SEA OF SERENITY @ Serendipity Arts Festival – India
ART, VR
PIERRE FRIQUET, JEAN-BAPTISTE FRIQUET & KANNAKEE // SEA OF SERENITY
Curated by HH Art Spaces
Performance by Pierre Friquet and Kannakee, with live-video broadcast by Jean-Baptiste Friquet (Bruxelles).
Installation: 17-22 December, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Performance: 18 and 20 December, 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM
Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, the lunar module ofApollo11 landed (21:56 in Houston); The first steps on the Moon are broadcast live on the entire planet and are followed by 500 to 600 million viewers. The black-and-white videos were transmitted from the moon to the earth by radio signal in SSTV, a signal of poor quality. Projection screens broadcast live the experience of a performer, psychonaut, who enters a flotation pool. In the same way as the 3 astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission, she prepares herself. She puts on the waterproof VR helmet, akin to a NASA diving suit, to get immersed. She lets her body float in the water, plunging into a world within the world.
Live-cameras capture her experience viewing the Sea of Serenity and reports the content of the experience and the sensations that it provides, via a mic placed on her. The audience is seated around the installation, which is in the form of a pool. The images of what she sees and a close-up from a live-camera of her face are projected on a flag. The content is a mix of re-enactment of real conversations between the Apollo 11's astronauts and the NASA Houston Centre as well as description of the shots seen within the VR headset. Like a translator between worlds the performer will serve as the eyes of the audience into an imaginary environment which is inaccessible to human senses
Niraj Gera, immersive Sound Designer
Designing acoustic spaces and an Engineer by profession. Niraj journeyed into film sound design at the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII), and his diploma films won accolades for design and technical achievements globally. Immediately after, he shifted to Mumbai, and with those that shared his dream founded AuralMayhem. He's been awarded by a National Award for his work on Newtown.
For nearly a decade his films have attested his ideas and expertise. In his quest to never settle, Niraj Gera's latest pet project AMImmersive is AuralMayhem's foray into Immersive Sound.
Image: Pierre Friquet, Kannakee and Jean-Baptiste Friquet, Sea of Serenity.
Disclaimer : The views and opinions expressed in any performance, artwork or installation do not reflect the official policy or position of the institution.
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