ASCENSION

Taking a step away from wellness and spirituality temples, ASCENSION transforms the concept of floating tanks into a VR performance that explores the boundaries of opera and our perception of reality. In the virtual reality, a state of weightlessness can be experienced, in which the desires of the physical body and the outside world dissolve for a short time. All that remains is to exist.

ASCENSION is based on the concept of a floating tank: a saltwater pool in which you are not aware of any external stimuli and can therefore allow your mind to calm down. You experience the weightlessness that is necessary to reconnect with yourself. Enter Virtual Reality: Transformed into a VR installation, the floating tank becomes a place where the balance between heart and head can be explored. Is it possible to achieve this state? And what kind of interaction results from this?

In the virtual-physical space, participants can explore, reflect and associate with these and other questions. A delicate combination of images and music increasingly dissolves the perception of time and space, the needs of the physical inner and outer world disappear. A place where you can simply just exist.

"I push through the outer layer, the mass. The emptiness. Sometimes gently, sometimes noisily and quickly, but always flowing. Floating, forever floating. A safe harbour in which the inner mantra can echo."
- Paul Boereboom & Leon Rogissart

Duration: 45 min.
Note: Stage fog and strobe lights are used during the performance.