The Royal College of Art and Acute Art in London have collaborated to offer a course on virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) in art. The course will introduce participants to emerging technologies and how VR/AR are changing contemporary art and its institutions.
John Slyce, senior tutor at RCA School of Humanities will helm the course alongside Daniel Birnbaum, artistic director at Acute Arts. The course will provide students with access to globally recognised artists, entrepreneurs, artwork practitioners and designers in the field of VR/AR.
Individuals will also get the opportunity to learn about the intersection of VR/AR and contemporary art, with site visits across London to map the production and reception of 21st-century VR/AR art.
Birnbaum says, “Like no other course offered by an art school, this five-day collaboration between Acute Art and the RCA will offer tools to navigate the world of tomorrow.”
Lively learning experiences
This course will offer various perspectives on the following questions: How will today’s visual media (AR, VR and mixed reality) expand the ways we make, present and experience art? How might the virtual turn change the nature of art itself? How will these new art forms be shown, circulated and collected, and by who?
John Slyce, writer and senior tutor at Royal College of Art said, “The fit with the Royal College of Art and Acute Art is ideal – this is a place where experiments in art and technology happen. The RCA is about innovation while not leaving earlier media behind and I believe this exciting short course can be the beginning of many creative and lively learning experiences.”
Confirmed guest contributors that students can interact with in-person or online on the 2023 programme include Olafur Eliasson, artist; KAWS, artist; Rodrigo Marques, CTO of Acute Art; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Curator and Director of the Serpentine Gallery; Gilbert & George, artists; Crypto Entrepreneur Vignesh Sundaresan (AKA MetaKovan); Simon Fox, CEO Frieze; Sophie McElligott, Head of Communications at Dazed Media.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
