By Marsha Clarke
The reality of progress is that it will often times fail and in some cases die completely. The history of Virtual Reality always showed more hope than promise and has been resurrected so many times that a game of thrones character should be named after it. As a child, I would look through a blue glass filled with water and imagine that I was a deep sea diver looking up towards the sky during my ascension to my boat. Little did I know that the child like imagination that caused me to break my mother’s wedding gifts would also be used to place my mind into a moving story of a Salvador Dali painting.
Jump into the Light is a VA and AR cinema and playhouse located in New York City’s East Village. Although the space opened up in April of this year its founders Michael Deathless, Mehow Skalski and Dr. Sky Rolnick have made NYC their VR home since 2015 moving locations to accommodate the expansion of VR possibilities. Michael was a part of a pioneer program for Google Glass and has been a constant advocate for the positive part that VR is playing in societal development.
This spring Jump into the Light partnered up with Mount Sinai Hospital for a VR therapy initiative in a push to create software that allows people with various disorders to participate in environmental shared experiences. The cinema and play house is also a learning center that teaches 3D programming and development along with producing 3D content. This November courses will range from 3D modeling, 3D UV mapping and 360 video shooting with a continuation of courses throughout the year, there are no background requirements you only need to take an interest in 3D development and the progression of the technology.
As a proud and frustrated New Yorker, I can say that from the start of watching 360 nature shorts and dream flying into the details of the Salvador Dali painting, put my mind at ease enough to truly see what lies behind the detail of vision. Coupled with the killing of zombies and skydiving the VR experience taught me that our vision is more than what we can see, it’s really what we act upon. Creating and moving 3D objects may be just that for me, but to the mind of an architect, it’s a metropolis that will soon be destroyed by a giant hand monster who loves to dance.
From September 15th to the 17th Jump into the Light will host its first VR and AR festival at 180 Orchard St. New York, NY. The three-day festival will provide workshops along with presentations from industry leaders and showcase work from international companies. This festival will connect the New York VR community with information about the current progress of VR and beyond. If for some reason you are not sure about attending this event, just ask yourself “Is there another three day block that I can skydive, shoot zombies, cook, fly across a skyline to put out fires, watch a wave close in on me, build 3D objects, be surrounded by amazing tech visionaries and have a beer or two? Check out the link for ticket info and get ready to be amazed at what collective thought has done for VR so far.
Jump Into the Light is open seven days a week and is always increasing the experiences with in house development. To get tickets visit the website or if you are in the East Village just walk in and have an experience curated for you. Everyone at Jump into the Light is very knowledgeable about the VR systems and genuinely wants you to enjoy your experience.
