On 18th May 2018 Wired Sussex held their 13th VR Meetup in the Fusebox, and the evening was sponsored by SECP. Centre member Abigail Wincott spoke about a new research project to explore the potential of sound-only virtual/mixed reality for heritage applications. A number of practitioners were excited by the idea of working in sound, and have asked to collaborate on future research.

The Wired Sussex VR Meetups are a space for people working in virtual reality to get together talk about their work and network. To support one of the emerging research strands of SECP members, heritage, they chose the theme of Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums, or GLAM.

A number of people from the heritage sector came, as well as VR producers and artists, and researchers from the Universities of Sussex and Brighton.

Other speakers shared their work in various immersive forms. You can watch a video of the presentations below from the Wired Sussex YouTube channel. On the night there were demonstrations of various VR applications by residents at the Fusebox, and the chance to chat over pizza provided by SECP.

The plan now is to apply for funding so the SECP Research Centre can develop a series of events over a longer timeframe, to bring together academic researchers, heritage professionals and media producers in the South East and to help them develop new projects and exchange knowledge in the area of mediated heritage. A proposal for funding for immersive sound for heritage is also now being written, thanks to links made on the night.

By Abigail Wincott