Upcoming speaking engagement on VR at Creative Tech Week

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I\’m spending a very pleasant morning at Good Karma cafe in Philadelphia (love the old leaded glass windows and plants!!) writing the first draft of my Creative Tech Week presentation I\’m giving on May 11th in NYC… I\’ll be talking about my experience as a first time VR artist (remember my 5 day VRaycation?).

Might be the only presentation in the history of the world which talks about repousse, mokume gane, CAD and VR in the same breath lol (they\’re all on a 3d sculpture continuum imho!) 

Here\’s my Creative Tech Week profile: http://creativetechweek.nyc/…/linda-ricci-strategy-consulta…

Sex slaves, Isis, & VR: oh my!

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I was completely and utterly blown away by
Kent Bye\’s \”Voices of VR\” podcast that interviewed directors Céline Tricart and conflict journalist Christian Stephen about The Sun Ladies VR 360 video / VR experience.

It\’s about the Yezidi women who were taken as sex slaves after Isis invaded their towns and killed all the men. Some managed to escape from their ordeal and are now trained fighters hunting the men down who did it to them, intent on rescuing as many other women as they can.

VR at its best: used to communicate a powerful story, in a way that can\’t do anything less have a massive impact on you the viewer. VR will enable storytelling and journalism on an emotional scale previously unimaginable; here you get to not only watch the women, but be in the thick of the fighting, experiencing the drama nearly first hand (without the danger!).

I really think VR has the potential not just to entertain, but do far more in terms of enhancing empathy than it\’s ever been possible to do before. Possibly one that really will help humanity build bridges in an increasingly crowded and shrinking world, where lots of people with different ideas and experiences are bumping into each other.

Listen to the podcast,  watch the trailer (below), and if you can – seek out the VR experience. It\’s an incredible story.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/210654040

Five day VRaycation

I spent five full days over New Year\’s playing with an HTC Vive. Which is interesting in NYC apartment, since half the furniture had to be moved to make room for the motion tracking units mounted on two spindly tripods! As an artist as well as a tech enthusiast, it was an interesting experience. So much to try out.

I have a book\’s worth of impressions and opinions coming out of the experience, but quickly – my favorite: hands down, Blortasia by Kevin Mack, a neuroscientist and artist. It\’s a psychedelic drift through an ever changing, pulsing, organic color blitz. Absolutely, mind bogglingly, surreally, beautiful. I love that he\’s not adapting something to fit into VR, he\’s actually designing something for the medium; one of the few, I think, who \”gets\” it.

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His work is inspired by transcendent visions, nature, and technology, and is informed by research in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to artificial life. Not to mention, I\’m guessing it\’s a lot like taking mushrooms! Blortasia is being used in therapy and it\’s effects are the subject of a medical research study. Now *that\’s* a use for VR I can get behind.

The other favorite was (of course – as an artist): Tiltbrush. But I wasn\’t as in love with it as I should have been….it\’s purely a paint stroke program (I called it \”the MS Paint of VR\”) and I really missed being able to create actual solid objects. Perhaps a hangover from my CAD roots – nevertheless, I persisted, and determined to grok the program as best possible, after a while realized how to get the most out of it (hint: don\’t try to be precise).

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Here\’s a glimpse of one of the worlds I created – a flock of beautiful glowing birds. I made another with huge pulsating jellyfish hanging from the sky, so you could stand in between the tentacles; that one\’s for another day.

That book-length blog post is coming, about everything from the experience to the content, user interface to opportunities – just wanted to jot down some initial thoughts to start.

Face Swapping: Deepfakes

\"\"Face-swapping celebrity faces onto porn performers’ bodies (\”Deepfakes\”). It\’s a thing

Yes, it\’s about porn….but it\’s not: if Photoshop has played a major role in bending \”reality\” the point where no one believes a photo any more, just wait until the same \”bending reality\” happens easily, with video. How will anyone know what\’s \”real\” ??

Will there be clipart galleries, just waiting for faces to be superimposed on them?

What about superimposing faces on bodies in VR? – wonder if actors will make deals with entertainment producers to license their faces into VR/AR content, not at the studio level (that\’s a big \”duh\” – is cheaper and less hassle than actually dealing with a live person) but as something fans can pay to use in their own content (dare I say it, fantasies?).

I did talk a little bit about this back in 2011. It is obviously, an inevitability – a natural progression of visual manipulation. But are we ready for this? Legally? Ethically?

 

 

Alternative uses for VR: Training for real life

This is an excellent case study in how VR can be used for training. Of all types. Some of the commenters don\’t understand why inmates get to \”play\” with VR for free, while \”regular\” people can\’t afford headsets…VR can be about play, of course; but it\’s also a powerful tool to help someone \”practice\” interacting with others. It\’s potentially a huge empathy building tool. I was asked this morning how it could be used to train young women to deal with bullying, and harassment, for example. Will give that one a think too.

https://www.facebook.com/VICE/videos/945557605604190/

Panel appearance at Creative Tech Week 2017

For those who are curious…here\’s the full panel discussion exploring the future of VR and entertainment that I was a part of at Creative Tech Week 2017 back in June. Thank you to Isabel Walcott Draves and Cortney Harding for asking me to participate; it was great to be part of an event this forward thinking, and meet co-panelists Victoria Pike, Joel Douek, David Lobser and Jenya Lugina. Honored to be in such impressive company!

