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Out of 78 submissions, our Artistic Fellow Janne Kummer made it to the shortlist of 15 selected VR artworks with XBPMMM! The prize of DKB in cooperation with CAA Berlin is announced annually and curated by Tina Sauerländer.

The VR KUNSTPREIS 2023 is dedicated to artists who use virtual reality and expansive installations to create visions for social change.

More information and the entire shortlist is available here: https://vrkunst.dkb.de.

At the end of February 2023, a jury of experts will select the winners of the 5 working scholarships for 4,000 and 4 months each. The works will be shown for two months from the beginning of September 2023 in an exhibition at the Haus am Lützowplatz (HaL), Berlin.

We are very happy about the amazing premiere of the artistic multiplayer with virtual reality XBPMMM – A Travelogue of Morphing Bodies developed within XR_Unites in collaboration with our artistic fellows Janne Kummer, Anton Krause, and Steph Holl-Trieu and many other creatives involved. A big thanks goes also to our collaboration partner HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, where the critical reflection of body norms in meritocracies was shown on a big stage from 19-22.01.2023!

Thanks to a desktop version offered on the digital stage HAU4, theatre visitors could also join the game from all over the world.

As “one of the highlights”, the Stuttgart Filmwinter 2023 presented XBPMMM – Leaking Bodies, Porous Minds, M3lt1ng M4ch1n3s as an exclusive preview shortly before the premiere under the title A Travelogue of Morphing Bodies! The artists Janne Kummer and Anton Krause were present, as was Maja Stark from XR_Unites. We thank co-curator Marcus Kohlbach and the whole Filmwinter team for the warm welcome and support!

The workshop “Art meets Tech meets Business” on 21.11.22 in cooperation with the business professionals Angela Höhle from the Gründungszentrum of HTW Berlin, Jana Pyrek and Christopher Purbst from IDiA – Ideas in Action was super intensive and informative. Twelve participants worked on startup ideas in different stages: We are excited to see which startups might really get off the ground soon!

On 25.07.2022 the XR_Unites jury decided for the collaborative development of the “Sci-Fi Mini-Opera” with Virtual Reality AM ENDE DER WELT (WT) based on the concept of Nora Krahl, Amir Baltic, Lisa Ströckens, Vincent Kaufmann and Matin Soofipour Omam (last both advisory). More info on the XR_Unites fellows from September 2022 to June 2023 can be found here.

Our third and last XR_Unites XR Art & Networking was so nice!!! With best weather, exciting impulse talks and coffee mobile, almost 80 people from art, culture and informatics exchanged ideas about XR technologies in the independent cultural scene at Köpenick Castle and its park.

(Photo: © M. Stark, HTW Berlin)

On June 23, 2022 the first public preview of the VR multiplayer XBPMMM took place as part of the XR_Unites XR Art & Networking in and around Schloss Köpenick. The artists* Janne Kummer and Anton Krause were present. A prototype of the artists’ suit equipped with sensors and actuators could also be tested: In a feedback loop, it collects body data of the user*s and returns it via physical computing (e.g. via heat or small electrical impulses) in coordination with the VR experience.

(Photo: © M. Stark, HTW Berlin)

Two info sessions on the Open Call with Maja Stark and one techi from the XR_Unites team are planned via Zoom (no registration required) to present the call and answer all your questions:

On 31.05., 5-6 p.m. > Link to the event
On 14.06., 13-14 p.m. > Link to the event

The third and last XR_Unites OPEN CALL is now open!

The body and embodiment in virtual reality (VR) play a central role in XBPMMM.  Embodiment is understood as the perception of the environment is not only done by the brain, but also by the body: Body and mind cannot be clearly separated. For the VR experience, this means that both the physical and the virtual avatar are significantly involved in the perception of the own body and the virtual world.

In XBPMMM, the body as well as body images and ideals of Western society are reflected on different levels, such as in theory, on the level of emotions as well as materiality.

The avatar in XBPMMM will change its shape in the course of the game – and has also already undergone a metamorphosis from the standadardized robot to the bubble-shaped amorph during the conceptual development. The beautiful bubble body is hereby conserved – it may have to give way to another body shape in the end.

To be continued …