Creating new XR experiences
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We've been hard at work developing new projects and tools, and we're excited to share some updates with you. We've also started a YouTube channel where we'll showcase ongoing videos of our work and process. Don't forget to subscribe!
Collaborating with Shu-Kai Lin: From Installation to VR
When my home was torn down, no word could describe how shocked I was. A safe, stable place like ‘home’ as I had always believed it to be since I was a child turned out to be so fragile, subject to any changes. One day I stood on the balcony, realizing that the whole city was an illusionary, fickle organism, in a constant state of floating! — Shu-Kai Lin
In our ongoing efforts to engage with Taiwan's emerging creative tech sector, we collaborated with visual artist Shu-Kai Lin and scanned his work in Tainan. Together with Lin, FuturePerfect is developing a hybrid VR/physical experience inspired by his block installations, Balcony City Civilization.
Lin's creations depict a precarious environment constructed from discarded materials, old woodworking equipment, and antiquated industrial molds. These spaces tell unique stories about the city and its fictional inhabitants, exploring themes of optimism, disorientation, anxiety, confidence, alienation, and emptiness.
A VR Short Featuring Sculptor Will Ryman
New York-based artist Will Ryman is renowned for his large-scale sculptures and public art installations that reflect the city's grit and beauty. We captured his sculptures, objects, and studio to create a VR short titled Studio Visit. In this immersive experience, participants explore a digital replica of Ryman's studio and interact with one of his iconic wood, steel, mesh, and resin sculptures—a woman adorned with locks and chains, standing atop a pillar marked with the NYPD logo.
Exploring William Kentridge's Work in VR
In November 2021, we premiered our first VR project, Starve the Algorithm, at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest. This 10-minute experience takes participants through a series of interconnected rooms—an artist's studio, a kinetic theater, a hall of curiosity cabinets, and an immense amphitheater dominated by a dancing megaphone and fan puppet.
To bring our creative vision to life, we developed new tools and techniques in virtual production, 3D scanning, world-building, and high-resolution asset production for VR. You can now watch a full video walkthrough of the work below.
FuturePerfect Podcast: New Episodes Available
We've resumed our podcast series after an extended hiatus, featuring a new episode with Andrew Keller from We From Group. Andrew discusses new NFT projects in collaboration with the David Bowie estate and Swedish musician and songwriter Stefan Storm. Keep an eye out for upcoming episodes with Lev Manovich, Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and founder and director of the Cultural Analytics Lab; XR theater director Kiira Benzing from DoubleEye Studio; creative technologist and virtual production director Todd Bryant from New York University; and Kamal Sinclair, Senior Director of Digital Innovation at the Los Angeles County Music Center.