Duchampiana is a stirring VR art installation by renowned artist and director Lilian Hess, presented as part of Venice Immersive from 27 August to 7 September 2024. At the core of this interactive installation is a woman reclaiming her body. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp‘s iconic work Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2, the body in motion serves as a metaphor and is granted here a new trajectory.
Duchampiana is a physical intervention responding to the traditional socialization of the human body, particularly the objectification of the female form. It examines how social values influence our bodies—our habits, attitudes, and movements.
Duchampiana: A Journey of Self-Liberation
“The woman descending the stairs in Duchamp’s painting symbolizes the often objectifying representations of women in art, film, and advertising,” explains director Lilian Hess. “Duchampiana transforms this descent into a powerful upward motion that encourages viewers to reflect on social norms and initiate a change in attitude and perception.”
The central theme of Duchampiana is the empowerment of the female body. Inspired by the painting’s depiction of the dynamics of a moving figure, the installation aims to bring the body into three-dimensional space and give it a new direction. “It’s about liberating the female body from its traditional constraints and allowing it self-determination through movement and interaction,” Hess continues.
Technical Implementation and Collaboration: Duchampiana is the result of a collaboration between Tchikiboum (France) and mYndstorm Productions (Germany). The installation merges advanced VR technology and AI tracking in a novel configuration, showcasing an experimental evolution of artistic expression. This interdisciplinary approach allows visitors to immerse themselves in a parallel world—a utopia—through physical movements and interactions.
“As the characters in Duchampiana don’t speak, their emotional development is conveyed purely through body language,” says Japanese performer Chihiro Kawasaki. “This posed a great challenge, as the process of developing the choreography was akin to puppetry. The many variations of stair climbing that Lilian and I envisioned together were recorded with motion capture and transferred onto the virtual bodies in the piece.”
“Duchampiana represents a courageous and brilliant incision into a world still lacking female role models. It’s an innovative experiment with an unmistakable narrative force, in my opinion, and an astonishing technical challenge,” comments Sarah Arnaud, founder and creative producer of Tchikiboum.
“With mYndstorm Productions, our goal is to bring the classical avant-garde into the 21st century. Duchampiana is a unique journey that not only explores the movement of one’s own body but also reinterprets the roles of its historical influences, transforming them into a tangible experience in physical space,” explains Oliver Czeslik, founder of mYndstorm Productions.
“The adaptation of the stair climber is particularly innovative, as it responds to the movement of the body rather than the other way around,” adds Kathrin Brunner, creative producer at mYndstorm Productions.
Duchampiana is supported by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and the Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs; Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée; Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg; and the Eurimages New Lab Award.
©2024 Duchampiana
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