Battersea Arts Centre's newest initiative will offer five new flexible residencies for artists to explore working in Extended Reality, with the window for submitting expressions of interest closing on 22 January.
BAC, together with LIVR, the first virtual reality theatre-based content platform and Inclusion Producer Jazlyn Pinckney, will see the selected artists or companies develop existing work over five days employing the technology and expertise of the LIVR team.
As well as support in documenting the process to support wider learning, in a pioneering move, full intellectual property rights for the work filmed in 360 degrees will belong to the artists.
Whilst providing artists whose opportunities to develop work have been limited because of the pandemic, audiences will benefit from a front-row seat experience whatever their location, interacting via a range of devices, such mobile phones and laptops.
Tarek Iskander, artistic director and CEO of Battersea Arts Centre, said, “we are just thrilled to be collaborating with Jazlyn and LIVR on this project. This incredibly difficult moment for the performing arts is also one of massive opportunity and a unique chance to experiment. This programme will give a range of artists access to some of the most cutting-edge technology there is, to see how they can fuse performing arts with these new media. And in recognition of the severed challenges artists and creative freelancers are facing, it's been a joint ambition for all of us that the performance-makers themselves will control what they create, to benefit and have full ownership of their own work. I'm excited to see what remarkable projects emerge.”
The final works will be programmed as part of Battersea Arts Centre's 2021 spring season.
The open call for expressions of interest ends at 12 noon on 22 January. The residencies are available to artists in England and will take place between March and May 2021.