[Lifestyle] Saudi Arabia’s Ithra announces finalists for first Creative Solutions program focusing on immersive technologies

[Cyber Punk]

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1909036/saudi-arabia

• The five programs were chosen from the 26 teams in the initial refining and presentation phase

 

DHAHRAN: The King Abdul Aziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) announced the five finalists for its new Creative Solutions program. The projects will develop their ideas, which share the theme “Digital Immersive Content Creation,” with a view to turning them into marketable products.

The program was launched on Feb. 23, 2021 and is designed to build an network of innovators supporting the growth of the creative economy in the Kingdom.

Creative Solutions focuses on the use of immersive technologies including artificial intelligence, haptics, virtual, augmented and mixed reality and immersive audio.

The five programs were chosen from the 26 teams in the initial refining and presentation phase. These participants, many of them young Saudis who work in the creative and high-tech industries, spent several weeks at a series of master classes, technical workshops and networking events designed to help them in their creative careers, whether selected for the final five projects or not.

The third phase involves an intensive international bootcamp, which will be held online and involve tailored one-to-one mentoring to develop each project and each creative.

There will then be more than three months of intensive support to turn each project into a marketable product.

This phase also entails financial support of up to SR75,000 ($20,000) per project, with the overall Creative Solutions winner to be announced on December 16.

 

 

The first of the five selected projects is Alqatt XR, which features the traditional Al-Qatt art from southern Saudi Arabia. The project is being delivered by a team of four: Areej Alwabil, Haifa Al-Hababi, Layla Al-Babtain and Abdullah Moshantat. The project is dedicated to documenting, and preserving the Saudi cultural and natural heritage. It uses digital visualization, 3D virtualization, geospatial informatics and open access solutions to provide digital data and 3D models to regional institutions, museums, local scholars and the public.

The second is Anticipation of Rain, which is a mixed reality experience based on the sensations which comes from heavy rainstorms. The solo project by the artist Naima Karim, who comes from Bangladesh and lives in Saudi Arabia, delivers a theater-based installation with thunder, lightning, orchestral immersive sound and sensors with the aim of provoking thought about the need to care for the world.