Virtual Reality for the Arts

virtual reality for the arts

resources for utilizing virtual reality What you are reading is a short list of resources for artists, educators, arts administrators and anyone with an interest in working with virtual reality.

Virtual Reality has been around in some form since the 60s. Facebook acquired Oculus, started by a 16 year old boy who designed a headset and life-like program. Today access to virtual reality has greatly increased along with the access to the capabilities of cellphones.

Arts organizations have a unique need to create experiences for their audiences. Virtual reality does that.

It transports people.

Virtual reality has therapeutic qualities that are being explored in the medical setting. Programmers can create worlds unique to people’s needs to allow them to explore and gain understanding and heal. Art has similar healing capabilities making the use of VR in arts organizations an amazing combination.

vr for artists

Google has been a great supporter of the arts and education and provides tools for increasing engagement with internet tools. They have developed a full suite of tools for creating virtual reality videos, virtual field trips for education, and allowing artist to push boundaries of reality.

Tilt brush allows for artists to create in a virtual environment

vr for educators

Google expeditions allow for students to travel in their class room, to experience places that they could never access before. Teachers can pick where students go and point out things they don’t want students to miss.

Learn and visit cultural institutions with Google Arts & Culture. It is an amazing resource for information about art.

vr for arts organizations It is exciting to see technology grow and become a useful tool for creation and exploring the world. Arts organizations can utilize virtual reality in a variety of ways. They can connect to other organizations, provide alternative exhibition spaces, allow visitors to view work without exposing them to the physical environment, and delve deeper into artistic processes. Virtual reality allows people to connect, to each other, to the environment and to places and things they could never have imagined before.

Google cardboard is an accessible virtual reality platform that has built in tools for education and exploring the arts.

virtual reality in houston Use of Virtual Reality is relatively unexplored in Houston, but one place is utilizing VR to play, create team building, and explore healing properties. Space available for rent for groups, or one person to explore the possibilities of VR.

Resources 1. ExitusVR | Virtual Reality Escape Room. (2016). Exitusvr.com. Retrieved 12 October 2016, from http://www.exitusvr.com/

2. VR in Museums: Case Studies. (2016). AMT Lab @ CMU. Retrieved 12 October 2016, from http://amt-lab.org/blog/2016/8/vr-in-museums-field-leaders

3. Mir, R. (2016). Extending the Museum Experience with Virtual Reality. Guggenheim. Retrieved 12 October 2016, from https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/extending-the-museumexperience-with-virtual-reality

4. Museums, T. & profile, V. (2016). Why VR?: Enhancing IRL (In Real Life) Experiences for visitors to the British Museum. Futureofmuseums.blogspot.com. Retrieved 12 October 2016, from http://futureofmuseums.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-vr-enhancing-irl-in-real-life.html

5. Rouner, J. (2016). Houston’s Got a New Virtual Reality Place to Play. Houston Press. Retrieved 12 October 2016, from http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/houston-s-got-a-new-virtual-realityplace-to-play-8376648

6. Robertson, A. & Zalenco, M. (2016). The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality. The Verge.

Retrieved 12 October 2016, from http://www.theverge.com/a/virtual-reality/oral_history

7. Gottschalk, M. (2016). Virtual Reality Is the Most Powerful Artistic Medium of Our Time. Artsy.

Retrieved 12 October 2016, from https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-virtual-reality-isthe-most-powerful-artistic-medium-of-our-time

Compiled by Caroline Docwra for Technology and the Arts October 2016