Toronto's 25th Anniversary Earth Day celebrations are going to have a unique technological twist to them this year, thanks to The Vivid Group and their Mandala Virtual Reality system. During this years "Concert with a Message" at Nathan Philips Square audiences will be treated to both a Virtual Reality performance by Vincent John Vincent and 20th Century Kid as well as a Solar Powered Virtual Reality Teleconference Link Up to earth day celebrations in other cities.

Although Toronto's Vincent John Vincent (VJV) is world renowned as the first and foremost Virtual Reality performer, Toronto audiences haven't been able to experience a performance since last May's Digital Media Award Show. This earth day audience will see Vincent John Vincent and 20th Century Kid on the stage together combining "cyber" and traditional instruments. VJV steps in front of a video camera and monitor setup, he sees his live image placed inside of the interactive, real time computer animation and video worlds of the Mandala VR System. The audience sees the same thing on large screens beside the stage. Without touching anything in the real world, VJV can interact and play with the objects that surround his video image. This is because the system is able to track his movements in real time, at all times, and recognizes what he is doing to the animation. This could be as simple as picking up an animated 3-D ball and rolling it around his body; or as complex as jamming lead riffs on animated fire balls; or a drum solo on a virtual drum kit. The theme of their performances usually consist of taking the audience on an audio/visual adventure through time and space. Vincent embraces multimedia recreating his dreamscapes into computer realities and then stepping into them with his whole body.

In addition, The Vivid Group will be working together with Adcom and the Energy Action Council of Toronto, to provide a high-tech Solar Powered Virtual Reality Teleconference link up. Using PictureTel units and ISDN lines at the Toronto and the Montreal concert sites a video teleconference link will be established. Live video feeds from the two sites are placed into the same Mandala Virtual Reality world where participants from both locations can interact and play together. Among other adventures, a giant animated earth will be tossed back and forth between cities, symbolizing our mutual stewardship of this planet. This whole experience will periodically appear on the giant video walls surrounding the stage. All this technology will be solar powered to symbolize the need for alternate energy sources for our power hungry technology driven society

The V.R. performance takes place at Nathan Phillips Square in the late afternoon- April 22.

For more info contact Vincent @ Vivid Group (416) 340-9290 x 222