We are back in Los Angeles after an incredible time in Telluride at the MountainFilm Festival, where we were a premier presentation by featured artist Eric Hanson of BluePlanet VR. Our opening night (seen above) was attended by over 400 people, most of whom were able to participate in our Immersive Experience. We were met with incredible enthusiasm as people from ages 5-90 emerged from the experience spellbound and excited. Over the three days our exhibit was open to the public, people repeatedly told us after emerging from the headset that they felt transported immediately to a different place and time and fully appreciated the juxtaposition of storytelling and the meticulously rendered virtual landscape.
We displayed several ONWARD objects and two films by Peter Kirby, one our official submission to the film festival and the second a photography/video loop, while Ben Benjamin created a website that offered a sneak peek of the models for people waiting for the headsets. All of these elements served to contextualize the Immersive Experience, and gave people an opportunity to learn about The ONWARD Project. Our debut was extremely successful, and we are thrilled at the incredible feedback that we received!
This event could not have happened without the generous support of you, our donors. We also relied heavily on the volunteers who accompanied us to Colorado, including Lithuania and Louise Denetso our collaborators, Jennifer Stanley who gave us her technical expertise, Melea Veith and Marydee Donnan for stepping in to organize on the ground, and Cory Kahn a constant support. And to Madi Fair who managed the production and coordinated the different aspects of the exhibit and the trip. We are so grateful to Kris Kwasniewski and the Ah Haa Gallery for hosting us. It was a pleasure working with them. We also thank Kurt Hauser for his graphic design help; our gallery looked incredible because of his thoughtful and detailed design elements.
Lastly the largest thank you to Eric Hanson of BluePlanet VR for including The ONWARD Project as a premier piece at Telluride where he was lauded as a featured artist and for his incredible expertise, patience and attention to detail while creating our Immersive Experience!
