Voices of VR

I spoke with the curators of Tribeca Immersive 2025 Jazia Hammoudi and Casey Baltes to unpack the 11 impact project that are being feature in this year's selection. We also talk about Tribeca's new collaboration with Onassis ONX and Agog, how the selection process has changed over the years Tribeca Immersive 2025 Selection #1567: Tribeca Immersive Curators on the 2025 Selection of Impact Projects Curated by Onassis ONX, Agog, & Tribeca #1569: Family of Storytellers Creates an AR Memorial of Black Poet Nikki Giovanni with Epic Organic Garden Installation #1570: "The Founders Pillars and The Power Loom" Uses AR to Recontextualize Wall Street History Through African Textiles and Myths #1571: "Uncharted VR" Explores the Spatialization of African Languages and Knowledge through Immersive Architecture and Adowa Dance #1572: "The Innocence of Unknowing" Uses Socratic Dialogue with AI & Video Essay to Deconstruct Root Cases of Gun Violence #1573: Muslim Futurist "New Maqam City" Invites Users to Play with Mystic Sufi Beats to Imagine States of Flourishing #1574: Part 1: Co-Creation with XR for Building Community with "A Father's Lullaby" (2023) #1575: Part 2: Co-Creation with XR for Building Community with "A Father's Lullaby" (2025) Boreal Dreams Scent Onassis ONX Summer Showcase & Other Interviews #1579: The Backstory of ONX Studios and the Onassis Foundation's Support for XR Art & Innovation #1580: "Neuro-Cinema: From Synapse to Montage" Explores Bioethics Moral Dilemmas & BCI-Controlled Editing & Robotics #1581: The Story Behind "The Orixa Project" Series of XR Experiences #1582: Shawn Taylor on Fandom for Social Change, Polychronic Time, Worldbuilding & Future Dreaming #1583: From XR Storytelling to Museum to Ice Cream to AI: Michaela Ternasky-Holland's Entry into Immersive #1584: White Paper on XR for Impact Campaign Activation for "On the Morning You Wake to the End of the World" #1585: Debating AI Project and a Curating Taiwanese LBE VR Exhibition at Museum of Moving Image #1586: Academic Research on Immersive Storytelling with Philippe Bedard, co-editor of "States of Immersion Across Media: Bodies, Techniques, Practices" book #1587: "Space-Time Adventure Tour" AR Guided Tour to NYC Central Park Monuments #1588: Excurio on Bringing their High-Throughput, XR LBE Theaters to North America #1589: Using VR to Paint Dreams for Active Imagination, Collaborative Dreamwork, and Symbolic Contemplation This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I spoke with Raindance Immersive curators Mária Rakušanová, Joe Hunting, Fangs about the 2025 selection of projects across 8 different categories. Tune in to get all of the latest tips from this year's selection that is mostly happening on social VR platforms including VRChat, Resonite, and Orion Drift. UPDATE August 17, 2025. I've now posted all of my Raindance Immersive 2025 coverage, which can be found down below: #1566: Raindance Immersive Curators on the 2025 Selection of Immersive Art on Social VR Platforms [VRChat Story] - #1634: User Claims Potential Gaps in VRChat's Moderation of NSFW Avatars [VRChat Story] - #1635: VRChat's Avatar Marketplace is Targeting Demographic of New Users [VRChat Story] - #1636: Planned Improvements of VRChat's Trust & Safety from New Lead Jun Young Ro #1637: VRChat Doc "The Architect Across Realities" Features MR Design Innovations in Japan #1638: Virtual Photographer Kaerun's Japanese Friendships Featured in Documentary at Raindance #1639: Playing Live Jazz in VRChat with EMN Records enabled by Yamaha SYNCROOM in Japan #1640: "Tonevok" features Real-Time Audioreactive MIDI Visualizations in VRChat #1641: "Siholette of Memories" Cinematic VR Concert Experience Features Live Choreography #1642: "Cathedral of Witches" Performance Explores Trans & Queer Spirituality in VRChat #1643: Studio Penrose's "Our Precious Autumn" Short Film Shot in VRChat Wins Raindance Award #1644: Julianna Loh on Creating Immersive Art in VR and AR #1645: "Hommage" Adventure Inspired by Moebius' Art Collaboratively Built in Resonite #1646: "The Continuous Present" Combines Poetry, Music, & Giant Immersive Sculptures to Win Raindance Immersive's Best Art Experience #1647: Virtual Art Exhibition Innovations in Jessien's "What is Virtual Art?" VRChat World #1648: Vast Hand-Painted "Natura's Queendom" Wins Raindance Immersive's Best Art World #1649: Fangs & Arbi Close Out Raindance with a Breathtaking Music and VJ Show at the Moon Pool This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I spoke with producer Victor Agulhon of Targo Stories about their collaboration with TIME Studios to produce D-Day: The Camera Soldier, which he calls the most technologically advance immersive documentary produced up to this point. They took footage from D-Day and spatialized it in a number of different ways, and really pushed the frontiers of innovation for spatial storytelling. It released on the Apple Vision Pro last Tuesday, and it's definitely a project that you should check out if you have access to an AVP. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

