An award-winning video producer, Stéphane has co-built Felix & Paul Studios into a unique content studio that brings creators’ stories to life in previously unimaginable ways.

THE INFINITE is a 60-minute immersive LBE experience designed as a touring exhibition to bring thousands of people into the International space station (ISS). Featuring new and exclusive content from the most ambitious new media project ever conducted in space, Space Explorers: the ISS Experience by Felix & Paul Studios, in association with TIME Studios, and in partnership with NASA and the ISS National Laboratory. This project consists of more than 200 hours of 3D-360° immersive content filmed inside and outside the ISS and more than 16 hours of testimonials by astronauts. The recordings of this project form the basis for the immersive story and narrative of THE INFINITE.

This presentation will focus on how our two well-established Montreal-based XR companies, PHI Studio and Felix & Paul Studios, joined forces to create the most ambitious project realized so far in the virtual and interactive reality industry at the frontier of new technologies, XR, contemporary art and artertainment. Despite the obstacles of the pandemic, INFINITY Experiences, the joint-venture between our companies, was able to build a 12,000-square-foot set, transport over 150 000 visitors in and out of the International space station all thanks to Felix & Paul Studios’ ability to send the first 360-degree camera into space. The intended audience is a cross-section ranging from space and XR neophytes to specialists. We want to discuss how the intersection of art, technology and Immersive entertainment brings new forms of collaborations in order to challenge assumptions and inspire larger audiences. Therefore, those interested in space, XR, experiential storytelling, and culture will be compelled by this subject matter.

On a technical level, INFINITY Experiences developed and designed a multi-user management tool with real-time spatial positioning to ensure that each visitor can experience the content without bumping into each other. With this management tool, more than 150 spectators can, simultaneously, live an interactive and collective experience that allows them in virtual reality, to wander at will in a 650 square meter free-roaming space and interact with the content as well as with the other visitors. For this production, Felix & Paul Studios developed 360° stereoscopic cameras for filming inside and outside the ISS, capable of surviving in the most hostile environments such as microgravity, radiation, and extreme temperatures to capture over 250 hours of unique content. So far, these cameras are the only ones allowed to be shipped into space with the agreement of NASA and the different international space agencies.

Our belief at INFINITY Experiences is that the new ways in which art has intersected technology mirrors our progress into space. The experience of space exploration has been, by necessity, technologically mediated over the years. With immersive technology, the boundary is no longer getting to space, but rather, how we can bring space back down to Earth. (30 minutes)