Effenaar banishes the Tuesday blues with VR

The Effenaar, one of the Netherlands’ leading music venues, has announced plans to transform itself into a high-tech virtual reality (VR) hub during the early-week lull.

The Eindhoven venue’s two performance spaces (caps. 1,200 and 350) are usually quiet on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, leading Effenaar director Jos Feijen and Eindhoven councillor Mary-Ann Schreurs to discuss ways to put the empty building to better use.

Their plan is to turn the venue (pictured) into a place where artists, scientists and companies can experiment with virtual reality, reports the Eindhovens Dagblad, with any profits from the venture put back into the Effenaar or given to charity.

An informal meeting to gauge opinion, attended by entrepreneurs and local music industry figures, was held last Wednesday.

In issue 64 of IQ Magazine, industry figures, including representatives from Exit Festival, Tomorrowland and Sziget, gave Richard Smirke their predictions on how VR technology would shape the live music sector in coming years.

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