Storytelling in the Virtual Age at FoST Fest
A cavernous, six-story space on Fifth Avenue and 109th Street will soon be temporarily transformed into a phantasmagoria of virtual reality, augmented reality, olfactory experiments, immersive theater and numerous mind-bending tricks.
At the Future of StoryTelling Festival, or FoST Fest, participants who pay $75 for various interactive experiences will have three hours to join a flock of birds following a mother bird; tap into their five senses to experience gender fluidity; or watch “Riot,” a film that uses facial recognition to take users on a journey through a violent protest.
“We are creating a unique story world,” said Charles Melcher, the festival’s founder. “Our tag line is ‘All the world’s a stage, come be a player,’ and this is the ultimate expression of that sentiment.”
FoST Fest is much larger, with more than 70 hands-on exhibits, as well as panel discussions and satellite events like performances from Punchdrunk’s immersive theater piece, Sleep No More, and “{THE AND},” an interactive documentary about human relationships by the Skin Deep, a creative studio.
See the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/nyregion/storytelling-in-the-virtual-age-at-fost-fest.html?_r=0