In this engaging conversation, Amy Dotson, Director of PAMCUT, shares her vision for the Tomorrow Theater, a hub for innovative cinematic experiences in Portland. She discusses how the theater blends traditional film with participatory elements, fostering community engagement. The exciting upcoming Plus Plus festival aims to push boundaries in immersive storytelling. Dotson emphasizes the importance of inclusivity and creativity in the arts, showcasing how new technologies are shaping the future of interactive experiences.

We are in the middle of a hype cycle peak around AI as there are a lot of hyperbolic claims being made about the capabilities and performance of large-language models (LLMs). Computational Linguist Emily M. Bender and Sociologist Alex Hanna have been writing academic papers about the limitations of LLMs, as well as some of the more pernicious aspects of benchmark culture in machine learning, as well as documenting some of the many environmental, labor, and human rights harms from both the creation and deployment of these LLMs. Their book The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want comprehensively deconstructs the many of the false promises of AI, the playbook for AI Hype, and the underlying dynamics of how AI is an automation technology designed to consolidate power. Their book unpacks so many vital parts of the Science and Technology Studies narrative around AI including: How big technology companies have been using AI as a marketing term to describe disparate technologies that have many limitations How we anthropomorphize AI tech from our concepts of intelligence How AI Boosting companies are devaluing what it means to be human in order to promote AI technology How AI Boosters and AI Doomers are two sides of the same coin of assuming that AI is all-powerful and completely inevitable How many of the harms and costs associated with the technology are often out-of-sight and out-of-mind. This book takes a critical look at these so-called AI technologies, deconstructs the language that we use as we talk about these automating technologies, breaks down the hype playbook of Big Tech, restores the relational quality of human intelligence that is often collapsed by AI. It also provides some really helpful questions to ask in order to interrogate the hyperbolic claims that we're hearing from AI boosters. We talk about all of this and more on today's episode, and I have a feeling that this is an episode that I'll be referring back to often. This is also the 100th Voices of VR podcast episode that explores the intersection of AI within the context of XR, and I expect to continue to cover how folks in the XR industry are using AI. Being in right relationship to every aspect of the economic, ethical & moral, social, labor, legal, and property rights dimensions of AI technologies is still an aspirational position. It's not impossible, but it is also not easy. But this conversation helps to frame a lot of the deeper questions that I will continue to have about AI. And Bender and Hanna also provide a lot of clues to the red flags of AI Hype, but also some of the core questions to ask that help to orient around these deeper ethical questions around AI. I've also been editing unpublished and vaulted episodes of the Voices of AI that I did with AI researchers at the International Joint Conference of Artificial Intelligence that I did back in 2016 and 2018 (as well as a couple of other conferences), and I'm hoping to relaunch the Voices of AI later this summer to look back at what researchers were saying about AI 7-9 years ago to give some important historical context that's often collapsed within the current days of AI Hype (SPOILER ALERT: this is not the first nor the last hype cycle that AI will have). I'll also be engaging within a Socratic Style Debate (see update below and recording of it here) where I'll be mostly arguing critically against AI on the last day of AWE (Thursday, June 12th, 2:45p) after the Expo has closed down, and before the final session. So come check out a live debate with a couple of AI Boosters and an AI Doomer. Also look for an interview that I just recorded with Process Philosopher Matt Segall diving more into a Process-Relational Philosophy perspective on AI, intelligence, and consciousness coming here soon. Segall and I are going to explore an elemental approach to intelligence, which is based upon concepts that I explore in my elemental theory of pr...

