Here I look like I've stepped into a ZX Spectrum game, specifically, this ZX Spectrum game. Tir na Nog..

If you like travel (armchair or economy class), perhaps you will like my substack. Here's a new post, about Vietnamese streetfood

Unusual use of VR buried here under some sand

You're never too big to look this small. We saw A.R. Rahman at the O2.

From the margins to the UK's biggest art prize: @criticismism.bsky.social reflects on the significance and brilliance of Nnena Kalu’s Turner Prize exhibition. disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...

Travel notes from Rajasthan

I also made it to Blackburn, for British Textile Biennial 2025, to immerse myself in a nomadic home for Somali musical culture

I've given an account of Nnena Kalu's remarkable and hopeful showing at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, in this year's Turner Prize

Detail from a drawing seen in Hanoi over summer. We also did the Ben Duoc tunnel experience, which I'd recommend training for! Anyhow, I've written about the war, the VC and the present in Vietnam, a remarkable land.

If you've ever wondered what it might be like to go to Sikkim, read on:

Deaf Heritage takes centre stage in @cathymager.bsky.social’s work, Finger Talk at Wellcome Collection. Read @criticismism.bsky.social's review ↓ disabilityarts.online/magazine/rev...

★★★★ #FolkestoneTriennial 2025 - Landscape, seascape, art lovers' escape: this locally rooted festival brings home many but not all global concerns, says Mark Sheerin @criticismism.bsky.social #CreativeFolkestone theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/...

A strange, sad and mildly shocking tale from a cave in Goa

I've written an account of the Barbican's VR rave experience: I hope my review is the next best thing to the next best thing to being there back in the day.

Something Mother Shipton might not have predicted, XR industry set to double in value over next three years. Same upward trajectory as Immersive Experiences.

Prophetess Mother Shipton had a pretty badass start in life: born, during a thunderstorm, in a cave.

Immersive experiences offer developers a 'gold rush'. These numbers are amazing.

Word of the day: 'speleofact' - a (usually small) structure made out of broken stalactites and stalagmites

BRADFORD CITY OF CULTURE 2025 - Changes in a landscape, assessed by Mark Sheerin @criticismism.bsky.social as he catches art in all forms @bradford2025.bsky.social, encountering the #Brontes #TSEliot @davidhockney.bsky.social & contemporaries, local and visiting www.theartsdesk.com/visual-arts/...

So much urgency, energy, money, and expertise ploughed into the next wave of XR for military use. Sickening really

Virtual death camp and script approval process offers 'authenticity' to fictions set in Auschwitz.

From feral childhood to aspirational mumboss: this story from Woman's Day is so weird and normative of cave life!

Creepy trailer just dropped for the autumn release of a 2D cave exploration game in which perishing undergound is all part of the fun. Amusing write up here from a PC gaming site.

It's the go to city for limestone beer cellars, games rooms or subterranean cinemas. At least the potential is there

He is completely clueless about what he is doing.

Sussex folk and adventurous Londoners, you have until June 1 to catch the Michelle Roberts show at DLWP. My review below:

Haven't we heard enough about liberty at this point? While inclusive, this huge US immersive art show looks problematic

Thought that fear of public speaking was the number one risk at a conference. But no, they have a conference specially for cave diving.

Human sacrifice as 'performative ritual'. Does this blood cave hint at the origins of performance art!!?

New review up. No paywall for this!

Something else that's on the cards (sorry!), a playing deck with muscial enhancement through AR

How VR could soon transport you to some of India's greatest tourist attractions

70,000 years ago neanderthals were sharpening bones in the Caucasus Mountains

I may be biased because they sometimes take my pieces, but the Arts Desk is a fantastic resource for in depth reviews in the visual arts. This is a case in point from Sarah Kent.

My appeal for financial backing!

Tempting as it is to raid Tony's newsletter for XR stories, he writes so clearly there's really no need. Take a look at what manner of stuff is going down in the 'community'!

Trawling for speleology stories I have to reprise a jest, every so often, that I preferred this Cave when he was underground

May offers rare chance for non cavers to get winched into position to see this natural wonder. The descent takes a minute: But, we read on this meteorlogy site: "many have said it feels much longer as you pass through shifting mist and light, before landing in the huge underground hall."

Old, but not that old, parietal works in Brazil: first thought to be graffiti.

I'm giving a talk in June about the 'priestly licence' behind the way we now read parietal works as Art. Also up, a fascinating talk by Lynne Murphy about the surprisingly far reaching influence of undertakers on our daily lives. #Brighton

Rather than by viva, PhDs soon to be examined on the basis of Dragon's Den style presentations, adjudged by a panel of rich entrepreneurs who have opinions on all aspects of all subjects

Bit late to this, but five days ago more than a million quid was divvied up among UK projects specifically for immersive art

Cave Bureau architects build on their experience of living in caves and visiting The Cradle of Humankind in South Africa

Samsung/Google getting closer to a release to rival RayBan/Meta in the coming battle of the XR spex

Hamburg's digital art biennale majors in immersive art this June.

Wed evening I'm giving a talk about Brexit and cave art for the Catalyst Club, at the Lewes Arms, in (surprisingly) Lewes. Two more great speakers on the line up. Say hello if you decide to get a ticket...

If you are the sort of person who buys a virtual gift to give to your fave TikTok content creator, now you can donate entire virtual environments.

They're calling it a weapon system and I guess... I guess, it is.

I've written up a visit to Noah Davis at the Barbican. Recommended!