In case you haven't had a chance to join our events yet, and would like to experience VR Art Camp at its best, this guided tour with River Black is for you! We gather in the Art Camp Commons to answer all your questions about our OPEN CALL on the 8th of January, 11am PST. Afterwards, we visit River Black’s studio space (AIR May ‘21), and explore together her VR creation about coming out as a sex worker to her grandmother. (This section may bring up sensitive topics +18)

Please join us in the Art Camp Commons:
https://hubs.mozilla.com/xLq72ca/art-camp-commons

JANUARY 8, 11:00 am -12:00 pm PST (8 pm CET)
Schedule:
11:00 - 11:30 am: OPEN CALL Q & A and guided tour in the Art Camp Commons
11:30 am - 12:00 pm: Exploring River Black’s VR space together with the artist // +18

Details about the residency, requirements and mutual expectations are on our website: https://vrartcamp.net/open-call
Link to application: https://forms.gle/f66Krmi1RszGgqWr7
Artist honorarium: $200
Application period: 20 December 2022 - 20 January 2023 (11 pm PST)
Announcing the participants: 31st of January, 2023

We welcome womxn and underrepresented artists to explore digital belonging and the possibilities of creating and inhabiting a virtual communal place with care, working in all mediums, from anywhere in the world, with access to a computer and internet to apply! Wednesday Kim (De:Formal Gallery) & Judit Navratil select and present the finalists to the former Art Camp Artists who are voting together for the 9 residents of 2023.

If this is your first time in Mozilla Hubs, we'll show you basic technical skills so you can participate in the event comfortably. Mozilla Hubs is accessible with or without VR headsets through your browser (and computer, phones, tablets etc.). Fast internet and a computer with a mouse and headphones can make a difference in your experience though. Safari doesn’t support Mozilla so please use Firefox or Chrome!

River Black works with performance, sound art, and installation, often involving the viewer as participant. A large body of her work deals with sex work, beginning with pieces in the SOMArts exhibition "We're Still Working: The Art of Sex Work." As a graduate student at California College of the Arts she co-founded the Sex Workers Student Union, the first institution-sanctioned group of sex workers to organize on a college campus in North America. River also co-founded useless initiatives, a collective that creates platforms for womxn and underrepresented artists to workshop their performances;useless initiatives also hosts Haptic Encounters workshops inspired by Lygia Clark. With everyday people she encounters, River continues her long-running performance Sex Worker Ambassador, her Ask Me Anything avatar, as a way to complicate and interrogate stereotypes while demystifying her own lived experience. Throughout this work, River addresses issues of agency, desire, precarity, feminist labor, and familial belonging.

All VR Art Camp events are NOTAFLOF; donations are deeply appreciated and are split between the participating artists. You can also support our work on a regular basis by becoming a member here, on withfriends.

VR Art Camp is proud and grateful to be an Alternative Exposure Grantee in their 16th Round, which allows us to offer our 2023 resident artists a $200 honorarium! It is a great honor to join the list of incredible artists and projects. Thank you, Southern Exposure, for your support!