.
Ahead of the beta we brought NoPro Executive Editor Kathryn Yu into the mix, and week over week the site has been evolving until it is finally ready to show off to even more folks.
Look for even more features to roll out at EI, and for some changes in how we do things around here — the Newswire evolving into a place for breaking news and announcements, for starters — and more.
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ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK
David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist join us to talk about THIS WEEKEND’S RECON: Reality Escape Convention.
Original planned out as an in-person event in Boston, they’ve put in a whole lot of work to raise the bar on the online replacement.
And they’re giving it away for FREE.
Aug. 23 & 24. Ten hours a day of programming across the escape game universe.
FROM EI: SHOWS, EVENTS, & EXPERIENCES
Have a show or event you’d like to see here? Submit at EverythingImmersive.com
Experiential Museum
- NYC: Garden of Eden PreviewsA hypnotic and meditative tarot installation
Festival (Online)
- Art From the FutureExploring creativity in virtual spaces
Podplays (Location-Based)
- Brooklyn, NY: Intralia, the weird parkOutdoor, socially distanced audio play and sound walk created for Prospect Park
- London: Discount DiscoCreating small socially distanced communal music events in local parks
Podplays (At-Home)
- ACTUALQUESTAn interactive, immersive, fantasy musical that is set in and around your very own home
Interactive Livestream
- UNCaĜEDA unique digital animation thriller, performed live around the world!
- Picnic Party OnlineA Positive Affirmation Dance Party in Your Own Home!
- The Monster Part IAn Interactive Suspense-Thriller
- The Monster Part IIAn Interactive Suspense Thriller
- The Strange Secret of Mr. Adrian RookVirtual immersive theatre mystery
- Two Bit Circus REMOTE
Be competitive from the comfort of your couch.
REVIEWS
August is typically a slow month for, well, everything really. But this isn’t a normal year by any stretch, so we have four reviews for you this week.
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First up, Blake Weil has a wickedly good time gossiping with the Ladies of Versailles, but runs straight into one of the great difficulties of the age: translating what would be an awesome one-on-one/small group confessional into a Zoom call.
In Fast Familiar‘s The Evidence Chamber writer Cheyenne Ligon finds the online interactive experience guilty of greatness as it lays bare all the nuances of criminal trials and serving on a jury :
Now: a question for you: have you ever taken a (sound) bath in your car?
Our Denver correspondent Danielle Look has, and she came back to to tell us all about what she heard at Itchy-O’s Sypherlot: Drive-In Radio Bath .
Chicago-based correspondent Patrick McLean dove into the body-swapping world of Sean Stewart and NIDA‘s interactive farce Roundabout, which played tapped into the possibilities of Twitch:
News From around the Immersiverse
Arguably the biggest story in our world this week was the news that Oculus will be requiring all new users to use Facebook beginning in October, and phase out the concept of a seperate Oculus account in 2023. (Oculus blog)
To say this was met with a backlash from VR users and developers would be a bit of an understatement. Perhaps most notable is that the policy shift cuts against the grain of promises made at the time of the company’s acquisition by Facebook. (Road to VR)
Our own take: it was obvious that at some point something like this was coming, but it still feels crappy. We need to face facts: without serious government regulation on what data big companies can collect on each of us, this sort of thing is just going to keep happening. The tech industry — which holds up the stock market at this point — is incredibly dependant on the data it harvests from us. Some of which is required to operate at all, and some of which is used to shape our behavior. Obviously it’s the later that we have a big problem with.
When it comes to VR: until someone else with deep pockets decides to enter the midrange consumer VR space, Facebook is going to be setting the pace for the industry as a whole.
And now for a hard segue: one of our favorite VR apps, Within’s fitness subscription service Supernatural, announced that their subscriptions will now cover up to four users per Oculus headset. This is great for all those who have made Supernatural part of their quarantine routine but didn’t have a way to share it with those they live with. (NoPro Newswire)
In the realm of the physical: the Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, NY which recently reopened is featuring a new installation by D.J. Carl Craig entitled “Party/After-Party” (2020). The installation, which replicates an empty nightclub, has been in the planning for five years, and takes on new meaning in the pandemic era. (New York Times, paywall)
While you’re at The New York Times, take a gander at Alexis Soloski’s critic’s notebook on online theatre for kids. Immersive options Wizards of Oakwood Drive and Mundane Mysteries Playdate are in the mix for those looking for insight into what’s good in kidmersive as summer comes to a close. (New York Times, paywall)
If you’re so bold as to make plans further out than a week, and you live in LA or London, you’ll want to pay attention to our next two options:
Stranger Things is getting a Drive-Into experience in LA this October, courtesy of Netflix and Fever, with help from London’s Secret Cinema. The tickets go up for grabs on August 26th at noon, Pacific. (Stranger Things: The Drive-Into Experience site.)
Further in the future, but also in the past… look, these things get complicated when Time Lords are involved. Doctor Who: Time Fracture, which is being produced by the folks at Immersive Everywhere who were behind London’s The Great Gatsby, are already booking for a February debut of their most ambitious show yet.
Opportunities: Professional & Educational
HabRitual: Call for ARtists and Digital Designers of Augmented Reality Animations
Unity Deadline: Aug 24
Unreal Deadline: Sep. 21, 2020
HabRitual is helping curate an Arcadia Earth Augmented Reality project. We are calling digital ARtists to be considered for paid creative opportunities in Augmented Reality animation that will begin development this fall. The overall theme is focused on utilizing augmented reality to foster planetary
stewardship.
Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, new home of NoPro’s show listings.
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