IMAGE FROM TRANSFORM
KALEIDOSCOPE ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR 2016 SUMMER SHOWCASE, A QUARTERLY EVENT SERIES LAUNCHING IN SAN FRANCISCO, LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK CITY, BERLIN, LONDON, AND SEOUL.
September 6th - 30th, 2016
Tickets available for purchase at KaleidoscopeVR.eventbrite.com
San Francisco, CA // 08.29.16 – Kaleidoscope, the largest community for virtual reality creators, today announced the Official Selection of projects for the 2016 Summer Showcase, a quarterly event series dedicated to the exploration of virtual reality as an art form. On the heels of Kaleidoscope's successful World Tour, which visited 10 cities across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, the Summer Showcase will launch on September 6th in London, England, with five additional cities holding events throughout the month. Powered by Wevr Transport, the Kaleidoscope Summer Showcase is the premier event series for virtual reality experiences made by independent artists.
The Summer Showcase includes a diverse selection of over 20 innovative and thought provoking experiences including the World Premieres of Joost Jordens and Mike von Rotz's otherworldly TRANSITION, and Zohar Kfir's experimental tour de force LE TEMPS PERDU, as well as special screenings of the hand drawn experience DRAWING ROOM by visual artist Jan Rothuizen, George Michael Bower's musical playground PLAYTHINGS VR, a new Vive version of Google Spotlight Stories's masterpiece PEARL, the addictive game BLARP! from Cabibbo, and much more. Showcase events will also include presentations from top VR creators.
"The quality of work in the Summer Showcase is remarkable and proves virtual reality is quickly evolving into a legitimate art form," said Kaleidoscope co-founder René Pinnell. "We are thrilled to feature new projects from new creators, and to highlight the groundbreaking work of local pioneers in each city. And finally, we are thankful to our amazing Community Directors who invest their time and energy into organizing these Showcase events and fostering each city's community of VR Creators."
Inspired by initiatives like TEDx that empower local innovators, Kaleidoscope's quarterly event series is run entirely by a network of local community leaders. After interviewing nearly a hundred applicants, Kaleidoscope selected Community Directors for San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, Montréal, London, Berlin, Leipzig, Paris, Amsterdam, and Seoul, with more cities launching each quarter. This talented and dedicated group of innovators organize events, discover and promote local VR Creators, and grow the community of artists and engineers who use virtual reality to tell stories, express ideas, and explore the human experience.
COMMUNITY DIRECTORS
Kaleidoscope was founded in May 2015 by entrepreneur René Pinnell and former Industrial Light & Magic technical director Michael Breymann. Joined by creative director Selena Pinnell and producer Jill Klekas, the startup’s mission is to give independent artists the exposure and support they need to do great work. Kaleidoscope showcases finished projects, helps secure funding for future projects, and host events around the world that explore the art, science, and business of virtual reality.
In 2015 Kaleidoscope produced the first Virtual Reality Film Festival earning coverage in top publications such as The New York Times, LA Times, and VICE. Partnering with Wired magazine, Kaleidoscope has since produced more than 20 high-profile events, in 5 continents, for over 10,000 attendees. Projects discovered by Kaleidoscope routinely go on to screen at major festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, and Cannes, and the artists in our community are widely recognized as some of the most innovative voices in virtual reality today.
For further information regarding the 2016 Summer Showcase please visit: KaleidoVR.com/2016-summer-showcase
To purchase tickets please visit: KaleidoscopeVR.eventbrite.com
PRESS ENQUIRES
René Pinnell
rene@kaleidovr.com
OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR SUMMER SHOWCASE
DIR. ISAAC COHEN
US | Runtime: Open Ended | Interactive Experience
BLARP! is a fun-filled physics game built as an exploration into novel game mechanics for the new medium of virtual reality.
DIR. EDDIE LEE
US | Runtime: Open | Interactive
Cosmic Trip is a groovy VR-native first-person real-time strategy game. Build and command swarms of cosmobots to harvest resources and battle against the slimy alien forces!
DIR. JOHN HENDICOTT & GAWAIN LIDDIARD
US | 2 Mins | Live Action 360 VR Video
Does Not Exist drops you into the center of Reeps One’s first virtual reality Beatbox performance - exploring the latest technology for VR and head-tracked 3D spatial audio.
DIR. JAN ROTHUIZE & SARA KOLSTE
Netherlands | 5 Mins | Real-Time Experience
Drawing Room is a hand drawn VR experience by visual artist Jan Rothuizen. Drawing Room playfully deals with the questions Virtual Reality creates. Can being somewhere (an experience) be a work of art in itself?
DIR. TOBY COFFEY, OLLIE LINDSEY & LYSANDER ASHTON
UK | 4 Mins | Real-Time Animation
Fall down the rabbit hole and explore the magical, vibrant world of wonder.land in this animated musical video take on the stage show of the same name created by The Royal National Theatre.
DIR. ANTONIO VICTOR GARCIA-SERRANO & TOÑO CABANELAS
SPAIN | 3 Min | Live Action 360
Fragments is an "Oniric hyperrealistic" fashion film produced by a group of multidisciplinary artists who gathered at the uninhabited Spanish island of San Simon for a week of unconstrained experimentation.
DIR. GREG BARTH
UK | 3 Min | Live Action 360 VR
The future of music follows Carré Bleu, a fictitiously famous music producer who can modulate time, space and gravity to create the music of the future.
DIR. HUGO KEIJZER
Netherlands | 10 Mins | Live Action 360 VR
The Invisible Man is an absurd short 360-degree drama created specifically for VR viewing. How does Frank know which chamber the bullet lies? And what role does the viewer play in the drama? It may take you 5 views to figure it out, but in The Invisible Man the answers are all around you, literally.
DIR. ADAM COSCO
US | 14 Mins | Live Action
Knives is a surreal drama detailing a door-to-door knife salesman’s encounter with a housewife on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Modeled after shows like The Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt, Knives is an allegory about purging the aspects of your personality that aren’t serving you.
DIR. DAVID LOBSER
US | 4 Mins | Real-Time Experience
Light is an immersive music experience that debuted at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Jerusalem, Israel as the first synchronized virtual reality performance of its kind.
DIR. MARC ZIMMERMANN
Germany | 3 Mins | Animation
'Longing for Wilderness' takes you from the noisy city through the slowly transforming forest to a wild and airy landscape.
DIR. RUI GUERREIRO
Japan | 30 Mins | Interactive Experience
MARE is an exploratory and sensory VR adventure experienced through a mechanical bird and a lost girl on a journey through a mythical world.
DIR. SAMIR MALLAL
US | 2 Mins | Live Action 360