The third installation of the State of The Art has opened in Nairobi.
This is with calls for wide-scale adoption of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies in many sectors of the economy to capitalise on the massive, immersive, and eye-opening opportunities they offer.
The exhibition aims to fuse art and technology.
Dubbed SOTA 3.0, DARUBINI (Telescope), the month-long exhibition will showcase works by six visual artists who were part of the year’s cohort.
They were under the wider theme of how technology can enable us to take a reflective look at different aspects of our lives.
The event which is a brainchild of BlackRhino VR, a Kenyan-based Extended Reality (XR) production agency, is in partnership with Goethe Institut’s initiative Jenga CCI.
They are dedicated to strengthening the creative economy in different sectors of Kenya by encouraging the use of immersive technologies in creation and content delivery.
Project coordinator at Goethe’s Jenga CCI Maria Bauer said that the project has equipped young creatives with skills to enter their XR journey and extend their creative freedom, and expression without boundaries in the virtual world.
“From the first instalment ‘NOMA’ (2020) to USONI (2021), we have finally arrived at DARUBINI which offers us a lens into ourselves through immersive technology,” Maria said.
“This project has transformed the way we look at the relationship between art and technology. It has allowed us to grow as well as build an ecosystem of creative professionals that are at the forefront of this creative movement.”
The exhibition will be at the OUT Reality, XR Lab, and Exhibition space at The Mall, Westlands.
The event will run from November 5 to 27.
An estimated 800 people are expected to participate in the exhibition which is a culmination of a three months training program for creatives to upskill and build their capacity through the use of different tools in VR and AR.
The training also included soft skills development which was conducted by Lantern training.
The partners are also leveraging the exhibition as an avenue to take participants through numerous immersive experiences and thus underscore the power of these new technologies in transforming African economies.
Wide-scale adoption of these technologies can revolutionalize how many industries are run and provide one of the plausible solutions to address some of the multifaceted challenges faced in society.
Communications and Community manager at BlackRhino VR Shamina Rajab said that they are continuing to equip the youth in Kenya and Africa with the necessary VR/AR tools to be storytellers of the future.
“We have managed to interact and empower a group of young digital artists both economically and creatively,” she said.
She said that VR and AR technologies are more than gaming and entertainment.
“The future of Africa is being presented with unique opportunities that it can harness to shape its future and that of the world.”
Some of the creatives showcasing their artwork include Adam Yawe with the Jua ni Kali project, Leezie with The Queen is Dead, and Husna Ismail with the growth project.
Others include Angela Cauri with A Personal Odyssey of Thyself, Gavin Kendo with Cotton Candy Dreams project and John Maronga with Euphoria project.