Daily Archives: May 4, 2020

We are inside Keith Tolchs brain. As in, walking around.

Its a futuristic landscape, a maze of empty rooms with soaring ceilings and glowing, neon-lit floors, everything bathed in an 80s-era palette of screaming-pink, orange and lime green. Random objects a deconstructed 1967 Mustang, glass cubes brimming with swirly paint markings, delicate pencil drawings of butterflies and roosters float by.

But, wait. Disrobed of the plastic, padded headset, we are actually in a gleaming Eagle Rock warehouse, a former auto body repair shop-turned-artists studio, and Tolch is perched behind a computer console, beaming.

A still from artist Keith Tolchs interactive, virtual reality artwork, Glass Bottom Brain, produced at Art Reality Studio.

(Courtesy, Keith Tolch)

His piece, Glass Bottom Brain, is an interactive, virtual reality artwork meaning viewers don a high-resolution headset and descend into an immersive, 3-D digital environment in which they can navigate through bits and pieces of Tolchs subconscious. He created the piece with expensive state-of-the-art computer equipment, but Tolch didnt invest a cent. The project was paid for, organized by and later exhibited by Art Reality Studio, a nonprofit organization thats outfitting contemporary artists with VR technology toward pushing creative boundaries. It sees itself as an incubation lab for cutting-edge creativity and asks the question: What if?

What happens when artists are given cutting-edge technology, no strings attached?, says ARS co-founder Frank Masi. We wanna see how far theyll take it.

The organization, which formed about 2 years ago, is a later-in-life project from Masi, a 77-year-old photographer and retired theme park attraction project director and Brent Imai, a 61-year-old former sports television executive and entrepreneur.

A still from Keith Tolchs VR artwork, Glass Bottom Brain: An architectural, biological environment that you can walk around in and look at all these artifacts from my past.

(Keith Tolch)

Technology is such an important part of society, says Imai. It can be really, really good, it can be really, really bad. We thought: Lets have artists weigh in on that discussion.

Virtual reality technology has been around for decades and frequently pops up in video games, at theme parks and in other experiential entertainment, often located at malls. Fine artists have been slower to adopt the technology, which is expensive and can be daunting to learn how to use for those who arent computer-savvy. But thats started to change.

Frank Masi, left, and Brent Imai, co-founders of Art Reality Studio.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones)

Artists Paul McCarthy, Jordan Wolfson and Jon Rafman showed VR works in the 2017 Venice Biennale, 2017 Whitney Biennial and 2016 Berlin Biennale, respectively; Laurie Anderson and Taiwanese new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang showed new VR installations during the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Heat around VR has caught on in the museum world: former Moderna Museet director Daniel Birnbaum left his job at the Stockholm institution last year to head up the London-based art and tech studio Acute Art, which has created VR works with Jeff Koons and Marina Abramovic. Even in the public art realm, L.A. artist Nancy Baker Cahill displayed VR works on digital billboards along Sunset Boulevard in 2018.

Keith Tolch at Art Reality Studio in Eagle Rock. The artist says he created a virtual reality space inspired by his memories, inadvertently mapping out his brain.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones)

And during the coronavirus outbreak, as culture hubs are shuttered and hungry art lovers shelter at home, virtual reality art-viewing at museums and art-buying at galleries has taken off.

Virtual reality, however, is still a mystery to much of the contemporary art establishment and theres still a slew of unanswered questions about how to exhibit, collect and monetize VR art. Is there a collecting market for it? How do you price the works? How would collectors display VR works in their homes? Are the works originals or part of a limited edition? Whats to prevent someone from reproducing or reselling a work made with software and code as opposed to paint and canvas? And, finally: What makes it art as opposed to computer programming?

LACMA curator Britt Salvesen, who organized the museums 3D: Double Vision exhibition last year, questions the longevity of VR artworks: How do you preserve, refresh and sustain such works when the hardware and software is inevitably always changing? And if you bought a VR work now, would you be able to watch it in 2025 would the systems still work?

A still from Joe Solas virtual reality artwork, Changing Room, which he produced in collaboration with Art Reality Studio.

(Joe Sola and Honor Fraser gallery)

Masi and Imai hope, if not to answer all of these questions, then to wade around in them for a while. The two met about four years ago at a Los Angeles County Museum of Art patron group event before hatching the idea for ARS. Their business model is not unlike that of the L.A.-based artists workshop and fine art lithography publisher Gemini G.E.L., which beginning in the 1960s and 70s facilitated experimentation among artists, exhibited and sold their work and helped fuel a nationwide printmaking revival in the process.

Instead of ink, paper and steel presses, however, ARS provides artists with VR rigs high-end computers outfitted with VR software, display monitors, headsets, wall sensors and remotes which run about $10,000 apiece. And ARS which hasnt sold anything yet and is funded by Masi and Imai (but for one equipment donation valuing $5,000) says it doesnt intend to take a cut of sales of the works, which are creator-owned.

Its really a philanthropic thing for us, Imai says. I gave a little bit of money to [local museums] but I realized: They dont really need my little money, Im not Eli Broad that can really make a difference. I wanted to do something that was more direct, with the artists.

ARS loans the VR rigs to its artists, who keep them at their homes or studios for as long as they need to finish the work; Tolch kept his more than a year while teaching himself to use the game engine software through online tutorials. ARS then displays the new VR work at its studio, or it facilitates an exhibition at a gallery or another art space.

Artist Keith Tolch says working in VR allowed him to get deeply personal, to explore my identity and my heritage that Im not really clear on.

(Keith Tolch)

Tolch showed his VR work, which combines still photography, 3-D modeling, screenshots, animation and images of his paintings, at ARS in February 2019; the piece was exhibited alongside his large-scale oils on canvas, figurative abstraction works he says are about painting, if somewhat impersonal. The VR work, with its amalgam of sourced imagery, allowed him to go deeper, to explore my identity and my heritage that Im not really clear on, he says.

Its an architectural, biological environment that you can walk around in and look at all these artifacts from my past: photos of my grandfather, pencil drawings my great-grandma did. There are voices. Its almost like a storehouse of things that I know and I remember.

Artist Joe Sola

Joe Sola spent over a year conceptualizing and sketching his VR piece, Changing Room, before figuring out the technology with artist-animator Filip Kostic. The work debuted at Honor Fraser gallery in Culver City in January alongside Solas enormous gold-hued pigment prints. At the opening, visitors waited in line up to 30 minutes to don a headset and descend into Solas animated VR world, which explores violence, sexuality and race in popular culture, with O.J. Simpson as the viewers co-pilot.

Artist Joe Sola at Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

During the reception, VR explorers took turns interacting with the piece in the corner of the gallery, which added a performance art element to the room. Passersby gawked as headset-clad VR participants, blind to their real-world surroundings, jerked their bodies around awkwardly, groping at imaginary objects in the air.

Its part painting, part filmmaking, part sculpture, part collage, part performance, part sound, part animation, Sola says of VR. Its the closest tool that Ive experienced that matches my imagination.

When viewers descend into Joe Solas virtual reality artwork, Changing Room, O.J. Simpson serves as their co-pilot.

(From Joe Sola and Honor Fraser gallery)

How to sell the works, however, is still being finessed, Masi says. Tolchs piece is an edition of five; Solas, of three. The artist and studio each keep a copy as well. An artists proof from each edition will be donated to a museum or cultural institution; the first collector to buy a work from an edition will get to name the recipient, Masi says.

The idea is for it to be someplace where its good for the artists work to be seen, he says. So museums is what were pushing.

Acute Arts Birnbaum says that the question of how to edition and distribute VR work is still very much up in the air. While small editions might be suitable for some works, his company which hasnt commercialized any VR art yet is focused instead on exhibition models and the democratizing potential of the medium.

Earlier this year it produced a VR video by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The piece, addressing migration and animal rights, launched on the Guardians YouTube channel Jan. 30 and got about 100,000 views its first day but the work isnt for sale.

We havent found the model yet to sell these works, Birnbaum says. It seems it should be art for everyone and it should be distributed in large editions, like Netflix. But its unclear where it will sit in the art market and in the institutional context.

But are the works art?

My litmus test, Baker Cahill says, is how much conceptual rigor has gone into it why are you even using this medium, why VR and not painting or sculpture or immersive theater?

ARS has two VR pieces in the works with L.A. artist Brian Bress and San Diego-based Victoria Fu. Both pieces aim to explore the medium, conceptually.

Brian Bress in his Glassell Park studio on March 2. The artist is wearing a mask, gloves and costume he printed on canvas and uses in his artwork.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Bress has spent the last decade making screen-based work involving costumes, sets and his own art-making performances all of which he turns into wall-mounted video installations. His VR piece will place viewers in a virtual art-making space, he says, where they can slice and dice a canvas to create portals to other spaces that have more imagery inside of them.

Fu, whose work appears in the collections of LACMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, says her VR piece will transport viewers to a domestic interior and address consumer lifestyle desires while also playing with the 3-D space.

My video installations address how viewers situate themselves in narrative space, she says of previous work. This, VR, is a whole other step. Its definitely foreign to me, an experiment.

Artist Victoria Fu with an image in progress that will include VR elements.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

This early gestation stage of the experiment is especially exciting, Imai says, waiting to see what comes out.

Giving these tools to artists can give us a look into the future, he says. Maybe its a cautionary tale, maybe its a beautiful world.

Read more:

Incubation lab arms artists with VR gear and asks: What if? - Los Angeles Times

Like a New Years resolution that was never going to be kept, I woke up on March 13 with grand plans: Every morning while under stay-at-home orders I would work out for at least 30 minutes. Then I decided to start that on March 14. Soon it was the first week of April. Turns out Im pretty good at excuses, all under the guise of self-care.

So I did the next best thing: I turned to video games.

Such a statement isnt as odd as it may have been in 2007, when Nintendos Wii Fit was all the rage. Working out, after all, has become gameified, be it through our apps that keep track of our steps or higher-end, screen-based equipment such as a Peloton bike. And Nintendos recent Ring Fit Adventure, which is hard to find and going for sometimes double or triple its $79.99 prince on eBay, is an absolute joy. An adventure game that encourages us to mix cardio activities with a Pilates-like ring, Ring Fit Adventure is cheerily encouraging as we do battle with a mean dragon.

I had been away from the game for a couple of months, but Ring Fit Adventure is a surprisingly adept personal trainer. Many of the upper-body exercises are completed by pulling the ring in and out, allowing it to mimic the activities one would normally associates with a resistance band. But it also encourages us to take breaks, and if we miss a day or two it dials down the difficulty. I appreciate its illusion of awareness and that its less rigid than throwing on a video.

