Our team has recently been able to join in some of the most prestigious and enlightening events which have opened our eyes to new ways of thinking and helped to create a stronger connection with the creative tech community.
Founded in 1996, the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) is a transdisciplinary center for research, creation, production, training and dissemination dedicated to developing and conserving digital culture. North America’s first Living Lab, the SAT specializes in immersive environments, the use of high-speed networks and experience design.
With the aim to create tangible, all-encompassing audiovisual experiences, the Satosphere is the first permanent immersive theatre devoted to artistic development. The dome, which puts the audience at the center of the works, forms a 360-degree spherical projection screen that can accommodate up to 350 spectators.
This year focused on explorations of total body immersion inside of digital spaces, experiencing technology on direct sensory levels. A few examples: Atau Tanaka, Professor of Media Computing at Goldsmiths University gave a talk on The Body as Musical Instrument, illuminating his method of translating gestural interaction to audio signals. For those curious, Atau’s performance at TEDxPantheonSorbonne may be found here.
Currents New Media Festival
On June 10th our team traveled to Santa Fe to experience Currents New Media 2017. Currents brings multidisciplinary artists from across the planet to exhibit VR/AR/MR creations blending experimental and psychological expression through immersive, interactive technology.
Currents began as a project in 2002 intended to bring together video and New Media artists who at the time had few places to exhibit. Since then the festival has grown in the number of artists and mediums – Now featuring Virtual Reality, projection mapping, robotics, sensor integration and beyond.
For 15 consecutive years Mariannah Amster and Frank Ragano have curated this event under their nonprofit Parallel Studios. Such an event is only possible with a diverse network of multitalented artists from across the globe, creating a radical melting pot of new concepts.
GlobalMindED
On June 23rd, Matt Maes – CIO participated in the GlobalMindED Tech Track “Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality: Opportunities in Education” alongside Julien Lynge of Arch Virtual and the DaVinci Institute and Sandi Mays of the Zayo Group.
The GlobalMindED movement is about access, equity and opportunity for First Generation to College and underserved populations, those who work with them and those who want to hire a diverse talent pipeline. At our annual conference, we convene thought leaders from all backgrounds and industries to support educational innovators who are setting a new standard for inclusive leadership.
The opening reception began at 9:00am led by Futurist and Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute, Thomas Frey who explained the cataclysmic economic shift which will be brought on by driverless vehicles. Automobile accident rates will plummet. The need for driver’s insurance will become obsolete. Intersections will operate only as a junction rather than a stopping point as cars move harmoniously past each other.
The second panel, Personalized Learning: Students at the Center was led by Dr Bena Kallick, program director of Eduplanet 21 featuring Superintendent Jeff Dillon of Wilder School District, Teacher Jody Ordoñez of Vista High School and Principal Dr. Bertie Simmons of E.L. Furr High School. This discussion revealed the merits of student led programs and the technologies which make this new methodology possible. The new generation of learners are increasingly curious and are growing to depend less and less on the role of an authoritative leader to pass on knowledge. Our technology has grown hand in hand with us to the point where lesson plans may be gained from sources such as Wolfram Alpha, Khan Academy, Youtube and so on.
The Tech Track began to fill up at 11:10am as many from the previous panel in Court C remained and others filed inside. Lynge, Mays and Maes (not related) then hosted a discussion rich in topics ranging from basic to interestingly advanced. We first began with introductions and each of our most recent projects and moved into intriguing topics such as the social dynamics of VR, whether AR or VR is more effective in the classroom and VR conferencing.
Eyeo Festival
Most recently Paul Elsberg – CSE attended the Eyeo Festival held from June 26th-29th.
Since its inception in 2011, the team behind the Eyeo Festival has been inspired by the notion that this decade presents an exceptionally exciting time to be interested in art, interaction, and information. The way we experience all three is changing. The way all three interact and overlap is quickly evolving. Easier access to powerful tools and technologies continues to increase. What data is, where it comes from, and how we utilize it, looks different than ever before.
On Thursday, July 27th 5:30pm – 7:30pm at the Commons on Champa’s Innovation Lounge Elsberg will be leading second installment of Denver Arts + Technology Advancement Hacksters – Hackster.io Fusion 360 Demo and Eyeo Festival In Review – Presented by Hackster.io, Autodesk and Alt Ethos! We will be going over how to approach using Autodesk Fusion 360’s modeling capabilities to design object enclosures. We will also be covering insights from the international Eyeo Festival, a conference featuring professional creative technologists at the forefront of the industry. You may RSVP for the event here:
We are very pleased to bring back lots of amazing insights from Eyeo Festival, an international conference for professionals at the epicenter of creative technology. You can check out the speakers and more information at the festival websitehttp://eyeofestival.com/.
