Press Release – Los Angeles, CA (May 4th, 2017) – Clever Fox and Embolden Entertainment launch The Future is Virtual, a new talk show simulcast in VR and 360 live video that bridges the gap between immersive media commentary, pop culture, and futurism.
Releasing this week with both a live show and selection of binge episodes The Future is Virtual brings something new and radically different to the rapidly evolving VR landscape. From episode to episode hosts Chadwick Turner and Dekker Dreyer connect the current state of the industry to broader questions about society, ethics and entertainment with a diverse roster of guests. In the first few episodes the series tackles topics ranging from the nature of virtual celebrity with Caitlin O’Connor of Arsenic Magazine to how big data will impact human evolution with Australian artist Ian Milliss; recent guest-editor of Artlink’s data visualization issue.
Dekker Dreyer, an artist with a long history in interactive storytelling and current CCO of studio Clever Fox, believes that it’s important for the show to be accessible for VR enthusiasts as well as the general public.
“I love what we do on TFIV. There are so many artists creating in VR and AR and I want the audience to love this revolution as much as I do. The show has to be smart. It has to be funny. That means we’re front-loading it with interesting people and big ideas. Artists, actors, educators, scientists, musicians, writers, anyone who has a passion for VR. At the end of the day our show isn’t talking about headsets or platforms or cameras or game engines, we’re talking about how daily life will be completely transformed by this technology.”
Chadwick Turner, an immersive media consultant and CSO of MANDT VR, hopes to provide listeners a better understanding of where immersive media will be taking our society in the near-term and distant future.
“I’ve been in VR/AR since working at Amazon on the Fire Phone. That project educated me on the power of the smartphone — today, 2 billion devices worldwide have the capability of playing immersive content, however we still need better games, videos and experiences to convince consumers to leverage the power in their pocket. The smartphone is just the beginning of our ascension into virtual and augmented realities…and through TFIV I’m eager to investigate with my good friend Dekker, how society will be affected on both a personal and global scale.”
The Future is Virtual premieres Friday May, 5th at 6pm eastern / 3pm pacific with the “Digital Vice” episode. Guests include Ela Darling, pornstar and founder of vrtube.xxx and Ceven Grey of LA’s Arqade immersive entertainment space. The show is streamed from Embolden Entertainment’s Global Voice Broadcasting studios in a 360° facebook live feed. TFIV is simulcast to a virtual studio audience via Altspace VR where Oculus, Vive, and GearVR users can watch the show and ask questions in realtime with a virtual moderator. Each episode is archived as an audio podcast and available via most popular aggregation platforms.
Connect to The Future is Virtual at http://www.thefutureisvirtual.
All inquiries, please email show@thefutureisvirtual.com
Sean Earley is the Executive Editor of AR/VR Magazine & co-founder of RobotSpaceship Podcast Network. He is the Director of New Biz Development and Publishing at KEMWEB, a musician, producer & consultant. He loves guitars, VR and coffee.
