ONX Studio at Venice Immersive of the Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia

Shadowtime Stills 2023 (Kathryn Hamilton & Deniz Tortum)

From August 31 to September 9, 2023, the Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, one of the greatest film festivals internationally, invites artworks and artists of ONX Studio to participate at the Venice Immersive section. A section entirely devoted to immersive media and includes all XR means of creative expression: 360° videos and XR works of any length, including installations and virtual worlds. The Venice International Film Festival was one of the first film festivals in the world to show an interest in Virtual Reality.

The Venice Immersive section of the 80th Venice International Film Festival will be held with the support of HTC Vive and VRChat.

The participation of ONX Studio

Kathryn Hamilton & Deniz Tortum, “Shadowtime” (VR)

Shadowtime creates a virtual replica of reality in the midst of real-world ecological collapse. While drawing parallels between the environmental collapse and the history of VR, the spectator travels through a future-nostalgic tour through completely new and realistic looking virtual worlds which hints at how VR aesthetics could be indistinguishable from the real world. During the experience, inside a camera obscura, audience members read a hand-made book which alters their perception.

Shadowtime Stills 2023 (Kathryn Hamilton & Deniz Tortum)

Matthew Niederhauser & Marc Da Costa, “Tulpamancer” (Machine Learning + VR)

Tulpamancer is an interactive installation that constructs a dreamlike, immersive encounter with a participant's own memories through generative AI and virtual reality. Following an initial interview at a computer console, participants put on a headset and are led by voices through a series of uniquely generated virtual worlds that invokes and questions memories of their own past.

Tulpamancer Stills 2023 (Matthew Niederhauser & Marc Da Costa)

Winslow Porter & Elie Zananiri, “Forager” (VR)

A mushroom is a door in the floor. Open it and discover nature’s greatest revelation: an endless underground network secretly feeding life to the world above. And yet, we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about mushrooms. What if we knew more? Enter Forager, a highly immersive experience and first-of-its-kind interactive volumetric time-lapse installation. Participants experience the wonder of the mushroom kingdom through a variety of different perspectives, ultimately fostering a closer connection with the natural world.

Forager Stills 2023 (Winslow Porter & Elie Zananiri)

To be more precise, Venice Immersive will present 44 projects from 25 countries and 24 works in the Worlds Gallery section. Among those, ONX has been invited to present the following projects:

In Competition:

Kathryn Hamilton & Deniz Tortum, “Shadowtime”
Matthew Niederhauser & Marc Da Costa, “Tulpamancer”

Best of Venice Immersive:

Winslow Porter & Elie Zananiri, “Forager”

The 2023 Venice Immersive Jury will award the following prizes:

Venice Immersive Grand Prize
Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize
Venice Immersive Achievement Prize

About ONX Studio

ONX Studio is a hybrid production and exhibition space with a global community of members who create interactive and immersive XR works. Located in the Onassis Gallery in Midtown Manhattan, it was founded in partnership by the Onassis Foundation and NEW INC.

ONX is both an extension of Athens’ Digital and Innovation Program and a structure that functions in support of New York and the international digital and artistic ecosystem. It exists as a hybrid production and exhibition space for XR artists, and is an accelerator for artists’ trajectories and their projects. As genre agnostic, ONX reinforces collaboration, intersection and interdisciplinarity - seeking out and enabling new possibilities of technology.

ONX aims to be a hub within a dynamic global ecosystem of new practices and ideas - supporting the development, execution and mobility of new work and participating in key international arenas of influence.

Since its opening in 2020, ONX Studio members have presented their work in numerous festivals globally, such as Tribeca. Sundance, and SXSW.