05 Jun Biennale’s Brightest Star
The Venice Biennale’s VR Island continues to be one of the festival’s most exciting, ambitious and promising projects, even if its commitment to this fledgling form of cinema is by far one of its newest. In fact, if last year’s decision to create a dedicated space for VR on the island of Lazaretto Vecchio was the Big Bang that started this bright new vision, then films like Cosmos Within Us show exactly how exciting this new universe could become.
Cosmos Within Us sits at a delightful intersectional sweetspot between film, theatre and orchestra, which means you don’t simply just strap on a headset and beam into another world. Rather more theatrically, you’re beckoned to sit in a tiny cupboard. You’re even invited to take off your shoes, if you wish. Once sat, someone mysteriously asks you if you consent to be part of the “Behind the Scenes,” and the various accouterments of VR are delicately strapped to your head and waist. Then like a trip into Narnia, you’re then guided to step through the other side of the vestibule…