And yet there is one ever-so-slight negative with Ring Fit Adventure. Its not the fault of the game so much as my mind. It lives on the Nintendo Switch, which is also home to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And while I can speak only for myself, of course, Animal Crossing has been a savior when it comes to easing any anxieties or worries during this time. Its pull is irresistible.

Home fitness, of course, faces many hurdles, as anyone with a bike or treadmill that most often gets used as a place to dry clothes can attest. Should I simply resign myself to gaining back the 30 pounds I lost last year and just worry about it after the pandemic ends? That was the path I was on, at least until my work-at-home desk (its a couch) sent my lower back into a red-alert panic mode.

I was going to need to find a way to move. And right now, if it werent for virtual reality, I probably wouldnt be getting any exercise.

Moving inside the headset has resulted in my most intense workouts in months, so much so that Im planning to cancel my gym membership on the other end of this. While Im far from the first to discover that virtual reality is pretty great space for working out, Im somewhat frustrated it took me this long to realize it. After all, some of the lightsaber moments in Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series certainly could work up a sweat,

Beat Saber" is probably the most recognizable VR workout, having made it to late-night television and boasting partnerships with a number of major pop acts. Its good to get the body moving and the heart rate up. With neon cubes flying at me every Tuesday and Thursday morning, when my schedule goes according to plan, Im hopping around my kitchen and swinging wildly only what I see is a tunnel with a cyberpunk aesthetic. I could easily spend 40 minutes in this world.

The VR exercise game Supernatural aims to give users a full-body workout in virtual reality. The new game, available for the Oculus Quest, will use a $20 per month subscription model. Credit: Within

(Within)

That I could use a game like Beat Saber for a cardio workout was a bit of a surprise to me, only because the one drawback of VR is that I cant see myself. Yet that turned out to be the greatest advantage of VR workouts. I dont want to see myself. Even alone in front of my TV with Ring Fit Adventure I am self-consciously aware that I am moving like a weirdo in my family room. VR allows me to get out of my own head. In other words, when I cant see myself, Im not embarrassing myself.

To exercise, I use the Oculus Quest, which is sold out. But it is cordless and at a price of either $400 or $500 runs cheaper than some high-end fitness equipment. That being said, its primary use has been entertainment rather than fitness, although that may be changing, at least if the just-released Supernatural from local tech firm Within catches on.

Supernatural is designed specifically for working-out in VR, and its been destroying me in the best possible way. Unlike in a more game-like experience, even one that encourages swinging and movement, Supernatural gives you a virtual coach and places you in postcard-worthy visual landscapes. Think New Guinea islands, the Grand Canyon or Ethopias Erta Ale volcano.

I especially like the volcanoes, as the backdrop allows me to pretend Im training to be a Jedi. But this isnt National Geographic; the settings, while beautiful, work largely to get you removed from remembering youre in your own home.

The movements are similar to other rhythm games, such as the aforementioned Beat Saber, where the virtual foam-like swords are used to swing at circular objects coming our way. Supernatural also throws in plenty of triangles, which are designed to get you to pull off squats or lunges. Because of my back issues, Ive worked with physical therapists, so I know how to modify some of these movements to work within my abilities.

While Supernatural will require a $19-per-month subscription, it has succeeded in getting me as sweaty and sore as when I did morning boot camps. Im not someone to give certified fitness advice I sometimes eat Swedish Fish candies for dinner, after all but a benefit of Supernatural is the presence of coaches, filmed so they appear in front of you. The full 360 movement afforded in VR helps make sure Im moving in the way Im instructed.

What left me most surprised, however, is that after a few days in Supernatural my arms felt as if I had done 100 push-ups. I thought this was an odd sensation, considering I was only holding the Oculus controllers rather than weights. But Within worked with professional coaches to guide players to behave in way that uses their full range of motion rather than attempting to simply become good at the game.

The VR exercise game Supernatural aims to give users a full-body workout in virtual reality. The new game, available for the Oculus Quest, will use a $20-per-month subscription model. Credit: Within

(Within)

Though the app will supposedly adjust placement of its objects based on how well were moving, I havent attempted to fully game the system, so to speak. I just know that after a couple of weeks, Supernatural is still challenging me. Within, says co-founcer Aaron Koblin, found that most rhythm games, as players improve, actually result in worse workouts, as they are understanding how to move to win rather than how to burn calories.

That is not the same objective as creating something thats focused on large healthy movements follow through with your swings the kinds of things you get more from the success of the sport than success of the game, says Koblin.

After two weeks, as Supernatural has succeeded in getting me off the couch, my back pain has decreased. At the end of these stay-at-home orders, I hope to emerge a fully trained Jedi. Thats how this works, right?

The rest is here:

Coronavirus and fitness: How VR games got me to exercise - Los Angeles Times

Over the last two months, since the COVID-19 pandemic took over our lives, simple things like attending an interesting lecture have become off limits. Any sort of gatherings, from talks to concerts or sporting events, may be banned for well more than a year as we wait for a vaccine.

If there is anything for us to be thankful about at this time, its technology. Had this occurred more than 25 years ago wed literally all be stuck in the dark with only the telephone as a way to communicate.

