At Texas arts and tech fest, virtual reality is perfectly human
The Peninsula
Austin: At South by Southwest the gargantuan Texas festival for cinema, music and tech artists this year embraced virtual reality as a way to be...
Austin: At South by Southwest -- the gargantuan Texas festival for cinema, music and tech -- artists this year embraced virtual reality as a way to better connect with humanity, not escape it.
VR and augmented reality are often associated with video gaming, or the groundbreaking hardware races underway between tech titans like Apple and Meta -- though with little in the way of mass adaptation.
But for inventor Niki Smit, VR is an avenue for humans to express their emotions and explore their mental health, including through the normally explicitly tactile experience of art therapy.
After donning the usual headgear, the user of Smit’s “Soul Paint” program is invited to “paint” their virtual body, using colors and lines to explore and express their inner reality.
“When I’m stressed, I clench my teeth -- so I draw this pulsating red thing near my jaws,” Smit said, demonstrating the software.
