Arles opens to another reality

The fourth edition of the VR Arles Festival will take place from 1^st July to August 25. Chaired by actress Charlotte Rampling, a multidisciplinary international jury will award several prizes. The Rencontres du Virtuel will gather for a day international artists who will exchange on the theme of the festival. For one week, creators, curators and researchers will explore the intersection between virtual imagery and contemporary photographic creation. Presentations of immersive and hybrid works will take place. The young audience will also be invited to a series of workshops.

Popularized by video games in the 1990s, virtual reality has now conquered many areas, from the world of business to that of creation. Artists praise her for her interactive qualities and the unique visual approach she allows. Since 2016, the VR Arles Festival is entirely dedicated to him. Spread into three themes – "Imagine the Real", "Telling the Real" and "Beyond the Real" – the 18 works collected this year, fiction, documentary or artistic creation, will allow a different approach to reality. Featuring interactive experiences with science fiction worlds, they intend to invite community struggles for their rights and survival, or to immerse visitors in alternative realities.

In the movie 7 lives filmmaker Jan Kounen, the visitor is for example confronted with his fears. He follows the soul of a young girl seeking to put an end to her wanderings by helping people, who witnessed her violent death, to find peace. The interactive work deploys a new means of narrative in which the visitor can influence the story and thus live a tailor-made experience. For its part, Bonfire by Eric Darnell (see the video below) offers the public an adventure where you have to rely on your senses and your instinct to make your way through worlds full of dangerous creatures with sometimes deceptive appearances. Animation Luna (our opening photo) by Robin Hunicke and Martin Middleton allows for the creation of "Miniature musical universe" and to let the creativity of everyone express themselves in a fantastic and bucolic setting where nature provides the musical instruments: leaves, stars, tree trunks, etc.

Different works try to look at events from different perspectives. Inspired by psychedelic visions, they force to look differently. Animation ayahuasca, by Jan Kounen, stages visual hallucinations. It takes its name from a South American hallucinogenic drug used in shamanism to heal, but also to open the doors to a different, more complete reality. In Awavena, virtual reality, a substitute for drugs, allows an Amazonian shaman and artist Lynette Wallworth to share the Yawanawa's story and everyday life.
Another creation, another purpose. The precursor of kinetic art Julio Le Parc makes us dive into 7 Alchemy in virtual reality. The surprising work is the digital extension of many of his paintings. Of 14 different colors used exclusively by the artist since 1959, points move to the rhythm of a haunting music. Under the impulse of the visitor, they form a succession of paintings thus weaving a more personal link between the work and the viewer.