The Unreal Garden 2.0 is a mixed reality (MR) event taking place at the three-storey SVN West venue in San Francisco, which features over 100,000 square feet of space.
The Garden has been in development for more than three years as a collaboration between US software developers Enklu and strategic advisors Mesh.
Attendees can purchase an entry ticket, which includes a Hololens 2 to explore a magical MR garden complete with augmented art from Android Jones, Scott Musgrove, John Park, and others.
Attendees can also create and share content in “Selfie Stations” found across the garden by using smartphone cameras to view augmented reality (AR) assets.
Experimental Phase
The Unreal Garden was originally an experimental installation that took place in San Francisco from 2018 to 2019, and was led by now-defunct US immersive entertainment firm Onedome.
The Unreal Gardens 1.0 testing period blew attendees away and as a result, Onedome was awarded $3.3 million USD in funding.
Onedome later sought to expand the venue by venturing into AR-enhanced hospitality, introducing its Fine Dining Entertainment Art Story Technology (FEAST) technologies.
The firm attracted 6,000 visitors in just three days at the E3 2019 event, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new content at the Unreal Gardens 2.0.
The E3 exhibition, also took advantage of ultrasound haptics that do not require wearables designed by Bristol-based firm Ultraleap.
Leila Amirsadeghi, CEO of MESH said in an interview with Ultraleap:
“We wanted to create something social and connected. We wanted to bring people together. Adding touch into the virtual world and using it to create a multiplayer interaction was totally in tune with that”
Version 2.0
The team at Unreal Garden thanked Onedome as it moved forward with new hosts and visions.
LBX Immersive became the new hosts for Unreal Garden 2.0 ahead of the event’s official opening, and the revamped San Francisco venue will open from August 5 to 31.
There are also plans to expand Unreal Gardens globally, though currently, more locations are planned across the US such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New Mexico.
