Janire Najera

CARDIFF, [23.09.24] – The pioneering XR arts centre, CULTVR Lab is excited to announce its continued partnership with Fulldome UK, the UK’s longest-running immersive arts festival. Together, they are proud to bring FDUK 2024 back to Cardiff this October, building on last year’s successful debut in Wales. This year’s festival is set to be an extraordinary celebration of innovative immersive experiences and state of the art frameless media.

FDUK 2024 will take place on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th of October, showcasing a wide array of work from leading fulldome artists and producers from across the world. The festival offers a unique opportunity for attendees to explore the full spectrum of fulldome creativity, learn from international experts, and connect with fellow creatives in the immersive arts community. The program includes speaker panels, industry workshops, exclusive screenings of FDUK 2024’s shortlisted films, live performances, and much more.

“For over a decade, FDUK has championed artists, creative professionals, and researchers working in immersive dome environments. We are excited to return to Wales and continue fostering connections within the UK and international communities that are shaping the future of this rapidly evolving field.” Phil Meyer of Fulldome UK.

The 2024 Official Selection features 36 immersive films produced in 14 countries, reflecting the festival’s commitment to showcasing diverse voices and perspectives. This year, the festival will also present live performances by UK artists Bertie Sampson, Beardyman and Welsh based musician Teddy Hunter. FDUK 2024 will feature presentations by multimedia artists Aude Guivarch and Marie Leblanc Flanagan supported via the Wales-Quebec partnership between CULTVR and Society for Arts & Technology, Montreal.

The festival’s curated events are designed to attract a broad audience, including international delegates, artists, filmmakers, musicians, producers, and tech innovators, creating a dynamic and inclusive environment for all involved.

“Hosting the FDUK festival is a dream come true for us at CULTVR Lab. Since our first experience at FDUK in 2011, we have been dedicated to producing fulldome films and XR live performances that resonate worldwide. Now, with our own arts centre, we aim to make these emerging digital platforms more accessible to everyone and inspire fellow creatives, just as we were inspired over a decade ago.” Janire Najera – CULTVR Lab

On Friday 11th of October the festival will host a special showcase organised in collaboration with Town Square and Media Cymru. This event will highlight groundbreaking projects and innovations from Welsh companies, providing a platform for local and regional talent to present their work to an international audience.

The festival is organised by producing studios GaiaNova (London), 4Pi Productions (Cardiff) and United VJs (Brazil) with support from NSC Creative (Leicester), I-Dat and Real Ideas (Plymouth). It is also a founding partner of The Best of Earth Awards, a coalition of some of the most prestigious and respected fulldome film festivals from around the world, including FullDome Festival in Jena, (Germany), Dome Fest West in Los Angeles, (USA), Dome Under Festival in Melbourne, (Australia), SAT Fest in Montréal, (Canada), and Brno Fulldome Festival (Czech Republic)

Minister for the Creative industries, Jack Sargeant, said: “It’s always exciting to see groundbreaking work like that of CULTVR Lab and FDUK continuing in Wales, providing a fantastic platform for artists, creatives and researchers via immersive technology. The programme looks fantastic, and I’d encourage anyone with an interest to come and experience this unique event, explore new ways of enjoying immersive media and be inspired to join this growing sector.”

FDUK 2024 has received funding and support from Welsh Government via Creative Wales.

For more information, visit www.fulldome.org.uk

This month, Society for Arts & Technology in Montreal (Canada) is presenting the live immersive performance Arka Kinari: Artivism at Sea, brought to life by multimedia studio 4Pi Productions in collaboration with international artists and climate activists, Filastine & Nova.

Originally developed and premiered at CULTVR Lab in Cardiff with support from the British Council, this production combines 360º video, music and storytelling to share the voyage of the floating cultural platform Arka Kinari, utilising music to sound the alarm for climate change and cinematic visuals to imagine life after the carbon economy.

‘Subversive, immersive and partially submerged’, Arka Kinari is a 70-ton sailing ship propelled by the wind and powered by the sun. The vessel is home to a gallery of activists, creators and artists sailing across the world to share a collective message and purpose in sounding the eco alarm for the environment.

‘A fulldome experience is one of the few ways to express the bulk of the ship and the vastness of the sea. I’d hope that people walk away from this thinking about what they might do, how they might leverage their unique knowledge, skills and contacts to change the course of the future’. – Grey Filastine.

Wales based immersive arts studio 4Pi Productions joined Filastine and Nova on the ship as it travelled from Bali to Jakarta to document their journey and capture immersive content for both this live immersive performance and a standalone feature documentary fulldome film. The immersive live piece has been presented in Cardiff and Plymouth and received an honourable mention at the Best of Earth Awards 2023.

