As covid-19 forced many countries into lockdown, sales of virtual reality headsets spiked. Industries turned to VR as a solution for entertainment, training and education that could no longer take place face to face. This may now be the era in which VR becomes fully mainstream.
At this pivotal moment, what power do we have to shape the way VR is used? How do we determine which stories get told and whose perspective will be seen? How do we work through the digital divide where communities may not have access to headsets or high-speed internet? How do our VR experiences remain powerfully local with a simultaneous ability to reach far across the world?
This panel session will engage with these topics to think about the immediate present of VR in Aotearoa as well as its future and global spread.
You can drop into this event at any time.
Raqi Syed is a writer and artist who has worked on multiple films. Her VR experience, MINIMUM MASS, premiered at Tribeca and her essays have appeared in TechCrunch, Vice, Salon, Quartz, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. Raqi is a 2018 Sundance New Frontier Story Lab Fellow and 2020 Ucross Fellow.