Where the documentary ends, the VR experience begins. At the Dok-Fest Munich, more than 100 films from 51 countries will be shown until mid-May, providing insights into a wide variety of realities of life. As linear, unchanging projections. And then there are four viewing experiences in the “VR Pop up Cinema” that add another dimension to the documentary. Experimental films that vary individually and have a physical effect, which also dare to make an artistic transfer by making the seemingly unshowable tangible in a different way.
For example, there is “I Wanna Be Ur Dog” by Kathrin Brunner and Oliver Czeslik. Perceiving the world from the perspective of dogs sounds exciting! As a visitor to the pop-up shop in the Ruffinihaus on Rindermarkt, you sit on a bar stool, as expectant as a dog in front of a treat, and wait for the things that may come: first of all, there are special glasses and headphones, without which, as we all know, nothing works for VR experiences (entrance is free, but it is better to book a time slot in advance at dokfest-muenchen.de).
:What the Dok-Fest has to offer
109 films from 51 countries can be seen in Munich in May, the majority of them also via stream. The focus of the 39th festival edition is the state of democracy, online surveillance, AI and cultural issues. The big overview.
Then you can get started, the trip in virtuality that lasts between half an hour and an hour begins. First you learn three in short documentary videos Getting to know dogs and their masters: when they’re romping around (“Freedom”), when a guide dog and a visually impaired person interact (“Trust”), when they’re surfing and swimming on the Eisbach (“Peace”). Then you leave the documentary through eye contact and through a portal. And becomes a dog.
This is where the magic begins, this is where VR art fills the voids left by ordinary cinema – even the most fantastic. Colors change, the owner’s heartbeat becomes visible, smells hang in the air like billowing clouds. The viewer is amazed, turns back and forth on the bar stool, his eyes exploring the dog’s surroundings. For example, the shopping arcade in Pasing, which becomes colorful and large when the guide dog smells a bratwurst. Fantastic!
There is often talk of a change of perspective. This production is a concrete example of how art can succeed in achieving this. Of course, the makers of the project funded by the Bavarian Film-Television Fund (FFF) do not create a realistic simulation of animal sensory worlds. They don’t even want to. Rather, she and her team translate data into creative, sometimes impressionistic 3D worlds. The visualized sensory impressions are based on measurements of the protagonists’ brain waves, breathing, sweat and heartbeat. The production took two years and was filmed in Pasing and on the Eisbach, among other places.
The other VR films also visualize the seemingly impossible or at least unknown. “Emperor” by Marion Burger and Ilan Cohen also trains the imagination. The poetic, autobiographical story with black and white aesthetics allows the bespectacled person to immerse themselves in the world of experiences of a person suffering from aphasia. So if you can’t think of the right words, if speaking is difficult – that’s what this exciting production dares to do, a mixture of documentary, fiction and dream.
The “VR Pop up Cinema” is a cooperation between Dok-Fest Munich, XR HUB Bavaria and Munich Creative Business Week. The horizon-expanding projects in the truest sense include “Origin – A Journey To The Heart Of The Amazon” (Emilia Sánchez Chiquetti and Mokán Rono) and Lisa Eder’s “Wildnis AR App”, two multimedia experiences that lead into the forest ecosystem: once to the inhabitants of the Amazon, once to the nesting holes of the great spotted woodpeckers in the Bavarian Forest.
VR pop up cinema at Dok-Fest Munich, until Sunday, May 12th, Ruffinihaus at Rindermarkt, free entry, Book time slots online at dokfest-muenchen.de