VRHAM! festival to link art and virtual reality

1 June 2021

Virtual art festival to go hybrid in 2021

The 2021 VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival is going hybrid from June 4-12. The latest virtual and augmented reality artworks will be shown worldwide via the VRHAM! VIRTUAL venue, created by Berlin based VR Studio INVR.SPACE, as well as on site in Hamburg’s Oberhafenquartier. Eighteen artworks from 15 countries have been selected from over 200 submissions for the festival. Apart from the exhibition, the agenda includes panels, keynotes and the presentation of the VRHAMMY Award.

VRHAM! showcasing multifaceted VR works

“We are very pleased to be able to present VRHAM! and bring a little festival flair back to Hamburg at the beginning of June. A festival for virtual art also feeds on encounters and exchange, all of which we missed very much last year. We are sure that with our combination of virtual (VRHAM! VIRTUAL) and physical venue, we will offer all visitors in Hamburg and worldwide a broad and exciting art experience”, said Ulrich Schrauth, Artistic Director. The exhibits focus among others on dance in digital form, transcendental experiences of nature, ideas of the future, and forms of history writing and memory culture.

VRHAMMY Award and supporting programme

The digital opening ceremony at 7 pm on June 4 will feature talks, live music and the presentation of the VRHAMMY Award worth EUR 5,000. The award, backed by the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, will be presented to the best international VR production and in the presence of the artists and the international jury of experts (Caroline Monnet, artist and director; Manuel Rossner, VR artist; Tricia Tuttle, Festival Director, BFI London Film Festival) .

Virtual experience or on site

Visitors can book a ticket to take part in the festival. Alternatively, the entire programme can be followed live on a laptop or PC and virtually on mobile VR glasses or high-end VR glasses. The required VR equipment can also be rented, according to the organisers' plans. Tours of museums, video footage, 360 video films as well as panels, workshops and live acts will be broadcast on the VRHAM! YouTube channel during the festival.

tn/sb/pb