‘We utilise immersive media to create work that inspires positive change. This live performance will be able to reach new audiences and transport them within this story fostering climate resilience through artistic expression’. – Matt Wright, Director 4Pi Productions.

Arka Kinari: Artivism at Sea is a co-production with CULTVR Lab supported by the British Council and Wales Arts International. This presentation launches a new programme between SAT Montreal and CULTVR Lab exploring immersive arts and sustainability as part of the Wales-Quebec projects supported by the Welsh Government and the Government of Québec.

Arka Kinari: Artivism at Sea
Society for Arts & Technology, Montreal CA
30th April to 4th May 2024 / 8.30pm

Directed by: Janire Najera & Matt Wright
Storytellers and Musicians: Filastine & Nova
Production and Visuals by: 4Pi Productions
Audience Rating: All ages. / Immersive Live Performance: 60 minutes

Info: https://sat.qc.ca/en/events/arka-kinari-artivism-at-sea/

Das Koolies, returned to their rave roots last year with their expansive debut album DK.01 taking an extended road trip through the former Super Furry Animals’ techno, pop, krautrock and psych influences before hitting the road for real on a sold out UK tour.

Now, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan and Guto Pryce are back in Cardiff for a unique live performance, in collaboration with immersive studio 4Pi Productions and Dah Dit Dit, the creative minds behind their groundbreaking music videos.

Supported by Welsh Government, Cardiff Council and Cardiff Music Board, the Soundspace Session on Friday 22^nd March will see the bands’ sonic adventures and poignant beats bound songwriting enhanced by immersive visuals, under the dome at experimental digital arts centre, CULTVR.

Das Koolies:

“Home sweet home, yet unfamiliar territory to all of us, as we turn the Das Koolies’ sounds into something altogether otherworldly at only our second Cardiff live outing. Our album, DK.01, recorded in the secrecy of our HQ in Cardiff Bay, is made of our shared imaginations and experiences but, beyond our own imaginations lie possibilities unexplored. Something unexpected. For perhaps one night only, DK.01 becomes an immersive experience at CULTVR and together we’ll find out what that world looks, sounds and feels like.”

Matt Wright, Artistic Director of 4Pi Productions:

“Over the past decade, 4Pi has been at the forefront of innovation in immersive creativity and live performance. Through this live XR experience, we aspire to offer audiences a deeper insight into the band’s artistic vision.”

Limited tickets available here

Doors open at 7pm.
8.00 – 9.00pm Das Koolies (DJ Set)
9.00 – 10.00pm Das Koolies (Live Set)

MINAS: WAITING ROOM @CULTVR

Fresh off the back of a triumphant UK tour and Sŵn Festival closing set, and a Welsh Music Prize nomination for his debut solo album, All My Love Has Failed Me, Cardiff-based artist Minas presents Waiting Room – a narrative-led event featuring live music, 360-degree visuals and live performance.

The two-night Soundspace Sessions event at groundbreaking digital arts centre CULTVR is supported by Welsh Government, Cardiff Council and Cardiff Music Board and forms part of Cardiff Council’s Music Strategy.

Act One, on November 17^th 2023, will feature live music from Tamarebi, Lily Webbe, Freddy Forbidden, Foxxglove, Half Happy as well as Minas himself.

Act Two, on the following night (November 18^th) will see Grove, Shlug, Minas, Sorry Stacy, Razkid, Mogan, and Spit Hood perform, as well as a DJ set from Gemiiniize.

Speaking about the event, James Minas, said: “I’m so gassed about this event, it’s a chance to do something on a different scale to anything I’ve done before. “I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s going to be kind of intense. “The creatives I’ve been working with to put this all together have been immense, so talented and together I think we’ve created something that takes what we do live to a whole new level.”

Friday 17^th November:
Doors open: 6.30pm
Starts: 7pm
ACT 1 – Tamaraebi / Lily Webbe / Freddy Forbidden / Foxxglove / Half Happy / Minas
Finish time: 11pm

Saturday 18^th November:
Doors open: 5pm
Starts: 5.30pm
ACT 2 – Grove / SHLUG / Minas / Sorry Stacy / Razkid / MOGAN / Spit Hood / Gemiiniize (DJ) Finish time: 12am

Tickets: One day ticket is £10 and both days together £15
Concessions: £5 per day.

Concession tickets are offered to full-time students, visitors with disabilities, over 65+, and individuals receiving universal credits.

