LA Times Festival of Books 2019

The dawn of the Internet Age promised us an era of connection that would be unlike any other. No matter where you were in the world, you’d be able to find your tribe. Loneliness would be a thing of the past, as human potential was fulfilled. What we got was Facebook and Twitter, Amazon Prime and YouTube: a world where the appearance of connection trumps the reality. For the past five years, journalist Noah Nelson has been chronicling the response: the rise of immersive art and entertainment. From intimate theatre experiments in apartments to VR projects from pop culture’s biggest names, a multigenerational cohort of creators and producers has answered the call to fulfill that broken promise. To do so, they’re calling upon every tool in the artistic palette — from music to magic — and along the way are discovering a new form: the Art of Presence.