The Sheffield Doc/Fest celebrated its 25th anniversary in June and as part of the event held an Alternate Realities Exhibition inviting audiences to experience virtual reality (VR), interactive documentary, gaming and augmented reality (AR) across 27 projects. For those unable to see the exhibition in Sheffield it’s now gone on tour with the Barbican presenting four highlights later this month.
The first leg of a UK-wide tour, the Alternate Realities Exhibition at the Barbican will be showcasing Grenfell: Our Home, Terminal 3, Life in VR – California Coast and Sanctuaries of Silence across Barbican’s Level G with support from Arts Council England.
These cutting edge projects, which include an interactive VR piece using the latest headset technology, a 360-degree video documentary and a third screening installation will be the only opportunity for London audiences to experience this content.
“This collaboration with Doc/Fest stems from our increasing interest in work which thrives beyond traditional exhibition and performance space. The four installations in Alternate Realities are particularly well suited to the rich and complex social context of the Barbican’s Level G, and I’m intrigued to see how the multitude of communities in these spaces respond to and engage with the worlds that we’re attempting to draw them into,” said Sidd Khajuria, Senior Producer, Barbican in a statement.
Alongside the Alternate Realities Exhibition will be a programme of documentaries in Barbican Cinema 2 with a line-up which includes Central Airport THF, Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D and Marc Silver’s Who is Dayani Cristal.
“We are thrilled to be working with the Barbican, to present a selection of story worlds from Alternate Realities,” adds Dan Tucker, Curator of Alternate Realities. “This partnership between the Barbican and Sheffield Doc/Fest brings new audiences into experiences that explore identity, the natural world and stories of community through ground breaking virtual and augmented reality art works.”
Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Alternate Realities Exhibition will run from 20th – 27th August at the Barbican for free, head here for further details on its events. For the latest VR art installations, keep reading VRFocus.
