Expanded Realities

Exhibition

Expanded Realities showcases storytelling at the intersection of art and technology. This year’s selection includes interactive web documentaries, 360 films and virtual reality experiences.

The exhibition is free to attend and will be open from Thursday 8th – Tuesday 13th September at our Festival Hub:

Thu 8th Sept, 11:00 – 17:00
Fri 9th Sept, 11:00 – 17:00
Sat 10th Sept, 11:00 – 17:00
Sun 11th Sept, 11:00 – 17:00
Mon 12th Sept, 11:00 – 17:00
Tuesday 13th Sept, 11:00 – 14:00

Interactive Projects

Gondwana

Directors Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts | Producer Emma Roberts | Developer Lachlan Sleight | Australia | 360′ (recommended viewing time 15′)

“Based on the world’s oldest tropical rainforest, Gondwana is a virtual ecosystem that evolves and changes over the course of a day’s exhibition in line with climate data projections.” (Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts)

The Subterranean Imprint Archive

“The Subterranean Imprint Archive is a VR experience made in South Africa. It situates the viewer in a counter-archive which traces the legacy of technopolitics in Central and Southern Africa, starting in Shinkolobwe, a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the uranium used in the Manhattan Project was extracted.” (Francois Knoetze, Amy Louise Wilson)

Co-produced by Le Lieu Unique and Electric South with support from Prohelvetia Johannesburg. Commissioned by Oulimata Gueye for Le Lieu Unique.

Infomorph

Directors Arash Akbari, Farzaneh Nouri | Writer/Devel0per Arash Akbari | Iran, Netherlands

“A speculative interactive VR experience that addresses themes of reality, life, and the relationship between human, machines and nature in a post-human future where living in the physical world is no longer possible or needed. It narrates the mind transfer process of one of the last human’s biological consciousness, while an AI agent walks him through the transition.” (Arash Akbari, Farzaneh Nouri)

360 Cinema

Handwritten

Writer/Director Lui Avallos | Producer Rodrigo Moreira | Developer Mundivagante Studio | Portugal, Brazil, France, Italy | 9′

“Archive material, 360° footage and artificially generated images are used to create a synaesthetic essay film about loneliness, insecurity and the increasing shift of our everyday life into the digital realm. Dystopic and anonymous stories merge in a collage of the disturbing social and political phenomena of our time.” (Lui Avallos)

Surfacing (AFFIORARE)

Writer/Director Rossella Schillaci | Producers Federico Biasin, Catarina Mourão | Production Studio My Boss Was, Laranja Azul | Italy | 20′

“A 360 immersive fairy tale, set amongst mothers and children who live in prison. A magical journey in their everyday life, with animations of their surreal memories of the past and dreams for the future, created through a collaborative process.” (Rossella Schillaci)

Tearless

Writer/Director Gina Kim | Producers Zoe Sua Cho, Gina Kim | Production Studio Mass Ornaments, Cyan Films | South Korea, USA | 12′

“Tearless is part of a trilogy on camp town comfort women that the South Korean government offered to US soldiers stationed there. The film moves through the haunting spaces of Monkey House, a deadly medical prison established in South Korea in the 1970s to isolate comfort women with STDs.” (Gina Kim)

Interactive Documentaries

Our interactive documentary piece tells a screen-based story in a non-traditional format traveling across time, place and memory.

A Colônia Luxemburguesa

Writer/Director Dominique Santana | Producer Bernard Michaux | Production Studio Samsa Film | Luxembourg | 5′-530′

“A Colônia Luxemburguesa is an interactive experience and discovery journey in which, strained between myth and history, we are confronted with many stories told from various angles and across different platforms.” (Dominique Santana)

UCL Showcase

Experience work from students, staff and alumni of University College London. We will have projects from faculties across UCL where XR is being implemented in fields including computer science, arts, and medicine.

We Will Meet Again

Director Xingyu Chen | Producers Baixuan Fu, Xueyi Xia | Animation Li Yazhe | Key Collaborators Lesley Carr, Dan Shorthouse
Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

We Will Meet Again explores how the 1940’s re-enactment community embraced the blitz spirit to support each other during the coronavirus lockdowns.

Avenue Road Memories

Directors Bo Liu, Yan Tong, Danyang Li, Moyang Li | Producer Liza Fletcher | Special Thanks Dinah Lammiman, Niall Hill, Sean Rodrigo
Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

Capturing a slice of contemporary life, this film represents the views of the residents of a council block billed for “regeneration” as they contemplate the future of the community which will be altered permanently.

HPLC Training

Faculty of Life Sciences

Visit a UCL science lab in virtual reality and learn some of the techniques required for separation, identification, purification and quantification of drug substances or any organic compound.