transformé

On the Morning You Wake is a unique immersive documentary about the 38 minutes of terror experienced by Hawaiians following the disturbing warning that a nuclear missile was about to hit them. Through real-life events and personal experiences, the visitor is taken into the heart of this terrifying event, and the chaos that gripped the community at the time. This crisis brought about an awareness of the fragility of the human condition and its ecosystems, which could be wiped out in an instant. On the Morning You Wake provokes a reflection on our understanding of the nuclear threat, while conveying the effect this experience had on an entire community.

By Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Arnaud Colinard et Pierre Zandrowicz

Author Aaron Bradbury met Lisa, who had just lost her husband Erik six months earlier, while doing research on grief. Erik was the love of Lisa’s life, until death came and brutally separated them. In the midst of a profound void, fragments of past memories appear, tracing the couple’s life together up to the shock caused by Erik’s tragic death. Made up of testimonies collected during telephone conversations between Lisa and Aaron Bradbury, Vestige guides the visitor through the process of mourning, from the blossoming of love to its sudden loss. The result is a visual and narrative universe that is both sober and rich. This moving documentary offers a brave and optimistic perspective on grief and the importance of preserving memory.

By Aaron Bradbury

Tokyo Light Odyssey is a fascinating work that subtly displays the loneliness and the feeling of isolation found in a megalopolis. This mesmerizing film is a dynamic meditation that uses the power of images and sound to take a slightly surreal look at typical Tokyo locations and situations. We all know that living together in society does not necessarily mean that we are intimately connected to each other. On public buses, in tall buildings or in cramped rooms, we feel this solitude among the crowd. This work reminds us how difficult it can be to find empathy and feel human connections in our modern world.

By WOW

Container is a gripping work inspired by the sinking of a slave ship off the coast of Cape Town in 1794. Slavery is often thought of as an echo of a painful past. Sadly, this practice remains very contemporary in its many facets linked to the economic servitude of developing countries, which work without respite to manufacture all sorts of commodities for the benefit of the global market. The choice of the “container” is the ultimate symbol of the commercial trade carried out to provide for the needs of all countries. It depicts perfectly how people have become the very definition of slavery by being reduced to mere products. This work describes the background of this phenomenon, at the same time shedding light on a scourge in which we all participate in some way, directly or indirectly, and which must become part of our collective discussions.

By Meghna Singh and Simon Wood

Cross-cultural fusion is an increasingly common reality. Ferenj offers an intimate and highly creative immersive memoir on this subject in the form of a pointillistic visual dialogue backed by an exquisite soundtrack. The Ethiopian-American author’s reflection includes some significant family stories from her youth and highlights the challenge faced by all those who walk between two distinct cultures. This work creates a mosaic of reality. Its reassembly in digital fragments takes us on a journey from Cleveland to Addis Ababa, through clouds of particles carried by a voice and music that envelop us in great melancholic warmth. We are brought to witness an awareness of identity and a peaceful transition towards a new and hybrid sense of devoted belonging.

By Ainslee Alem Robson

Goliath is without a doubt one of the most creative works to emerge from the world of VR and immersion. Presented through a gamer’s perspective, this work addresses a topic that is still too taboo – schizophrenia – as well as problems associated with psychiatric disorders and the isolation experienced in an institutional setting. This imaginative experience uses the visual codes of video games to illustrate the transformation from loneliness to the comfort found within an online community of gamer avatars, where prejudice does not exist. This work guides us through the many realities of Goliath and combines moving dialogue, captivating visuals and playful interactions. The story proves beyond any doubt the universality of its message of resilience for all those who might feel excluded because they are different.

By Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla

In Notes on Blindness, the visitor is invited to follow the journey of John Hull, a man who gradually lost his sight in 1983. Based on original audio archives in which John Hull documented his observations and feelings, Notes on Blindness uses the power of immersion and sound spatialization to bring us into his new reality. As a witness to his journey, each sound and texture becomes a source of fascination and rediscovery. Notes on Blindness, an homage to the senses and strength of the human spirit, celebrates courage in the face of adversity. “Life is not about seeing – it’s about loving”, John Hull reminds us.

By Arnaud Colinart, Amaury La Burthe, Peter Middleton and James Spinney

Conscious Existence invites us on a journey into an electrifying visual universe, an immersive work that celebrates the power of wonder. We are increasingly aware that our perspective on life can profoundly alter our experience. Misplaced priorities, or the fear of feeling and going towards what we really need, are all obstacles to our well-being. With an infinite awareness which makes us reflect and discover the beauties of the world, this work goes from gigantic to microscopic, and from the immensity of spectacular snow-capped mountains to tiny, imperceptible movements of the molecules that form the living. We are reminded that by transforming our view, the world is revealed in all its splendor, and that the power of being amazed by simple things can become a never-ending source of energy and inspiration.

By Marc Zimmermann