VR Playhouse is at Sundance – Days 4 & 5: Party On!

Monday and Tuesday were sorta open-ended days for us. We knew there was going to be a lot to do but we didn’t quite know when we would do them or how we would do them or even if we could fit it all in before we dropped dead from exhaustion and malnutrition (an outcome still very much in play). So, in the interest of my own sanity and longterm health, we’ll fire off some quick highlights from days 4 & 5:

In The Eyes of the Animal: This is a VR experience from the fantastically named Marshmallow Laser Feast offering a kind of impressionistic take on life from the perspective of an animal. It’s a great example of the kind of reality that the VR industry is increasingly trafficking in, one that doesn’t adhere to any kind of naturalism but rather tries to capture the inner life of its subject. The title becomes almost ironic, in that it’s not really the eyes that we’re inside but the brain. And so the world around us isn’t seen with any kind of photorealistic clarity but instead appears through streaks of light and arrays of pixels and shadowy renderings. And all of this is experienced while wearing a massive helmet with green moss and vegetation sprouting out from one end, as if your head were a giant egg and all of nature was exploding out from it.

Dan Deacon: We sorta stumbled into this DJ’s set on Monday night while looking for a warm place to dance. And boy did we. The guy started off by playing the entirety of “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid, which is an awfully good way to endear yourself to VR Playhouse. He then ripped through some amazing numbers while simultaneously playing the role of camp counselor, setting up various little games that encouraged/forced you to dance and commune with your fellow Sundance attendees. In terms of sheer exuberance and joy, the Dan Deacon experience takes the cake.

The Treachery of Sanctuary: This was the flashiest of the VR experiences at Sundance, created by virtual reality celebrity Chris Milk and situated in its own, giant tent. True to his reputation, the experience was aesthetically stunning; a triptych of giant white panels fronted by a shallow pool of water. Standing in front of the first panel, you watch your own silhouette dissolve into an animated flock of birds. In the second panel, the birds return, attacking your shadow and ripping it apart into nothingness before you. Finally, in the third panel, you are fully transformed into a bird, encouraged to flap your wings and fly away.

Mr Pig: Hey, we saw a movie! With all the virtual reality at Sundance, one could be forgiven for forgetting that there are actual films here. I think we kinda did. But we pulled it together to go see the premiere of this lovely, quiet little film directed by Diego Luna about a father and daughter (Danny Glover and Maya Rudolph) on a road trip through Mexico to deliver the father’s prized hog to a buyer. Granted, Luna’s five-minute monologue about artificial insemination practices at hog farms during the talkback was maybe a little unnecessary but the film left its mark in at least this weary, psychically-fragile blogger.

The No-Name Saloon: This is a bar on Main Street in Park City. It’s giant and loud and crowded and it has a lot of random crap on the walls. It also become our de facto late night HQ over the last couple of nights. There, we drank and offered up demos of our content and drank and schmoozed and drank some more. Like I said, death by exhaustion and malnutrition is still very much in play.