This workshop explores Mozilla Hubs as a powerful platform for hosting live performance and creating social spaces for audiences to meet and attend live streamed productions in VR. The session will include an introduction to the platform and spoke - the built in scene/set design tool - and demonstrate how to: integrate sign language and captions into your work, create connected performance spaces using doors the audience can click through; lead your audience from space to space using scene changes; and use your hubs space as a studio to broadcast to larger audiences using spectator mode.
Hubs is free, open source and fully customizable using Spoke. It also works across multiple platforms - VR headsets in 3D and desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices in 2D.
This event is part of a collaborative project by Neverthere and Bath Spa Productions - a programme of skills workshops, conversations and events for early career creatives and established artists looking to develop their practice. These sessions are designed to support engagement with digital platforms and immersive technologies, and to connect the wider artistic, business and academic community. Neverthere and Bath Spa Productions are working closely together with the shared purpose of stimulating partnerships and encouraging dialogue and knowledge exchange to enable a creative, innovative and artistic digital performance landscape.
What is Mozilla Hubs?
Hubs is for anyone who wants to connect with others remotely! It's a great way to bring communities together in a shared virtual space. Host a conference, teach a class, showcase art, or just hang out with friends. Hubs makes it easy to connect and share images, videos, 3D models, and more. With Hubs' spatialized audio you can have conversations with everyone together or break out into smaller groups — just like you can in person.
What is Spoke?
Spoke is the built-in scene editor for creating environments that can be used in Hubs rooms. The editor runs entirely in the browser and allows you to upload your own 3D models, images, and files to use in your projects. Spoke also contains building kits and integrations with content providers to help you build the perfect space!
Barra CollinsBarra will lead this workshop, briefly touching on his experience of being part of Meddwl Mawr, a Clwstwr research project that he worked on with Taking Flight, to creating accessible VR theatre and rehearsal spaces in Mozilla Hubs. Meddwl Mawr was supported by Cardiff University, Cardiff Met, Creative Clusters, Arts & Humanities Research Council and Industrial Strategy.
www.barracollins.comwww.clwstwr.org.uk
Valencia James
Valencia is a Barbadian freelance performer, maker and researcher interested in the intersection between dance, theatre, technology and activism. She believes in the responsibility of artists to reflect socio-political issues and in the power of the arts to inspire change.
She joins us to briefly talk about the Volumetric Performance Toolbox - an open-source prototype for volumetric dance performance in Mozilla Hubs. She envisions this as a set of tools that allow movement artists to capture and stream their performances in real-time.
www.valenciajames.com/volumetric-performance
