By Yiwen Sun, Project Leader - Interdisciplinary & Special Projects
Organized by swissnex China, VR_I: A Contemporary Dance Piece in Immersive Virtual Reality was brought to the Chinese audience for the first time. Throughout the 8-day performances from 9-12/15-18 May, VR_I has received over 500 spectators at Chronus Art Center, located in M50, the renowned art & design district of Shanghai. The Director and Choreographer of VR_I – Gilles Jobin and his touring team also had their first touch with China.
Pioneering contemporary dance, Gilles Jobin developed VR_I with the leading motion capture technology and virtual reality experts – Artanim, which provides viewers with the unique sensory experience. During the experience, participants can thus interact physically and even communicate with the others. The virtual dancers then come to blur their perception, multiplying, growing to the point of becoming giants or becoming tiny. With these effects of scale, Gilles Jobin addresses the concept of spatiality in a truly original way.
spectators experiencing VR_I at Chronus Art Center, Shanghai
Roundtable Discussion on the future of Virtual Reality and Contemporary Dance
Link to watch the video:
https://www.zaiart.com/appwrapper_dist/appShare/live.html?id=e4ba428652b44700820efcce04fdadd6
On 10th May, a roundtable discussion with experts and professionals in the fields of Virtual Reality and performing arts were held at Chronus Art Center. Around 55 guests attended the event while 6959 audience watched the online live streaming of the discussion.
Dr. Felix Moesner giving the welcome speech.
Roundtable discussion speakers
Moderated by Salar Shahna from the World VR Forum, our guest speakers – nunu kong, Daming Zhang and Roger Yang shared their perspectives and insights on the questions such as how the new technology changes the choreography, how do the audience and the critics perceive such work, how to balance the artistic and economic value and what will be the future trend of Virtual reality in terms of application.
Attendants of the roundtable discussion.
Gilles Jobin: “Shanghai is amazing!”
VR_I has brought many of the Chinese audience their first unique VR experience with contemporary dance, while the two-week stay in Shanghai left Gilles Jobin and his team unforgettable first impressions of China.
Along with the performance of VR_I, under the arrangement of swissnex China, Gilles Jobin and his team were connected to the local artists, VR experts as well as arts organizations such as Rockbund Art Museum, Power Station of Art and How Art Museum. Different thoughts and inspirations on the new work were emerged during the meetings and visits; potential co-operations between the two parties were established and explored.
VR_I crew with swissnex China staff and the local experts.