The Heart Of A City – TimefireVR

The Heart of a City in TimefireVR

At the heart of a city is an essential quality that plays an important role for its citizens and is present in world-class centers: the intersection of social and creative elements. When designing Hypatia, we have taken this idea and placed it at our core; it is our heart, and it takes center stage.

In the context of virtual reality, “social” has a whole new meaning. While being able to directly communicate with friends and family is important and already a part of our world, a great city relies on the idea of the “commons” to engage its population. The commons are those social places where people gather, such as parks, museums, clubs, trails, coffee shops, river walks, galleries, and places of higher learning. We are building a new commons open and accessible to all of humanity, all the time, and without leaving home.

Considering that over 1 Billion people a year travel to other destinations to take part in the special places our Earth has to offer, such as London, Manhattan, Paris, Venice, Kyoto, Machu Picchu, the Grand Canyon, the Great Pyramids, and countless spots between, Hypatia is to be the destination for when we cannot get away physically. Hypatia is a curated virtual city where, at any given time, we can visit a world-class museum, take in a show, go painting, dance the night away, solve a puzzle, or explore the sublime.

This is where creativity comes into play and allows us to build something new with Hypatia. Our global stage is a dynamic environment where the creative works of our citizens will find a platform. Just as we will supply the map, buildings, transportation, and landscape, we will be recruiting “Friends of Hypatia” to help us build much of the content. We can create the tools, but it will be our visitors who fill the streets with graffiti, musical performances, poetry, photographs, installations, and stage plays.

We recognize that not everyone is a creator, and not everyone wants to help build the metropolis of the future. We are laying the foundation and creating a large part of our virtual world to inspire our visitors to celebrate the work of others by simply participating in an active form of consumption made possible with the advent of virtual reality. Exactly the form and function of how Hypatia will work will be rolled out in the coming months.

Acoustic Africa w/ Habib Koite & Vusi Mahlasela

Acoustic Africa featuring Habib Koite & Vusi Mahlasela

Acoustic Africa featuring Habib Koite & Vusi Mahlasela was the third performance in quick succession that Caroline and I took in here in the first quarter of the year. Again we are the Musical Instrument Museum for this amazing cultural presentation that we wouldn’t find anywhere else in all of Arizona. Here’s a clip of the guys performing live: Habib Koite & Vusi Mahlasela

International Women’s Day – TimefireVR

International Womens Day at TimefireVR

Today, we are celebrating International Women’s Day by highlighting the involvement of all women in arts and sciences. Pictured above are the current women of Timefire. According to surveys conducted by the International Game Development Association (IGDA), women represent less than 30% of the game development workforce. The gender representation statistics for virtual reality development have yet to be published.

We strongly believe in building an inclusive and supportive community, which is why many of us at Timefire have created a Women in Games International (WIGI) chapter locally. There are many other organizations in which you can get involved to support women in game development, virtual reality, programming, technology, etc.

Let us all spend today discussing how to achieve equal representation and celebrating all women around the world.

Submitted by Jessica Sweeny

Avi Avital

Avi Avital at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona

Friends Itay and Rotem joined us tonight at the Musical Instrument Museum for a performance by Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital. Another great performance where sadly our favorite 299-seat intimate venue was not sold out. Something is wrong with the population of the Phoenix area as with 3.5 million people in Maricopa County events like this should sell out, but only the most well-known groups fill this place and the jazz ensembles seem to pull the north Scottsdale white wine crowd in. I can consider myself lucky that this guy who has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing has now played Arizona and we were there for it.