February 7 → April 28, 2024
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats
An interactive virtual reality adventure that takes audiences back to the heyday of the UK’s illegal Acid House rave scene of the late 1980’s
As part of the presentation of In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats at the PHI Centre, meet the artist and discover his world and what inspired him.
Want to get an insider look at the inspiration behind the work In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats presented from February 7 to April 28, 2024 at the PHI Centre? The PHI team had the opportunity to sit down with the creator, Darren Emerson, while he was in town for the opening of the immersive experience that explores the rich history of late 1980s rave culture in the UK.
Learn more about his background as an artist, his company East City Films, and his personal connections to scenes in the work.
Darren Emerson is an Immersive Artist, Director, Writer and Producer and the Co-Founder of London production company East City Films. His work uses Virtual Reality to fuse cinema, theatre, music, interaction, immersion and embodiment to create works that focus on notions of community both structured and organic.
In 2015, Darren created his first VR experience Witness 360: 7/7 which was selected in competition at IDFA Doc Lab. In 2016, his VR documentary Indefinite won the Immersive Commission by Sheffield Doc/Fest, going on to be featured in a specially commissioned New York Times Op-Ed. In 2018 Darren was commissioned by Creative XR to create the room-scale documentary Common Ground, which won Best Immersive Storytelling at Sandbox Immersive Festival, the Grand Prix Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Best VR Experience at the Broadcast Awards, and Best VR Narrative at the World Press Photo Awards. In 2022 In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats launched at Coventry City of Culture with a 6-week sold out exhibition and won the award for Immersive Non-Fiction at IDFA Doclab. The project continues to tour International Festivals and Galleries to rave reviews.
In 2023, Darren served as Creative Director for 3 VR experiences commissioned by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. He also directed one of these films, Letters from Drancy which is set to premiere later this year (2024).
An interactive virtual reality adventure that takes audiences back to the heyday of the UK’s illegal Acid House rave scene of the late 1980’s
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