Artist-run gallery Gossamer Fog has launched Alt_R — a virtual production studio located at Enclave Projects in Deptford, London.
The new facility opened with a special preview that featured a hybrid mixed-reality set, designed and produced by artist and Gossamer Fog Director Samuel Capps. The first studio of its kind in the UK being run by an arts organisation, this facility for artist development, collaboration, and commissioned projects, will enable artists to experiment with mixed-reality technologies, usually the preserve of the film and TV industry.
Artists will be trained and equipped with the skills to navigate the studio, which is fully kitted out with a 7x3m LED screen, tracking technologies for cameras and props, motion capture suits and other essential film equipment for capturing live-action, physical sets and virtual environments simultaneously, all of which will enable creators to visualise and direct scenes in real-time, at real scale — a process which varies radically from green screen technology, seamlessly blending the virtual and physical, using real-time 3D creation tool Unreal Engine.
Conceived and developed by artist and Gossamer Fog director Samuel Capps, Alt_R will initially run as a programme of seasons, with new physical sets and virtual environments developed and installed every six months. A carefully curated roster of artists will be commissioned to create new collaborative work responding to each season’s overarching theme.
Photo_ Dane Sutherland