Surely many of us have the impression of living in a flatter environment than usual these days… life is passing through different screen formats, a more two-dimensional world.
We dream of jumping into the sea and feeling the water and sand on our skin, listen to the sounds underwater and move freely. When we go out we are surprised by how good our city smells, the perfume of the trees that are no longer covered by pollution.
We miss and need the stimulation of all our senses. Immersive experiences, that fulfill us.
Events are experiences by nature, its part of its DNA, and reason to be. We always look for new ways of creatinng immersive events, that play with our senses and our experiences, to make us feel more alive.
For a while, and partly as a result of the gaming culture, we have been looking for a solution through technology, interactive, virtual experiences, augmented reality to explore new ways of feeling and now they already are part of our reality.
We have seen how the japanese brand ASICS, launched its latest collection through Virtual Reality by sending Oculus VR glasses to press teams, or how Travis Scott launched his new song through a performance in Fortnite.
the company @open pit is starting concerts on Minecraft or the virtual influencer @lilmiquela was signed by the talent agency Creative Artist Agency, sharing roster with artists such as AC/DC or Miley Cyrus.
There are thousands of examples of how the limits between the virtual world and the real world are getting thinner, which is resulting in a creative boom that is just starting. It is also starting in the art world, as you can notice in this example SURPRISINGLY THIS RATHER WORKS
or the Wunderkammer by Olafur Eliasson that invites us to visualize some objects in our house through augmented reality.
We cannot underestimate the result of some of these virtual actions, @lilmiquela has more than 2 million followers, Travis Scott’s concert had over 12 million viewers for its release, the DGTL festival celebrated its online edition with a stream with over 5 million people, while its usual capacity is of 40,000 attendees. The reach, big data, sponsoring etc. possibilities are huge.
So far, there is no app, platform or technology that can replace the live experience or that can stimulate all of our senses to give us the feeling of jumping into the water, laying down in the grass or experiencing a live concert, and it will probably never exist.
But it is a very interesting process that is opening doors at a rapid scale, new event formats that can spread and add more values to experiences. The artistic and creative possibilities do not have any limits and it will be emotional to see how the relationship between virtual experiences and experimental events is expanding.
By Laura Clark