I’ve had the chance to visit the Venice Biennale this year, which has a great wave of watery focused work. VRHam’s Ultramarin exhibition combined VR presentation and marine themes.
My personal highlights of this immersive show included The Jellyfish, an interactive VR piece by EDUARDO FOUILLOUX & MELODIE MOUSSET, in which sound and movement-responsive jellyfish swim towards you if you sing/whistle/hum/speak to them. My enjoyment of the piece was certainly enhanced by the vocal whhooos of a child in the next booth who totally unselfconsciously called to and communed with the creatures.
Muted – a Fall Through Silence, by CHRISTOPHE MONCHALIN was particularly engaging in the way it moved from a child’s line drawings that appeared to emerge from a table in a beautifully crafted sequence, to a submerged world of what I read as complex representations of neural networks, memories floating nearby. Both works had a thoughtful gentleness and a focus on affective engagement not always associated with VR.
There was, of course, loads of other extremely interesting work, particularly in the curated ‘Milk of Dreams’ show in the Arsenale, but I’m going to resist talking about them here, and keep to the water / sound / XR focus.
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