NEWVIEW AWARDS 2019

The finalist's works were very exciting because there were works that could get into the creator's mind and the evolutionary system of the work that I had experienced before. Until now, I've been focusing on live performances and events that everyone can experience in real time in the VR world, but through ths award, I've found how interesting the work that squeezes very personal emotions is.

Many of the entries were very well made, and showed a lot of technical sophistication. But to me, the most interesting entries to the NEW VIEW awards were the ones that were the most personal, even when they were very raw. Tools like Styly are important, because they allow anybody to use immersive media to express themselves. VR is a very direct and emotional medium, so the creator has a lot of power. Travelling through these worlds is like travelling through the minds of the creators, and so we get to see many new perspectives.

It is really refreshing and exciting to visit those diverse worlds with the judging panel. I’m looking forward to a future where we will be able to easily travel between worlds in the same way as we follow links on the web, and these worlds will be places for social interactions between visitors. The big mainstream platforms will always be there, but these small unique and individual spaces are where new culture can emerge.

Judging the Newview awards was a great experience. There was a good variety of work that spanned from really experimental to more polished commercial work. This variety made it kind of difficult to judge when comparing art but I think we came to a good conclusion as a group and I was happy with the results.
The winners were all unique and had great ideas. It was also a lot of fun to experience the VR art with the other judges. Being able to see the other headsets in the environment interacting with the piece made it a group experience and hearing everyone's reaction in real time was really cool.

It is really refreshing and exciting to visit those diverse worlds with the judging panel. I’m looking forward to a future where we will be able to easily travel between worlds in the same way as we follow links on the web, and these worlds will be places for social interactions between visitors. The big mainstream platforms will always be there, but these small unique and individual spaces are where new culture can emerge.

"VR is mostly used in video watching or gaming – as far as my previous perception goes – here at Newview I saw a great many new applications, mixed media visual experiences that are challenging the boundary of how things are felt. In many ways, when I see and feel through VR, I realize imagination really has no boundary and that any reality can be recreated or, in this case, augmented. There are many trends targeting specifically on the content building for VR to make it more popular. My opinion is the hardware should be minimized so people do not need to go to great length to experience the difference. Mixed reality is functionally more feasible yet it has not reached the full transformation of perception. Also, me and many judges still get quite dizzy wearing the glasses. With content being more elaborate, would be even better if the hardware/software integration creates an easier experience for the viewer. "

I joined this award as a judge and felt that the times have definitely shifted to a new stage. I thought VR can realize any world depending on the idea. I was also excited in a various way while experiencing many works in the judge review. I think NEWVIEW AWARD that encourage people try to become a VR creator may be the most important award for future entertainment.

I was never tired of seeing a wide variety of concepts from the wide frontage of VR. It was very difficult to examine works with completely different expression purposes in the same line. But when I looked back, there were three key winning points. First is “wheter it was good experience or not”, second is “whether it was produced considering the experience”, and “whether creators made their work without giving up until they reached their own goal”. Since VR is a developing field, it tends to be more experimental, but it seems that the winning one was landed as a “work” that reaches people well, not just experiments.

Although it was called VR, I felt that there was a tendency to evaluate works that seemed to stimulate the five senses interactively, with various textures and scales connected to everyday life, rather than the so-called digital sideways. I feel that the digital world is not regarded as a cluster of everyday physical worlds, but as a continuous world that maintains the fineness of ordinary texture. It seemed that the choice and balance of the various daily parameters to be brought to the extraordinary side was creating a shared sense of sophistication.

It was very interesting to see various trial and error and experimental expression methods while watching the works during the judging. In addition, in some of the works remaining in the nominations, I think that such expressions are based on the personal experiences and perspectives of the producers, and I think that I felt a sense of a new era. I think that the world depicted in VR will be expressed not as a universal image of the future, but as a real place that resonates with our real life and society. In that sense, not only will the work be a VR content, but there will be a work that mentions the social and technological conditions of VR technology itself, that is, how it should be in society and its relationship. I really expect it to come.