The Creature label features a lot of really innovative VR and MR games with rich and innovative gameplay mechanics, and they just featured three new games, a new DLC pack, and lots of updates about the games in a half-hour Creature Feature gaming showcase hosted on IGN. I had a chance to catch up with Creature CEO and Creative Director Doug North Cook to unpack all of the different announcements as well as do a bit of vibe check on the state of the VR industry (and responds a bit to Chris Pruett's GDC talk on Meta and the shifting gaming ecosystem). Announcement of Adepts Arena game Laser Dance update of entering into Early Access in Fall Thrasher is coming to Steam Deck New The Light Brigade mixed reality trailer Neat Corp recap with Budget Cuts Ultimate Neat Corp recap Garden of the Sea on Switch and Steam Deck Announcement of Crossings with a Steam Next Fest demo on June 9th Wordbound Teaser Prison Boss Prohibition launches on July 10, 2025 Compass shout out at the end of the Creature Feature of Trebuchet Announcement of Maestro DLC of Duel of the Fates from Star Wars Episode #1 New Starship Home accolades trailer Equip soundtrack for Starship Home coming to 100% Electronica label Creature Feature Bundle launches today with a 30% discount featuring Maestro, The Light Brigade, Fujii, Budget Cuts Ultimate, Garden of the Sea and Prison Boss VR Horseshoes Hotdogs and Hand Grenades developer Anton Hand says, "It's tough finishing stuff." No additional context, but could the full release of H3VR 1.0 be coming soon? And/or a future Creature collaboration? Sidequest Indie Spotlight Summer 2025 launches on YouTube We Are One shout out. Announcement of Deadly Delivery entering a closed beta period Here is the Creature Feature 2025 Summer Showcase that premiered on the IGN YouTube channel today at 9a: https://www.youtube.com/live/OEnj5u_Wht0?t=1765s This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

NOTE: This sponsored episode was produced by Kent Bye in partnership with PHI and participation from Agog: Immersive Media Institute and immersive artist Peter Burr. PHI and Agog: Immersive Media Institute are collaborating on the PHI Immersive: XR for Impact residency program that will be running for four weeks from March 2 to 27, 2026 in Montreal, Canada. It was first announced on March 6th, and it's open to "artists, groups, or collectives residing in North America (including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Greenland, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and Bermuda)." The submission deadline is June 24th, 2025 (11:59 EDT), and there are a couple of information sessions coming up next week on Tuesday, May 13th (French) and Thursday, May 15th (English), and you can find the Zoom links on the application page (or video recordings if it's after May 15th). I think this is a very unique opportunity that will be of interest to the Voices of VR podcast audience since the selected artist(s) will be invited to spend a month collaborating with PHI Studio over four weeks towards developing an initial prototype. Here's how they describe it: Focusing specifically on the development phase of a project over the course of four weeks, the selected artist(s), group, or collective will collaborate with PHI Studio experts to conceptualize, plan, and prototype an immersive artwork. The program provides the selected project with personalized support, workspace, the possibility to connect with a community partner and targeted resources to refine the concept, create prototypes, and prepare for potential production. I had a chance to catch up with Myriam Archard, Chief New Media Partnership and PR at PHI, Amy Seidenwurm, Chief of Programs and Strategy at Agog, as well as Peter Burr, who was the immersive artist selected for the 2025 edition of the PHI Immersive residency. We talk about the collaboration between PHI and Agog, which is bringing a specific impact focus on "transforming narratives through activism, contemporary challenges, and social good." We elaborate a bit more about what it means to use XR technologies and immersive storytelling to empower changemakers. We also talk about best practices and things to avoid in a pitch (be sure to read closely what the submission guidelines are), and a lot of general advice for aspiring immersive artists navigating how to inspire change and provide opportunities to make a positive difference on the many different challenges facing us today. We also cover a lot of other logistics of the PHI Immersive: XR for Impact residency, including Burr's personal reflections on what the experience was like. Agog also is interested in supporting other immersive residencies, and perhaps starting some of their own residency programs, and so this collaboration with PHI may be an indication for the types of future work that they are looking to support. Again, the deadline is June 24th, 2025 (11:59p EDT), and be sure to check out the information session on May 13th at 11am EDT for French speakers, and May 15th at 11am EDT for English speakers. You can tune in to the podcast or check out the transcript down below for more details.

