#1529: SXSW 2025 XR Experience Selection Sneak Peak with Programmer Blake Kammerdiener

The SXSW XR Experience Selection runs from March 9-11 and contains 15 pieces in competition and 16 pieces in the spotlight, and I had a chance to chat with SXSW's XR programmer Blake Kammerdiener about each of these pieces. He provides some highlights from the XR Track Sessions at SXSW, and also mentions that there is an immersive piece called NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) that is showing on March 11th & 12th. See down below for some more links to different SXSW events. Here is a list of the XR experiences being shown at SXSW, and I will update this post as I post my Voices of VR podcast interviews as I've featured a dozen projects in my previous coverage. UPDATE (March 29, 2025): I've now added links to all of my subsequent coverage at SXSW down below. And be sure to check out this Linked article: Recap of All SXSW XR Experiences Including Voices of VR Podcast Interviews with Every Artist. SXSW XR Experience Competition [Overview of all of the SXSW 2025 XR Experience Program] - #1529: SXSW 2025 XR Experience Selection Sneak Peak with Programmer Blake Kammerdiener 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre - #1548: 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre Uses Phone-Based AR to Volumetrically Tell a Forgotten History Any War Any Enemy - #1490: “Any War Any Enemy” is a Beautiful Anti-War, Immersive Poem About Nuclear Annihilation Cosmos in Focus - #1554: Cosmos in Focus Contextualizes James Webb Telescope Images in Educational Immersive Planetarium Experience Currents - #1556: Currents Boldly Defines a New Era of DIY 180-Degree Immersive Filmmaking with a Kit Under $5k Face Jumping - #1532: Tenderclaws' "Face Jumping" Explores the Frontiers of Eye-Tracked Locomotion in Poetically Surreal Short Honey Fungus - #1549: Honey Fungus Cultivates Intimacy with Nature through Embodied Actions Inspired by Fungi and Queer Ecology In the Current of Being - #1531: In the Current of Being Uses Immersive Haptics to Tell the Story of Electroshock Conversation Therapy Proof As If Proof Were Needed - #1543: Proof As If Proof Were Needed Enables Audiences to Collaboratively Edit Video Feeds via Embodied Movements Reflections of Little Red Dot - #1539: Wandering in Open World Doc Archives in Mixed Reality with SXSW XR Jury Prize Winner "Reflections of Little Red Dot" Shelter - #1545: Shelter Observational 360 Documentary Shows Intimate Side of War via Ukrainian Citizen Bomb Shelters [The Choice Chapter 1] - #1075: Stereoscopic Compositing Innovations & “The Choice” Interactive Documentary Exploring Reproductive Rights in Texas The Choice - Chapters 2 and 3 - #1547: Simulating One-on-One Conversations about Abortion Experiences to Change Minds with "The Choice - Chapters 2 & 3" The Last Practice - #1542: Exploring the Paradox of Narratively Critiquing AI While Also Using AI to Make "The Last Practice" The Secret Life of Monsters - The Gateway Experience - #1538: Mixed Reality Calibration Innovations Hidden within "The Secret Life of Monsters: The Gateway Experience" Traces: The Grief Processor - #1544: Traces: The Grief Processor Immersive Documentary Invites Groups to Learn About Grief Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History - #1546: How Indigenous Storytelling is Changing Non-Proliferation Narratives in "Ways of Knowing: A Navajo Nuclear History" SXSW XR Experience Spotlight Address Unknown: Fukushima Now - #1438: Honoring the Memory of Abandoned Ghost Towns with “Address Unknown: Fukushima Now” All I Know About Teacher Li - #1452: Immersive Documentary about Chinese Censorship “All I Know About Teacher Li” Tops Venice Immersive Audience Favorites Survey Ancestors - #1507: From Selfies to Virtual Offspring, “Ancestors” Turns Strangers into Family and Intergenerational Speculative Futures Anouschka - #1334: “Anouschka” Wins IDFA DocLab Digital Storytelling Award with AR Narrative Game about Cultural Heritage [Oyrza from DocLab 2024, but also some more discussion about Anouschka] - #1540: Hacking AI for Black Representation & the Future Dreaming of Archival Collections with Tamara Shogaolu A Number From the Ghost - #1533: Web Developer Built "A Number from the Ghost" WebXR Adventures to Highlight His Music EchoVision - #1550: EchoVision Answers the Question 'What is it like to see like a bat?' with Mixed Reality, AI, & Haptics Fly To You - #1552: Fly to You Explores Stories of Separated Families in Division of Korea Using Point Clouds & 360 Video Future Botanica - #1514: Creating GenAI Flower Ecosystem with “Future Botanica” AR App Just for You Trilogy All That Remains - #1126: Re-creating Experimental Theatre 1:1 Encounters via 360 video with “All That Remains” Over the Rainbow - #1250: Translating 1:1 Experimental Theatre Encounters into 360 Video to Transcend Expectations with Craig Quintero A Simple Silence - #1422: “A Simple Silence” Wraps Up Craig Quintero’s Trilogy Exploring Spatial Transformations & Immersive Encounters Origins - Life's Epic Journey - #1553: The Story of Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig, and the Multi-Channel Video Translation of "Origins - Life's Epic Journey" Oto's Planet - #1555: Award-Winning Tabletop Animation "Oto's Planet" Uses Unique Interactive Mechanic to Chose Perspective Resolution: A Cinephonic Rhapsody for the Soul - #1534: Animated Immersive Dome Experience "Resolution: A Cinephonic Rhapsody for the Soul" Created as an Album Listening Party Sweet! - #1541: Virtual Being Engages in Socratic Monologue Comparing AI to Sugar in "Sweet!" Installation Symphoni - #1551: Breaking Down the Game Design of New Conducting-Inspired, Hand-Tracked, Rhythm Game "Symphoni" The Art of Change - #1446: Studio Syro’s “The Art Of Change” is the Best Immersive Music Video Experience I’ve Seen So Far Pushing at the Edges of Spatial Grammar Uncanny Alley: A New Day - #1442: Combining VRChat Worldbuilding with Immersive Theatre Storytelling in “Uncanny Alley: A New Day” [Ristband Spatial Audio Experience] - #1535: Roman Rappak's 4th Annual "Ristband" SXSW Live Music Mixed Reality Performance Adds Spatial Audio [Spatial audio trends] - #1536: d&b audiotechnik's Artist Relations Manager Wayne Powell on Spatial Audio Trends NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) - #1537: NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) Uses Low-Bit Visuals & Hundreds of Spatial Audio Speakers to Tell a Moving Story SXSW XR Events Spreadsheet of Unofficial List of Parties & Events @ SXSW 2025 for the XR Community SXSW 2025 Film & TV Opening Night Party (Platinum and Film & TV Badges only) - Mar 7, 2025 10:00pm CT Creators & Cocktails: Happy Hour with Kwame Appiah - Mar 8, 2025 5:00pm CT ASU Happy Hour At SXSW - Mar 9, 2025 5:00pm CT VR/AR/XR Dev Meet Up - Mar 11, 2025 2:30pm CT Television Academy Emerging Media Peer Group Meet Up - Mar 11, 2025 4:00pm CT Future X Music Showcase Presented by Ristband - Mar 11, 2025 8:40pm CT NOWISWHENWEARE (the stars) is showing on afternoon & evening slots on March 11th & 12th SXSW 2025 Film & TV Intermission Party (Platinum and Film & TV Badges only) - Mar 12, 2025 10:00pm CT This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality