Xtended

The EYE Film museum in Amsterdam is the first museum of its kind to focus on innovative film and cinematographic virtual reality. Xtended is an ongoing series of ground-breaking virtual reality films by world-renowned artists and filmmakers. Noteworthy names include Laurie Anderson, Marina Abramović, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Tsai Ming-liang. The program demonstrates how virtual reality technology has shifted the film industry and changed people’s notions of what constitutes cinematic art.

The Xtended series inspires viewers to become active participants in the world of film, offering alternative views of the world they live in and immerse them in a cinematic 360° environment. Overall, the programmed virtual reality films range widely in style and cinematic aesthetic.

The project has included industry-setting films such as CARNE y ARENA, an interactive, seated experience detailing a refugee story by Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film was based on true accounts by Central American and Mexican migrants. Chalkroom  by Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang flew viewers through an enormous structure artfully composed of words, drawings, and stories on chalkboard walls. Another virtual reality film titled Deserted created by famed filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang featured the life of a man recuperating from a severe illness in a ruined apartment block in the vivid green mountains of Taiwan. “[Nature] provides us a certain warmth, comfort and rest,” Tsai said in an interview. “All these things are present in this VR… for your body to experience the film fully.”

Xtended is helping to define how the next generation of contemporary films will look and feel as the world of immersive technology advances.