Organizations of all kinds have come to realize that the show can still go on to a certain extent via platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Zoom and more. When this is all over, I believe this mode of communication will continue, for now events that might only attract a small crowd are reaching out to so many more.

Last Thursday I attended a 7 pm weekly virtual lecture presented by theMcGill Office for Science and Societyon COVID-19. In addition to Dr. Joe Schwarcz and team members Jonathan Jarry, Ada McVean and communications guru Emily Shore, their special guest was Dr. Paul Offit, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It was absolutely fascinating. Dr. Offit has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC. He had a lot to say with respect to vaccine development for the coronavirus and offered great insight as to how we can begin moving on in a COVID world.

Normally a 7 pm lecture would require me to come home early for supper and rush out of the house with my food barely digested or grab something to eat on the way. In this case I finished dinner at 6:40 pm, cleared the table and comfortably sat in front of my computer screen 20 minutes later.

For those who missed the lecture you can see it now on the OSS Facebook Page and/or their YouTube Channel. Questions were answered in real-time.

Dr. Offit spoke confidently that we will have a vaccine within a year, noting that many steps will have to be skipped to get it out in a timely fashion. The virus is stable, he said. I do not think it will mutate away from the vaccine. In terms of timing I think it will depend upon how much uncertainty we are willing to live with before the vaccine rolls out to the public. Typically vaccine programs are 20 years. So there is a series of steps you go through; the last one, which is the most important, is the so-called phase three trial where you look at tens of thousands of people who either did in this case or did not get the vaccine to see if it is safe and effective. I would be really surprised if the trials that were done for this vaccine were that big. My sense, from the manufacturers I have talked to, is the trials are going to be anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 total people the biggest would be 3,000 on each side. That is not a lot. You can rule out common side effects with that kind of trial. But on the other hand you are dealing with a scourge. In the United States 2,000 people a day are dying from this virus so I think you are willing to accept a greater level of uncertainty than if two people were dying. I am optimistic it will be effective. You can start to see people inoculated within a year.

Dr. Offit predicted that the virus might not as active this summer. Will there be a false sense of security? he asks. Will it come roaring back in September, October and in flu season?

Go to the YouTube channel to see it for yourself.

The McGill OSS will be back for another round of COVID and More Conversations on Thursday, May 7 at 7pm. These can be viewed on their Facebook Page and YouTube channel.

Living With IBD During The Pandemic

Next on my agenda will be a virtual lecture entitled Living With IBD During The Pandemic on Tuesday, May 5 (7 pm), presented by the McGill IBD Research Group. Gastroenterologist Dr. Gary Wild, who also has a background in Psychology, will be the guest speaker. The lecture can be accessed via Zoom at this link: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/91096546702

Virtual Fitness

I am trying to go for regular walks during this pandemic. In addition, occasionally I get on the treadmill. Because I remain one of the lucky ones to have all of my jobs fully functioning, my hours of work have significantly increased over the last several weeks.

But how is this all impacting on the people who went to the exercise gym every day? Virtual fitness of course!

Rona Lis is the invaluable secretary to Dr. David Zukor, the chief of Orthopedics at The Jewish General Hospital. Her days are long. She loves her job, but after a long day dealing with patients she longs for her workout time at OrangeTheory Fitness on Somerled in NDG. Naturally she was heartbroken when gyms were forced to close. But Melanie Shernofsky and the team there merely moved the workouts to Zoom. Members like Rona can either do them live or via a recording when it is convenient. They have been lifesavers, Rona says. It is a blast to watch the people participating, as their dogs and cats go past the screen. Even though I am tired and worn out after work, this makes me so happy!

Miles Krol is doing the same thing at his MilesFit studio in NDG. I've created a free online workout community in Montreal that has exploded! he told me. We're helping hundreds of people and families stay fit and sane during these challenging times!

Among the participants are NDG-Cte des Neiges Borough Mayor Sue Montgomery and CJADs Dan Laxer, two of my favorite people. Mayor Sue and her chief of staff Annalisa Harris have been the victims of unfair treatment by Mayor Valerie Plante and her team. They have done a fine job handling the pandemic in the borough. Mayor Sue is there for her citizens and very visible in the community. Laxer is the co-host of the Sunday Trivia Show with Ken Connors, but spends most of his time writing commercials during the week. I wish we could hear his voice more. But I digress.

This has become something very powerful for the Montreal community, Miles says of the workouts.

Go to his Facebook page to see more. He also did this trailer.

Miles says more than 1,000 Montrealers, plus others from the United States, Israel and Europe, are joining in as well. We have young kids joining in, so we keep families together and we even adjust exercises for the elderly. Everyone can work out with us for free.

Read more:

The COVID-19 "Virtual "Reality : Review of a lecture on vaccines, previewing IBD Talk and some exercise - The Suburban Newspaper

A new virtual club is being launched in the coming weeks, Another Home.

The online club is the brainchild of London bass duo KOVEN, who have built the virtual space with the help of a number of digital designers. Another Homes events will each come with bespoke lighting, posters and even merch.

Throughout May, various bass focused promoters will be hosted in Another Home, live streaming into the digital space directly from their own homes. DJs lined up to play over the coming weeks including a number of to be announced guests, as well as Feint and KOVEN themselves.

