On behalf of The Colorado Creative Industries (CCI) and Alt Ethos, we invite you to our virtual presentation “Global Creative Connection through Immersive Virtual Worlds” hosted in our new Pathos Metaverse, a 3D avatar platform, this Friday October 1st, 2021 at 2:00 PM MST
Alt Ethos Presentation: Come explore the future of art, technology, and global connectivity through virtual worlds from top creators and thought leaders in the immersive industry. The pandemic shot us into the future of digital engagement and immersive worlds. As some creatives quickly grasped the change to become known internationally, others were left confused. This talk will walk you through the history, present, and future of virtual worlds and how they will impact the global community, our professional lives, and our collective digital future. Speakers:
Julian Reyes, MC
Eric Dallimore, Moderator Panelists
Carlos Austin
Ethan Bach
Evo (Evonne) Heyning
Celeste Lear
Q&A from audience submitted in writing
Carlos Austin, Real-Time “In World (VR)” Live Multi-cam video switching and still photographer at Austin Photograph
Carlos is passionate about the arts with an emphasis on photography/video “in-world” TV production and emerging drone technology. An XR evangelist as this technology begins to mature. Helping create Broadcast television standards for capturing live events in virtual social platforms. Real-time switching live shows with a multi-camera setup. There are so many opportunities to communicate and educate the world through XR. 3rd Generation photographer and storyteller.
Ethan Bach, CEO Alt Ethos
Ethan Bach is the founding CEO of Alt Ethos: experiential design agency and Founder and Board Member of DATA (Denver Arts + Technology Advancement). Westword calls Ethan, “An entrepreneur with an eye on the future’s future.” Bach holds an MFA in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Alt Ethos is an award-winning design company and has been recognized in CodaWorx Magazine; the Young Industry Professionals, and by the Mayor of Fort Collins.
Evo (Evonne) Heyning, Metaverse Media. Creative Executive Producer
Evo Heyning is an award-winning producer, technologist, founder and creator focused on the future of participatory media. Evo focuses on collaborative teams that work across fields, sectors, and platforms to create meaningful global endeavors. Evo has created virtual beings, worlds, and campaigns for 20 years. Evo produced major live streaming concerts and campaigns for the White House including the launch of the Affordable Care Act and virtual worlds for diplomacy, civic engagement, and nonprofit development.
Celeste Lear, Immersive Event Producer & Designer, XR Entertainment Specialist, Music & Sound Director, Host, VR Consultant
DJ Celeste is an entertainment & event industry professional with 15+ years of concert, festival & conference production experience. Immersive technology expert skilled in designing & executing cutting-edge events both physically, virtually, AND in Virtual Reality. First in a new wave of DJs who design their own stages & perform as avatars in VR Festivals and Nightclubs. Executive music direction, production & clearance for International, multi-media installation projects for UN & UNESCO, including a large-scale video mapping experience in Paris.
About Pathos Metaverse
Pathos Metaverse is a browser-based virtual world by Alt Ethos. For this panel, all of the speakers will be avatars in the Pathos Metaverse. Through live-action virtual cinematography, CCI participants will stream the event in real-time. Selected avatar audience members will also be in attendance and watching the entire production in the Pathos Metaverse.
Pathos Metaverse is an easy-to-use, dynamic, and engaging immersive platform. Pathos Metaverse provides exciting meeting places, dynamic events, branded virtual worlds, and future-thinking hybrid-virtual-world solutions, pushing the boundaries of interactivity.
Companies are quickly realizing that the most effective way to reach a broader audience is to approach them with a creative, 3-Dimensional experience. Give people an opportunity designed to suspend attention, live out their desires and sensibilities in the most immediate sense: Right before them. Whether this brightens their day or in some cases changes their life, it will leave an imprint.
Experiential Marketing is further amplified by the use of social media. Experiences grab audiences attention, social media allows them to spread the moment among their own circles. An experience is shared in the moment – Social media sharing effectively extends and measures these experiences in likes and shares.
One of the most beautiful aspects of this approach is in it’s genuineness. You may find that it’s much harder to scroll past an experience than an ad; Trust me, I’ve tried both. As humans we’ve molded our creations as extensions of ourselves. Experiential Design extends our reach one step further, inviting groups to interact with design and most importantly have fun.
Give people something which involves their participation. Let them draw, press a button, swipe a card, play a game, in short – express themselves, and they’ll be inclined to share with friends. The challenge isn’t in getting people to interact. We naturally want to interact. How often are we given the opportunity?
As companies evolve so should their images. Reinvention is necessary to stay fresh. Showing another dimension spikes intrigue and can bring people who may normally never meet together in one place.
Now you may be wondering “If Experiential Design is so great why isn’t everyone applying it?” which is an excellent question. My answer is twofold:
Experiential campaigns characteristically range in cost, complexity, creativeness and duration. Quality Experiential Marketing studios will consider budget, scope, customers and message all thoroughly planning along side in transparency. The key ingredient is creativity.
Experiential Design lives in our everyday environments though we may not recognize it as such. This is largely because the term is fairly new and as not widely associated with a specific title. Our attention is commonly more focused on the gesture itself than penning it with a specific term. Now consider these recent studies:
“Customer Experience is the Future of Design. Adopting practices that elevate the customer experience will undoubtedly produce a return on investment and provide a steady foundation for your brand.” – UX Magazine, 2016.
“Experiential Design increases brand awareness by 81% and increases a deeper customer involvement by 57%”. – “Brand Survey Report”, Event Marketer, 2015.
“Experiential Design activates chemicals in the brain: Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins; These increase happiness, productivity, and customer loyalty.”“The Neurochemicals of Happiness” Psychology Today and Technology Advice, 2014.
To learn more, here are a few of our favorite posts on Experiential Design:
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.)
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.
