Katharina Haverich & Fernanda Parente
Artistic Practice in the Metaverse
Block seminar, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Fridays, 14-20 h /Saturdays, 10-18 h, 19./20.1. and 2./3.2.2024, Hardenbergstr. 33, room 201
Cost of the Virtual Reality Glasses: probably approx. 20 €

INFOSESSION: Freitag, 20.10., 16 Uhr, https://meetings.udk-berlin.de/b/jak-j1t-ort-gk9

Registration on Moodle starts 16.10.2023 / Anmeldung auf Moodle beginnt am 16.10.2023: https://moodle.udk-berlin.de/moodle/course/view.php?id=2029
Moodle Enrollment Key / Einschreibeschlüssel: metaverse

This workshop aims to introduce students to virtuality and explore the possibilities of artistic practice in this realm whilst developing a critical awareness of how immersive technologies impact society and vice-versa. Students will work together in multidisciplinary groups and bring their own perspectives and specific skills to experiment and conceptualize artistic experiences. Together, we want to explore how documenting virtual experiences may (or may not) acquire a testimonial character. The course will take place both on campus and on virtual reality platforms. The course structure is based on the learnings from its first iteration in WiSe22/23.

Learning Goals:
- Develop an understanding of Virtual Reality (VR) technology and its applications.
- Experiment with forms of artistic practice in VR.
- Cross-disciplinary learning and exchange.
- Develop a critical awareness of how technologies impact arts, culture and society and vice-versa.
- Apply their skills in the development of a visual diary of their experiences in the metaverse.

Contents:
- Artistic practice in VR
- Learning how to navigate VR
- Conceptualizing artistic experiences for VR
- Methods of documentation in VR
- Critical perspectives on VR and the metaverse within the course’s framework

Working Methods:
- Presentations of concepts & case studies
- Inquiry-based learning
- Conceptual documentation
- Project-based learning

Assignments:
- Visual diary of developing artistic concept

Prerequisites for Participation: Students with limited motor skills or with visual or hearing difficulties may need assistance. We would ask for prior contact in order to ensure this support. For students with epilepsy, the use of VR glasses is not suitable, we suggest they work PC-based.
Please note that attendance on the first day of the seminar (19.1.2024, 14-20 h) is mandatory for all students. Students who miss the first class will not be able to continue the seminar.

Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credit points: Active participation with presentation of a visual documentation.

Katharina Haverich works at the intersection of media and theatre under the influence of dreams. As a conceptual performance artist and initiator, she stages dream-based sequences in digital and physical spheres. She has worked with Zentrum für Politische Schönheit, Emilio García Wehbi and Maricel Álvarez, Letzte Generation and internil among others. Works and collaborations were presented at HEK Basel, Chicago Virtual Art Museum, Teatro El Milagro (Mexico City), Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas (Buenos Aires), and in Berlin at Theaterdiscounter, HAU, and Akademie der Künste Berlin. Katharina Haverich gives talks and facilitates workshops in social virtual reality to explore the possibilities of avatarian co-presence. She trained with The Wooster Group, Tania Bruguera and Nevin Aladağ. Katharina Haverich holds a B.A. in Theatre and Professional Practice from Coventry University (England) and an M.A. in Theatre Studies from Freie Universität Berlin.

Fernanda Parente has been conceptualising and curating programmes at the intersection of art, technology and society for over 10 years. She started collaborating with VR creators in 2012 when she was the Head of Programme for the film and technology festival Digital Biscuit, an initiative of the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland. Since then, her interest in VR has been a constant in her career. She has previously collaborated with re:publica, the German Federal Foreign Office, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Goethe Institute, 48hrs Neukölln among others. Since 2018, she has been lecturing at universities such as Institut HyperWerk in Basel, University of Applied Arts Vienna and at the Berlin University of the Arts. Between  2019 and 2022, she co-founded and led the studio for digitality Rosy DX. Fernanda Parente holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of State of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Cultural Event Management from the Institute of Art Design and Technology (Ireland).