There will be a small fee to attend Another Home, with payments being made through the requisite PC VR consoles for entry. The parties will also be available to live stream via Twitch.

Proceeds raised through Another Home will go to the artists involved and organisers.

More info about Another Homes launch will be available soon. Keep an eye on KOVENs social media for more info.

Its the latest inventive initiative from musicians in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which has all but decimated the live music and clubbing landscape for the time being. For instance, In the wake of its official cancellation this month , EDC Las Vegas has announced a virtual festival to take place the same weekend. A pandemic-proof rave suit has even been designed by Los Angeles creative studio Production Club amid the ongoing crisis.

Continue reading here:

A new virtual reality club is launching online, Another Home - DJ Mag

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR) are having far-reaching impacts on technology-applications of businesses, offering an immersive experience to them

Digitally advanced businesses are gradually leveraging VR and AR technologies to drive efficiency, especially in their recruitment process. Companies are using AR and VR technologies for conducting job interviews for hiring new candidates, particularly for virtual positions or offsite projects. These tech-driven interview experiences are always more exciting and engaging for aspirants as compared to the standard and traditional skills assessments.

Taking AR Beyond Smart Glasses, Delivering Genuine Mixed Reality Will Change the Way We Work

Use Cases for AR and VR in Recruitment

The recruitment industry always faces cutthroat competition as businesses struggle to identify their best talents to gain a competitive edge. Every organization works really hard to get the best pool of talent from the job market to the board. This is where virtual and augmented realities dive in, offering enhanced support in the process of modern recruitment.

Employee Training

AR leverages the employee training process by providing digital information on top of what users see. VR offers users a completely multi-dimensional virtual environment to test performance in real environments, which enables learners to practice the required skills and check the outcomes of their actions in a simulated environment. These technologies are being explored by enterprises as new tools for training employees for testing candidates in virtual environments at the corporate level. Both AR and VR are being used for quite a few years in HR practices. Still, it has always been limited to training simulations for hand-on technological roles in areas of logistics, manufacturing, and transportation. However, the application of AR and VR is evolving continuously with its implementation for soft skills training purposes as well.

Workplace Transformation

AR delivers digital details and experiences to augment the world around users, adding additional layers to data, for deeper and better understanding of resources and clients, across various processes in a company. It provides profile information along with other affluent data on clients or prospects during the sales calls, to share real-time insights for workflow optimization. It also helps in providing real-time performance feedback delivered directly to the employees. As per the reports, a majority of Generation X and millennial professionals would prefer to work with tools that enable a higher technological comfort- such as with VR and AR applications in the workplace.

Enhancing Learning Experiences

Businesses are turning into immersive, experiential nature of leveraging AR and VR technologies into many companies to create better e-learning content showcasing real-life experiences based on the premise. In research by Human Resource online, 49% of Gen Z employees in Singapore believed that VR would revolutionize their work in the coming years, while 45% of Gen Z in the US and 56% of Gen Z in India confirmed the same. AR and VR have the potential to elevate team collaboration to the next level of advancement and success.

More Than 50% Of All Retailers Will Use IoT By 2022

The power of AR and VR is clearly visible in the present COVID-19 situation, where these technologies have potentially seized challenges associated with remote working. They have made video conferencing more real than ever. As VR and AR are still in their nascent phase, they are already gaining tremendous momentum and becoming part of daily business operations, modifying the entire way of communicating, collaborating, and conducting businesses.

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Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Digitizing the HR Processes - EnterpriseTalk

In order to fill the space where the Kentucky Derby should have been, NBC broadcast an impostor Derby featuring animations of past winners racing each other on May 2, 2020.

The Associated Press

Like most Canadian arguments, this one was started by The Log Drivers Waltz.

Does the log driver go twirling or birling down and down white water?

Having seen this cartoon spot about 6 1/2 million times as a kid, I was very convinced it was twirling. Twirling scans.

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Of course, I was completely wrong. All this time, Ive been living a lie.

This led us to a deep dive into birling (i.e. competitive logrolling), which in turn became a profitable half-hour spent watching high-level birling on YouTube, which in turn became a further argument about whether forward birling or backward birling is the best birling technique.

Which in turn proves that when there is nothing to watch, some people will watch anything.

Over the past eight weeks, weve watched a lot of things. A friend recently told me that he and his wife have started watching Family Feud every night. Its their new thing.

Im glad you felt comfortable enough to admit that to me, I said, taking virtual hold of his hands. Now never tell anyone else.

Ive watched Taiwanese baseball and Belarusian soccer. Ive watched Marbula One (the marble version of Formula 1) and professional tag (which is better than it sounds). I have watched a lot of chess. Like, a lot.

But I dont think Ive watched anything as strange and compelling as this weekends virtual Kentucky Derby.

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The Derby was supposed to go off on Saturday. Its been postponed until September. In order to fill the space where the Derby should have been, NBC broadcast an impostor Derby featuring animations of past winners racing each other.

On its face, this idea should not have worked.

One strains to imagine how it was brought up. What sort of peyote-based Zoom meeting resulted in someone saying, Couldnt we just pretend and everyone else agreeing that was the sensible thing?

Sports are pretend-proof. Its fun to argue that Team X from the 1970s was better than Team Y from the 1990s, but thats as far as it goes.

Reality is sports entire raison dtre that you dont know until theyve played the game. If I wanted to pretend sports, Id be a pretend PGA golfer making millions of actual dollars.

