Boundaries of Virtual Reality Redefined

An exhibition of interactive virtual reality installation art is organized by Pejman Foundation, a Tehran-based cultural institute.

Titled ‘Elsewhere,’ the exhibit opened on Friday and will run through February 9. The event is a showcase of installation art created by South Korean filmmaker, documentarian and animator Hayoun Kwon, 36, and French film director Balthazar Auxietre, 32, according to the website of Pejman Foundation (Pejman.foundation).

The two artists are cofounders of Innerspace, a VR company with studios in Paris and Los Angeles, established to redefine the boundaries of virtual reality.

Pejman Foundation often invites international experts and artists to present their works at one of its three venues in Tehran. One of the three, Argo Factory is hosting the latest VR exhibit.

Virtual reality is a computer technology that uses virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments, sometimes in combination with physical environments or props, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment.

 In the Imaginary World

Kwon has been working with virtual reality for the past five years as an immersive medium with which to share and explore memories. For a 3D experience, situation and environment are of foremost importance, and she has successfully created this prerequisite at the Tehran exhibit. Visitors will witness her world and feel the experience.

The event will also present ‘The Cave,’ created by Balthazar Auxietre. It is another immersive installation which was initially presented at ‘le Pôle International de la Préhistoire’ in Dordogne, France, and released as a 360 Version in December 2014 for the launch of the Samsung GearVR Innovator edition.

In ‘The Cave,’ audiences go back in time and cross landscapes in a glacial age (30,000 BC) where they discover and explore a mysterious cave. Trekking through a slow and contemplative pace, they will face a wall of prehistoric drawings.

Deep in the cave, the drawings reveal a buried supernatural force that transports the audience to another dimension. The experience is inspired by real paintings as well as the observations collected from experts researching the Vézère Valley in France where several major caves are located, including the renowned ‘Lascaux.’

Pejman Foundation has organized ‘Elsewhere’ in collaboration with the French Embassy in Iran and Samsung Group. In 2014, it was as part of the launch of Samsung’s GearVR that Innerspace was created to produce narrative and gaming contents. Since then, the company has been at the forefront of VR innovation with contents in gaming, film and theater.

Kwon is now executive producer of Innerspace; while Auxietre is the creative director of the company.

Argo Factory, located in Behdasht Alley, Taqavi Street, Ferdowsi Street, was once a beverage manufacturing plant active between 1960s and 70s. Its construction with unique architectural features and high smokestacks dates back to the early 1920s. In 2016, Pejman Foundation acquired the plant and revamped it into one of its venues.