Matt Maes is a Denver animator focused on immersive and interactive technology. He is Chief Influence Officer ofAlt Ethos, Ltd and is also an executive member of the nonprofit organization Denver Arts and Technology Advancement (D.A.T.A.)
MIT Media Lab, seated inside MIT’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts will host it’s Reality, Virtually, Hackathon! Matt Maes, Chief Opportunities Officer at Alt Ethos, has been accepted to attend workshops and participate in the MIT hackathon as a designer. Matt received his Bachelor of Arts from the Art Institute of Colorado. He has since developed for Alt Ethos’ Comic Con VR demo and has spoken on the ethical responsibilities, opportunities and consequences of Virtual Reality at Denver Startup Week. MIT Hackathon takes place October 7 through October 10 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
On Friday, October 7th Matt will participate in workshops covering Virtual Reality platforms and Unity development, specifically including mobile design. Friday 10pm through Sunday, Hackathon participants broken into competitive groups to develop the most effective, relevant creations.
“The Reality, Virtually Hackathon will apply the skills of designers, developers,graphic artists and sound/video engineers learned building the most popular apps in the field of gaming and entertainment to vertical markets such as medical, education, advertising, architecture, engineering and construction. We will have an OpenGL and Vulkan native programming track to emphasize mobile AR/VR.” –http://www.realityvirtuallyhack.com/roles/
The closing ceremony will begin on Monday at 1:00-1:30, when the winners will be announced.
Hundreds of notable artists, designers and engineers where selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants. Selected participants are among the national developer community and institutions are expected to partake in the event powered by MIT’s encyclopedic breadth of technical knowledge. VR-MIT has a vested interest in becoming the hotspot of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality knowledge and development by connecting community, expertise and support for entrepreneurs in the Virtual Reality industry.
Matt’s training is in Media Arts and Animation from the Art Institute of Colorado. Matt’s focus on 3d design brings incredible talent to the Alt Ethos team. On September 15th 2016, Matt Maes and Michael Sperandeo, Chief Creative Officer, presented a talk entitled “The New Dispensation: Virtual Reality”, speaking on the past, present and future of Virtual Reality’s role in society at the Commons on Champa as part of Denver Startup Week.
The Virtual Reality market is only growing into the future at the professional and consumer level. MIT’s commitment to becoming at the forefront of this technology speaks not only to the institution’s priorities but also Virtual Reality’s growing influence and potential. A 2016 report from Markets and Markets states that Virtual Reality’s total market growth is expected to jump from $1.37B-33.9B from 2015-2022. It is rapidly expanding to cover every major vertical industry. full report.
As a participant of the MIT Hackathon, Matt intends to seek further knowledge of Virtual Reality development and general knowledge to broaden Alt Ethos’ understanding of this pivotal technology. He will be reporting live through social media which can be found on twitter, facebook, and instagram. A blog post will follow his return with a full report on his experience.
The Reality, Virtually Hackathon! Will be an exciting opportunity to collaborate and build on MIT and Alt Ethos’ endeavor to expand development of Virtual Reality. As artists, designers and engineers, Alt Ethos is committed to expanding the use, functionality and awareness of immersive and interactive technology. Matt looks forward to working with the brightest minds in VR/AR entertainment, medical and education to push the boundaries of what this technology makes possible and how we can use it to improve people’s lives. Here’s to an enlightening journey and collective realization of the future.
Ethan Bach was interviewed by The Fulldome Blog by Jason Fletcher. The interview covers his recent work, information on the International Fulldome Arts Alliance, current dome art and event project, the future of fulldome, and more. Fletcher recently started vlogging when he attending IMERSA Summit. He is a natural video host and decided to continue with his new series The Dome Dialogues. Ethan became his first interviewee via Skype for the new The Dome Dialogue series.
The Fulldome Blog operates out of the Charles Hayden Planetarium is located within the Museum of Science, Boston. Jason Fletcher is a Science Visualizer & Live Presenter at the planetarium, since 2010.
