Event
Across the Alps: VR and XR experiences from Bavaria
MEET presents Across the Alps, an exhibition that brings together the contemporary XR and VR art experiences of a selection of ten Bavarian artist works.
In collaboration with XR HUB Bavaria, the group show is a comprehensive cross-section of research conducted in the southern German area. An area where research centers, cultural institutions and independent studios are redefining the languages of immersive storytelling.
Some works in the exhibition were presented at the Immersive section of the Venice Biennale and trace a path between intimate narrative experiments and reflections on cultural and environmental heritage.
The Body and Memory
Made by Reynards Film (40 minutes, available in English, French and German), Empereur is an interactive VR narrative that takes us into the mind of a father suffering from aphasia. We follow his daughter’s attempt to communicate and rediscover the man he was before the disease. A monochromatic hand-drawn visual landscape, this surreal journey portrays aphasia as a distant, unreachable land in a poetic reflection on loss, the passage of time, and unbreakable bonds.
By the same studio, Biolum instead takes the visitor on an immersive mission into the depths of the ocean. We follow researcher Rachel (voice of Dominique Tipper) led by renowned marine scientist Eva (played by Charlotte Rampling) as she explores a bioluminescent underwater world that reveals unexpected mysteries and complex relationships.
Cultural heritage and digitalization
The Responsive Fashion Institute’s Digital Fashion Lab project is a case study on the digitization of cultural heritage. The initiative explores the translation of traditional Bavarian clothing (trachten) into a digital environment through the READY PLAYER ME and SPATIAL.IO platforms. The goal is to promote sustainability in the local fashion industry by reflecting on cultural legacy and the role of new technologies.
Oktoberfest VR, on the other hand, is the official game of the famous Bavarian festival. Created by K5 Factory, it is a collective VR experience that translates the atmosphere of the historic annual event into a digital space. The themes of folk tradition as well as the merriment of the popular celebration with its events, rides and games bring to life a virtual amusement park that tells the story of Munich’s Oktoberfest.
META ALCHEMIA by Ugo Dossi and GOVAR is an invitation to participate in an adventure. Imagine stepping through a portal that transports us back to ancient Egypt, where we find ourselves in front of a massive, four-thousand-year-old door adorned with hieroglyphs and symbols from a long-forgotten era. Let’s enter, and discover what this mysterious threshold of antiquity holds for us.
Ecology, nature and XR (extended realities)
Tamiko Thiel’s Atmos Sphaerae is a contribution to the visualization of atmospheric processes from geological epochs that are part of “deep time.” The work, originally commissioned for the DiMoDA 4.0 platform, uses the beauty of “Lewis structures” as a poetic element to trace the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere from primordial void to anthropogenic climate crisis.
Current, winner of the New Realities Award 2024, is a visual reading of ocean currents through three phases of environmental transformation. A work capable of building a compelling and clear allegory of the contemporary ecological crisis through an experience created by She’s Excited! for sound design, Anke Schiemann for visuals, and /p did for coding.
Lisa Eder’s Wildernis AR, on the other hand, is a reality augmented educational application.Fourteen-year-old Momoka takes younger visitors to explore the forest ecosystem and understand its importance in the natural balance. Technology in this case makes it possible to access more knowledge than would be possible through a physical visit: looking inside a tree, making tiny fungal spores visible, and listening to inaudible sound frequencies.
Music and experimentation with AI
Tapestry of Spaces finally an experiment in collaboration between artificial intelligence and orchestral composition. The project, involving the Munich Symphony Orchestra, explores the possibilities of ChatGPT in generating melodic material. The underlying idea is to make the creative potential of artificial intelligence tangible. Composer Adrian Sieber and cellist Jakob Haas arranged a composition for a chamber ensemble using ChatGPT. The film adaptation with immersive audio was created by Carl Amadeus Hiller of Pegasus51 and David Merkl of MSM Studios Munich.
“Chacun à son goût” by Staatstheater Augsburg in collaboration with the Liz Mohn Foundation is an invitation to enjoy opera music in virtual reality. Created in close collaboration with participants of the “Neue Stimmen” competition, ensemble members of the Staatstheater Augsburg and the “Studio für unendliche Möglichkeiten” (Studio for Infinite Possibilities). The setting is this: Prince Orlofsky enjoys inviting guests who are just as eager to attend and showcase their voices with classic arias such as “La donna è mobile” or operetta hits like “Spiel’ ich die Unschuld vom Lande.” During the process, the scenery transforms—as do the singers themselves—turning, for example, into a tomcat or a chameleon.
MEET Lounge, Wednesday through Sunday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
