“V[R]erses”: An XR Story Series
+ What is a V[R]erse?
A V[R]erse is a microstory. Each story consists of a storybox that can be experienced in 3D via a WebXR enabled mobile device, desktop PC and in Virtual Reality. While in each a V[R]erse, a reader may experience poetically dense language [with letters bracketed in words – requiring multiple reads – that are designed to expand and enhance meaning potentials] and various visual, textual and mechanical elements that require direct audience input.
+ Who’s Behind the V[R]erse Curtain?
Each V[R]erse is created by different digital literature authors [text] and Mez Breeze [development + design, model + concept creation, audio (mostly)].
+ Halp! I Need V[R]erse Navigation Tips:
Press the white arrow in the middle of each storybox below to begin. After clicking on the white arrow, you can then click on the “Select an annotation” bar at the bottom of each storybox screen, or on either of the smaller arrows on each side of the storybox if viewing vertically on a mobile [and also make sure to click the “+ more info” option for a full read-through], or navigate through the annotations manually.
If you need help with the controls, please click the “?” located in the bottom right-hand side – you’ll find other controls here like too “View in VR”, “Theatre Mode”, “FullScreen”, and “Volume”. If interactivity isn’t your thing, you also have the option of a static playthrough of each V[R]erse by clicking on the annotation bar and selecting “Start Autopilot”, or if you’d prefer just to experience the work without the text, “Hide Annotations”.
+ How Many V[R]erses Are There?
How long is a piece of digital string? [In other words, we don’t know just yet, so stay tuned.]
+ Feedback:
“This work represents a novel association between the text and the image, as the three-dimensional space gives a new perception of the text and its possible sequences. Breeze assembles then a new type of digital literature reading environment, with an intriguing composition of form and texts.” – From this review at Neutral Magazine: Critical Digital Culture and Media Arts.
“V[R]erses, as a broader work, is an XR (extended reality) story series…What is intriguing in this case is that text in electronic literature is not necessarily central or authoritative. In fact, in this work…the text is supplementary to either code or other media.” – From “Collaboration and Authority in Electronic Literature” by David Thomas Henry Wright, TEXT Special Issue 59: Creating Communities: Collaboration in Creative Writing and Research.
“The three-dimensional aspect of these V[R]erses gives the audience a renewed perception of the possibilities of digital literature, marrying image and text to interpret microstories through the bodies of strange creatures and monsters. What then is to be made of these strange creatures? In a sense, they turn out to be a mirror for our times. As editors, we found a prescient association between these V[R]erses and our quarantined lives. These are monsters out there, surely. But Mez Breeze’s work tells us to look closer so that, if we’re lucky, we might be able to make something of the darkness.” – From the Introduction of the New River Fall 2020 Issue, Eds John Darcy and Kira Homsher.
“Just as an explosion of forms, materials and approaches constituted a revolution in the visual arts, so too a proliferation of forms, materials, ideas and approaches seems to be revolutionizing literature…“V[R]erses” are a stunning example of this.” – From the Anthology of Contemporary Literature “Conceptualisms: The Anthology of Prose, Poetry, Visual, Found, E- & Other Hybrid Writings as Contemporary, Conceptual Art“, Steve Tomasula (Editor) and Dan Waterman (Acquisitions Editor for the Humanities), University of Alabama Press.
The V[R]erses
+ V[R]erse 1: “Antelooper” [Author: Mark Marino]
+ V[R]erse 2: “Vinity” [Author: Davin Heckman]
+ V[R]erse 3: “Bracement” [Author: Scott Rettberg]
+ V[R]erse 4: “The Wraggied Bonemen” [Author: Annie Abrahams]
+ V[R]erse 5: “Curve” [Author: Jeremy Hight]
+ V[R]erse 6: “Her Ribbon Flip” [Author: Andrea Phillips]
+ V[R]erse 7: “The Inchoate Arts” [Author: David Thomas Henry Wright]
+ V[R]erse 8: “The Touch” [Author: Michael Maguire]
+ V[R]erse 9: “Formu[E]lation” [Author: Auriea Harvey]
+ V[R]erse 10: “Artemisianum” [Author + Audio: Anna Nacher]
+ V[R]erse 11: “[Power_B]Ar[k]cing” [Author: Mez Breeze]
+ V[R]erse 12: “Bridall Day” [Author: Rhea Myers]
+ V[R]erse 13: “Last Thrusters” [Author: Chris Kerr]
