Upcoming events

Phoenix of Gaza screening at
Movies That Matter The Hague (22/03 – 27/03)

Come join us at Movies That Matter The Hague, where we will be showing the unique VR installation Phoenix of Gaza. The screening can be visited for free throughout the festival at the entry of Filmhuis Den Haag. For exact opening hours, check the programme schedule.

Programme
Saturday 22 March, 16:00 – 21:00
Sunday 23 March, 11:30 – 20:30
Monday 24 March, 13:30 – 20:00
Thursday 27 March, 17:00 – 20:00

Phoenix of Gaza XR is an interactive VR experience, capturing the untold stories of Gaza’s people and its transformation. Dive deep into the lives of those who endured and rebuilt. It’s more than VR — it’s a testament to resilience. The project includes hundreds of videos and images using 360-degree camera of daily activities in Gaza and the majority of historical places in the Gaza Strip before it was destroyed (about 80% of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed since October 7, 2023). The material includes images and videos of historical monuments, cultural sites, public squares, universities, schools, cafes, streets, agricultural areas, parks, beach, markets, and amusement places. This is in addition to capturing Palestinian culture through weddings, stitching workshops, dabke (traditional dance), palm harvesting, clay and pottery making, and other hand-made professions

This event is organized in collaboration with Stichting Movies that Matter The Phoenix of Gaza XR [Naim A.– Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb] and the NWO project VR as Empathy Machine

Masterclass with Prof. Mandy Rose (UWE, Bristol UK): Virtual Reality and the Immersive Turn May 15, 2025

In this masterclass, we will critically analyze immersive technologies through, amongst others, media, postcolonial, and gender studies lenses, reflecting on their ethical implications. We will also explore the potential of decolonial storytelling to enable new ways of engaging with social realities (Rose 2018). Prof. Rose will explore the challenges and potentials for social critique and new forms of knowledge as documentary makers engage with immersive Virtual Reality.

When: 15 May 2025, Welcome 9am, Masterclass from 9:30h-12:30h

Where: Utrecht University, Janskerkhof 15A, Room 204

ECTS: 2 EC, see details below.

Coordinator: Prof. Sandra Ponzanesi (UU)
For:  RMA students and PhD candidates in media studies, gender studies, cultural studies, postcolonial/decolonial studies, literature studies, film studies, media and communications studies, etc., who are a member of RMeS, NOG or any another Dutch Graduate Research School (onderzoekschool).

Registration for Masterclass: via THIS LINK. Please register before May 1, 2025

Public Lecture with with Mandy Rose: Virtual Realities: Documentary’s Immersive Turn

Focusing on immersive media, and the unexpected take-up of Virtual Reality (VR) for nonfiction in the last decade, this lecture considers issues arising for documentary as producers engage the platforms, technologies and types of audience experience enabled by digital. Through case studies of award-winning nonfiction works, I’ll discuss the epistemological ramifications of the frameless media experience of VR and the feelings of embodiment and what’s known as presence which are regarded as VR’s defining characteristics. I’ll discuss tensions between the affordances of immersion and the work of social critique that has been central to documentary’s mission. In these VR projects audiences become immersants – with touch, walking, vibration, even smell and heat becoming part of media experience. I’ll consider these multisensory registers being introduced into VR experiences as an alternative to the visuality that has dominated media since its inception. Might the tactile epistemologies of VR offer an alternative to what Donna Haraway has called the “God trick” of seeing everything from nowhere? Might multisensory registers encourage an attitude that Michael Taussig has called “yielding knowing” in relation to our fellow humans and the more-than-human, providing a new direction for documentary in our age of polycrisis?

Date & Time: May 15, 2025 | 17:15h-19:00h

Where: Utrecht University, Drift 25, Room 0.02

Registration for Public Lecture: via THIS LINK. Please register before May 1, 2025

For more information, you can follow this link: https://graduategenderstudies.nl/nog-rmes-masterclass-public-lecture-with-prof-mandy-rose-virtual-reality-and-the-immersive-turn/

Past events

Join us for a panel session that we are hosting at Immersive Tech Week in Rotterdam on “10 years of the empathy machine: Where are we headed?”

Immersive Tech Week , Rotterdam, December 5 2024

Since the mid-2010s, humanitarian organisations and Big Tech have embraced Virtual Reality for immersive storytelling. Chris Milk’s 2015 TED talk popularised VR as the “ultimate Empathy Machine”, which for humanitarians became a promise to re-engage audiences. However, scholars also criticised this techno-utopian vision, arguing it offers a superficial solution to complex issues and fosters self-centred empathy.

This panel will analyse a decade of Empathy Machine VR, its criticisms, post-pandemic evolution, and potential ways forward.

Find out more here.

“VR for good” Seminar – April 19th 2024 @ Utrecht University

On April 19th, 2024, Utrecht University hosted the seminar “VR for Good,” bringing together VR researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders in the Netherlands. The event aimed to map the current VR landscape, discuss ongoing projects, and build a community of practice focused on using VR for societal benefit. Participants critically examined the potentials and pitfalls of addressing societal issues through immersive technologies, sharing challenges and approaches to foster interdisciplinary perspectives on using VR for good. This blog provides a brief recap of the speakers’ talks and the conversations that ensued.

Read our reflections about the event on our blog.