Call for Participation
VERSIONS 2016 – The Creative Landscape of Virtual Reality
WHERE: The New Museum, Manhattan, NYC
WHEN: Saturday, March 5th, 2016
WEBSITE: https://versions2016.squarespace.com/
Versions aims to foster an interdisciplinary conversation about the creative landscape of virtual reality. We’re assembling a curated, intimate group of 200 artists, filmmakers, scientists, game developers, journalists, creative directors, technologists, advertising creatives, media execs, visual effects specialists and more.
Though virtual reality has existed in some form since the 1960s, and in the realm of science fiction for much longer, 2016 promises to be a breakthrough year for the technology with high profile product launches and major releases in games and film on the horizon.
Versions aims to shift the conversation around VR from one focused on tools and gadgets to a dynamic interdisciplinary discussion that will examine how this technology is being shaped and defined by artists, scientists, filmmakers, the gaming industry and more. Conversations will span VR’s proclaimed status as an “empathy machine” and how it’s being leveraged by journalists and the military; address urgent questions regarding emerging standards around ethics and practice; consider the technology’s relationship to the brain and its neurological and psychological effects; as well as how practitioners are exploiting the format’s opportunities for embodiment and immersion.
Through conversations and skills-based learning opportunities, Versions will explore not just what VR technology can do, but what we do with it: what future can we bring to life via VR? The conference aims to show that the successive iterations of VR will be invented by those who question and surpass its out-of-the-box options.
Speakers
Alex McDowell
Creative Director
5D Global Studio
Andrew Schoen
Venture Capital Investor
NEA (New Enterprise Associates)
Doug Trumbull
Filmmaker & SFX Supervisor
2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Brainstorm & more
Ela Darling
Co-Founder
VRTube.xxx
Gabo Arora
Filmmaker & Senior Advisor
United Nations
Jacolby Satterwhite
Multimedia Artist
Jamin Warren
Founder
Kill Screen
Janet Murray
Professor & Author
‘Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace’
Jessica Brillhart
Principal Filmmaker for VR
Google
Julia Kaganskiy
Director
NEW INC
Katherine Isbister
Professor
UC Santa Cruz
Marte Roel
Co-Founder
BeAnotherLab
Mike Woods
Founder & CCO
White Rabbit VR
Neil McFarland
Director of Games
ustwo games ltd.
Rachel Rossin
Multimedia Artist
NEW INC
Rose Troche
Filmmaker
Sam Dolnick
Associate Editor
The New York Times
Shari Frilot
Senior Programmer
Sundance Film Festival
Skip Rizzo
Director, Medical VR
USC Institute for Creative Technologies
Tickets
Early Bird Registration: $400, available January 12-February 12, 2016
Regular Access Ticket: $500, includes access to the full day of panels, Saturday, March 5th, and single admittance to the Versions afterparty at The New Museum.
Premium Access Ticket: $750, includes access to the full day of panels, Saturday, March 5th, single admittance to the Versions afterparty at The New Museum, and admittance to the private speaker & sponsors dinner Friday, March 4th.
Student/Artist Discounted Ticket: $100, includes access to the full day of panels, Saturday, March 5th, and single admittance to the Versions afterparty at The New Museum. Artist/student status must be verified.
**Lunch, coffee & water will be provided for attendees
**An afterparty will follow the conference at The New Museum
About us
Kill Screen is a videogame arts and culture company interested in the intersection between games, play, and other seats of culture, from art to music to design. They publish a website and a magazine and organize events such as their annual Two5six festival, the groundbreaking Arcade at the Museum of Modern Art, film festival with Rooftop Films, and programming for the New York Film Festival.
NEW INC is the first museum-led incubator and a hotbed for cultural innovation. Extending the New Museum’s mission of supporting “New Art, New Ideas,” NEW INC brings together a cohort of 100 creative practitioners working across disciplines to examine and invent the future through applied art and design thinking. Virtual Reality is a major focus at NEW INC.