The has an honest exchange with a nice flow. Corrections; Ethan transposed the name of University of Colorado Boulder and completely left out the name of the planetarium, Fiske. A shout our to those he referred to in the interview:
This Friday, the Institute of American Indian Arts in association with the University of New Mexico’s Art, Research, Technology & Science Laboratory (UNM ARTS Lab) will present the culmination of years of research in interactive immersive digital art in the digital dome. Utilizing vDome, a custom made software and hardware configuration created at IAIA, artists and students came together to create the first immersive interactive gaming art for the digital dome (aka fulldome). The event will take place Friday, January 30, 7pm to 9pm. Tonight’s Interactive Dome Event at IAIA is POSTPONED due to the weather. The new date is Friday, February 6, 7pm to 9pm.
This event will feature work by Woody and Steina Vasulka and the 4th Movement of “Ursonate” by Dada/Intermedia artist Kurt Schwitters as performed by Jack Ox and Kristen Loree. Other work will be featured by Ethan Bach, Luke Balaoro, Robert Drummond, Felicia Nez, Erin Schaefer, and Craig Tompkins. Presentation by researchers David Beining, Jane Crayton, Mats Reiniusson, and Charles Veasey.
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In 2012, the Institute of American Indian Arts announced the receipt of a $573,321 research grant from the Department of Defense entitled Fulldome Development for Interactive Immersive Training Capabilities. UNM ARTS Lab acted as sub awardees on this research.
The research project was built on an existing partnership between IAIA and UNM ARTS Lab. IAIA was one of two sub awardees, the second was Santa Fe Complex. In this 2010-2012 National Science Foundation Partnership for Innovation (NSF PFI) grant to the University of New Mexico (UNM) entitled A Consortium for Fulldome and Immersive Technology Development”.
The research developed from this grant provided new context for fulldome in terms of usability, diversity of content, and accessibility. The funding provided the resources necessary to create one of the first single computer user friendly, multiple application dome systems. This software, vDome, can drag and drop play large format dome masters as .mov files with slicing on the fly; allows for connecting various applications including Max/MSP and Vjing software along with external sensors for audience driven interactivity; and allows for gaming in the dome. This software is open source and be downloaded from github. Read more about vDome.
The IAIA DoD grant provided courses and month long paid hands on learning internships for students from IAIA and UNM. IAIA students are currently working in dome production. Students learned skills that fostered in creative, intellectual, technical, and self-esteem building development. To produce something for the dome was no small feat, but previous to vDome students also had to learn to write programming language in order to get their stuff to play or hand their work over to someone else to play it for them. vDome allowed students control over their own content in the dome and not just in the computer lab.
For more information regarding the progress of this grant and documentation of some of the research, please see the BETA blog research and UNM ARTS Lab Blog.
In November, I will participate on a panel at the Nation Congress of American Indians annual conference in Portland, Oregon. The session is entitled, “Advancing Tribal Communities through Participation in the Digital Age”. The session will focus on broadband broadcasting and new technologies for disseminating information. The session will be November 1, 2011 from 1:30 to 4:00 pm at the Oregon Convention Center.
Advancing Tribes Through Participation in the Digital Age
The country overall has begun its transition from analog to digital media and communications services. In order for Indian Country to be competitive and productive participants in the national and global economies, tribes must actively expand, create, and retain access to broadband services. This session will focus on various forms of funding criteria available to tribes for the establishment of tribally owned and operated telecommunications, and also highlight benefits to healthcare, education, and tribal governance through utilization of broadband services.
Our shared journey toward tribal prosperity
With every step and every action we take as Native people and sovereign nations our footsteps carry us toward a new era of tribal prosperity. The ever-increasing depth of our cultures, strength of our traditions, and diversity of our Native resources serve as a guide on the path to reaching the new meaning of tribal prosperity; defined by the health of our people, the strength of our sovereignty, and the vibrancy of our nations. At NCAI’s 68th Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon we celebrate together, the journey our ancestors embarked on generations before us. As we step forward together on this path we fulfill our promise to the generations to come.
Currents began as a project in 2002 intended to bring together video and New Media artists who at the time had few places to exhibit. Since then the festival has grown in the number of artists and mediums – Now featuring Virtual Reality, projection mapping, robotics, sensor integration and beyond. 
We also proudly announce Elsberg’s recent feature in Adobe Creative Cloud’s UXperts Weigh In: Designs We Love, July Edition where he highlighted the simple, elegant educational gaming experience, The Bézier Game. We are proud for Elsberg to be recognized by Adobe!