I have a dream

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I have a dream..to live in a world where I can (for example, just a random one) be on a motorcycle in the pouring rain, motoring through the hairpin mountain curves of Danang, and have that experience be replicated in a 3d environment so others could experience it as I did – rain, wind, hairpin curves, scenery and all. \"\"

AND…interact with those objects as if they were solid… because based on changing angles, I think the computer should be able to interpolate 3d shapes. I\’m a dreamer.

Beats sharing flat snapshots any day! All those amazing experiences, sharable in an immersive and interactive experience. How incredible would that be?

PS there are people working on this. Intel for one, the Nokia Ozo another..and I\’m sure many others.

 

Upcoming appearances

Am honored to be on stage at two events this week! Very excited.

First up, I\’m at the innovation festival Propelify on Thursday, where I will be fireside chatting with Beatie Wolfe  for 25 minutes about music\’s interactive future (South stage, 2:20 pm).

Beatie is a musical innovator in addition to being an accomplished musician. At the forefront of pioneering new formats for music, she unites tangibility, storytelling & ceremony to albums in this digital age.

Propelify is a celebration and exploration of innovation. Techstars and Samsung NEXT are sponsoring a startup competition (maybe I should apply?!) – and Arianna Huffington is giving the keynote address. Plus, a drone race. Which personally I can\’t wait to see.

Secretly I just want to be a drone racer.

Some really neat startups semi-finalists being showcased in the Startup Competition. Like this VR company –

LyraVR is a virtual reality platform that lets you compose, perform and share musical compositions in 3D. Create loops, hand place and tune your sounds in space, press play, and enjoy as your musical masterpieces come to life around you.

and this one –

Geopipe builds immersive virtual copies of the world, built by algorithms, for architecture, real estate, and beyond. Their algorithms build immersive virtual models of the real world to provide visualizations for architects, urban planners, and many others.

So many potential directions for that technology to go in! Can\’t wait until I can walk through the any streets in the world with VR, without the bad buggies I always get when traveling.

\"\"*Then* on Sunday (May 21), I\’m part of a panel discussing the future of Entertainment and VR at Creative Tech week. Some great co-panelists! I\’m in esteemed company.

Victoria Pike is a theatrical designer and director who utilizes projection design and mixed reality technologies to create unique theatrical performances and installations. Her background in the theater, designing immersive experiences, has lead her to exploring 360 video and virtual reality as a new space for dramatic storytelling.

Joel Douek is an award-winning composer and instrumentalist whose music has underscored many films and television productions, including in some of the most prestigious documentaries of the last few years – those of naturalist Sir David Attenborough. From big-screen IMAX features such as the BAFTA-winning film ‘Flying Monsters 3D’ and the Everest adventure: ‘The Wildest Dream’ (feat. Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes), dark thrillers such as “Manhattan Night” (feat. Adrien Brody, Yvonne Strahovski) and “The Tall Man” (feat. Jessica Biel), Douek’s music has brought many a scene to life.

David Lobser is an internationally recognized, award winning animation director. He uses algorithmic, procedural generation techniques to create lush virtual worlds. He is interested in pushing computer animated effects into the realm of the intricate, messy and imperfect in order to articulate complex feelings and sensations. He has an extensive background in commercial animation and visual effects, has taught animation at Harvard University, and is presently the senior artist in residence at NYU’s Media Research Lab.

Jenya Lugina is a Creative with a deep understanding of technology. He constantly explores the newest developments and best ways to use them to push artistic boundaries and devise innovative solutions for clients such as Pfizer, Merck, Def Jam, HAVAS, Gold Crest Films, Cessna, Nissan, Fuji, Sony and Hasbro. He has worked as a Technology Consultant as well as a Creative Director, creating content for video, web, and interactive installations, using tools that include stereoscopy, autostereoscopy, and virtual reality to produce new ways to communicate messages.

Cortney Harding is a professor, author, and consultant working at the intersection of music and virtual reality. Harding works with technology companies to partner with music artists and labels to create immersive, groundbreaking virtual reality content. Her knowledge of both the music and technology industries position her to uniquely create experiences that move both industries forward.

Harding is the author of \”How We Listen Now: Essays and Conversations About Music and Technology\”, published in January 2016 and available here. Harding is a professor at the Clive Davis School of Music at NYU. Harding has been a frequent speaker at conferences like SXSW, Further Future, Canadian Music Week, SF Music Tech, and the Right Tech Summit.

Location: NYIT Auditorium on Broadway 1871 Broadway NY NY 10023

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