Meet Vitomir Jevremovic
Vitomir Jevremovic is the CEO and co-founder of VR-All-Art, a platform for presenting and trading art in VR, and the CEO of the production company Digital Mind.
As an archeologist with over two decades of experience in IT and business, he has built his portfolio creating web and mobile applications, and working with XR technology. He is actively developing solutions for clients by implementing new technologies in the fields of marketing, entertainment, film production, culture, and education.
1. How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Before the concept of VR-All-Art was born, I had started another company, Digital Mind. It was when we started using VR hardware for Digital Mind projects (HTC Vive at the time) that it became clear it was only a matter of time before this technology transformed the world as we know it.
My first project in VR was building a virtual museum – the Nikola Tesla Experience. After this adventure, I started wondering about exhibiting in virtual reality and how exciting it would be if people could showcase art and artifacts in VR galleries and museums. One thought led to another and soon enough the idea to merge arts & culture with new technologies came to be.
It seemed utterly logical at the time and a natural career path for me. Art is notoriously difficult to transport and crossing borders with artworks is a nightmare. With VR galleries and VR museums, however, no art needs to be moved at all, merely digitalized and placed in virtual reality spaces where it can be enjoyed by an even larger audience than in real life.
2. What’s your company’s vision?
Our vision is a new reality in which the real world and virtual worlds blend together to create new narratives and transform the way art is consumed, shared, and experienced.
3. What is unique about your business?
Our approach is unique. We strive to understand how the art market really functions and instigate a transformation into a new XR norm. Products that we’ve created are used by professionals who usually don’t have much experience with new technologies. Therefore, we must be forthcoming and humble in teaching them how and why to use XR to improve their business.
We don’t expect people to adopt new tech just because we think it’s a good idea. We are developing this platform and technology with them, for them.
We also aim for perfection – in the visual representation of our product, in user experience, in all aspects. We found this to be the essential component in persuading clients to switch from the traditional digital approach to XR.
4. What is your biggest achievement so far?
Every individual project is an achievement in its own right. The road ahead is certainly long and I believe there is a lot of ground left to cover before I can say we have scored any monumental achievements.
5. How do you see your company in 10 years?
Honestly, I can’t answer that. Ten years is an eternity in this market. We have a big vision and see a bright future ahead, but there’s a lot of work to do before we can get there. What keeps us moving forward is the knowledge that If we do get there, nothing will be the same, both for the art market and for museums and cultural institutions.
6. What are you like as an employer?
I’d like to believe that I am respectful, progressive, and a good teacher above all. At the very least, that’s what I strive to be. Ultimately, only my team can confirm or deny, but I’ll continue doing my best.
7. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the XR industry? How do you deal with them?
The biggest challenge, I’d say, is hardware usability and comfort. Second to that, it’s a lack of use cases beyond gaming available on the market. If VR is ever to reach a wider audience, we have to step off the beaten path and appeal to potential users differently; we have to give them more reasons to not only buy a headset, but to start actively using it. Also, the generation gap is a huge obstacle. We’ve noticed that older people are much more apprehensive about trying VR than younger generations, especially kids.
We need to arm ourselves with patience and understanding when approaching new users. It’s paramount that we provide them with great experiences right off the bat, or we might miss our chance and they might never return to VR again.
8. How do you handle adversity and doubt?
There are obstacles to overcome every day. Every. Single. Day. The key to overcoming them is to just keep moving.
9. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out in VR/AR, what would it be?
Before you start developing, find your first customer.
10. Which habit do you wish you could break?
Developing. Every chance I get, I slip back into dev mode, which takes me away from the business side of the work. But I just can’t help it, I’m a developer first.
11. What does creativity mean to you?
There are multiple facets to creativity. For me, creativity is in every thought that is new to oneself, that one has not had before. It’s in the need to create something not seen before. It is an urge, a deep feeling of fulfillment when one creates something or, conversely, emptiness when no creation has been made.
12. Which book has inspired you the most?
To be honest, I don’t find inspiration as much in books as I do in people. Every interaction, every conversation with someone can, and often does, inspire me.
13. What do you do when you’re not at work?
I work from home.
14. Who do you see as an inspiration in the industry? (Please name up to 3 people from the XR industry)
Rather than naming individual people, I prefer to give praise to companies and teams who are doing incredible work.
What really moved me when I experienced it was The Museum of Other Realities. It is much alike what we do, and yet a completely unique experience. Next, Glue, a platform for virtual collaboration. I have to say that they have done great work in bringing avatars to life in VR. And, actually, Facebook. Controversial, yes, due to their forceful must-have-FB-account strategy, but still a company with a big vision that admittedly pushed our industry forward much faster than people expected.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of people working relentlessly in various XR companies to bring experiences and virtual worlds closer to us, and each and every one of them deserves praise and an honourable mention because all of them contribute to the development of XR and the future.