Third State of the ARt Exhibition Opens With Calls To Embrace VR Tech

The third installation of the State of the ARt (SOTA) exhibition which aims to fuse art and technology, has today opened in Nairobi with calls for wide-scale adoption of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies in many sectors of the economy in order to capitalize on the massive, immersive and eye-opening opportunities they offer.

Dubbed “SOTA 3.0 – Darubini” (Telescope), the month-long exhibition will showcase works by six visual artists who were part of this year’s cohort under the wider theme of how technology can enable us to take a reflective look at different aspects of our lives.

“From the first installment “NOMA” (2020) to “USONI” (2021), we have finally arrived at ‘DARUBINI’ which offers us a lens into ourselves through immersive technology. Through this project, we have equipped young creatives with skills to enter their individual XR (eXtended Reality) journey and extend their creative freedom and expression without boundaries in the virtual world,” said Maria Bauer, the Project Coordinator of Goethe’s JENGA CCI during the official launch of the exhibition at the OUT Reality, XR Lab and Exhibition Space at The Mall, Westlands.

“This project has transformed the way we look at the relationship between art and technology and has given us the opportunity to grow as well as build an ecosystem of creative professionals that are at the forefront of this creative movement,” Ms. Bauer added.

The well-attended event – which is a brainchild of BlackRhino VR, a Kenyan-based Extended Reality production agency and Goethe-Institut – was graced by visiting German Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office Katja Keul.

An estimated 800 people are expected to participate in the exhibition which is a culmination of a three months training program for creatives to upskill and build their capacity through the use of different tools in VR and AR.  The training also included soft skills development which was conducted by Lantern Training.

The partners are also leveraging the exhibition as an avenue to take participants through numerous immersive experiences and thus underscore the power of these new technologies in transforming African economies. They have come up with an elaborate plan that will see different stakeholders including government officials, corporates, artists and creatives, schools and the media fraternity visit the exhibition on diverse dates during the month.

Wide-scale adoption of these technologies, they say, can revolutionize how many industries are run and provide one of the plausible solutions to address some of the multifaceted challenges faced in society.

“It has been a great 3-year XR journey with our partner Goethe-Institut. Together, we have managed to interact and empower a group of young digital artists both economically and creatively. The success stories are inspiring. BlackRhino VR continues to equip the youth in Kenya and Africa with the necessary VR/AR tools to be the storytellers of the future,” said Shamina Rajab, Communications and Community Manager, BlackRhino VR.

The experts noted that VR and AR technologies are more than gaming and entertainment.

The future is here and Africa is being presented with unique opportunities that it can harness to shape its future and that of the world, they added.

To accrue the benefits that these technologies portend, however, there’s a need to ensure that both the software and hardware equipment are accessible.

Currently, the cost of acquiring VR/AR technologies is prohibitive making it difficult to scale them. For example, a VR headset cost upwards of Ksh50,000 which makes it out of reach for many people.

“We are urging the government, policymakers, and private stakeholders to support knowledge transfer of immersive technology as well as accessibility to infrastructure (hardware & software) that will catapult Extended Reality exploration and innovation,” said Ms. Rajab.