Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s VR installation wins Oscar

Neil Kellerhouse

It’s been 22 years since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have handed out a special Oscar to someone (the last one was Toy Story in 1995) and there have only been less than two dozen given out. And for the first time, a virtual reality experience gets the award. The Academy is giving two-time Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible) VR installation that’s currently housed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It looks into the experience of Mexican refugees and combines physical spaces—which features sand-covered floor, a spare and cold waiting room, and multi-screen video installation—and an Oculus Rift.

According to John Bailey, the Academy’s president, Carne y Arena “opened for us new doors of cinematic perception… More than even a creative breakthrough in the still emerging art form of virtual reality, it viscerally connects us to the hot-button political and social realities of the U.S.-Mexico border.”

Source: Polygon