Cymraeg isod
Last week I went to see “LFF Expanded” at OXO Bargehouse, a new addition to the The BFI (British Film Institute’s) London Film Festival. The immersive exhibition is in a four-storey warehouse-type space on London’s South Bank. It offers a combination of new immersive technologies and storytelling techniques. The displays blur the lines between cinema, art, and technology. It is, in my opinion, wonderful.
OXO Bargehouse (open 11 – am – 9 pm), has nine experinces to explore. Cost £20. You can stay as long as you wish. I rushed around and saw five (and a half) exhibits in 2 hours. A “chill-out” lounge with free soft drinks are on the ground floor. The audience, during my brief stint, were mostly in their teens, 20’s and a few in their 30’s. It’s a shame more of the slightly older generation, who are generally the gatekeepers of our cultural institutions, weren’t present.
I started with Flow by Adriaan Lokman. A series of lines & brushstokes. Random at first that became dream-like shapes and familair structures. This was viewed via an Oculus VR headset (untethered) and earphones. The 15 minute experience transported and deposited you into a dreamworld. Thoughts and ideas “flowing” into one another. You need to see it.
“Letters From Drancy”, by Darren Emmerson, was a completely different VR experience. Emerson focuses upon a single narrator, Marion Deichmann. Deichmann (who staff tell me visted the London exhibition) tells of her journey across Northern Europe escaping the Nazi’s, and the loss of her mother to the horrors of the Holocaust. It is a very thoughtfully constructed narrative that mixes 3D models, animation and 360° video footage. What I loved about the 22 minute story was the power of a well edited oral history, told in the first person. Whilst the technolgy (relative to some XR experiences) is relatively simple, Letters From Drancy is a strong reminder of the emotional pull and the absolute power of simple and strong story-telling at it’s best.
Forager, by Winslow Porter et al, on the other hand, is an immersive experience that uses all that “immersive”, low and high tech, has to offer. Reclining on a bean bag, headset tethered to a gaming computer, a fan directed at me for wind & scent, head-phones plugged in, and off I went into the world of mushrooms, spores and mycelium. There are some quite breath taking 360° views of forests floors and extraordinary 3D timelapse shots of mushrooms and mycelium growing. ( more here). Creation of the footage for forager, by Winslow Porter, Elie Zananiri, Justin Durazzo is a lesson in immersive film making. The footage they have created is quite breathtaking. Their aim: “to live the life of fungi, from air-borne spore to underground mycelium to sprouting mushroom.” I think they achieve their goal.
Three virtual reality experiences in quick succession was (almost) a sensory overload. After a quick soft drink I tried Consensus Gentium. In it, UK artsist, Karen Palmer’s, “explores the frightening potential of today’s surveilance technologies and reveals algorithmic bias in smart technologies”. The interactive experience is delivered on an iPhone. The interactive work requires the viewer to select responses to questions which, along with eye tracking, determines the path one takes. Are you “compliant” to mass surveillance or a “dissident”. One experiences something akin to Orwell’s Minsitry of Truth on an iPhone in 25 minutes. Consensus Gentium is unique, in my experince, and worthwhile. It cuts right though, story-telling, cinema and participatory art.
I had to skim through “Murals”, a 30 feet or so, curved screen and booming soundscape. The immersive “cinema” installation by Alex Topaller, Daniel Shapiro and Atem Ivanenko, features the devastation of war in Ukraine. It’s juxtaposed with Banksy’s murals. Bombed out buildings and infrastructure, created from 3D scanning . The murals and clever lighting are combined with some horrific war-related facts, and the sounds of the brutality of war to create a disturbing but absorbing experience.
My final “immersion” was in The Fury by Iranian filmmaker, Sirin Neshat. It’s a two-part exhibition that explores themes of female vulnerability and political imprisonment, set against a backdrop of haunting memories. The first part of which is a 360° arthouse film installation viewed through an Oculus Quest headset. The Fury takes us through the trauma and emotional turmoil a female protagonist must endure during political imprisonment.
I was in the OXO Bargehouse for 2 hours and didn’t get past the top floor. I intend to go back.
LFF Expanded challenges conventional boundaries between art and cinema. The installations invite attendees to engage with the artwork physically, emotionally and intellectually. What it does, more than anything else, is to showcase the variety and the power of immersive story, all in a single space. Fantastic.
Ends – Richard Jones
Stori-telling Cymhleth yn LFF Expanded (1)
“Yr wythnos diwethaf, es i i weld “LFF Expanded” yn OXO Bargehouse, ychwanegiad newydd i Ŵyl Ffilm Llundain y BFI (Sefydliad Ffilm Prydain). Mae’r arddangosfa ymgolchi mewn lle celf storïo math tŷ warws o bedwar llawr ar Glannau’r De, Llundain. Mae’n cynnig cyfuniad o dechnolegau ymgolchi newydd a thechnegau adrodd straeon. Mae’r arddangosfeydd yn cymylu’r ffiniau rhwng sinema, celf, a thechnoleg. Yn fy marn i, mae’n wych.
