Havana, Cuba, December 16th, 2023
The first edition of the "CUBAVERSO": Workshop on immersive technologies and XR creation concludes, in which Cuban creators explore emerging narratives of impact for the community.
A unprecedential event: A new ecosystem of local innovators has just emerged; 16 Cuban artists now acquire the security of being able to carry out their projects with narratives that point towards the future, strengthening their link with technology and art.
CUBAVERSO 2023, organized and created by Marcos Louit and Patricia Díaz, founders of NEWMEN studio, which had the exceptional international coordination of Gabriel Giandinoto, Virtuality content manager for Latam. The “EUROPE-CARIBBEAN CO-CREATION HUB” project of the EUNIC Cluster in Cuba and the Cultural Department of the Embassy of Spain in Cuba, within the Scientific Diplomacy program of the Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) supported the event in partnership with French Alliance of Cuba, Estudios Ojala, Tercer Paraíso Cuba, Galleria CONTINUA and the collaboration of Mentoras Creativas.
A week of virtual talks (December 4-8) and a face-to-face workshop (December 11-16, 2023) at the beautiful Alliance Française in Prado (Havana), provided participants with the tools to undertake these ambitious projects. Teamwork, the exchange of knowledge and the learning of new technological tools was the vehicle to develop this unique experience in the country.
Teams composed of designers, architects, plastic artists, programmers, musicians, and sociologists were created from an open call to Cuban nationals. Together they were able to have access to the most current technologies used for the creation of content in web 3.0 and the Metaverse. This experience positively transformed his skills and ways of telling stories.
It was attended by face-to-face tutors like Mar Gimeno from Garage Stories from Spain (ideation methodology, innovation and communication), Damián Turkieh from Realidad 360 Argentina (prototyping and immersive technologies) and Beata Calińska, content manager of the New Frontier program of the USA Sundance Film Festival.
There were also experienced national and international voices such as Rafael Martínez (Cuba), Yimmit Ramírez (Cuba), Gala Cacchione (Argentina), Eduardo Labollita (Argentina), Marta Ordeig (Spain) and Juan Andrés Gárate (Ecuador) were present in the online talks. who shared their experiences and managed to stimulate the creation of different types of content, providing technical support and expanding the capabilities of the participants.
4 teams of 4 Cubans each benefited, and as a challenge, they had to research and prototype the following projects in development:
● RECICLA PARA GANAR (Recycle to win)- An Augmented Reality mobile app that encourages recycling and the adoption of sustainable habits through gaming (Clara Massó, Adriano Rueda Sanabria, Mario Enrique Briño Alvarez, Mercedes
Muñoz Fernández)
● ARCHIVERSO - A Metaverse (digital community and virtual map) that promotes a network of contacts and collaboration between entrepreneurs and cultural, educational and social development projects in Cuba (Katiana Maruve, Leandro Valdés, Jorge Luis Suárez Alfonso, Su_ayma Parra, Darien Sánchez)
● ESPACIO SEGURO (Safe space)- A 360-degree video that raises awareness about the problem of gender violence through a first-person empathy exercise (Sheyla Pool, Wendy García Castellanos, Frank Lahera O'Callaghan, Alejandro Maytin, Karen Marrero)
● UMBRAL - A Mixed Reality experience where the viewer experiences a fusion of the real world with that of fiction and experiences the work of digital artists. (David Peraza, Carlos Oscar Anaya Cabrera, Aaron Randy Moreno, Yeny Artigas Arteaga, Gabriela Gonzáles).
The exchange of knowledge and the learning of new technological tools was the vehicle to develop this one of its kind experience in the country.
The exchange with the Creative Mentors program, the presentation of the QR Possession piece made by the Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto with artificial intelligence and the Immersion piece by the artist Julio Le Parc with music by Astor Piazzolla, were some of the internationally prestigious XR content that made up this face-to-face workshop.
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