Weirdly, this Derby had pretensions to reality. The organizers handicapped the race. They used historical stats and algorithms to program the participating horses.

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At the virtual Kentucky Derby, Secretariat and Ron Turcotte ride again, and win

Algorithims have become to the 21st century what sanctified by the Holy Mother Church was to the 15th:

This sounds dumb.

Its based on algorithims. Dear Lord, forgive me for doubting you.

Beyond that, it appears that animation is one of those industries that doesnt work quite so well when the workers are trapped in their homes. Though not bad, the virtual Derby did not feature the so real I couldnt tell the difference levels of craftsmanship weve got used to.

They gave it a gimmicky name Triple Crown Showdown. They laid an actual call on top of pumped-in crowd noise. Essentially, this was adults watching strangers play a video game for no stakes.

And yet, it was utterly compelling.

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At the start, I didnt know anything about what was happening and did not really care. Halfway through, I had strong thoughts about the wisdom of Seattle Slew going out early and those thoughts were, No. By the end, my hand had assumed control of my body and was moving up and down in the air.

Secretariat won, of course.

(Before the flim-flam race was raced, jockey Ron Turcotte told The Globe and Mails Marty Klinkenberg, Anybody who picks against Secretariat doesnt know anything about horses.)

That would be me. I dont know anything about horses. But I was so ginned up afterward that I insisted we watch Seabiscuit. Again.

This is a film in which Tobey Maguire and Jeff Bridges say things nobody in the history of humanity has said. Things like, Everybody thinks we found this broken-down horse and fixed him, but we didnt. He fixed us. Every one of us. And I guess, in a way, we kinda fixed each other, too.

That word sandwich is all butter and no bread. But because Seabiscuit is based on actual events, it is still more real than what we saw on Saturday.

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Why then does the virtual Derby work?

For the same reason people like Rocky so much. We have a compelling need to vicariously participate in the competition of others.

Winning and losing in real life has consequences. All of us are constantly in the midst of this sort of competition at work, at home, in comparison to our peers and neighbours. Its a lot less fun than the movies make it seem.

But vicarious competition is pure sweetness. Other people do it for your benefit. You get to experience the thrill of the hunt, without the risk of catching an arrow in the head.

This need is so hard-wired that we apply it to all our cultural institutions. I believe this, rather than any innate sense of fairness or community, is the reason democracy has lasted.

What is democracy but a once-every-four-or-five-years competition between competing teams? It has odds, stakes, jostling at the end, winners, losers, comeback stories and legends of the game.

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Every other political system is a fixed race featuring one participant staggering toward a finish line he doesnt reach until he dies or one of his friends kills him. Boring.

Sports is the most effective delivery vehicle to satisfy this need. Its the bleed valve of social democracy, allowing us to compete among each other in ways that are harmless and create a sense of belonging. Every healthy society puts sports near its centre.

So in lieu of the real thing, fake will do. Because its not the results that matter, but rather the ritual of caring about the race.

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Sports are rooted in reality, so why does the virtual Derby work? - The Globe and Mail

SOUTHERN OCEAN COUNTY, NJ Phoenix Elite NJ, which was founded in 2019 on the original premise of educating, equipping and empowering young women throughout Southern Ocean County through sport and teamwork in order to develop strong, confident female leaders of the future has had to in its brief life,pivot and grow in order to adapt to this new, online virtual reality many New Jerseyans find themselves in.

Having been set to kick-off in-person sessions this past April 18 for youth, middle school and high school females participating in field hockey and soccer lacrosse is scheduled to begin June 1 Phoenix Elites owners Robin Meaney and Laurie Templeand the organizations stalwart staff, which includes homegrown talent Jenna Lombardo-Adams, Liz Law, Elyse Broderick, Elise St. Germain and Nicole Andriani, had to refocus their approach and quickly find a way to approach sessions with their athletes virtually, through an online website application.

The application, which allows the coaches to run live sessions and then provide the recordings to the athletes for them to practice during the week, has proven extremely successful for the group.

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This is brilliant. My girls loved it! beamed Rich Borusovic, father of two girls participating in separate Phoenix Elite field hockey sessions.

Meaney, who brought the sport-specific training concept to Southern Ocean County after owning and operating central Jersey-based New Heights Field Hockey,which produced nationally-ranked club teams and a myriad of scholarship-earning athletes at the Division I level for more than a decade, didnt want to just close up shop when social-distancing orders were put in place. Rather, she and the coaches wanted to provide a bit of hope to the athletes and families during these uncertain times.

There is no possible way we could operate in this virtual environment without our incredibly talented, unselfish coaching staff. They are the true rock stars of Phoenix Elite and Laurie (Temple) and I are immensely grateful for their collaboration and positive attitudes, Meaney said. For them to provide the level of training they are able to, with girls aged six to 18 online, takes a special kind of dedication, selflessness, patience and even humor. Our coaches are our lifeblood, and we are incredibly lucky to have them.

Rounding out the female sport coaching staff are Christina Fabiano (field hockey), Julie McWhorter (lacrosse), Lori Bucci Johnson (lacrosse) and Drew Gibson (soccer).

During each of the one-hour weekly sessions per age group, one of the coaches shows the skills. Skills will progress over the course of six weeksand one coach watches from the virtual sidelines in order to provide live feedback for the athletes.

