Interdisciplinary artists with experience in creating projects at the intersection of arts and technology are invited to apply to take part in the free educational program on XR arts. The deep-dive course is part of the « Digital Autumn: Sensations » VR Festival that takes place in Moscow, Almaty and Tashkent from October 21 to November 6. The course itself will be held from October 13 to October 23.

 The initiators and organizers of the open call are Less Media Group and the French Institute at the French Embassy in Russia.

« Thanks to the buzz around the term « metaverse », many people are now interested in transitioning from 2D space to 3D to create more interactive projects with deeper immersion. However, it may be difficult to find an entry point into the industry, » said Alina Mikhaleva, founder of the Less Media Group studio and one of the organizers of the project. « The goal of the course is to create an easy entry point, to introduce artists to the best XR works, modern creation tools and immerse them in the context of XR as a new creative industry ».

The educational course will consist of series of online lectures, interactive workshops and tours around virtual worlds.

« We see the course as a journey. Together with the participants we will watch some of the best narrative XR works, we will travel through virtual worlds, and most importantly, we will talk to the creators of these worlds. We want to connect artists with those we develop projects, run virtual events and work in virtual reality ».

The online course will be held in Russian and in English, with speakers from the studios from France, Russia, Turkey, South Africa and the USA.

To participate in the project, artists are invited to submit their ideas for immersive projects following the main theme of the festival: « Sensations ».

« Each artist will have to answer the question – What kind of Sensation I want to create? What I want viewer to feel when they experience my work? VR is a powerful tool that allows to immerse a viewer in a unique experience, take them to other worlds and put them in someone else’s shoes. By combining artistic vision and technical possibilities of VR we can immerse our viewer in a completely different experience ».

At the end of the training, artists will be able to present their projects and early prototypes to the industry leaders and decision makers during « in-avatar-person » virtual event to find potential partners and funding for their creations.

To apply for the contest artists have to fill out the submission form here until the 30th of september.

Key dates

• September 1st – The start of the selection process
• October 7th – The finish of the selection process
• October 10th – Announcement of selected participants
• October 13th – 23rd – Educational course
• November 3rd – Pitch session in virtual reality