Two submissions from the Open Call on the current situation due to COVID 19 have been selected for this year’s digital festival edition VRHAM! VIRTUAL: Lithodendrum by Ida Kvetny and New World by Kerenza Harris and Alessio Grancini are shown in the festival section VRCinema.

“We are impressed by the artistic diversity on the submitted projects. The two selected artworks have convinced us; their very different views on the current threat show a multi-layered, artistic exploration,” says Ulrich Schrauth, artistic director of VRHAM!

In their 360° project New World, Kerenza Harris and Alessio Grancini (USA) deal with the real threat of the Corona crisis. The audience embarks on an emotional journey through the bizarre chaos with the main characters. Danish artist Ida Kvetny dives into an escapist world with Lithodendrum. With her work, she takes the viewers from reality into a grotesque inferno, into a visually powerful and restless parallel world.

The deadline for the open call ended on 8 May. We were looking for works that deal innovatively with the perception of the current situation. A total of 274 works from 36 countries were submitted for all open calls of this year’s festival edition.

VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival Hamburg is the first international artistic Virtual Reality festival, which has been held annually in Hamburg since 2018. After two successful festival editions in Hamburg’s creative centre Oberhafen, VRHAM! has firmly established itself as an important date in the international VR art scene. Due to the effects of the Corona pandemic, the third festival edition VRAHM! VIRTUAL takes place from June 4 to 7, 2020 as a predominantly digital festival.