"The Lab: Making Sense of Immersion in 2021" was a new series of online meetups gathering key professionals from the XR and museum industries for game-changing conversations.
As part of our study on funding and distributing immersive works, FR//XR, this lab was organized by We Are Museums, along with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US, Museum Connections, Pixii Festival, Kaleidoscope and Fabbula.
This programme had the ambition to create a safe space for dialogue for the key actors of the VR and Immersion industry working with cultural institutions to unpack and unlock the main challenges still existing. From November 2020 to January 2021, four online sessions welcomed experts to share their experience and analysis of immersive projects. This cycle of ongoing discussions will inspire a roundtable to be organised at Museum Connections 2021 in Paris.
Each session was moderated by Darragh Dandurand, a creative director, exhibition curator and independent journalist. Among our guests: Chloé Jarry, Co-founder, Lucid Realities (France); Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Chief Curator / Director of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center and Professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School (United States); Mike Jones, Senior Producer, Marshmallow Laser Feast (United Kingdom); Camille Lopato, Co-founder, Diversion (France).
The first three sessions were followed by workshops in between professionals from museums, VR/AR companies, creative studios and artists.
From these sessions, inspiring insights have been compiled and transformed into a handbook for museum practitioners and immersive experiences producers.
SESSION 1: How to Foster Collaborations Between Immersive Creatives and Cultural Spaces?
November 19th
With
- Chloé Jarry, Co-founder, Lucid Realities (France) presenting The Water Lily Obsession;
- Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Chief Curator / Director of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center and Professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School (United States) speaking about Unexpected Growth: AR/VR as Artistic Medium
SESSION 2: How to Distribute Immersive Artworks in a Museum?
December 1st
With
- Mike Jones, Senior Producer, Marshmallow Laser Feast (United Kingdom)
- Myriam Achard, Director of public relations and communications, Centre Phi and DHC/ART Fondation for contemporary art (Montréal, Canada).
- Hannah Bellicha, Digital project manager, Institut français (Paris) - Catalogue “VR Immersive Experience"
SESSION 3 - Immersion for Culture Institutions: Which Technology for Which Need?
December 7th
With
- Camille Lopato, Co-founder, Diversion cinema (France), a virtual reality spaces creator and immersive experiences distributor.
- Sandro Kereselidze, Founder and Art Director, Artechouse (DC, Miami & New York), an innovative digital art space dedicated to 21st century artists and audience.
SESSION 4 - Closing event
January 21st
With
- Fabien Siouffi, Founder and CEO, Fabbula
- Nina Diamond, Editorial Manager and Executive Producer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Mehdi Mejri, Digital Immersive Exhibitions Director, Atlas V
- Mélodie Mousset, Artist
- Sara Snyder, Chief of External Affairs and Digital Strategies, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery
About the partners:
We Are Museums aims to align museums as places of inclusive growth and sustainable development, where the primary metrics are about social and environmental impact. The forward-thinking platform supports the museum institutions embarked on change cycles that keep it aligned to its ethos, connected and relevant to communities and acknowledging the humans, staff, collaborators, communities and visitors as its central pivot.
French Immersion is a program initiated by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and developed to support emerging and innovative French creators, in partnership with UniFrance, the Institut Français, the CNC. The partners entrusted Kaleidoscope to conduct a research, FR//XR, that aimed at analysing major COVID-19 induced changes on the XR market, as well as paving the way towards a new business model for the immersive industry.
Museum Connections: International trade fair, focussing on the business and sustainable challenges of museums, cultural and touristic venues, Museum Connections highlights trends and innovations to imagine the new visitors’ experiences. The fair is held in Paris every year in January.
Pixii Festival: Conducted in synergy with Sunny Side of the Doc, the international marketplace for documentary and narrative experiences, the festival features an exhibition of the most innovative stories and digital installations created through new convergences of documentary, culture and immersive technologies.
Kaleidoscope is a funding platform for premium VR films, games, and experiences. Kaleidoscope has built a global network of more than 20,000 top VR creators and industry leaders.
Fabbula: Engaged mainly in creation and dissemination, Fabbula is a cultural practice dedicated to the idea of worlding with digital media: virtual reality, open worlds, online streams.
