Walking Through The Walls: unique VR experience at the edge of the abyss, where dragons live.

Virtual Reality is taking off. On Friday 11 October at 15:00, you can experience the world premiere of the chilling Walking through the Walls, a totally immersive work made for the Oculus Go and MEZE AUDIO headphones, together the most complete portable VR set available. The event takes place at Mediamatic in Amsterdam, in collaboration with Stichting AV Node. 

The VR video is part of artist Francesco Bertelé's transmedia project Hic Sunt Dracones, with curator Chiara Pirozzi. 

Dragons

Bertelé spent years working on Hic Sunt Dracones. The title is Latin for 'Here are dragons' and was often found on ancient sea charts to describe unknown areas. For the project, the artist worked with a team on a performance, which consisted of a sideways climb along the northern cliffs of an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Through digital mapping techniques, they recorded the trip in minute detail, in order to share it as completely as possible.

In the overarching 'Hic sunt dracones', Francesco Bertelé explores what has been called 'The spectacle of the border' (P. Cutitta). He explores what goes on behind the scenes of the political game that takes place in border areas. Through performance you are in the middle of that stage, the artist disrupts the balance of your physical and psychic boundaries and breaks through linear thinking. 

'Sensory disturbance'

So you end up in unexplored places; where the dragons are, or, as the artist himself describes it: 'Virtual and Augmented Reality techniques merge with connotations arising from topical themes such as geopolitical borders, information manipulation and glitches as gaps between physical and mock reality. The outcome is a disconnect between present and experience, a sensory disruption in hybrid and overstimulated environments, where boundaries of certainty are breached.'

Good to know

Registration and information can be found on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/387572101935239/

The project was made possible thanks to the support of the Directorate-General for Art, Architecture and Urban Peripheries of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, as part of the fourth edition of the Italian Council Project 2018.