At the end of each session there is a summary of what was learned and an opportunity for the girls to ask questions of the coaches. They are also given homework to practice on their own throughout the week.

Meaney shared another parents feedback following one of the field hockey sessions:

Hearing her hard work (and your voices in the background) doing stick work is freaking awesome! This was so good for her mind and soul too - shes just been very sad. This is just what I think she needed.

While this inaugural session is set to conclude at the close of May, Phoenix Elite already has plans to begin a second run of virtual training May 18, with lacrosse opening its online doors in early June.

Why would we stop now? Meaney said. While we, just like everyone else, absolutely cannot wait to be able to operate in person with our athletes, we feel as if we are providing a service of hope right nowand a departure from the current situation we all find ourselves in.

And Phoenix Elites reach doesnt stop there. With the addition of certified fitness coaches Brock Anderson, Nikki Azzolino, Robin Morris and Kate Donohue alongside Law who also doubles as an adult yoga practice leader, the group now offers 25 virtual online fitness classes weekly to the adult population. These include strength, HIIT, kettlebell, bodyweight, booty bootcamp, spin, and of course, yoga.

Online monthly memberships for singles up to families of four are available on the Phoenix Elite website: http://www.PhoenixEliteNJ.com under Online Registrations. The group offered free classes for the majority of April.

Lastly Anderson, who has taken a leadership role on the adult fitness side, will also be offering Elite Performance for the youth male population, beginning this Saturday, May 2. Please visit the Phoenix Elite website for schedule and additional details.

What a team we have in place with us right now, Meaney added. To be able to offer sport, fitness, mindfulness, and performance under one virtual roof and with these coaches - again, we could not be more grateful. Just wait until restrictions are lifted, and we can all train as one big, happy family, together!

One can only imagine that Phoenix Elite will be rising.

To contact Phoenix Elite, please email phoenixelitenj@gmail.com, or call 609-798-1187.

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Phoenix Elite: Rising UP and Adapting to Virtual Reality - TAPinto.net

Even with NASCAR's Cup Series set to start up again May 17 at Darlington, the iRacing Pro Invitational Series isn't going away.

The virtual-reality circuit will race again Sunday at noon on FOX and FS1. NASCAR drivers will get behind the wheel of their iRacing rigs to compete in the Finish Line 150 from a simulated Dover International Speedway. The green flag is expected to drop at 12:13 p.m.

The entry list includes 39 drivers, including 16 who have won either a Cup or Xfinity race at the track.

The field will include Kevin Harvick, who was the 2014 NASCAR Cup champion. He has won twice at Dover in real time.

He has raced in two iRacing events, including last week at virtual Talladega, where he finished 12th.

Its been a crash course in how to do all this and Ive been able to get everything going and get up to speed and make it enjoyable now to where its not just trying to figure out what buttons to push or how to reset the wheel," Harvick was quoted as saying in a news release. Its been a lot of fun."

The entry list also includes seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who has run all five previous iRacing events.

I belly-flopped so bad in the first event I ran that people were reaching out to me," Johnson said in a news release. Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. actually sent me a text saying, I know you need help. Theres a four-time Cup Series champion in iRacing that wants to help you and he knows what hes doing. You should get in touch with him."

Even so, his best finish has been 19th.

The entry list does not include Jeff Gordon, who ran for the first time last week in the iRacing event at virtual Talladega Superspeedway.

Finish Line 150 entry list

Car number, driver, car owner

2, Brad Keselowski, Penske

8, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Invitation

15, Brennan Poole, Premium

17, Chris Buescher, Roush

19, Bobby Labonte, Invitation

21, Matt DiBenedetto, Wood Bros.

34, Michael McDowell, Front Row

38, John Hunter Nemechek, Front Row

51, Garrett Smithley, Invitation

66, Timmy Hill, Invitation

77, Parker Kligerman, Invitation

89, Landon Cassill, Invitation

95, Christopher Bell, LFR

96, Daniel Suarez, Gaunt Bros.

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Even with NASCAR returning, drivers still set for another virtual-reality race Sunday - Anniston Star

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Graphic Design Class of 2020

It has become an annual tradition for University of Arkansas graduating graphic design seniors to showcase their work in a "Pecha Kucha-style" presentation. But with nationwide quarantine restrictions, the seniors have instead embraced the moment to go fully digital in 2020.

However, this is no ordinary online experience. Through a collaboration between the U of A'sSchool of Artand theTesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design, both part of theJ. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, as well asCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, this virtual exhibition will be a real-time, immersive 3D creation.

The virtual exhibition,Frankly, will feature the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design seniors' work and will go live in theTesseract Center'sGallery 5on Thursday, May 7 as well as on the websitefrankly.uark.edu.

A virtual reception for the exhibition will also take place at 5 p.m. May 7 with details onfrankly.uark.edu. The exhibition and reception are both free and open to the public.

Gallery 5is an interactive, real-time 3D gallery application developed by the Tesseract Center in partnership with Crystal Bridges. The Tesseract Center produces video games, interactive visualizations and virtual reality content for teaching and research.

Under David Fredrick, director of the Tesseract Center and professor of classical studies in theDepartment of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures,Gallery 5was first created five years ago as a digital recreation of the physicalGallery 5space found at Crystal Bridges. The virtual gallery application is a browser-based solution for hosting online exhibitions with the ability to feature paintings, film, sculpture or time-based media work.

