VR_SCI FEST 2019
For the third time KTH Royal Institute of Technology becomes a venue for one of the most innovative events in Sweden — VR_Sci Fest, International Festival, Expo and Science Lab dedicated to immersive technologies in Science and Tech. On May 10 and 11 visitors of the KTH Library and Tekniska Museet would be able to meet with professionals and try new experiences dedicated to science and education.
Last year’s event was a great success with 35 organizations and startups, 12 universities and 30 specially invited guests from all over the world working together to make it a truly immersive experience for our 3000 visitors.
Elena Malakhatka, festival director: “When we’ve started the festival in 2017, we wanted to collect the scattered pieces of scientific use of VR together and show the scientific community potential of XR technology. Over the years we’re seeing the collaborations between creative professionals and Academia growing up. We see how their projects benefiting from having a scientific approach and artistic freedom”.
The theme of the festival this year is <SERIOUS GAMES>…are designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment, in the collaboration with game industry. The “serious” adjective is generally prepended to refer to industries like healthcare, city planning, engineering, and politics. Festival Team thinks immersive technologies present an advanced visualization for understandings of the incredible things we know and discover what is waiting to be known.
Festival has several parts with the goal to be a meeting point for scientific and creative community, as well as to give visitors an access to a variety of technological and artistic tool used to visualize scientific data.
VR_Sci Expo is the major venue of the festival, where 20 VR/AR Booths will be presented both from Academia and Industry (MIT’s collaborative V V-learning environment, Eye tracking technology from Tobii Pro, VARJO — human eyes resolution headset, will be presented at Volvo Cars booth, Greenmountain Data Center experience by Tieto, Artistic project about the Quantum Computer and others).
VR_Sci Talks would have 3 tracks: XR + Industry, XR + Education and XR + Games. As every year, Talks would bring together some of the leading masterminds of immersive technologies from Volvo, MIT, Neat Corporation as well as other instituations and companies, to share their ideas and projects in which science and creativity are intertwined.
VR_Sci Kids and VR Photography programs with VR&AR workshops and installations would happen at Tekniska Museet and Fotografiska Studio Live respectively
One of the most popular and visited sections of the festival is VR Sci Films with the selection of 8 360 films made by programming director Georgy Molodtsov.
This year part of the program is presented by the Institut Francais de Suede with 2 acclaimed works made by French creators — “I saw the future” (François Vautier, Da Prod, France) and “Isle of Dead” (Benjamin Nuel, Les Produits Frais, France). Other works are coming from Australia, Sweden, UK, Denmark, Germany and USA).
Showcase would be made on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and Samung Gear VR headsets with the VRCM syncing software for simultaneous screenings.
VR_Sci Films selection 2019:
Made By Me China
dir. Sarah Hill, 7 min., StoryUP, Google, USA 2019
In Made by Me VR experience, Google brings you to the factory of their supplier Flex in Zhuhai, China, where you can walk in a worker’s shoes for a day. You can check out the surroundings on a factory floor, scan the faces of coworkers during an impromptu break-time concert, or simply focus on the person speaking. You also hear directly from workers, who discuss wages, working conditions, product quality, favorite hobbies, and life aspirations.
2nd Step: From Moon To Mars And Beyond
dir. Jörg Courtial, 11 min., Faber Courtial GbR For ZDF, Germany, 2019
VR-film “Second Step — From Moon to Mars and Beyond”. In this intriguing Virtual Reality film available in English — the viewer gets the outstanding opportunity to set off for a fascinating VR journey into space, visiting a number of thrilling settings of current and future space missions, such as the landing spot of Apollo 11, the planned Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway and the Shackleton-Crater at the South Pole of the Moon. The film conveys an authentic sensation of how it must feel to actually be on the moon, climaxing in the visit of Mars — a desert planet of superlatives, with the most immense volcanoes and the deepest canyon in the solar system.
Guardians Of The Kingdom
dir. Christophe Bailhache and Sophie Ansel, 16 min., Australia, USA, Tonga, France, 2019
The Guardians of the Kingdom VR experience is an interwoven story of two mothers — one human, one whale — and the connections that bind them. It is the story of reconciliation between a giant who was once hunted and the people of the Kingdom of Tonga. It is the story of a place called home for generations by both the whales and the Tongans. It is a love story above and below, in the Kingdom of Tonga.
Songbird
dir. Lucy Greenwell, 10 min.,The Guardian Virtual Reality, TinDrum, UK, Denmark, 2018
A commission and collaboration with The Guardian Virtual Reality team, Songbird is a fairytale with a dark heart. You will be transported to the island of Kauai in 1984 and into a painted replica of a lush cloud forest filled with colourful birds. Here, you are invited to search for the last known ʻōʻō, an iconic black bird with yellow leg feathers and a beautiful song, a bird whose existence has been threatened to the point of extinction. The installation is supported by VIVE and produced in collaboration with Carte Blanche and The Animation Workshop.
Awards: Thessaloniki Documentary film festival — Best VR
Festival du nouveau cinéma Montreal — Special mention
The New Slussen In Stockholm
dir. Lars Lindqvist, 6 min., Dagens Nyheter, Sweden, 2018
Time travel to the year 2025 — and experience Stockholm when Slussen is ready. See how the new Slussen grow underneath while you stand 70 meters up in the air on a construction crane. What about traffic? What disappears — and what will remain? Anton Säll, reporter at DN Sthlm, is your ciceron in the future cityscape — in a unique presentation of the new traffic and meeting place.
Virtual Plant Cell — Cell Explore 2018
The ARC Centre Of Excellence In Plant Energy Biology, 6 min., Australia, 2018
Immerse yourself in a plant cell! Explore the submicroscopic inner world of a plant and learn about cell structures and their functions. This stunning VPC: Cell Explore film is part of Plant Energy Biology’s custom-built suite of Virtual Plant Cell 360 degree and virtual reality educational resources. Project led by Karina Price and the researchers of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology. 3D artwork by Peter Ryan. Music by Audiosimian. Narrated by Glenn Hall.
Program presented by Insitut Francais de Suede:
I Saw The Future
Dir., François Vautier, 5 min., Da Prod, France
A journey in a 3D space remecting visionary writer Arthur C. Clarke’s futuristic predictions. In a dark expanse that could be the cosmos, we hear a voice: that of Arthur C. Clarke, whose face — taken from a BBC archive dating back to the 1960s — appears in the distance. His features quickly dematerialize into a multitude of shimmering pixels, creating an enveloping and immersive space out of which the thoughts of the famed author of “2001: A Space Odyssey” emerge.
Isle Of Dead // L’ile Des Morts
dir. Benjamin Nuel, 8 min., Les Produits Frais, France
A timeless journey, based on Arnold Böcklin’s painting. Isle of the Dead is a timeless journey, starting from an everyday apartment towards our final destination, guided by Charon, ferryman of the Underworld. This VR experience is a loose recreation of the eponymous work painted in 1883 by the Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin.
—
For the second time, VR_Sci Fest is partnering with VIAREAL 360 platform developed by Nordic Entertainment Group, giving a chance to audience of the platform to watch some of the works from this and previous year selection online.
All screenings on May 10 and 11 are free to attend to public.
More information about events might be found on www.vrscifest.com
Contacts:
Inna Matsaniouk,
Press Relations Manager and Head of Expo
info@vrscifest.com 0703274795