Lucas Martell, the creative mind behind Walkabout Mini Golf and Mighty Coconut Studio, shares his journey from film to game development. He discusses the game's unique blend of worldbuilding and social dynamics, which has cultivated a thriving multiplayer community. Martell reveals the innovative room code system that enhances player connectivity and spontaneous collaboration. He also dives into the challenges of the VR ecosystem, highlighting the importance of community engagement and the continuous evolution of gameplay through thoughtful DLC additions.

asses.masses is a unique, 7-hour, live performance that uses video game logic to expand the narrative possibilities and social dramaturgy of experimental theater. With a single video game controller at the front of a movie theater with lights up so everyone can see each other, the audience must negotiate amongst themselves who will step up to play the next section of a narrative game that spans a wide range of different genres from 8-bit pixel art RPG representing the hyperreal to high-res, 3D open world walking simulators representing a fantasy idealized realm. The audience also has to negotiate how to make hundreds of collective decisions that come up in the game from dialogue tree options to which direction to to go to deciding which set of metaphoric political platform issues that should be prioritized for the ensemble cast of socialist Marxist donkeys. They lean upon the binge-watching culture to split the 7 to 8-hour run time into 10 total episodes split into 2-episode chunks that are broken up by 4 different intermissions where snacks and dinner are provided. Here's a description of the story that's told in this long-form format: The unemployed donkeys have one demand: the humans must surrender their machines and give all donkeys their jobs back. But revolution is never easy! asses.masses is a custom-made video game about labour, technophobia, and sharing the load of revolution, designed to be played from beginning to end in a live theatre. This is gaming as performance, an immersive, cheeky, and highly original work. Brave spectators take turns at the controller to lead the herd through a post-Industrial society, where asses are valued more for their hides than their potential. Confronting automation-driven job loss, nostalgia as a barrier to progress, and the role of technology in adaptation, we are encouraged to find space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us. asses.masses is Animal Farm meets Pokémon meets Final Fantasy, as exciting in form as it is in content. No previous gaming (or donkey) experience required. asses.masses is one of the more unique immersive experiences that I've had a chance to have, especially when it comes to mashing up social behaviors that stem from video game culture, but set within a live theatrical context. I saw asses.masses at PAM CUT (Portland Art Museum's Center for an Untold Tomorrow) here in Portland, OR on March 29th, and I had a chance to remotely catch up with the co-creators Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim to unpack their journey of blending video games into how stories are told in a live theatrical performance. We also explore how they're exploring new modes of social dramaturgy that leverage insights from couch co-op, live Twitch streams, and video game logic where part of the performance is automated through the video game itself, but it's augmented by the emergent social dynamics of the audience that end up reflecting main narrative themes of managing flows of power, community-building, collective decision-making, and in the case of our screening some actual revolt against an theater nerd/gamer audience member turned heel. Overall, the experience allowed the audience to exercise some muscles of social imagination beyond the Capitalist Realism baseline as elaborated by Mark Fisher's work, and there was a turn-taking between the more cathartic mode of Aristotelian drama and breaking the fourth wall of Brecht's distancing effect / alienation effect. The narrative was initially developed to serve a wide range of game-play mechanics in a live theater context, but the spaciousness of the extended run-time allowed them to explore many deeper philosophical, political, and economic topics that most stories do not have the time to get into. The ensemble cast of archetypal characters each have their own arc, and I found that the ending and epilogue really landed and stuck with me. If you have an opportunity to catch an upcoming scre...

