Gilles Jobin and Artanim's VR_I at Arsenic in Lausanne

The Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin, in collaboration with Artanim founders Caecilia Charbonnier and Sylvain Chagué, presented VR_I at Arsenic in Lausanne in 2018. This virtual reality performance, which won an award at the 46th Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal, equips five spectators per session with Oculus Rift headsets, hand and foot sensors, and a backpack computer. Participants move freely within a space monitored by cameras, experiencing a virtual environment where giant dancers (the company's performers rendered as docile Goliaths) interact with miniature intruders. The narrative is fixed, with random avatar assignments that create out-of-body experiences—such as embodying a Chinese girl in tight jeans and ballet shoes. No mirrors are present, preventing self-absorption; participants must ask others to learn their appearance. The work explores alterity and the renegotiation of self and coexistence when reality is destabilized. Observers waiting for their turn witness a secondary performance of empty movements, evoking Plato's cave myth.