Galway Culture Company, Galway City of Film, and Ardán were delighted to welcome Cordula Hansen and Diego Hernandez to Galway for their Virtual Production Creative Residencies in July and August 2024. The artists were hosted and supported by the University of Galway, Cue One, and CT Solutions.
This initiative utilised the UNESCO Creative Cities Network to connect with Virtual Production practitioners from outside of Ireland, inviting them to Galway to take up residency positions.
The goal was to facilitate the sharing of expertise between Virtual Production filmmakers in Ireland and abroad, to encourage collaboration between these practitioners and to facilitate networking, and to facilitate creative and professional development for the artists involved.
Both creative residencies allowed these digital artists to produce a creative work using the virtual production process, while also providing learning opportunities for locals to Galway.
A key part of the residency programme was to enable the sharing of skills, experience and expertise between our local creative communities, the research community, and the creative practitioners who are taking part in the programme.
Cordula Hansen – XYZ Technical Art Services
Cordula Hansen, co-founder of xyz technical art services and based in Germany, joined us in July alongside her business partner Shay Gilna, hosted by the University of Galway. Cordula and Shay are co-founders of XYZ Technical Art Services GmbH, a production studio specialising in environments for virtual production and XR applications.
As part of the Virtual Production Creative Residency, Cordula and James offered a series of short sessions and workshops to share their experience and invite collaboration and discussion.
These included an Open Studio on July 3rd, introducing project workflows and methodologies, followed by a workshop on Photogrammetry and Virtual Art Department roles. On July 5th, another Open Studio focused on green-screen setup and camera tests. Workshops on lighting and performance in Unreal Engine took place on July 9th, while Unreal Engine for visualization was covered on July 15th. The residency concluded with a session on indie-friendly virtual production on July 18th.
Diego Hernandez – Argonauts XR
Diego Hernandez, CEO of Argonauts XR and based in Spain, joined us in August, hosted by Ryan McKenna (Bored Ape Productions) and Cue One, with technical support provided by the University of Galway and Creative Technology (CT) Solutions.
As part of the residency, two key events were hosted at Studio@5 by Cue One Ireland. On August 22nd, attendees explored lessons learned from LED wall virtual production and game engines at CREW in Galway. On August 28th, Studio@5 in Claregalway opened its doors for two Virtual Production Open Studio demonstrations in the afternoon and evening.
At the Open Studio events, Diego Hernandez explained the highs and lows of his residency, and Javier Herreros Riaza explained the finer details and the challenge of lighting for virtual production. Ryan Mckenna explained the evolution of virtual production and how different techs were mashed together to create a piece of magic. Stay tuned for the final result!
Galway Culture Company are delighted to have supported the Virtual Production Creative Residencies. The residencies were established to further our EU links and provide key learning opportunities in the area of virtual production.
Many thanks to our partners Galway City of Film and Ardán, University of Galway, Cue One, and CT Solutions.
Photos courtesy of Galway City of Film and Centre for Creative Technologies at University of Galway.
