Immersive art is a creative field that continually welcomes newcomers from other horizons. Yolanda Markopoulou is a theatre director and producer, who last year presented her first immersive VR performance, WHITE DWARF, at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Immersive all around cinema – a yearly two-part festival that is one of the bastions of XR creation in Greece. Now WHITE DWARF is off for the . Meet the artistand her new project PARADISE LOST, recently selected at the Beldocs’ XR Academy right after the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival’s Pitching forum in March.
WHITE DWARF, a first ambitious project
Yolanda Markopoulou – I come from the world of film creation and performance art, working mainly on theatrical projects (with both professional and non-professional actors).Through innovative artistic projects, I have always tried to push the boundaries of interactivity. But I’d never explored virtual reality! And when I had the opportunity, it appeared almost an organic extension of my work. I was able to make the most of it, while building on my previous projects and experience.
Y. M. – Employing a theatrical approach, I started making a 360 live video, imagining the space, and improvising with actors.. Covid accelerated this transition, because I largely had to put my theatre projects aside. One of our ongoing projects for the Athens planetarium was transformed and adapted for VR. I was able to try out new forms of storytelling and experiment , which was essential for me.
Y. M. – From the beginning I was searching for a way to invite the audience into a holistic experience. I wanted the viewer to be immersed in the universe of the project, before they had even put on the VR headset. Upon their entrance, we give the audience a specific role that they are asked to impersonate as they explore the space in groups of 6-10. We want to create the right moment for the audience members to interact, to share a moment in this fictional premise, blend the virtual and physical, and take a stance in what borders a scientific experiment. On account of the premiere of the project at the Thessaloniki International Festival, I managed to see a first version of the presentation of the VR installation, just as I had envisioned it.
Y. M. – WHITE DWARF is a revisitation of the history of the atomic bomb, from the point of view of the scientists that created it. It is an exploration of the consequences that certain decisions within the field brought, mostly from a scientific and ethical point of view. We started with research on the world of Italo Calvino, studying Cosmocomics, moved on to the history of the Cold War, and then “landed” on Los Alamos and the Manhattan project with the central hero being the controversial personality of Robert J. Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Finally, we explored the consequences of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The experience was rooted in our initial creative intention for the piece, which involved projection screens, archive sound footage from Oppenheimer himself, sound design work, and a multi-channel narrative, inherent to the physical presentation.
Mixing mise en scene and immersive technologies
Y. M. – Personally, I see the use of new technologies as providing endless opportunities for exploration for theatre creators, especially when they can be used to take a story further and engage the audience. Virtual reality does exactly that, bringing the spectator on stage with us.The power ofVR is that it brings us together. My next project integrates the idea of a spectator as the main protagonist even further.
Y. M. – By making the story into VR, we had to reconstruct, always within budget, the staging and the different chapters, but also to find the right elements that would take the story further. One of the main challenges of VR was to imagine the transitions between each chapter. Animation and sound design served that mission. We also wanted to exploit 360 at all levels: right, left, bottom, top. Obviously, viewers want to explore, look everywhere… We experimented! Today, it seems obvious that we need to move more towards real-time engines, and get closer to certain video game technologies to facilitate certain aspects of our work on the project.
Y. M. – Immersing the viewer is the art of losing them in the experience.We even have to think about how the headphones are put on, so as not to cut off the experience itself. The journey we propose, in spirit, is something very personal. Nevertheless, I imagine that this type of experience, when shared afterwards can become truly collective; I can’t imagine VR as an individualistic adventure. I used performative live engaging elements before and after the VR experience.
Y. M. – When you discover an innovative work, you stop thinking about the form or the environment. That said, I now have a more concrete view of the immersive industry, distribution possibilities and so on. Especially in a country like Greece, where all this is still in its infancy. All this prepares me better for the presentation of PARADISE LOST, which I pitch at certain events.
PARADISE LOST, the next project
Y. M. – PARADISE LOST is a more personal story, recounting the fate of my great-grandfather. He died in the Burning of Smyrna in 1922, at the end of the Greco-Turkish War. We experience the last 15 minutes of his life, the city around him, the farewells… Obviously, although based on true events, I’m working with this in a more poetic sense, with a real sense of family and community. The project is being developed with visual archives, animation, and other technologies, with the help of real-time engines. I’ll see after its completion if this VR can lead to an installation.
Y. M. – There are still a lot of questions to be resolved in order to understand how to set up this type of immersive installation in Greece. The work of the Thessaloniki International Film and Documentary Film Festival is vital in supporting the efforts of creators. Immersive projects are now included in their selection, and little by little in their presentation sessions on the Market side. The Onassis Foundation is offering a lot of opportunities for research and creation of immersive works. Its ONX Studio in NYC, of which I am a member at the moment, guides, empowers and provides a research platform for new works and future presentations.
https://www.onassis.org/people/yolanda-markopoulou
https://www.onassis.org/initiatives/onassis-air/fellowships/yolanda-markopoulou-white-dwarf
WHITE DWARF Credits
Directed by Yolanda Markopoulou
Performers: Eleana Kafkala, Ifigeneia Karamitrou, Nikos Kardonis, Chloe Livathinou, Thanos Tsakalidis
Screenplay: Yolanda Markopoulou, Markos Tsoumas
Director of Photography: Angelos Papadopoulos
Original Music / Sound Designer: Manolis Manousakis
3D Designer / Animation: Charis Laloussis
Production Designer & Creative Associate: Paris Mexis
Dramaturgy Consultant (installation): Ioanna Valsamidou
Post Production Supervisor & Lighting Design (installation): Michael Tebinka
Mix / Mastering: Konstantinos Stylianou
Live Performers (installation): Yannis Didaskalou, Marina Konstantinidou, Marianna Radou, Nicky Rousomani, Maria Seiragaki
Technical Manager (installation): Nikos Charalampidis
Production Manager: Vicky Strataki
Produced by POLYPLANITY Productions
With the financial support of the Hellenic Ministry of CULTURE and Sports
With the support of Οnassis Culture, Greek Film Center, VR Academy, Thessaloniki Port Authority
