VR Showcase

‘You are in two worlds at the same time. Your body is in the other world, but your heart is in this one.’ 

To exist in the virtual world is to have two bodies, four hands, two hearts. Alma, a mysterious guide to this double world, leads you through questions around the climate crisis, irreconcilable realities, and the virtual as a place to take shelter.  

Shadowtime is a new word coined for our age, describing the feeling of occupying two irreconcilable times simultaneously. It is being stuck in a traffic jam on your way to work and realizing that the gas in your engine is the compressed mass of prehistoric creatures. It is scrolling through your phone and remembering that the earth is changing irrevocably. In ‘Shadowtime’, we take these temporal incompatibilities and explore them in the realm of virtual reality and simulation theory.  

Sister Sylvester (Leeds, 1984) works in performance and new media. She is a resident at ONX Studio; a 2019 MacDowell Fellow; an alumnus of the Public Theater New Works program and CPH:DOX lab. Her most recent film, “Our Ark,” co-directed with Deniz Tortum, and her most recent performance, ‘The Eagle and The Tortoise’ both premiered at IDFA and toured internationally. She creates installations and art books that become communal reading experiences, and is currently developing a series of work on synthetic biology.
 

Deniz Tortum (Istanbul, 1989) works in film and immersive media. His latest film, “Our Ark” (co-directed with Sister Sylvester, 2021), premiered at IDFA and screened internationally; and his feature documentary, “Phases of Matter” (2020), premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and received the Best Documentary awards at the Istanbul and Antalya Film Festivals. He is currently developing a series of work around geoengineering, spiritism, and the climate crisis. 

At times psychedelic at times meditative, ELELE is a sensory and intuitive VR experience featuring only your hands. With music from renowned electronic musician Max Cooper, it invites you(r hands) to take part in a dance performance and explore the beauty of your movements. Listen to the music and let your hands lead the way. Dance as big and loud as you want or as small and simple as you want. You’re only expected to bring an open mind. But beware, things may get a little out of hand… 

An Institute of Time production, ELELE is the directorial debut of Dutch artist Sjoerd van Acker (aka No Fish).  

Sjoerd van Acker (1997) was born in the Netherlands, but was brought up in various places in Africa. He studied Image and Media Technology at the University of the Arts Utrecht. He started experimenting with VR during an internship at a theater group that has done pioneering XR work. After graduating, he started working under the name NO FISH as a Creative Technologist, creating virtual exhibitions and VR experiences for museums and artists. ELELE is his directorial debut he developed at Biennale College Cinema VR.  

Institute of Time is an interdisciplinary film and new media company based in Amsterdam and in Istanbul. Established in 2018, Institute’s works have been exhibited in festivals like Venice Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, Hot Docs, True/False Film Festival, NewImages. Institute's last two works are in exhibition in 79th Venice Film Festival’s Immersive section. The Miracle Basket by Abner Preis is in Best Of Fest while Elele by Sjoerd van Acker is this year’s Biennale College Cinema VR grant recipient. 

Imaginary Friend is a universal story that will move any viewers ages 8 to 88 (and beyond). It allows you to enter a surreal world created by 8-year-old Daniel, who is trying to cope with the loss of a loved one, sadness and anxiety. In this experience, you can transform yourself into an imaginary friend to help him fight his fears.  

Flow invites you to float with the wind on what seems at first glance, to be a day like any other, with its turbulence: a night in the life of a woman, painted by the ebb and flow of air currents.

Smells, heat, breathing, natural and artificial gusts of wind, the air currents, affected by invisible presences, make the imperceptible perceptible. They reveal to us a series of events in which the woman - that we are invited to follow during her wanderings - takes part. They immerse us in a world entirely made of air.

But when the storm calms down, and the woman wakes up from what turns out to have been a dream, the world is no longer the same.

‘nerd_funk’ is a digital identity existing on Instagram, following the contemporary digital culture. In this Chapter based VR Installation, Users will explore the new reality that emerged out of social media. 

In the current climate of the Internet we have reached an irreversible state in our social life and inherently the way we think and comprehend our reality. It’s a situation we have all dived into, floating and yet struggling to find ourselves in it. To investigate this phenomenon and allow others to investigate it with us, we decided to create a virtual identity called nerd_funk, a collective formed by its artists (Ali and Mamali) which exists on Instagram and follows a portion of contemporary digital culture. 

Through the lens of this profile, the user will set out on a journey that represents an archive of collected moments and stories shared by others, bringing the user into an interactive journey composed and directed on the basis of nerd_funk‘s Instagram stories feed.  

Angels of Amsterdam brings you to a truthful recreation of a 17th-century café in Amsterdam. Here, you share key episodes in the lives of Maritgen Jans, Juliana, Elsje Christiaens and Pussy Sweet: four fierce angels who were not getting their fair share of the Golden Age’s gold and took their destiny in their own hands. The characters respond to eye contact, and share their tales in the form of contemporary song, dance or a musical performance.