A weekly feature pointing you towards the current experiences that have people talking.
For people who are ready to vote like the Kansans do...
The Choice [VANCOUVER, AND BEYOND]**
Presented this week at the SIGGRAPH conference on its way through a global tour that has already garnered an Audience Award win at SXSW, this innovative, timely piece is sure to absorb participants the world over. Using cutting edge VR to allow for a candid intimacy unachievable on a standard screen, a young woman named Kristen sits in front of you, looks you in the eye, and tells you her personal story about abortion. Beautiful wisps of light and color coalescing into a dynamic 3D backdrop and an emotionally interpretive original score support this frank, heart-wrenching story of the human cost of laws passed in this country and the treatment towards women that they enable. The creators describe this experience not as a film but as a conversation, bolstered by an interactive device that allows participants to select questions that affect how the telling unfolds. The Choice delivers an important message told in an affectingly humane way, bringing us face to face with one woman's reality while confronted with an issue that affects us all.
Why we think you’ll love it: The creators have developed their own proprietary VR technology using "volumetric capture with stereoscopic texture” to give your eyes as much as possible the impression of sitting in front of a real, three-dimensional person, along with the ability to move yourself naturally in any direction, across every axis, without spoiling the illusion.
For people who always wanted to attend a Bacchanalia with Bacchus…
Eternityland [SYDNEY]**
The audacious Aussie experience company Dancing Giant invites us mere mortals to ascend to a hidden realm of gods and monsters positively pulsating with possibility. 5,000 years ago, the gods built Eternityland as a breeding ground for heroes and villains fit for the myths that beguile us back on Earth, but now it seems a force more insidious than any underworld monstrosity threatens to spoil the party: bureaucracy. Embark on an epic adventure of your own making within this sprawling set of nearly two dozen unique locations populated by a preposterous pantheon of well-dressed demigods sure to keep you enthralled. Whether you prefer to passively take in the many wonders that surround you or dive head first into a twisting narrative of secrets, clues, and unforgettable interactions, this hero’s journey of your own making is sure to delight the gods— and you as well.
Why we think you’ll love it: A raucous spectacle with live music, circus and burlesque performances, fully reactive immersive actors, a storyline just waiting to favor the bold, and more than one full bar, Eternityland is promising delicious excess and nonstop entertainment guaranteed to pass on into legend.
For people who suspect that some options actually never change...
Lennox Mutual [REMOTE]
After two incendiary years igniting works with their Firestarter Initiative, Candlehouse Collective returns with a new phone-based experience all its own. Dial into Lennox Mutual, the latest in a recent spate of serenely obtuse corporate phone trees whose veneer of customer service civility is gradually, gratingly shaved away with each passing selection. During this finite, twenty minute call, your time is yours to spend however you wish— and you are encouraged to spend it wisely. In your circuitous quest to make an appointment with the mysterious service provider, you may be called upon to sing, solve riddles, embark on vision quests across unfamiliar terrain, and ponder the very nature of your existence (and, more to the point, why you chose to spend some of it calling in). With a deeper narrative surely at play and the ultimate conclusion yet to be reached (if there even is one) this ongoing experience releases a new batch of tickets every few weeks— often immediately snatched up by repeat callers eager to pick up where they left off on their quixotic crusade to reach the center of this telephonic labyrinth.
Why we think you’ll love it: An entire community is forming on a dedicated Lennox Mutual subReddit where callers can post to share notes and theories regarding their first, second, and even fifth times navigating the lines. With over a month of calls already completed and apparently no resolution yet to be reached, this is shaping up to be Candlehouse’s longest running, most complex, and most maddeningly confounding experience yet.
**These listings were suggested by community member Lia Wollman. Thanks, Lia! Have an upcoming/ongoing immersive experience that has you buzzing? Point it out to us through pitches@noproscenium.com with the subject line "Trailheads" and we might include it in the next issue!