Mae OXO Bargehouse (ar agor 11 am – 9 pm) yn cynnig naw profiad i’w harchwilio. Cost £20. Gallwch aros am faint bynnag yr hoffech. Es i rownd yn fuan a gweld pump (a haner) o’r arddangosfeydd mewn 2 awr. Mae ‘chill-out’ lôn gyda diodydd ysgafn am ddim ar y llawr gwaelod. Roedd y gynulleidfa, yn ystod fy nghyfnod byr, yn bennaf yn eu harddegau, eu daudegau, a rhai yn eu tridegau. Mae’n drueni nad oedd mwy o’r genhedlaeth ychydig yn hŷn, sydd fel arfer yn warchodwyr ein sefydliadau diwylliannol, yn bresennol.
Dechreuais gyda “Flow” gan Adriaan Lokman. Cyfres o linellau a brwshstocs. Roedd yn arbrofol yn y dechrau ac yn troi’n siapiau breuddwydiol a strwythurau cyfarwydd. Gwelwyd hyn drwy Oculus VR headset (heb eu clymu) a chlustffonau. Profiad 15 munud a’ch cludo i fyd breuddwydiol a’ch cyflwyno i fyd o syniadau yn ‘llifo’ i’w gilydd. Rhaid i chi ei weld.
“Letters From Drancy,” gan Darren Emmerson, oedd profiad gwahanol cwbl o VR. Mae Emerson yn canolbwyntio ar adroddwr unig, Marion Deichmann. Mae Deichmann (mae staff wedi dweud wrthyf ei bod wedi ymweld â’r arddangosfa yn Llundain) yn adrodd am ei thaith ar draws Gogledd Ewrop yn ffoi rhag y Natsiaid, a cholli ei mam i ofnau’r Holocost. Mae’n naratif a adeiladwyd yn feddyliol iawn sy’n cymysgu modelau 3D, animeiddiad a lluniau fideo 360°. Yr hyn a garais am y stori 22 munud oedd gallu naratif llafar o’r safon uchaf, wedi’i adrodd gan y sawl ynddi. Er bod y dechnoleg (o gymharu â rhai profiadau XR) yn gymharol syml, mae “Letters From Drancy” yn atgoffa grymus am alarusyon emosiynol a grym hanes cryf ac syml ar ei orau. Ond mae “Forager,” gan Winslow Porter ac eraill, yn brofiad ymgolchi sy’n defnyddio popeth mae “ymgolchi” yn ei gynnig, o dechnoleg isel a uchel. Wedi eistedd ar fagwyn, gyda headset yn clymu at gyfrifiadur gemio, ffan yn gwyro gwynt a pherfformiad, clustffonau wedi’u plwgio i mewn, a mi aeth i fyd madarchod, sboriau a mycelium. Mae yna rai o golygfeydd 360° hynod hardd o lawnt y coetiau a chyffyrddau 3D arbennig o fadarchod a mycelium yn tyfu. (mwy yma). Mae creu’r ffilm ar gyfer “Forager,” gan Winslow Porter, Elie Zananiri, Justin Durazzo yn wers yn y cynhyrchu ffilm ymgolchi. Mae’r ffilm maen nhw wedi’i chreu yn syfrdanol. Eu nod: “byw bywyd madarchod, o sborion sy’n hedfan i mycelium dan y ddaear i fabarchod tyfu.” Credaf eu bod nhw’n cyflawni eu nod.
Roedd tri phrofiad rhithwir yn gyflym o lawer (bron) oherwydd o’r lliw. Ar ôl diod ysgafn bach, mi wnes i roi cynnig ar “Consensus Gentium.” Ynddo, mae artist y DU, Karen Palmer, yn “archwilio potensial brawychus technolegau sylweddoli heddiw ac yn datgelu becyn algorithmaidd sylweddol mewn technolegau clyfar”. Cyflwynir y profiad rhyngweithiol ar iPhone. Mae’r gwaith rhyngweithiol yn gofyn i’r gwyliwr ddewis ymatebion i gwestiynau sy’n pennu’r llwybr a ddilyna, ynghyd â thracio llygad, a gyfrif sy’n pennu’r ffordd i’w dilyn. A ydych yn “cydymffurfiol” â sylwadau mawr sy’n cylchdroi neu yn “wrthdyst”? Mae’r profiad yn debyg i brofiad Orwell yn “Gweinidogion Yr Yrfa” ar iPhone mewn 25 munud. Mae “Consensus Gentium” yn unigryw, yn fy mhrofiad i, ac yn werth ei brofi. Mae’n cwtogi drwy straeon, sinema a chelf cyfrannol. Ond oedd rhaid i mi sgimio drwy “Murals,” sgrîn dron o ryw 30 troedfedd a sain uchel. Mae’r gosodiad “sinema