In collaboration with the Bahrain Internet Society and The United Nations Industrial Development Organization – Investment Technology Promotion Office in Bahrain (UNIDO ITPO Bahrain) and it’s Araba Center for Entrepreneurship & Investment (AICEI), the French Embassy to Bahrain organized a VR (Virtual reality) exhibition at Alliance française (Isa Town), on Friday 29^th of November (4 to 8 pm) and on Saturday 30^th of November (11 am to 4 pm). This took place in an international framework called “Digital November” (“Novembre Numérique”), a concept that fosters the digital culture to grow and develop, within the French network abroad, in collaboration with local partners: https://novembrenumerique.fr/en/.

The exhibition featured French 360° movies and interactive games/stories in virtual reality (in English), whose authors are recognized internationally and had been prized several times. Contents produced by Bahraini students recently trained in that field by NGN training Bahrain have also been displayed: In addition to Bahraini entrepreneurs supported by UNIDO ITPO Bahrain & AICEI through its Enterprise Development Investment Promotion (EDIP) Program, those contents have a practical target, as they are showcasing how virtual reality can be useful in many fields, including industry or real estate. Plus, these students will be preparing a special virtual reality creation on the theme of the exhibition, linking the city of Paris to the city of Manama.

In addition, 3 other creations from Bahrain and GCC artists will be displayed, among those one video designed by Nayla Alkhalifa, a pioneer VR artist in Bahrain.

Following the exhibition, a masterclass, open to creators, producers and broadcasters was held on the Saturday, from 4 to 6 pm. Charles Ayats, a French VR specialist, came from France specifically to deliver it. He is the creator of “the Scream VR”, an artwork which explores the famous painting of Edvard Munch.

These two parts of the project “From Paris to Manama – the VR Expo” are aiming at strengthening the digital community here in Bahrain, but also to offer the possibility to a large audience to discover these new immersive worlds, and these new ways of creating.