PXR2020
2020 Schedule

Video Games, Twitch, Youtube, and algorithmic culture more broadly, continue to transform the contexts for spectatorship of performance. Audiences, users, players and performers alike are developing new ways of active participation in digital and virtual experiences. Each speaker will bring examples of how these new models and platforms challenge the status quo in performance- and forecast how they imagine things will continue to change.

This presentation will include a live demonstration from Shocap and Les 7 Doigts’ collaborative Project LiViCi (Live & Virtual Circus). Examining this project, develop a greater understanding of the technical components for creation of live virtual performances including real-time motion capture and rendering. Athomas will share insights into how to apply these solutions to work, both onstage and online.

If you are just starting out as an XR creator you should be familiar with Unity. In this talk, game developer Dan Miller from Unity Technologies will show how Unity can be leveraged by creators to create interactive experiences for audiences.

Ian Garrett of Toasterlab will speak about the accessible and the entry level end of XR focused on the creation of immersive media content and making experiences that use the devices people already have. Toasterlab’s work with community driven VR projects, and the creation of free phone based experiences has prioritized access over acceleration, and affect over effect. Does this dull the cutting edge? Or is the best mixed reality the one you can access on your terms?

Nick will showcase hand-drawn XR animation with 6DoF drawing tools using LATK, an open-source complete pipeline for frame-by-frame volumetric animation. Gain new strategies for creating 3D art with 6DoF controllers, using these technologies in real-world production scenarios, working across multiple platforms and devices, provoking ideas for presenting roomscale XR work with or without a headset.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Be inspired by seeing how companies like bluemouth inc, Outside the March have used smartphones to improve accessibility, enable adventurous audience experiences, and open up new creative possibilities.
• Try out some of Cohort’s existing tools (synchronized audio & video cueing on smartphones and tablets)
• Learn about Cohort’s advanced functionality (AR / VR, push notifications, and more)

The OrpheusVR creators will discuss their creative process and translating opera into an interactive, virtual narrative. At its inception, Opera was revolutionary, leveraging modern technologies to immerse audiences in epic stories. OrpheusVR reclaims opera’s rebellious roots using Motion Capture Technology, Virtual Reality and Interactive Audio www.orpheusvr.ca

Yelena Rachitsky is an executive producer of experiences at Oculus, overseeing dozens of groundbreaking, narrative-driven VR projects that range from Pixar’s first VR project to original independent work. Prior to Oculus, she was the creative producer at Future of Storytelling (FoST), which aims to change how people communicate and tell stories in the digital age. Yelena also helped program for the Sundance Film Festival and Institute’s New Frontier program and spent four years in the documentary division at Participant Media, working on films like Food Inc. and Waiting for Superman. She’s passionate about big creative ideas that will make technology meaningful.

One of the lead designers at Archiact will speak about the process of VR game creation, and how VR experiences have evolved over the last five years. Archiact is a premium virtual and augmented reality studio headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Since their inception in 2013, they have released over 30 titles across leading VR/AR platforms.

Exploring the parallels between the genres of theatre and Virtual Reality, and the dramaturgical journey between them, Catherine will speak to the goals, objectives and experience of creating the mixed reality piece VIOLETTE, as well as the urgent need for (and needs of) diverse groups of creators working in VR, forging paths to developing wider audiences.

Beth Kates is an award-winning lighting, set, projection and mixed reality designer, who started in rock&roll at 14. In 2019 she and Neil Christensen co-created Bury The Wren, a ground- breaking Augmented/Virtual Reality/live performance, and most recently was the virtual world lighting designer and virtual stage lighting designer for Doubleeye Studios VR Theatre performance Finding Pandora X which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the ‘Best Immersive VR Experience’ prize. A recent graduate of the MFA program at the University of Calgary, Beth’s research joined the departments of drama and computer science as she focused on VR, AR, and live performance. Upcoming work includes a virtual presentation of Alistair Newton’s adaptation of The Dispute, and leading an artist residency with Canadian Stage in Virtual Reality Performance.

Examining the immersive project “The Last Minute Before Mars”/ Milan 360, Darren will discuss creating in a mixed reality medium, sharing insights and tactics on how to Foster Social Engagement and Intimacy, and Direct and Devise with Community at a Distance.

What logics are involved in crafting spaces for digital performance and interaction? Across lighting, props/object modelling, set/level design, and sound, each panelist will bring one success and one failure to contribute to a discussion about new and emergent frameworks for digital performance. The panel will then break out into smaller groups for discussion with attendees.

How are we expanding the experience level and pallet of the public for XR content? Are there existing audiences in the medium that can be engaged by new performance? What are the community connections, are there community building activities happening? Who is engaging, and who should or will be engaged? Each panellist will share thoughts on integrating existing audiences in the medium and leveraging community connections to re-imagine their ideal of what a healthy ecosystem might look like for XR Performance.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Discuss the overlap between methods of organizing work and creation processes in the tech and theatre industries
• Hear from Cohort team members about how we work across these disciplines
• Practice tactics for getting what they need out of technical collaborations

How are practitioners approaching the creative process for new content in XR Performance? Is there a common language shared with other creative industries in the medium? What is the dramaturgical process in XR, how do you create and innovate? Each member of the panel will speak to their adopted tools and timelines, focusing on specific tips and strategies.

Casey will speak about the process of learning to sculpt in VR and how he has integrated this tool into his practice as an interdisciplinary artist. The talk will take place inside an “in-progress” environment for an ongoing project set on Mosher Island, Northwest Territories.