Buy tickets here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/cultvrlab

We are delighted to announce one of the selected projects for the first collaborative residency programme between Society of Arts and Technology (Montreal, CA) and CULTVR Lab (Cardiff, UK). Both immersive art centres will be supporting the development of ‘The forest lives forever (because the forest eats itself)’ by multi instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry in collaboration with movement researcher Karina Bleau.
More news will be following soon!

This bilateral immersive residency programme has been supported by Quebec and Wales joint call by the Welsh Government and Quebec Government.

We are travelling to Austin, TX next week to be part of SXSW for the third consecutive year. In this edition, we are organising an Immersive Screens Meet Up alongside Live Cinema UK.

March 14th, 2023 / 2:30pm – 3:30pm CT
Hilton Austin Downtown / Room 406

Whether you’re already working with immersive screens of any kind, or you’re just interested in the potential they have to augment your showcases or provide an alternative way to view VR projects, come and take part in this networking session if you are in Austin.

Thanks to Wales Arts International for the support.

Last week we delivered our Digital Storytelling workshop in collaboration with Prince’s Trust as part of the programme Get Started. The course supported young people between the ages of 16 to 25 to get an insight into the creative industries whilst learning about how to tell their own stories utilising digital tools.

Also, we hosted a cohort of artists from Yorkshire as part of Live Cinema’s Immersive Experiences 101 course supported by SIGN – Screen Industries Growth Network. We delivered workshops covering live capture and CG techniques for immersive production, creative storytelling and live performance for XR projects and post-production and motion capture.

Last week we were in Canada presenting about what we do at CULTVR as part of the international festival Imersa Montreal.

We also enjoyed the live performance of ‘Entangled Structures’ at Society of Arts & Technology created by Monocolor as part of our Catalyst 360º programme supported by the Arts Council of Wales.

‘Entangled Structures’, Monocolor. Presented at SAT Montreal.

ARKA KINARI: ARTIVISM AT SEA

A World Premiere at CULTVR, Cardiff.
Immersive storytelling performance from two international artists and climate activists, Grey Filastine & Nova Ruth in collaboration with 4Pi Productions.
‘It was our dream to set sail across the world, creating travelling shows without causing pollution’. Filastine & Nova.

In a live immersive documentary performance combining 360º video, music and story, Nova Ruth & Grey Filastine share the voyage of Arka Kinari, a floating cultural platform on a mission to share a message about climate change and the promotion of climate resilience through music and art.

‘Subversive, immersive and partially submerged’, Arka Kinari is a 70-ton sailing ship powered by the sun, equipped with solar panels and a seawater desalination system, and home to a gallery of activists, makers and artists who share a collective message and purpose in sounding the eco alarm for climate change.

‘Nova and I have spent the last dozen years making music, videos and live performances to discuss the frictions between humans and the rest of nature, of which the most famous effect is climate change. But just speaking about this problem, or even making art about this problem, didn’t feel like enough of a response to such an existential crisis. So we made a plan to make our method match our message, and to start living right now according to our principles, and this is how Arka Kinari was conceived’. Grey Filastine.

For 7 weeks this summer, 2022, Cardiff based arts studio 4Pi Productions joined Filastine and Nova on the ship as it travelled from Bali to Jakarta to document the journey and capture immersive content for this performance and make a 360º documentary film. An extraordinary experience for the team to be part of this cultural, floating community that travels to numerous locations, stopping off at remote communities to share their music and their art; and do so by travelling across one of our greatest natural resources- the sea.

“They sound less like ‘world’ music and more like music from another world.” Pitchfork

Filastine & Nova’s music combines electronic beat production with dense layers of voice, concrete sounds, analogue synths and strings. Nova’s ethereal voice adds much to Filastine’s sounds- an intoxicating combination! Another world is exactly what they aim to create using sound, video, design and dance to express a radically different vision of the possible. A message that is centred around the possibility of a decarbonated economy, resilient in the face of climate change and committed to protecting the sea.

There is considerable work underway to bring the #ArkaKinari to the UK in 2024, a first ever voyage into British waters. It will dock at a few locations, offering community workshops, a tour of the ship and of course the opportunity for the public to enjoy a live performance from Nova & Filastine from Cardiff’s dock.

For one night only, why not come and join us for the evening and find out what happens when a rogue’s gallery of activists, makers and artists embark on a sailing world trip idea for the best of reasons. Everything you imagined about the wildness of the sea will be confirmed… and then some.

This project has been supported by the British Council’s International Collaboration Grants.