"The initial goal ofGallery 5, as a collaboration between the Tesseract Center and Crystal Bridges, was to bring an interactive virtual gallery experience to students and the public," Fredrick said."Franklytakes this work to the next level, as an exhibition in real-time 3D of new and incredibly meaningful work by graduating graphic design students. It is fantastic to have this work hosted in a digital application developed by current University of Arkansas students and graduates. We are all excited to invite you to experience this collaborative exhibit and celebrate the class of 2020 with us throughFrankly."

Shane Richey, Crystal Bridges' creative director of experimentation and development, agreed and said that the collaboration was also a great way for Crystal Bridges to honor itscommitment to provide access to its collection and resources.

"It'sexciting to invite the students into thevirtual galleries and provide a space for them to show off their hard work in a timewhen people don't have access to Crystal Bridges or the School of Art's Fine Arts Center Gallery," he said.

There are 24 graduating graphic design seniors this year, and each will be featured inFranklyand has dedicated their final semester to researching and designing a speculative solution for a systemic problem of their choice.

With topics ranging from developing self-confidence and managing mental health, to interventions in sex education and local politics, these projects showcase the versatility of the graduating design class.

"This class of seniors has demonstrated incredible resiliency and innovation this semester by pivoting their entire senior show to a virtual format," said Ali Place, assistant professor of graphic design. "By embracing the limitations of the current circumstances, they designed a bold and forward-thinking exhibition that will amplify the impact of their design research projects."

Place and her students describeFranklyas "prefacing a harsh reality laid bare at a time when the stakes demand it." As the students developed the overarching identity behind the show, many said they saw it as a way to gain the courage to confront problems and the acumen to address them using design principles.

The students' hope is thatFranklywill serve as a way for each participant to speak their truth and to, "speculate recklessly with a greater good in mind."

Audiences can see the student work through a wide variety of forms including apps, community projects, printed artifacts and games. In addition, viewers can learn more about each designer and experience an in-depth look into each project on the student profiles found atfrankly.uark.edu.

"At a time when so much is unprecedented and uncertain, it is truly inspiring to see this multidisciplinary and community partnership-expanding way to keep our tradition of featuring our talented senior graphic design students' work," said Todd Shields, dean of Fulbright College. "What an incredible, innovative and fun way to showcase their work and the amazing resiliency of the Class of 2020!"

About the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences:TheJ. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciencesis the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with three schools, 16 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former university president and longtime U.S. senator.

Excerpt from:

School of Art, Tesseract Center and Crystal Bridges Collaborate on Virtual Exhibition, 'Frankly' - University of Arkansas Newswire

Dubbed the gallery of the future, Hauser & Wirths newly launched research and innovation arm, ArtLab, has just announced that it will host its first ever virtual reality exhibition on 30 April. The group exhibition, titled Beside Itself, takes place in Hauser & Wirths future gallery space in Menorca, allowing visitors a first look at the art centre ahead of its opening in 2021.

ArtLab was birthed by Hauser & Wirth after intensive research in the summer of 2019 to create bespoke technology solutions for the most pressing issues in the art world, including greater accessibility and sustainability. The ArtLab team began exploring innovations that would allow audiences to fully experience exhibitions in different local contexts without traveling a project that takes on greater meaning and urgency amid the coronavirus pandemic while permitting artists, curators, and exhibition coordinators to better prepare shows using new technology. In addition, ArtLab will also host a digital residency program at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles for artists and their teams by invitation to enabling them to explore the full potential of this new technology. Using a bespoke technology-stack not found in any other industry and drawing from techniques applied in architecture, construction and video-game design, Artlab creates true-to-life scale and accuracy as well as the authentic look, feel and interactivity of Hauser & Wirth galleries. Building the virtual 3D space from the ground up at a pixel level rather than relying on combined photos, HWVR provides an unprecedented level of accuracy and flexibility.

Visitors will be able to experience the virtual reality exhibition through the gallerys website. Taking its title from a wall piece by Lawrence Weiner, the exhibition brings together text-based works from the following artists: Louise Bourgeois, Mark Bradford, Charles Gaines, Ellen Gallagher, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Luchita Hurtado, Mike Kelley, Glenn Ligon, Damon McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Bruce Nauman, Lorna Simpson and Lawrence Weiner. Spanning a period from the 1970s to the present day, these works explore the intersection of text and the visual image from Bourgeoiss etching Le Coeur Est La to Mark Bradfords bold printed words in New York City.

Iwan Wirth, one of the founders, made the following statement regarding this new venture:

Our primary goal was to create technology that would help our artists visualise the spaces where their exhibitions would be presented. We were equally motivated by a desire to plan exhibitions for our locations around the globe in a way that would reduce the amount of travel and transportation. Given the current situation, we feel this new approach to virtual reality exhibitions is especially relevant, will engage as many people as possible and bring them together while were all apart.

Iwan Wirth

Beside Itself will open on 30 April 2020 and can be accessed by a computer, smart phone or using a VR headset such as google cardboard.

Preview the Virtual Reality exhibition space here:

Originally posted here:

Hauser & Wirth Presents its Latest Exhibition in Virtual Reality Pursuits - Prestige Online