ART TURNS IMMERSIVE
Innovation Rules at CalArts Digital Arts Expo
By TransportVR.com
June 5, 2017
Earlier this month, Wevr had an opportunity to visit the
California Institute of the Arts
campus in Valencia to participate in their annual
Digital Arts Expo
, where students present projects that integrate engineering and computer science with visual and performing arts. We were genuinely inspired by the ingenuity and creativity we saw there. The future appears to be in good hands. We also had the chance to interview several of those in attendance including professor Michael Scroggins a true pioneer in the field of interactive animation and an early advocate of VR.
“I started to imagine stepping through the frame and being surrounded by the image.”
Michael Scroggins
Michael Scroggins:
"Interactive Pioneer." ///////////////
Michael Scroggins is a true pioneer in the immersive arts. A southern California native, he has been on the faculty of CalArts since 1978. In the latest sixties Scroggins was a member of the multimedia ensemble Single Wing Turquoise Bird, renowned for a legendary series of concerts in museums and loft spaces. His work in “absolute animation” creates visual experiences that resemble musical experiences through manipulating shape, color, texture, and rhythm. His works have been screened internationally, including exhibitions at the Centre George Pompidou in Paris; Union of Filmmakers in Moscow; Seibu Ginza in Tokyo; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Scroggins was an early advocate of Virtual Reality, and in 1992 received a grant from the Banff Centre for the Arts to produce a VR work, "Topological Slide", which premiered at The Fourth International Conference on Cyberspace.
Watch this amazing clip of Michael Scroggins’ group Single Wing Turquoise Bird performing in Venice Ca in the 1969 film The Baby Maker:
Explore more Micheal Scroggins here:
https://michaelscroggins.wordpress.com/
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funVoid:
"Interactive Sound and Vision." /////
We caught a performance by a talented young audio/visual collective called funVoid which just so happened to feature an ex Wevr visual effects animator named Jack Turpin. Also in the group are Henry Webster, Kyle McCarthy and Aidan Gould. The ensemble employs histories and techniques of graphic score, expanded cinema and free improvisation for their multimedia performances, resulting in a performance that is simultaneously hypnotic and engaging.
Find out more at
funvoid.net
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Hunter Janos:
"Live 360º Vision." ///////////////////
While wandering through the expo we noticed a student named Hunter Janos with this unique headset perched on top of his head. After talking to Hunter we discovered the apparatus is what he calls “Live 360°” and it allows the wearer to potentially see everywhere, both horizontally and vertically, at once. Here is he explaining it on camera.
For additional info you can go here: http://hunterjanos.com/360-Vision