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26 Sep 24 | Events
The Cultural Programme announces the UK Premiere of Marshmallow Laser Feast’s extraordinary virtual reality installation, ‘EVOLVER’
Exhibition dates: 25 October – 14 November 2024
Press view: Thursday 24 October
The highly anticipated UK premiere of EVOLVER: An Immersive Journey Of Life And Breath, has been announced in collaboration with the Cultural Programme at Oxford University.
Following its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Festival and fresh from its French Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, London-based experiential artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast brings EVOLVER, their extraordinary, collaborative virtual reality experience, to Oxford from Friday, 25th October to Thursday, 14th November.
A pop-up unit on Little Clarendon Street will be transformed into an immersive gallery space, with hourly slots available to experience EVOLVER from 12 noon to 8pm daily.
EVOLVER is an immersive journey through the breathing body, narrated by Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett. Commencing with a 10-minute binaural audio meditation to allow audiences to decompress whilst viewing large-scale projections, this site-specific presentation of EVOLVER invites twelve participants at a time to explore structures hidden far beneath the skin through an all-encompassing virtual reality trip around the human form. This deep dive takes viewers through a sequence of breathing, visualising the essence of life as air travels from the mouth into the lungs, whirling like a tornado, before circulating around the complex rivers and tributaries of our cardiovascular system and back into the natural world.
EVOLVER is part of the Adventures in Consciousness Season, a series of events led by the Cultural Programme at Oxford University that draws on medical humanities to showcase an exhilarating range of events on the theme of consciousness. This season captures the intellectual diversity required to tackle this topic, cutting across the sciences, technology, the humanities, and the creative arts. The full programme takes place from 10 October until 1 December and will be announced by the end of September.
Artist and director, Ersin Han Ersin of Marshmallow Laser Feast says: ‘In this and other works we have created, we are seeking to highlight our connection with the wider systems of nature through the experience of art. The oxygen trees exhale flows into our tree-like lungs, flowing from our heart centre outward through fractal branching arteries to feed every cell in our body. Placing the audience in the centre of these nested ecosystems, we aim to bring them closer to an understanding of our interconnectedness.’
Josie Bamford, Executive Producer at the Cultural Programme, says: ‘Following rave reviews from the Cannes Film Festival to exhibitions across Australia, South Korea and New York, Oxford audiences can now participate in this fascinating experience. As the headline event in our new ‘Adventures in Consciousness Season’, I am sure this will be an opportunity for everyone to learn more about themselves and the world around them. This is a key ambition for the Cultural Programme, and I cannot wait to experience it for myself!’
EVOLVER is created by the internationally renowned experiential artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast and co-executive produced by the late Edward. R. Pressman and Sam Pressman of Pressman Film, Terrence Malick, Dirty Films‘ Coco Francini, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, the famous French studio Atlas V and Orange.
The opening music is from musician and producer Jon Hopkins. The score also features music by Jonny Greenwood, Meredith Monk, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Yair Elazar Glotman, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and Howard Skempton.
Ticket details:
Monday – Thursday: £15 per person
Friday – Sunday: £20 per person
Students, U25s and U18s: £10 per person
Age guidance: 11+, Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult
Tickets are available to book via: oxfordculturalprogramme.org.uk
26 Sep 24