Venice Immersive Returns with VR Highlights at Venice Film Festival

The Venice Immersive section of the Venice Film Festival returns to Lazzaretto Island, running until September 7, 2024. This year's selection features abstract and mixed reality works that prioritize subjective experience over mimesis. Cecile Daemen, last year's winner and this year's jury president, emphasizes the "mirroring" quality of VR: it reflects reality but leaves interpretation to the viewer. Notable works include "Earths to come" by Rose Bond, a vocal concert inspired by Emily Dickinson; "Ceci est mon cœur" by Stéphane Hueber-Blies and Nicolas Blies, addressing body shaming, sexual abuse, and depression; and "Impulse: Playing with reality" by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla, narrated by Tilda Swinton, which immerses viewers in the experience of ADHD. Mixed reality installations include "Symbiosis/\Dysbiosis: Sentience" by Tosca Terán, Brendan Lehman, Andrei Gravelle, and Sven Steffens, inspired by Donna Haraway's cyborg theories, exploring the mycelium network. The article is written by Laura Cocciolillo for Artribune.