What happens when you bring together members of the start-up community, passionate technologists, researchers, creatives and street artists? 

You get: The Immersive Media Lounge (as part of Melbourne Knowledge Week). 

This is a project I have been working on for some time now with the crew at Phoria – I’m glad to announce this event and be a part of it over the coming week!

“In the 1st week of May (1st-7th), the State Library of Victoria (SLV) will be brought to life in a whole new way. The curious and inquisitive are invited to step inside Melbourne Knowledge Week’s (MKW) Immersive Media Hub to engage in a series transformative experiences that will stimulate our senses through the latest innovations and technological wizardry. Navigate the magic of an AI powered hologram to explore and unearth an entirely new toolset across virtual, augmented and mixed reality

When visitors arrive they will be greeted by “Holi” our virtual holographic assistant. Visitors can navigate and explore a new interface through gesture, language and AI. 

Holi will help you to explore and navigate the 3 different and unique immersive experiences on offer: 

1. PHORIA has partnered with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute to pioneer a new digital health intervention for patients in hospital – using VR experiences.  
2. Marco-Matic will showcase an art gallery from the future. Using AR and VR Marco brings 2D works to life 
3. Explore a “Mixed Reality” art studio! Invurt has chosen 4 of Melbourne’s (and the world’s) finest street artists who will spend their time inside HTC Vive headsets using Google’s Tilt Brush – the virtual will then be combined with reality and result in awesome 3D projections – letting everyone see what is happening inside the artist’s world (not just the artist wearing the headset).”  

Some of the technologies on display include: Mixed Reality, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, chat-bots, 3D, projection and more! 

Partners include: Phoria, State Library of Victoria, Virtualex, Aeroplane Workshop, Mirrorstairstudio, Marc-o-Matic, Invurt.com, Melbourne Uni UDC, Learning Environments, Melbourne Uni’s SocialNUI, The Carlton Connect Initiative, IBM Bluemix Garage and the Melbourne School of Design.

Artists: Senekt, Conrad Bizjak, Rashé and Invurt’s own Facter.

Who: PHORIA and Invurt (and partners) alongside Sent, Facter, Rashe and Conrad Bizjak. 

What: Immersive Media Lounge / Melbourne Knowledge Week 

When: 1st to 6th of May 2017 (next week) various times – check link below for details.

Where: State Library of Victoria. 328 Swanston Street Melbourne. 

Facebook event page here.

The event is free and open to the public – but it is recommended you book a ticket as a placeholder in case it’s busy when you want to visit. Tickets here!