Technology at SFU Woodward’s immerses viewers in Hidden Pasts

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      When Simon Fraser University was founded back in 1965, immersing yourself in technology meant an evening at a Doris Day movie or a few couch-creasing hours in front of a three-channel black-and-white TV. All of that seems very far away now.

      But exactly how far won’t be clear until you take in Hidden Pasts, Digital Futures: A Festival of Immersive Arts, the cutting-edge event set to run from Friday (September 18) to October 16 at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts and the SFU Woodward’s Atrium.

      Assembled by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, the National Film Board of Canada, and the Vancouver International Film Festival to celebrate the university’s 50th anniversary, it’s sure to astonish and provoke even the most tech-savvy viewer. Circa 1948, a time-travelling virtual-reality environment by renowned Vancouver artist Stan Douglas and the NFB Digital Studio (see main story), is only one of the groundbreaking pieces that will pull you physically into digital landscapes that lie somewhere between cinema, video game, and waking dream.

      The duo of Jeffrey Shaw and Sarah Kenderdine, from the City University of Hong Kong, is bringing a pair of sense-engulfing works. Pure Land+ offers a 360-degree, interactive projection that re-creates the shimmering murals of ancient Buddhist grottoes in Dunhuang, China, large as life and in 3-D. Focusing on yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Place-Hampi+ employs stereoscopic 3-D imagery that allows the viewer to explore the intricate ruins of Vijayanagara, a long-abandoned South Indian temple city.

      Alongside these is Fragmentation, a perspective-scrambling installation based on an excerpt from the play Lipsynch by Québécois theatre visionary Robert Lepage. And there’s more, if all of this isn’t enough to suggest the countless mind-bending technological options that will be open to artists in the coming years.

      Admission to Hidden Pasts, Digital Futures is free, but viewings will be conducted as 45-minute tours that require advance booking. See the SFU Woodwards website for details.

      Follow Brian Lynch on Twitter @brianlynchbooks.

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