Goldsmiths VR experience to lead Shoom celebrations
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Professor William Latham of Goldsmiths, University of London is set to debut his unique Mutator VR headset at an event to celebrate 30 years since the opening of legendary nightclub, Shoom.
Professor William Latham's Mutator VR experience
They will be shown – for the very first time in a music venue – at the Shoom 30th Birthday Party at Pulse Nightclub on London’s South Bank on Friday 8 December.
Shoom, owned by DJ and rave icon Danny Rampling, was a staple of the acid house scene in the 1980s and 1990s.
Mutation Space and Mutation VR Vortex are two VR Art Experiences on HTC Vive VR headsets which have been developed by Professor Latham and his team in the Music and Computing departments at Goldsmiths.
Their origins are in early Rave Culture and Fractal psychedelia. They give the viewer an intense visual and immersive experience in a strange, dynamically changing world of 3D organic forms, where the viewer has the ability to change their chosen world and mutate moving forms.
In ‘Vortex’, the VR viewer experiences being put in an alien floating landscape filled with hundreds of flowing ‘snake-like’ entities with which they interact.
In ‘Mutation Space’, the VR viewer’s tiniest body movements are mirrored by giant mutating organic forms.
Mutator VR has its origins in early Rave Culture and Fractal psychedelia from the late ‘80s.
Professor William Latham said: “The fusion of rave and VR to enable a generation of alternate realities has been predicted for a long time, and I am delighted to be collaborating with Danny Rampling to achieve this for the first time by showing Mutator VR at Shoom 30.
“Myself and the team at Goldsmiths have worked very hard to create this piece and I am confident it will prove to be a very popular part of these very exciting celebrations.”
Danny Rampling said: “It’s great to have Mutator VR technology and Professor William Latham contributing to the VR experience at Shoom. I am very excited and look forward to experiencing this truly amazing VR futuristic journey to other worlds. It looks incredible.”
The event takes place on Friday 8 December (10pm – 7am) at Pulse, Bankside Vaults, No1 Invicta Plaza, South Bank.