The Stories We Will Tell: Interactive Media and Placemaking
Virtual reality, 360° video, performance, and live cinema offer the possibility of expansive interactive documentary storytelling that is uniquely spatial. But what blind spots exists when media-makers and audiences adopt these immersive technologies? How can cities and communities use of these emerging strategies to increase civic participation and greater dialogue? This night starts with a gallery of interactive and VR film experiences, followed by the performance of new work from Vero Majano, Keith Wilson, and a collaboration between City Hope residents and Adam Snell, followed by a lively panel discussion on the role of interactive media in the future of urban documentary.
Panelists:
- Moderator: Niki Selken, Designer/Creative Development Lead at Gray Area
- Luisa Caldas, Prof. of Architecture, Director of VR/AR Laboratory, UC Berkeley
- Keith Wilson, Artist/Filmmaker
- Vero Majano, Artist/Filmmaker
- Adam Osfield Snell, 360 Filmmaker
- Heather Escandon, Real Refuge Co-Creator
- Yang Liu, 3D Interactive Engineer/New Media Artist
Films
BETHLEHEM 360°
Jesse Erica Epstein & Andrea Rollefson
Prod. with Scenic VR / 360 Video Documentary. Once a booming steel mill in which workers fabricated the materials for the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge, the sprawling Bethlehem Plant has since been converted into a casino. This poetic exploration of a changing city confronts the past and future of the American workforce.
City of Sparkles
Yang Liu & Botao Hu
Virtual Reality. City of Sparkles is a virtual reality experience of New York City, portrayed through a snapshot of authentic geo-located twitter messages. Through this city built of tweets, the audience can explore the emotional map of city dwellers living online.
Gangway
Directed by Keith Wilson
GANGWAY is an immersive live documentary piece about a recently shuttered San Francisco gay bar, The Gangway, site of police raids, queer community organizing and early AIDS activism. Combining archival material, 3D models and performance, the immersive piece explores new models for experiencing lost places and future narratives.
Real Refuge
Directed by Adam Osfield
Live Documentary, 360 Video Documentary. A resident of the City Hope Home uses virtual reality and live narration to guide the audience on her road to recovery and journey to reunite with her daughter. City Hope Home in a sober living facility in the Tenderloin that offers bridge housing for men and women overcoming homelessness, addiction, and incarceration.
Remember Los Siete: Chapter 1
Directed by Vero Majano
The multimedia performance, Remember Los Siete uses archival film, audio interviews, and personal history, as an artist’s response to the under-documented story of the seven Central American men know as Los Siete, who were accused of killing a white police officer in 1969.
¡Viva La Evolución!
Directed by Fifer Garbesi in collaboration with VR Play house
360 Video Documentary. As American culture streams into Cuba for the first time in 50 years, DJ Joyvan Guevara struggles between the new opportunity for global success and a responsibility to the culture he helped build in the face of commercialization.
Partners
