After suffering a paralyzing viral infection, XR Director Naima Karim started to notice the natural world around her in a more visceral way, She “experienced the monsoon even more intensely than usual: the initial gusts of wind, the rapidly darkening sky, the oppressive humidity and finally the downpour of rain, which washes everything clean and leaves behind a fresh scent.” A painter by trade, she took up virtual reality painting with Open Brush, and created a romantic and poetic sim tribute to Monsoons with a multi-sensory piece called “The Anticipation of Rain.”
I had a chance to briefly catch up with Karim at IDFA DocLab 2022 to hear more about her journey into VR & immersive storytelling. I also wanted to learn a bit more about what’s happening with VR in Saudi Arabia, as she was one of five selected projects amongst a tout of 231 in a competition there. Here’s the press release announcement about it: “The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is excited to present five projects under its inaugural Creative Solutions initiative launched under the theme “Digital Immersive Content Creation”. The program is designed to boost Saudi Arabia’s creative economy by empowering digital content creation in immersive technologies, and drew 231 applications.”
Music: Fatality
