The Spatial Cinema Studio, organized by Gray Area and Recombinant Media Labs, convenes cohorts of multimedia artists pushing the parameters of narrative form to craft new audiovisual compositions for the RML CineChamber, a 360-degree cinematic environment that has pioneered provocative immersive media for nearly three decades.
Selected project proposals explore the expressive potential of new media technologies, from mixed reality and virtual worldbuilding to artificial intelligence, and how their transformations in a multi-sensory spatial context can manifest novel ways of telling and experiencing stories. These works adapt dynamic structures enabling contoured modes for divergent, concurrent narratives that articulate a fresher, multifaceted emphasis on story building architectures. Following an iterative development approach through workshops and technical support, the studio's cohort will showcase their final compositions-in-progress with public performances and screenings in the CineChamber apparatus.
About RML Cinechamber
The RML CineChamber Initiative is ever engaged with the evolving frontier of immersive, multisensory technologies, aiming to reduce barriers to entry and expand the creative possibilities afforded by these emerging media. Learning to compose for surround AV environments both artistically and technically demands cutting-edge skill sets that occasionally pose challenges for artists, including those with backgrounds historically excluded from access to emerging technology. Moreover, the prevalent AR and VR components utilized in spatial cinema most easily lend themselves to individual user experiences, thus limiting simultaneous viewing engagement and social interaction within these narratives. The rapid pace of technological advancement also risks rendering works based on XR technology potentially obsolete in a few years, sometimes limiting their active exhibition lifespan.
To mitigate these challenges, the RML CineChamber platform strives to establish a more standardized and mobile format for manifesting, premiering and touring surround cinema works to live audiences. Consisting of 10 HD screens arranged in a rectangular configuration together with an 8.2 channel surround sound system, the CineChamber is a floating panoramic rectangle viewable on both sides of the suspended movie surfaces. This technical configuration is transportable, allowing works to be presented at exhibitions and festivals, and offering artists broader exposure to spectators worldwide.
With the support of an NEA grant in 2014, Gray Area installed the necessary infrastructure for the system in the Grand Theater in San Francisco’s Mission District, enabling localized annual festivals of nearly 30 years of archived material. Curated by Recombinant Artistic Director Naut Humon, the CineChamber already has hosted over 60 works developed by internationally recognized artists. While the current repertoire predominantly features a wide span of primarily European artists exploring digital abstraction and collage, the Spatial Cinema Studio aims to additionally empower an expanded generation of current and classic artists from the Americas and abroad adapting a "VR mindset without the headset” frame of reference for the refraction of dominant narrative forms through panoramic polyphony.
