I get an overview of the Venice Immersive festival that’s taking place from September 1st to 10th with co-curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac. There are 75 total experiences with 30 experiences in competition, 10 project in Best Of Immersive section, 30 VRChat worlds in the Worlds Gallery, 3 projects in the Biennale College Cinema VR section, 2 special music events in VRChat, and a special film screening of Joe Hunting’s We Met in Virtual Reality. Nearly all of the Venice Festival selections are primarily physical this year with the exception to some of the VRChat events and worlds.
We talk about some of the latest trends in immersive storytelling, and then give a sneak peak to 24 out of the 30 pieces in the competition. We didn’t have the time to do a comprehensive overview, but you can see the full selection here. We also talk about their efforts this year for hosting 8 different 75-minute worldhops in VRChat featuring a total of 30 worlds [you can find the links to the 30+ VRChat worlds down below]. They’ve hired 2 virtual docents per worldhop as a tour guide and a logistics wrangler, as well as a physical docent to help onboard people into these curated VRChat world hops.
I’ll be on site in Venice covering the festival, interviewing creators, and talking on a panel about reviewing immersive works on Saturday at 2:30p CEST.
Here are the VRChat Worlds selected as a part of the Venice Immersive 2022 (categorized by myself).
3 of 5 VRChat Worlds in Competition (launching September 1st)
- NAMUANKI by Kevin Mack
- TREASURE HEIST by Fins
- UNCANNY ALLEY by MetaRick
Open Worlds
- ORGANISM by DrMorro
- OLYMPIA NIGHTS by DrMorro
- ADRIFT by M E R C
- I N I T I U M ⁄⁄⁄ イニシャル by Artsy Glitch
Spatial Journey + Narrative
- MAGIC HEIST by Fins
Spatial Vignettes
- DREAM by Zanderthaw
- FIRE TORNADO by BigChickenLover
- NIGHT CHURCH by OPCherry
- THE RAT KING by _Digital
Escape Room
- THE GREAT INVENTOR ESCAPE by FlowersRite花之祭P
Lighting Studies
- DISTRICT ROBOTO by Fins
- SHADOW FACTORY by emymin
- THE DINOSAUR BONE GALLERY MUSEUM by topgunsi
Photogrammetry Worlds
- BAROQUE CATHEDRAL by OPCherry
- CAVE OKINAWA by Tokoyoshi
- DUBROVINIK MAIN STREET & OLD PORT by nobelchoco
- VENICE BASILICA SALUTE by nobelchoco
- VENICE CANAL WIDMANN by nobelchoco
- ZENIARAI SHRINE CONNECTED WITH JAPANELAND by 龍 lilea
Fractal Worlds
- DISCONNECTED: VIDEO FEEDBACK WORLD by MomoTheMonster
- FRACTAL EXPLORER by ikamon
- FRACTAL EXPLORER 1001 by 1001
- FRACTAL LOVE by pema99
Shader Music Worlds
- CUE [ARCHIVE] by 0b4k3
- FRICTION [!] FUNCTION – PARTICLE LIVE by Norimaki
- PARTICLE LIVE FIXER by ฅらいちちゃんฅ
- THE DICE DIMENSION by FlyingFly
- VMV CC TYPE 01 by skkn
Music Performance + Spatial Journey
- LLLL SILENT DAWN RELEASE PARTY by PK
- OXYMORE by VRrOOm
DJ club Special Live Performances
- SANCTUM by PammeMatth
- SODAWORLD by Michael Balkind (RSVP on Eventbrite)
Here are the raw URLs of the VRChat experiences featured in the Worlds Gallery if you’d prefer to copy and paste into a URL opener:
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_de53549a-20cf-4c6f-abea-dcda197e1e16
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_a4ef4165-681c-4f3b-a293-839aebcbc434
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_31a96742-b161-4f76-96c5-5105b64ff0f7
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_29cdfde8-10f6-454e-89a3-40fce85cac38
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_c3e69a3a-508d-48e0-9289-0472b898804c
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_5d6e5bde-a7f3-4a95-9859-d7fb231fba57
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_af77ea79-f05f-4081-803d-38ca4f75216a
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_f98ef072-86eb-4431-9505-212345650dbb
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_0442aea7-9cf3-48ca-a9d9-bb5dfd479122
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_d94fea54-1d35-40f3-b820-b19862d3880a
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_ca2c5edc-b44b-4c68-863a-9a94b04889d5
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_17dab758-b67d-4402-9449-170d76cdc098
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_fddc2eff-c599-4168-ae32-7c9f78dba977
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_099134be-0d7b-4d1b-8ae7-e91aeb354ad4
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_4a39e441-5186-4573-8784-a65b6a726340
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_a7a848af-56a5-44b2-83ec-4070a6f0121a
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_00e488f3-bc34-4d03-afac-e154a7ecf858
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_e8885b07-44ec-4acc-b096-a17e5c7cd0e6
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_079e59a7-5a30-4a2d-ac99-22b0835fe946
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_53595095-3ee4-4f93-8b26-eb18ed1aabde
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_84d02107-6b85-4fe3-83e9-fc575e50478e
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_46ad6102-cd45-4388-8107-4a59864faf4e
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_7cf3b5f3-fc4f-4213-88c6-289d699cadba
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_a1071eb7-e16c-4a52-bd6e-c0efdb1b5ea5
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_89803fb6-99b4-4a45-8a89-4cf94e06b426
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_c9164f70-cb58-4bf7-9c44-f083f424ba81
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_ac20eb68-9265-4896-86ef-93ca28c510a4
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_31672c4b-9eac-4b13-9055-3e078507d0f3
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_59cbde20-9a41-426b-955e-6bc280132697
https://vrchat.com/home/world/wrld_2d764768-64be-4939-9295-85e7038dbb21