Charlotte Mikkelborg is the series director of the Adventure series on Apple TV, which is shot on Apple Immersive Video and co-produced by Atlantic Studios (formerly Atlantic Productions) and Apple. I think it has the strongest storytelling released by Apple so far, and it also has some of the most innovative and cutting edge shots that really show the power of the 180-degree format of Apple Immersive Video. In this conversation, we cover Mikkelborg's 10-year journey into working with immersive formats starting with 360-degree video, multi-sensory VR, and most recently 180-degree video. We also talk about the emerging grammar of 180-degree filmmaking, and the introduction of close ups, which I feel like work sometimes and other times feels almost too close or can feel a bit uncanny or jarring when changing scales or results in warping or other distortions. We also talk about some of the behind-the-scenes insights about the Adventure series. One concerning thing that I noticed after watching all of the Apple Immersive Videos released so far is that many of these videos do not contain any credits for who worked on these projects. I did an audit of all 22 of the published Apple Immersive Videos, and I found that 14 of the 22 don't have any credits at all,. Most of these are by Apple Sentity LLC productions, which is presumably Apple's in-house production team. I found that 5 out of the 22 have partial credits, including the four episodes of the Adventure series as well as Man vs. Beast, which features DGA director Ryan Booth. And there are 3 out of the 22 Apple Immersive Videos that have full and complete credits including Submerged that features DGA director Edward Berger, and the Prehistoric Planet Immersive series, which is a co-production with Fairview Portals. See the table below for more information: It is deeply concerning to me that only 3 out of the 22 Apple Immersive Videos seemingly have full and complete credits. Apple did not provide any comment about why this is or why some of these pieces have no credits, why some have partial credits, and why some have full credits. It is nice to see at least some credits on the Adventure series, which is a co-production between Apple and Atlantic Studios (formerly Atlantic Productions), but they're only listing the director, executive producer, and key talent while all of the other key creative talent are not being credited. Atlantic Productions did not provide any official comment about why there are only partial credits, while a few other productions have full credits and many other productions have no credits. You can see find a partial a list of some of the Adventure series creative talent on IMDB, and episode 3 protagonist Ant Williams posted a partial list of credits on his Instagram announcement post. I was able to get some additional context from Mikkelborg about the credits situation, and it does sounds like the co-productions likely have a bit more leeway in dictating what types of credits are shown. While the Prehistoric Planet Immersive series co-produced by Fairview Portals series has full and complete credits, and the Adventure series by Atlantic Studios only has partial credits. The two Apple Sentity LLC productions that do have credits also happen to be directed by directors who are a part of the Director's Guild of America (DGA). The DGA has specific credits requirements, "For feature films, the Director’s screen credit must be accorded on a separate card, which shall be the last title card appearing prior to principal photography. This credit shall be no less than 50% of the size of the displayed title of the motion picture, or of the largest size in which credit is accorded to any other person, whichever is greater." The rules may be different for immersive productions or emerging media projects, but the director credits for Submerged and Man vs Beast seem to both meet DGA's credits requirements for film.